Where You Are Born Influences the Person You Become

As early as the fifth century, the Greek philosopher Thucydides contrasted the self-control and stoicism of Spartans with the more indulgent and free-thinking citizens of Athens. Today, unique behaviors and characteristics seem ingrained in certain cultures. Italians wildly gesticulate when they talk. Dutch children are notably easygoing and less fussy. Russians rarely smile in public. As developmental psychologists, we’re fascinated …

Busting the Myth of “Normal” [The Culture Guy Podcast]

Dave Kerpen: “No one I know grew up feeling ‘normal’” Those of you who have ever worked with The Culture Mastery or who have experienced me on a stage or in a training room know this: In our work the concept of “normal” usually comes with quotation marks. “Normal” is an arbitrary concept because what’s normal for one culture may …

How Culture Considerably Influences Children’s Development

From educational toys to governmental guidelines and detailed nursery progress reports, there are lots of resources available to help parents track and facilitate their children’s development. But while there are tricks we can use to teach children to talk, count, draw or respect others, a surprisingly big part of how they develop is determined by the culture they grow up …

Mastering a mixed marriage in Indonesia [The Culture Guy Podcast]

Silke Irmscher talks about transitioning from Saxony to Java On this episode Silke Irmscher, founder of Culturenergy, tells her story of how she left Germany and fell in love with Indonesia and, in fact, found love on the island of Java. Silke has been living in Indonesia for more than 15 years and together with her husband, Ri Yanto, she …

How to become a cultural chameleon [The Culture Guy Podcast]

On this episode Pellegrino Riccardi explains how he reconciles his three cultural backgrounds Born in the UK to parents who came from Avellino in Southern Italy, and raised in a bicultural family in Bath – an English city which first experienced visitors from ancient Rome as early as AD 60 – Pellegrino now lives in Norway with his Norwegian wife …

How to build cross-cultural rapport by leaving your food comfort zone [The Culture Guy Podcast]

When he moved within the United States, from Maryland to Arkansas, Michael Spencer realized that some of the stories about the U.S. South are sometimes more than just stereotypes. Or, as he found out, Southerners like their tea sweet. Which meant that rapport building in the Ozarks is different than at the Chesapeake Bay. Then his company offered him an …

When the expat dream turns into a career challenge [The Culture Guy Podcast]

In the past few weeks we have been posting several useful articles on our Facebook Page about life abroad, the challenges of expatriation, raising children overseas with two languages, and repatriating back home after having lived abroad for years. So it is time we let someone who has been through all of these stages share her story. Meet Germany-native Tina …

We’re in the human dignity business

Guest blog by Jerry Redman, Co-Founder and CEO of Second Life of Chattanooga One of two things usually happen when I’m asked what I do for a living: upon hearing the answer many folks immediately appear very uncomfortable, or others launch into a lengthy series of questions and comments about our work, the issue of trafficking itself, their outrage that …

Learning to read The Culture Map with Erin Meyer [The Culture Guy Podcast]

In this March 2016 episode Christian talks to Erin Meyer, Professor at INSEAD University in Paris, one of the leading international business schools. Erin is also the author of The Culture Map. Originally from Minnesota, Erin has been living in Paris for many years. Prior to that she worked in different parts of the world, e.g. in Botswana. There she …

Putting an end to exploitation

In order to understand and to adjust to cultures and behaviors we don’t like or find “strange,” it is helpful to remain open for the signals we receive from people around us. Especially from people who we might label as being “different” or whose behavior we interpret as “weird.”  To allow input even though it’s uncomfortable, to not look the …

Work. Together. Across Cultures.

Welcome to The Culture Mastery! Effective May 1, 2015, our company, formerly known as Höferle Consulting, will serve our clients as a revamped business entity: We are now The Culture Mastery, LLC. After more than six years in business our company has evolved. And so have our customers. Initially, Höferle Consulting was established to serve mainly clients from North America and …