Understanding the local negotiation style is key to getting the business outcome you want If you’ve ever tried to buy a carpet in a Turkish bazaar, you’ll know the ritual. The seller mentions a ridiculous price. You (if you are bold enough) make a ludicrously low offer. The seller expresses outrage. You haggle for a while. If your nerve is …
In his day to day professional life, Dwayne Richards serves as a financial advisor, finance director, and CPA to his clients in the Toronto area. One of his side projects is his podcast, Comm Cafe, which he uses to spread practical business advice and to share his guests’ informative and inspirational stories. Recently Dwayne invited Christian Höferle to be a …
Is there a way to define “love”? No emotion, surely, is as cherished and sought after as love. Yet on occasions such as birthdays, anniversaries, or Valentine’s day, we can often be misled into thinking that it consists solely in the swooning, star-crossed romance of falling deeply “in love”. But on reflection, love is far more complex. Indeed, arguably no …
Tami Savage is an Air Force veteran, a self-professed computer geek, and a process, automation & systems consultant in the Washington, D.C. area. She recently approached us to learn how The Culture Mastery uses assessment tools and personality profiles in order to serve our clients. The result of her inquiry was an interview Tami conducted with Christian Höferle, The Culture …
Inquire Before You Hire a Cultural Training Provider In an interconnected world with a global economy, every company is now competing on an international level. Unless, of course, they fail to develop the cross-cultural skill set which is needed to be successful in today’s business world. Companies who fall behind on building cultural competency are leaving money on the table. …
Making the business case for cultural competence No matter whether you are expanding your business into foreign markets, trying to recruit the best candidates from a diverse talent pool, leading a multinational (and perhaps remote) team of people, or ensuring your marketing and branding messages are received in the intended way: cultural competence and having a global mindset – your ability …
You Can’t Manage What You Don’t Measure Most of you have probably heard this axiom before. It is attributed to leadership and management thought leader Peter Drucker who argues that without collecting and analyzing data we have no way of tracking whether and how we are reaching our goals. If your goal this year (notice that we’re not talking about …
Taking inventory and being grateful As 2017 is drawing to a close many of us are stepping back from day to day routines and work schedules in order to reflect on the year that was and to recharge for the new year. We take inventory and celebrate our successes. Among the biggest reasons to celebrate for our team at The …
What makes leaders good in the workplace? That depends on where in the world your workplace is. But one thing is clear: in most situations today, good leaders need to be able to manage across cultures. This means listening to what people are saying and understanding it; reading between the lines, rather than simply reacting. Leadership today requires a high …
“Speech is silver. Silence is golden” This is a widely-used saying that many people in many countries are familiar with. And silence also has many different meanings in cross-cultural communication. Silence can be used to intimidate; or to save face; to show respect; or it can simply suggest that the other person is relaxed enough in your company to enjoy a …
No global success without sufficient language skills You are working on foreign assignment. You are an expert in your field. Your success at home was one of the main reasons why you are here today – working for your company abroad. Your ability to speak and understand the language of your host country is improving. But you are in another culture …
Global readiness to decide biggest site selection deal of the decade Ever since Amazon announced that the company is looking to build a second headquarter (HQ2) in North America the race is on among site selection professionals and communities in the United States and Canada. Aside from hard economic and infrastructural factors, cities will now experience that cultural readiness isn’t …
Take the survey Are you currently an expatriate on a foreign work assignment? Have you lived and worked abroad in the past? Are you considering taking a position overseas? Then this survey is for you! Please take a minute to answer these short questions for expats. This brief questionnaire is designed to help us better understand how people who live …
Are new encounters really shocking – or simply unfamiliar? When preparing people for life and work abroad cultural trainers often address the issue of culture shock. Sometimes this may sound like there will be a wave of negative experiences and emotions crashing on the shores of expat existence. Let’s set the record straight on this: The idea of a shock isn’t …
Yes, the Heineken commercial is genius. How can we connect across differences, if we allow our differences to define us? In light of the recent political and societal trends towards even more polarization and populism this is a fair question to ask. In case you haven’t seen it yet, the Dutch brewing company Heineken released an image film in April 2017 which hit …
Helping U.S.-based businesses become more successful when working with Mexico and Colombia With Latin America as the closest and one of the largest markets for U.S. business, companies that want to succeed have to overcome challenges and meet opportunities of intercultural communication with their Latin American counterparts. The U.S. Commercial Service is partnering with The Culture Mastery for a workshop which will provide …
Which competencies are the most in demand for international business? And what type of business training do companies need to invest in to ensure their talent pool is equipped with the competencies required to succeed in markets around the world? These are questions which continue to come up in the conversations with our clients. Consequently, the next question usually is: How do …
Form a custom of listening before distributing opinion You read it on this website before: Many people in “Western” cultures have forgotten or unlearned to listen to each other. This is not only the case when debating politics, it is also true for encounters across cultures. It’s certainly so when politics and culture meet. And John Wykoff will tell you it is best addressed by developing …
Note: This article contains spoilers for the movie Arrival. Read at your own discretion. How a Hollywood movie can help interculturalists teach connection One of the best science-fiction movies of the past decade has a beautiful lesson for people who strive to better communicate across linguistic and cultural borders. While the central theme of Arrival ostensibly is that of the communication challenge …
When emotions hit a high, intelligence drops to a low Whether we like it or not: Sometimes people lose their temper and act out against others. And it is usually not a pretty picture. When this happens to company leaders on foreign assignment it can create a ripple effect with far greater reach than the untamed emotional release itself. In 2016 a cross-cultural incident …
