The Culture Guy talks to Alan Headbloom [The Culture Guy Podcast]

In this episode Christian talks to Alan Headbloom, Principal of Headbloom Cross-Cultural Communication in Allendale, Michigan (U.S.). Alan shares with us his work experience and some of his “cultural fool” moments he had when studying in Southwestern Germany.

Alan has a track record of over 30 years of working across cultures on six continents. He is an applied linguist, a teacher & coach, a presenter & author, and a talk show host. You can watch his show Feel Like You Belong online. Alan’s specialty is helping foreign-born (i.e. non U.S.-born) professonials communicate with more comfort and accuracy.

To reach out to Alan look for him on Twitter, either at @Headbloom or at @FeelLikeUBelong, like his Facebook Page, or connect with him on LinkedIn.

One of Alan’s memorable “cultural fool” moments involves a little faux pas he made when ignoring the appropriate level of formality when talking to a person in Germany.

Alan’s example of a cross-cultural gaffe is also a great illustration for the popular Peach/Coconut metaphor which is often used in cross-cultural training programs. Christian has written about this on his personal blog.

The Culture Guy Podcast is dedicated to those who are passionate about cultures and how culture influences everything we do.

The listener feedback which rolled in after the pilot episode was excellent and for upcoming episodes we would still encourtage you to send us your input:

• What are your tips and tricks for cultural adjustment?
• What were some of your most memorable “cultural fool moments”?
• Which topics would you like to hear discussed on future podcast episodes?

To send in your feedback for the show, please email Christian and use our social media outlets: The Culture Mastery Facebook Page, the Facebook Page for The Culture Guy Podcast, our company’s Twitter feed, and Christian’s personal Twitter.
In fact, we would be honored if you could help us spread the word about The Culture Guy Podcast. Tell your networks and show people this page so we can get a feel for which cross-cultural topics you are most passionate about.

Please use the hashtag #TheCultureGuy when you share this idea with your connections.

If you are interested in learning more about cultural competence, we invite you to sign up for our newsletter, The Culture Reflections. As a token of our appreciation you will receive three FREE whitepapers on cultural competence from us! Go ahead and click on the red button you see below and we will send you the download links to the FREE whitepapers via email.