Cultural Differences & Cultural Diversity in International Business

About This Weeks Guest Timothy J. Bridgman Timothy was born in UK, lived in Poland on/off since 1999, went to Poland to try to become Poland's first world fusion music DJ, then over the same period became lecturer at University of Lodz. Left employment at University of Lodz in 2012 to retrain as an Interculturalist. He now specialise in intercultural training for domestic international careers in...

Cultural Concierge About This Week's Guest Amanda Workman Amanda grew up in Eastern Africa, lived and worked in Hong Kong, and has traveled and worked throughout Eastern and Southern Africa, India, China, and Western Europe.  This lifetime of experiences has given her a passion for people and cultures and as a result has helped to develop a unique perspective on Global competency, cross-cultural n...

About This Week's Guest Teresa Knapp Teresa Knapp is the Director of Program Development for International Student Exchange. She has been in the field of foreign student exchange for 25 years. Teresa Knapp gives her 3 tips for becoming more culturally competent: Get rid of common sense; what works and sounds like common sense in your own country and culture will probably not work in another cultur...

Cultural Differences and Global Dexterity About This Week's Guest Andy Molinsky Andy Molinsky is a professor of organizational behavior at Brandeis University's International Business School and the author of the award-winning Harvard Business Review Press book "Global Dexterity". He also blogs regularly about culture, cultural adaptation, and organizational psychology for Harvard Business Review....

A Student Perspective on Culture About This Week's Guest Kiran Beersing-Vasquez on a Student Perspective on Culture A 20-year-old student of mixed background. Born in the UK and moved to Belgium at age 9.  Attended an international school in Brussels, which had 9 different language sections, and students from all over the world with similarly mixed origins. Now back in the UK and on his Year in In...

Culture, Diversity and Inclusion About This Week's Guest Stephen Frost Stephen Frost is the Head of Diversity and Inclusion for KPMG UK. He served as Head of Diversity and Inclusion for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games from 2007-2012. He was educated as a Hertford College Scholar at Oxford University and a Fulbright Scholar at Harvard University. He also teaches inclusive leadership at...

I wanted to take this opportunity to say Thank You for your support in 2014. I hope 2015 will even be better!   Well, it’s nothing very special: Try to be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book now and then, get some walking in, and try to live in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.  - Monthy Python’s ‘The meaning of life’ -    

International Travel About This Week's Guest Josh & Erin from travelwithbender.com have been traveling with their two children since May 2012. In this podcast, we talk about International Travel and family life. It’s an open-ended, unplanned, round-the-world trip discovering amazing places for families. They have stayed in hostels and 5-star luxury resorts, traveled on scooters and cruise liners,...

About This Weeks Guest John Amaechi is a psychologist, New York Times bestselling author and former NBA basketball player. All this united in one person? Yes! and with 6' 4" he not only physically stands tall, but also when it comes to his view on sports, business and other international matters. His 3 tips for becoming more culturally competent are: Be mindful towards other cultures Approach diff...

Culture and Travel Greeley Koch is the executive director of the Association of Corporate Travel Executives and a world-class business traveler. In this podcast, he talks about Culture and Travel. A twenty-five-year veteran of the travel industry, he is an advocate of passenger safety, comfort, and security, while boosting traveler productivity. Koch is also an authority on business travel investm...

Cultural Differences in Brussels After completing his Master's in International Relations at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands and two EU-related internships in Brussels, Wytze Russchen worked as a political adviser to Mr. Willy De Clercq, a member of the European Parliament and Belgian Minister of State. In this podcast, Wytze talks about Cultural Differences in Brussels Wytze assist...

Pierre Delalande on operating a high-speed train service Yet another Frenchman living in London... Pierre Delalande is head of Public Affairs within Eurostar, the high-speed train company that connects London to Brussels and Paris. During the interview Pierre talks about his experience in Canada, Brussels, and now London as head of public affairs for Eurostar. He shares several Eurostar business-r...

Culture and Consumer Behavior Professor dr. Giampaolo Viglia is a Research Fellow at the University of Eastern Piedmont and a Professor at Toulouse Business School. Interested in Consumer Decision Making, Pricing and Overconfidence In the amazingly interesting interview, we talk about cultural differences when it comes to Choosing a car How a website needs to be different across different cultures...

In this episode I Interview Paul Wait. Paul wait is CEO of the Guild of Travel Management Companies (GTMC) which represents 80% of business travel in the United Kingdom alone Paul talks about his time in Scotland, his time at American Express (27 years!), and his time heading the sales teams at Virgin Atlantic. He is one of the rare top managers that really understands the strategic importance of...

Today's Guest Deva Rangarajan In this episode, I Interview Deva Rangarajan. Professor dr. Deva Rangarajan is of Indian origin and has been living in Belgium for the last 10 years. Deva Rangarajan is a professor at the Vlerick Business School and is currently in the middle of setting up a sales center there. Build Your Cultural Competence In the Culture Matters podcast, we interview real people wit...

Summary In this episode, I Interview Bernard Foccroulle. Bernard Foccroulle is General Director of the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence and Chairman of ENOA (European Network of Opera Academies) In this interview, we discuss Opera, and how culture also has had and still has an influence on this type of music and performance Build Your Cultural Competence In the Culture Matters podcast, we interview real...

Lulu Wang In this episode, I Interview Lulu Wang. Lulu Wang is a famous Dutch writer of Chinese origin. She has published 10 books, of which 3 are published internationally. Her first book The Lily Theater is published in 28 countries. Her tenth book is called Rainland, wo ai ni (Rainland, I love you!). Build Your Cultural Competence In the Culture Matters podcast, we interview real people with re...

Summary In this episode I Interview John Alexander. John is from Australia, but lives in Sweden. John explains the differences between Hard Consensus (Dutch) and Soft Consensus (Swedish). He also describes the differences between Australians and Brits. John shares a number of stories from his own experience. Build Your Cultural Competence In the Culture Matters podcast we interview real people wit...

Dutch Directness and Beyond In this episode, I Interview Bob Grol on Dutch Directness Bob is a born and raised Dutchman. He currently runs his own organization called FYPS (For Your Professional Solution). Learn from Bob in what way, and how and why the Dutch are as direct as they are. And why that is interpreted by Asians as very rude. Also, Bob shares plenty of personal stories. Build Your Cultu...

Summary In this episode, I Interview Richard Hill. Richard is the author of "We Europeans" (1992), "Euro managers & Martians", "The Art of being Belgian", "Great Britain Little England", and a number of other books. Learn how Richard explains why (he thinks) the French are an "autistic" nation (don't worry, he nuances it to "self-absorbed" later in an excellent story! And why the Belgians are unas...