The nature of a multinational company (MNC) is to invest capital in markets outside of the country in which it began its operations. Typically, this business activity is called foreign direct investment (FDI). For open economies to flourish, cross-border trade is essential. Another critical factor for successful international business is ICE-Q – a combination of three essential, durable skills: subject …
The One Goal You Can Set for a Positive 2022
Around the turn of the year magazines, news outlets, social networks, blogs, podcasts, and all sorts of other media are full with ideas and tips around making New Year’s resolutions. Some of you might be aware of the dirty little secret to this culturally motivated routine of making commitments to significant, meaningful, and lasting change: More often than not this …
Why Our Delight Should Matter to You
When you search for a consultant, a coach, or a trainer, you probably are not seeking mediocrity for your organization. Right? That’s why we’re delighted to share with you a distinction our founder recently earned from one of our partners: IOR Global Services named Christian Höferle Trainer of the Year – Excellence in Innovation! How is this relevant to me, you ask? Since …
Coaching with Cultural Competence for ICF’s International Coaching Week
Working with clients from around the globe, our trainer and coaching team is often confronted with people who don’t share the same cultural background as them. The relationships between a coach and their coachee develop quite differently when first languages aren’t the same or when the formative influences of culture are dissimilar. The International Coaching Federation recognizes this and offered …
Why Cultural Intelligence is a Must-Have Power Skill for Global Business
Smart human resources professionals and savvy executive leaders know that if we want to be successful in increasingly diverse and global workplaces we need a set of power skills that too often aren’t taught in colleges, business schools, or as part of workforce development trainings. In an episode of Alchemizing HR — a webinar series hosted by HRCI, the premier …
What it Takes to Lead in a Multicultural, Multinational Environment
Despite the continuing trend towards more nationalistic and protectionist policies we have been seeing in many countries around the word, the interconnectedness and the interdependence of the global economy remains a reality. Cross-border business is likely to go on, no matter what the regulatory restrictions are. As a result, the need to develop leaders with a global mindset is unchanged. …
Why the Level of Your Global Success Depends on Your Cultural Intelligence
Are you “culture-wise”? How much effort does it take you to adjust your work style during business interactions which involve people outside of your home culture? There are many similar terms for this power skill: culture-wise, culture-savvy, intercultural readiness, […many more…] and cultural intelligence. You can, of course, work successfully at an international scale and never develop it, but you …
The “Communicating Across Cultures” Series
On the back of their cover story in the July 2020 issue of Toastmaster Magazine, the Toastmasters International organization hosted a series of panel discussions around the topic of efficient cross-cultural communication. The webinar series was a tremendous success which attracted a combined international audience of more than 5,200 attendees (with an additional 9,300 people registered to get access to …
How Levels of Directness in Feedback Vary by Culture and Why That Matters
One of the trickiest communication challenges for global professionals is giving appropriate feedback across cultures. High versus low context messaging style and varying distribution of power and influence in a culture are among the determining factors for adjusting your feedback to different situations. TCM founder Christian Höferle recently had the opportunity to share some insights around the topic of cross-cultural …