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 …
We Make Global Business Skills Training a Public Enrollment Matter
Our clients want to get better at what they do. They want to succeed in global business. We give them a leg up. With our public enrollment courses. Throughout the year 2021 we are offering cross-cultural business trainings on various topics. Global business training turns your employees and executive team into more mature and skillful leaders who will have a …
4 Reasons to Make Space for Intercultural Learning in Corporate Settings
A guest blog by Stephan Hild, originally published in German on his company blog. Effective intercultural business training can turn your employees and executive staff into more mature and considerate leaders who will have a significantly broader and deeper behavioral and cognitive repertoire when dealing with challenging situations in global business. Here’s what you’ll need and how it will pay …
What You should Know about Cultural Differences Between the U.S. and Mexico
As part of our Fall/Winter Webinar series we recently offered a joint session on the main cultural roadblocks between the United States and Mexico, together with our partners at Gea Cultura. During this webinar Salvador RodrÃguez Gil Batista and Christian Höferle identified ways to establish robust and reliable bridges across the Rio Grande/Bravo. Watch the webinar recording here and learn …
The Culture Moment 45
A recent article on Harvard Business Review (HBR) asks: “Are You Sugarcoating Your Feedback Without Realizing It?“. Apparently, many employees want negative feedback to be delivered in a more candid way. It has been our experience that you best take that with a pinch of salt, if you work in a global context. Make sure you adjust your candor to …
The Culture Moment 43
Why do people call some of the most essential abilities “soft skills”? How can strengths like effective and impactful communication, the ability to relate and connect to people, adaptability, integrity, or cultural intelligence be seriously described as “soft” – as in “less relevant than hard”? How about we rather call these strengths Human Skills or People Skills? The term we …
A Look at Global Employee Relocation in 2019
The peak season for relocation — June through August — is nearly over. One of the most common reasons why people move is that they are changing jobs or starting a new job. For some of these relocating employees, getting to their new homes will involve a lot more than just loading their stuff into a moving van. That’s because …
Fuel your Transatlantic Growth – Close the Culture Gap to Germany!
Learn how to avoid major cross-cultural mishaps when doing business in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in our upcoming webinar. 🇺🇸🇩🇪🇦🇹🇨🇦🇨🇠Do you want to accelerate your business success in German-speaking Europe? Are you interested in protecting your transatlantic investment in talent and assets? This webinar will walk you through the triggers and tripwires of German business culture and showcase strategies …
The Culture Moment 40
This corner of the world comes with a fascinating blend of cultures. Somewhere in the Alpine region. At an elevation of around 4,200 feet. Where everyone speaks at least two languages. And where the local culture is, in fact, a mix of two. This is the mountain refuge my family has been coming to for decades. I remember hiking up …
The Culture Moment 37
What’s an excellent way to create connection when you are dealing with people from different cultures? Make sure to try food and drink. Share a beverage, share a meal. And, very important: show genuine interest in the other culture’s drinking and eating traditions. Then, in return, offer your culture’s traditions to others. What is The Culture Moment? The Culture Moment …
The Culture Moment 36
Somehow this episode of The Culture Moment turned into a bit of a rant. Let’s blame it on the rain… How authentic can we be when we work across cultures? And how authentic do we want to be when we are having a less than perfect day? Some musings about accepting the fact that, as humans, we are imperfectly perfect. …
The Culture Moment 35
Just like you allocate time and resources for maintaining your real estate, you want to schedule culture maintenance for your organization. Take care of weeds and uncontrolled growth. What is The Culture Moment? The Culture Moment is our short-form video format: every clip is a bit more than three minutes long and contains a complimentary intercultural nugget, presented by Christian …
The Culture Moments 32+33+34
A lot of our clients work in a global context between English-speaking North America and German-speaking Europe. That’s why we compiled nine tips on how to improve your transatlantic communication with people from the United States and Canada, if you are a foreigner from the heart of Europe. Would you like these 9 tips explored in more detail and combined …
The Culture Moment 31
Let’s say you want people to better unterstand the culture of the country or region with which you identify most (could be your home country or adopted home). How do you create commonality with people from other cultures and countries? Here are some tips for questions and conversational topics you can use. The chat evolving from these will highlight your …
The Culture Moment 30
Suspend your judgement and observe keenly. Whenever you travel take the time to observe your surroundings. You’ll encounter people from all walks of life. This will allow you to practice your knowledge about cultural differences. Remember the Mark Twain quote about how travel is the antidote to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness? It can truly be, if you observe with eyes, …
The Culture Moment 29
People don’t buy what you do. They buy why you do it.What is your WHY? Here’s mine. Find out more about the power of WHY with Simon Sinek. What is The Culture Moment? The Culture Moment is our short-form video format: every clip is a bit more than three minutes long and contains a complimentary intercultural nugget, presented by Christian …
The Culture Moment 28
How do you deal with difference? Here’s a radically simple way to tackle your fear of the foreign, the uneasiness with otherness: Take the other to lunch, ask these three questions, and suspend your judgment in favor of listening to relate. What is The Culture Moment? The Culture Moment is our short-form video format: every clip is a bit more …