The Textile Industry and Culture with Imran Rath Imran Rath is from Pakistan. He has been living in Belgium since 2005 and is Running a Global Sourcing company in Belgium Since 2005, before that he was living in New York. His tips to become more culturally aware are: When you go and visit a country that you've never visited before make sure to read-up on where you're going. Read something about the history, the differences between North and South, East and West. Take out a map. Make sure that you somewhat understand, from a geographical standpoint, where you will be going.

How to make your organization GREAT, with Shane Green Shane Green, A world-renowned keynote speaker, author of Culture Hacker, and television personality, Shane Green is a business magnate who consults global Fortune 500 leaders on customer experience and organizational culture. Shane draws upon his foundation at The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company and works in multiple industries to transform your employees’ mindset, experience, and habits to improve customer experience, employee retention, and organizational performance. As a catalyst for the modern service economy, Shane Green and his team inspire companies and their people to move beyond the mundane and out of status quo so they want to exceed the expectations of their internal and external customers. His tips to become more culturally aware are: If your organization has values (and yes, it has values), make sure those values carry meaning to the people working in your organization. And you know what? Fresh them up while you're at it. You'll be surprised how much that will mean to them. Select the right people for your organization. Both for your sake and for their sake. It will take more time, but in the end, it will get you the right people on board and will save you a ton of money avoiding hiring the wrong type of people. What does the first day of work look like for someone new in your organization? Make it an experience rather than a procedure they need to go through. Make them :) at the end of the day. Interview Links Links that are mentioned in this episode: Email: shane@shgreen.com Get the book Culture Hacker here

In light of recent times and all the debate about immigrants and refugees around the world, Shaima joined forces with Chaithanya to put forth the stories of immigrants from different backgrounds that have called America home. Her purpose in doing so is to paint a different picture of immigrants and refugees by displaying their side of the stories and the struggles of starting from nothing.

Stefan and his "Dream-Life" family Full-time daddy who travels with the family for many years around the world. Author, blogger, and part of a family that live their dream! Worked 13 years for an international bank in the IT department and headed several multi-cultural teams and projects. His tips to become more culturally aware are: Be very aware of your intention when you deal with other cultures. Don't be shy. If you approach other people with a smile you'll be OK. Go to a Cultural Awareness workshop or course. Period. We're all human beings; don't think in terms of "high-cost employees" and "low-cost employees". This creates a wrong kind of inequality thinking

Jordan is a traveler. And he's spent many of his years in Latin America and Spain. He passes his days perfecting his Spanish, eating fun food, and talking to the people. Never about culture. But always about culture.

Lucas has been writing guidebooks for Lonely Planet since 2002, mostly specializing in Latin America.He lived in Guatemala for over 10 years, publishing a magazine and working with local NGOs. He is now based in Melbourne, Australia.

Dr. Alan Rose is Professor emeritus of University of Idaho. Born within the sound of bow bells, he has lived in France for three years and spends three months every year in Paris.

Joe Lurie, Author of the Award Winning, Perception, And Deception, A Mind-Opening Journey Across Cultures, is Executive Director Emeritus of UC Berkeley's International House where he served for two decades. Currently a cross-cultural communications, speaker and university lecturer, he served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Kenya and directed academic programs abroad in Ghana, France, and Kenya for the School for International Training.

Joe Amato began teaching at Southwest Minnesota State University (SMSU) in Marshall, Minnesota where he was a founder and chair of the History Department. He taught a range of courses in European intellectual and cultural history with a particular interest in the Middle Ages, Renaissance, German, Italian, and French histories and European rural life, as well as taught ethics and introductory social science courses. Joe has given countless lectures and talks on a variety of subjects in the region, throughout the state, Midwest, and at national conferences. Reading and speaking a variety of European languages—Italian, French, Russian, Spanish, and German (and some Biblical Greek) He is widely traveled in Western Europe from the British Isles and the Netherlands to southern Italy, Greece, and Sicily.

Jelle is a serial entrepreneur with a passion for people, cultures, technology, design, and food. With his company Zeropoint he works with virtual teams from Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Together with his colleague Bart van Loon, he has been dealing with virtual teams for the last 7 years.

Palle is a Danish podcaster and radio journalist traveling to every country in the world.

Mathilde is a 24-year old Master’s student at Copenhagen Business School within the field of business, language, and culture. She is currently doing an internship in Paris for a company that provides business assistance to Danish companies in France and helps Danish companies overcome the cultural barriers that exist between the two countries.

Odi (his calling name) just completed his Master degree program at Anglia Ruskin University, Uk, Cambridge, where he took a class in Intercultural Communication to help him realize his dream to make Nigeria a better country.

Natasha Aks is specializing on doing business in Russia and communicating effectively with Russians. She has been exposed to different cultures, studies, and work-wise, for the last 16 years, having lived and worked across the world, in Russia, the US, Germany, and in the UK. Natasha gained her practical business experience, having worked in media industries for over 11 years. Natasha’s work included acting as a mediator between Russian, Kazakh, Ukrainian, and English teams, bridging any possible gaps, identifying and resolving issues and problems, and, ultimately, making projects happen. Now she consults on doing business in Russia from the communications perspective and is a published author of a series of articles about doing business in Russia.

Henrik Jeppesen visited every country in the world just before his 28th birthday.

Stephen Frost is 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 Harvard Business School and an extended class at Sciences Po in Paris. He advises several organizations and governments worldwide and is the author of the book The Inclusion Imperative.

Audrey Mezas is the Dutch owner of Expat in Amsterdam. She is an Expat/Executive Personal Assistant to athletes, professors, families, international entrepreneurs and business executives. The difference between Audrey and say a relocation company is that she delivers "tailor-made personal" service for each of her clients and accompanying them almost everywhere they need to be. Audrey also trains teams in Executive Excellence and has moved 17 times and lived on four continents. Audrey is the "Expat in Amsterdam."

Jeri Weber, a US American lawyer knows about the demands of the legal profession and working with other cultures. She spent the first 18
 years of life viewing the world through her US perspective.

About This Week's Guest Insourcing and cultural differences with Bart van Loon After volunteering for the United Nations in the aftermath of the Kashmir Earthquake in 2005, Bart realized the potential of the South Asian labor market in Europe. Ever since he is building long-lasting professional relationships between companies and employees spanning the globe. His tips to become more culturally competent are: Always realize that when it comes to communication this is a shared responsibility. It is a 50% sender and a 50% receiver thing. Don't stereotype when you're dealing with individuals. When you're dealing with one person, you're not dealing with the "average" person from that culture. So be careful with this. Have patience when you're dealing with someone from another culture. Take for instance the English language (or for that matter any language that two people share to communicate): The first time a Brit speaks to someone from Pakistan, (s)he might face some difficulty in understanding. But give it some time and before you know it you won't even hear the differences in accents. Interview Links Links that are mentioned in this episode: Bart's personal website: http://bbbart.be Email: bart@zeropoint.hr Build Your Cultural Competence In the Culture Matters podcast, we interview real people with real stories. Every other week there is a guest with broad international experience and lots of cultural insights. I interview real people with real stories. To subscribe directly using iTunes or Stitcher, Click here, or here (or click any of the images below). How To Get In Touch With Culture Matters I'd love for you to get in touch. There are a couple of ways you can do this: Email me at chris.smit@culturematters.com Send me a Tweet: @chrissmit Finally Thank you so much for taking the time to read this far, and to listen to my Podcast. I hope you will be back for the next episode of the Culture Matters Podcast! Insourcing and cultural differences on Culture Matters

Effectively working with Remote Teams About This Week's Guest Hugo Messer talks about effectively working with remote teams Hugo Messer has been building and managing teams around the world for over 10 years. His passion is to enable people who are spread across cultures, geography, and time zones to cooperate. Whether it’s offshoring or nearshoring, he knows what it takes to make a global collaboration work. His 6 tips to become more culturally competent are: Focus on creating one team or one partnership. Invest time in this and try to get away from an "us versus them feeling". Take time to think about how you will work remotely. Do this before you actually start executing and working. When you're developing software, use an iterative framework like Scrum. Make the process incremental. You need people with empathy on location to find ways to get across the cultural hurdles. Use daily "standup" meetings. Get together (virtually) every day for 5 to 10 minutes to re-align where everyone is. This way you can truly build a remote virtual team. Everyone in the team must be on the same page. They should all be aligned with each other. Interview Links Links that are mentioned in this episode: To get all the ebooks that Hugo wrote: http://ekipa.co/ebooks Email: hugo@ekipa.com An earlier podcast with Lisette Sutherland on how to work with virtual teams Build Your Cultural Competence In the Culture Matters podcast, we interview real people with real stories. Every other week there is a guest with broad international experience and lots of cultural insights. I interview real people with real stories. To subscribe directly using iTunes or Stitcher, Click here, or here (or click any of the images below). How To Get In Touch With Culture Matters I'd love for you to get in touch. There are a couple of ways you can do this: Via this website: Just use the “Ask Your Question” tab on the right of the screen and leave a voicemail Email me at chris.smit@culturematters.com Send me a Tweet: @chrissmit Finally Thank you so much for taking the time to read this far, and to listen to my Podcast. I hope you will be back for the next episode of the Culture Matters Podcast! Effectively working with Remote Teams on Culture Matters For more on this, click here.

About This Week's Guest Jeroen Ketting Jeroen Ketting is a Dutch business advisor, author, and speaker who has helped hundreds of companies succeed in the challenging Russian market. His thought leadership and contributions to the public debate have made him a sought-after expert on Russia for both governments and the media. His thought leadership and contributions to the public debate have made him a sought-after expert on Russia for both governments and the media. Ketting's extensive Russian network, experience, and practical advice are invaluable for companies looking to do business in Russia Ketting's extensive Russian network, experience, and practical advice are invaluable for companies looking to do business in Russia. His 3 (plus a bonus) tips to become more culturally competent are: Only deal with Russia if you enjoy dealing with Russians in Russia. Look at the country and its people as a glass being half full, rather than half empty. You'll be more effective and efficient if you leave your own viewpoints behind, but with that, you don't have to become Russian (you can't and you won't). You play soccer/football with soccer/football rules. You don't play soccer/football with rugby rules. Play "the game" like the game should be played in the country that you're playing it. Make sure you get introduced to Russia. Business cards alone won't do it. Understand what you're getting yourself into. Follow a course, get a workshop, get some coaching, and read a book. Start before you're even in Russia with this. (Bonus) Try to understand and accept (the Russians); don't be judgemental. Interview Links Links that are mentioned in this episode: Simply Google "Ketting Russia" This will bring you the website: http://www.thelighthousegroup.ru/gb/ Otherwise, get in touch with me and I will give you the details of Jeroen. Build Your Cultural Competence In the Culture Matters podcast, we interview real people with real stories. Every other week there is a guest with broad international experience and lots of cultural insights. I interview real people with real stories. To subscribe directly using iTunes or Stitcher, Click here, or here (or click any of the images below). How To Get In Touch With Culture Matters I'd love for you to get in touch. There are a couple of ways you can do this: Email me at chris.smit@culturematters.com Send me a Tweet: @chrissmit Finally Thank you so much for taking the time to read this far, and to listen to my Podcast. I hope you will be back for the next episode of the Culture Matters Podcast! Culture Matters

About This Week's Guest Bjoern Lasse Herrmann Bjoern was born in Germany, and has become a recognized entrepreneur and expert on data products for businesses, performance benchmarking and business ecosystems.Most recently his team & Most recently his team & he set out to decrease the massive failure rate of businesses by transforming the business world from instinct driven to data driven. The first product Compass.co (no M!) now serves thousands of E-Commerce businesses around the world. His tip to become more culturally competent (there's only one) is: Be really interested in the other culture. In other words, don't be interesting, but be interested. Open up and engage with the other culture(s) you're working with. Interview Links Links that are mentioned in this episode: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bjoernlasse Twitter: https://twitter.com/bjoernlasse Build Your Cultural Competence In the Culture Matters podcast, we interview real people with real stories. Every other week there is a guest with broad international experience and lots of cultural insights. I interview real people with real stories. To subscribe directly using iTunes or Stitcher, Click here, or here (or click any of the images below). How To Get In Touch With Culture Matters I'd love for you to get in touch. There are a couple of ways you can do this: Via this website: Just use the “Ask Your Question” tab on the right of the screen and leave a voicemail Email me at chris.smit@culturematters.com Send me a Tweet: @chrissmit Finally Thank you so much for taking the time to read this far, and to listen to my Podcast. I hope you will be back for the next episode of the Culture Matters Podcast!

About This Week's Guest Paul MacAlindin Paul MacAlindin is an internationally renowned conductor and author of "UPBEAT: The Story of the National Youth Orchestra of Iraq". He led the orchestra from 2008- 2014 in Iraq, France, Germany, and Britain, solving enormous hurdles of culture, language, and education along the way. The National Youth Orchestra of Iraq is by far the most challenging and rich intercultural experience of his career. UPBEAT is out on August the 18th 2016. His three tips to become more culturally competent are: Know yourself culturally. Realize that you're the fish in your own bowl and that you might not know enough about your own culture. If you do this, you can realize that you're different than the other person but you can still work together. If you can, learn another one or two languages. Although not easy, it helps tremendously in overcoming cultural differences. Learn to laugh at yourself. Remember, when it's about culture, it's not about them. It is about you! Interview Links Links that are mentioned in this episode: LinkedIn: https://de.linkedin.com/in/conductor Twitter: @paulmacalindin Email: macalindin@hotmail.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/macalindin/ Build Your Cultural Competence In the Culture Matters podcast, we interview real people with real stories. Every other week there is a guest with broad international experience and lots of cultural insights. I interview real people with real stories. To subscribe directly using iTunes or Stitcher, Click here, or here (or click any of the images below). How To Get In Touch With Culture Matters I'd love for you to get in touch. There are a couple of ways you can do this: Via this website: Just use the “Ask Your Question” tab on the right of the screen and leave a voicemail Email me at chris.smit@culturematters.com Send me a Tweet: @chrissmit Finally Thank you so much for taking the time to read this far, and to listen to my Podcast. I hope you will be back for the next episode of the Culture Matters Podcast!

About This Week's Guest Global Business with Professor Erin Meyer Erin Meyer is a professor and INSEAD, one of the top international business schools, and the author of the best-selling book “The Culture Map: Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business”. She is here to speak with us today about how national cultural differences impact day-to-day interaction. Her three tips to become more culturally competent are: Learn as much as you can about the culture(s) you work with. When you work with more than one culture also make sure that you understand the relative differences. In other words, how does one culture perceive the others and vice versa? Be humble; Humility is everything. Make no mistake, every culture has one or more benefits. By being humble, you might discover just what it is. Be curious. Even if you have lots and lots of experience and if you think "You Get It". You can always learn more. ABC=Always Be Curious. Interview Links Links that are mentioned in this episode: Website: http://erinmeyer.com Build Your Cultural Competence In the Culture Matters podcast, we interview real people with real stories. Every other week there is a guest with broad international experience and lots of cultural insights. I interview real people with real stories. To subscribe directly using iTunes or Stitcher, Click here, or here (or click any of the images below). How To Get In Touch With Culture Matters I'd love for you to get in touch. There are a couple of ways you can do this: Via this website: Just use the “Ask Your Question” tab on the right of the screen and leave a voicemail Email me at chris.smit@culturematters.com Send me a Tweet: @chrissmit Finally Thank you so much for taking the time to read this far, and to listen to my Podcast. I hope you will be back for the next episode of the Culture Matters Podcast!

About This Week's Guest Alfredo Behrens Alfredo strongly believes in drawing management lessons from indigenous organizations to increase the efficacy of teamwork. He offers a Brazilian Carnival Parade training module to this effect. Alfredo holds a Ph.D. degree awarded by the University of Cambridge, he already lectured at Princeton University and London Business School. He currently lectures with Harvard Business School Publishing and FIA Business School in São Paulo. Alfredo collaborates with environments such as the Harvard Business Review and the Financial Times. He authored over 30 articles besides several books, like "Culture and Management in the America"s, published by Stanford University Press, 2009. His three tips to become more culturally competent are: Self-awareness. How well do you know yourself in relationship to the other(s)? See foreign films. It will give you an overview of life in a different culture. And it's cost effective as well! If you can, travel. But don't go for the all inclusive package deals. Instead, make sure you go out and speak to the local people. Interview Links Links that are mentioned in this episode: Email: 0800Alfredo@gmail.com Website: http://alfredobehrens.com Build Your Cultural Competence In the Culture Matters podcast, we interview real people with real stories. Every other week there is a guest with broad international experience and lots of cultural insights. I interview real people with real stories. To subscribe directly using iTunes or Stitcher, Click here, or here (or click any of the images below). How To Get In Touch With Culture Matters I'd love for you to get in touch. There are a couple of ways you can do this: Via this website: Just use the “Ask Your Question” tab on the right of the screen and leave a voicemail Email me at chris.smit@culturematters.com Send me a Tweet: @chrissmit Finally Thank you so much for taking the time to read this far, and to listen to my Podcast. I hope you will be back for the next episode of the Culture Matters Podcast!

About This Week's Guest Lisette Sutherland Lisette Sutherland is the Director at CollaborationSuperpowers.com, a company that helps teams work together from anywhere. She is also a Founder of Happy Melly, a company helping to globalize companies that are improving the lives of knowledge workers. With over 10 years of experience with web-based collaboration tools and online community management, her goal is to get the best people working together regardless of location. Lisette Sutherland gives three tips to become more culturally competent: Slow down. Ask what you don't know. Although you might not know what you don't know (a blind spot) still ask questions and more questions. When working virtually, you can create a Holiday Calendar. Holidays are important in every country and this way you can find out more about the other culture by asking why the holiday is and how it is celebrated. Create a "Personal Map"; like a mind map, but then you put your name in the middle. Around your name, you write things about yourself. But you don't explain it yourself, you let your virtual team members ask what they see. This is a great way to get to know each other and do virtual team building. Create a virtual water cooler or  "Kitty Talk" (this is explained in the podcast). This means that you simply pick a time when you all meet online and just chat. Not about work per se. This can be about everything. Interview Links Links that are mentioned in this episode: Twitter: @lightling Website: http://www.collaborationsuperpowers.com/ Build Your Cultural Competence In the Culture Matters podcast, we interview real people with real stories. Every other week there is a guest with broad international experience and lots of cultural insights. I interview real people with real stories. To subscribe directly using iTunes or Stitcher, Click here, or here (or click any of the images below). How To Get In Touch With Culture Matters I'd love for you to get in touch. There are a couple of ways you can do this: Via this website: Just use the “Ask Your Question” tab on the right of the screen and leave a voicemail Email me at chris.smit@culturematters.com Send me a Tweet: @chrissmit Finally Thank you so much for taking the time to read this far, and to listen to my Podcast. I hope you will be back for the next episode of the Culture Matters Podcast!

Cultural Differences for Startups About This Week's Guest Trajan King on Cultural Differences for Startups Trajan has worked and lived in 6 countries, speaks a handful of languages, and works for clients worldwide. He's consulted for Apple, Adobe, Yahoo!, eBay, IBM, and others.  He currently runs a membership community for entrepreneurs, InvincibleStartup.com. After starting over 15 companies, running a couple of multi-million dollar companies, and working on both Wall Street and Silicon Valley, he helps companies worldwide grow and earn more money. He's consulted for Apple, Adobe, Yahoo!, eBay, IBM, and others. He currently runs a membership community for entrepreneurs, InvincibleStartup.com. After starting over 15 companies, running a couple of multi-million dollar companies, and working on both Wall Street and Silicon Valley, he helps companies worldwide grow and earn more money. He currently runs a membership community for entrepreneurs, InvincibleStartup.com starting over 15 companies, running a couple of multi-million dollar companies, working on both Wall Street and Silicon Valley, he helps companies worldwide grow and earn more money. After starting over 15 companies, running a couple of multi-million dollar companies, and working on both Wall Street and Silicon Valley, he helps companies worldwide grow and earn more money. His three tips to become more culturally competent are: Meet people from different cultures and take an interest in them. See what you can learn from them first. Don't just watch the news and make your own judgment from this. Watch different sources of news, watch a YouTube video on the culture, and open an English newspaper site from that specific country. Learn a bit of the language. It shows respect and even if you get it wrong people will appreciate you for it. Interview Links Links that are mentioned in this episode: Twitter: @trajanking Website: http://inviciblestartup.com Do's and Don'ts in International Business Six things that can go wrong in international business Build Your Cultural Competence In the Culture Matters podcast, we interview real people with real stories. Every other week there is a guest with broad international experience and lots of cultural insights. I interview real people with real stories. To subscribe directly using iTunes or Stitcher, Click here, or here (or click any of the images below). How To Get In Touch With Culture Matters I'd love for you to get in touch. There are a couple of ways you can do this: Via this website: Just use the “Ask Your Question” tab on the right of the screen and leave a voicemail Email me at chris.smit@culturematters.com Send me a Tweet: @chrissmit Finally Thank you so much for taking the time to read this far, and to listen to my Podcast. I hope you will be back for the next episode of the Culture Matters Podcast! Cultural Differences for Startups on Culture Matters

Don't Mention the Word Culture When You Talk About Culture; Tim Kuppler About This Week's Guest Tim Kuppler Tim is the Director of Culture & Organization Development with Human Synergistics. He also founded CultureUniversity.com which features insights from top culture experts. He led major performance and culture transformations regionally and globally as an automotive supplier executive so he has loads of practical experience.  He now collaborates with many cultural experts and focuses on driving meaningful change in the world through cultural awareness, education, and action. His three tips to become more culturally competent are: Understand Culture Fundamentals from the top experts in the world. Commit to a personal and organizational learning journey. If you're changing your organizational culture it is not a one-time effort. You have to connect your first initiatives to either a top problem, challenge, or goal. Interview Links Links that are mentioned in this episode: Email: http://www.cultureuniversity.com/contact-us/ Website: http://cultureuniversity.com Human Synergistics Website: www.HumanSynergistics.com Human Synergistics Blog: www.ConstructiveCulture.com More on this, here. Build Your Cultural Competence In the Culture Matters podcast, we interview real people with real stories. Every other week there is a guest with broad international experience and lots of cultural insights. I interview real people with real stories. To subscribe directly using iTunes or Stitcher, Click here, or here (or click any of the images below). How To Get In Touch With Culture Matters I'd love for you to get in touch. There are a couple of ways you can do this: Via this website: Just use the “Ask Your Question” tab on the right of the screen and leave a voicemail Email me at chris.smit@culturematters.com Send me a Tweet: @chrissmit Finally Thank you so much for taking the time to read this far, and to listen to my Podcast. I hope you will be back for the next episode of the Culture Matters Podcast!

About This Week's Guest Jeanne Boden Jeanne Boden is Managing Director at ChinaConduct, a company specializing in training and coaching European, Chinese, and people from around the globe in EU-China cooperation and communication. As a Belgian/European, Jeanne Boden holds a PhD. in Oriental Languages and Cultures. She spent many years in China studying, conducting research, and working in many contexts and positions all over China, including Hong Kong and Taiwan. Her five! tips to become more culturally competent are: Become aware of the difference between your culture and the Chinese culture; although you should realize that there is no magic wand to do this. Study not only the culture but also the context where your business will take place. Who are the people? Where do they come from? What is the company like? The region that you're doing business... etc. Experience the culture. Here and there. Know the reality. Not only working long distances, but also when you're there. Go out and get lost and learn, and enjoy that experience. Don't be naive about the other culture. It is not that you should either admire or deny it. Cultural differences are always "grey". Connect to people, both when you're there and also when they are here. Interview Links Links that are mentioned in this episode: Website: http://chinaconduct.com Email: info@chinaconduct.com An article about how to "behave" in an international environment can be found here. Want to know more: https://culturematters.com/cultural-muscle-flexing-bush-in-beijing-political-rhetoric/ Build Your Cultural Competence In the Culture Matters podcast, we interview real people with real stories. Every other week, there is a guest with broad international experience and lots of cultural insights. I interview real people with real stories. To subscribe directly using iTunes or Stitcher, Click here, or here (or click any of the images below). How To Get In Touch With Culture Matters I'd love for you to get in touch. There are a couple of ways you can do this: Via this website: Just use the “Ask Your Question” tab on the right of the screen and leave a voicemail Email me at chris.smit@culturematters.com Send me a Tweet: @chrissmit Finally Thank you so much for taking the time to read this far and to listen to my Podcast. I hope you will be back for the next episode of the Culture Matters Podcast! Another article about China and the Chinese can be found here.

Third Culture Kid About This Week's Guest Third Culture Kid with Tayo Rockson The CEO of UYD Media and host of the As Told By Nomads podcast. His three tips to become more culturally competent are: Be curious. Explore what is out there. Explore what you don't know or think you don't know. Travel. By travelling you expand your world like nothing else can. He also suggests to get lost on purpose. This way you will meet and interact with people you otherwise would have never met. Be open-minded. Tayo thinks it is dangerous to think that your way of thinking and judging is the only and absolute way. There are other ways as well. For sure. Interview Links Links that are mentioned in this episode: Email:  tayorockson@uydmag.com Website: http://www.uydmedia.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/tayorockson Build Your Cultural Competence In the Culture Matters podcast, we interview real people with real stories. Every other week there is a guest with broad international experience and lots of cultural insights. I interview real people with real stories. To subscribe directly using iTunes or Stitcher, Click here, or here (or click any of the images below). How To Get In Touch With Culture Matters I'd love for you to get in touch. There are a couple of ways you can do this: Via this website: Just use the “Ask Your Question” tab on the right of the screen and leave a voicemail Email me at chris.smit@culturematters.com Send me a Tweet: @chrissmit Finally Thank you so much for taking the time to read this far, and to listen to my Podcast. I hope you will be back for the next episode of the Culture Matters Podcast! Third Culture Kid on Culture Matters

About This Week's Guest: Sundae Bean Sundae Bean is an executive coach, intercultural specialist, and trainer. She supports organizations by helping their employees and the accompanying families live well and work successfully across cultures – without losing their sense of adventure. She is American by birth, Swiss by marriage, and an expat in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso by choice. Her three tips to become more culturally competent are: Understand what your own cultural values are. You need to understand them first to make sense of what the "other" is doing. Get curious about the other culture(s). Ask yourself if it is really true what you think, feel, see, and/or experience. Make sure you are well-balanced. What I mean by this is that you need to be physically healthy and well rested, because experiencing intense cultural differences can take not only a mental toll but also a physical toll. Interview Links Links that are mentioned in this episode: Website: http://sundaebean.com/ Build Your Cultural Competence In the Culture Matters podcast, we interview real people with real stories. Every other week there is a guest with broad international experience and lots of cultural insights. I interview real people with real stories. To subscribe directly using iTunes or Stitcher, Click here, or here (or click any of the images below). How To Get In Touch With Culture Matters I'd love for you to get in touch. There are a couple of ways you can do this: Via this website: Just use the “Ask Your Question” tab on the right of the screen and leave a voicemail Email me at chris.smit@culturematters.com Send me a Tweet: @chrissmit Finally Thank you so much for taking the time to read this far, and to listen to my Podcast. I hope you will be back for the next episode of the Culture Matters Podcast!

Anna Maria Darmanin About This Week's Guest Anna Maria Darmanin Anna Maria is an entrepreneur, a policy adviser, a sailor, and a University lecturer where she teaches Intercultural Communication. A Maltese, who lives in different places at different times of the year: Belgium, Canary Islands, Sicily, and Malta. Her three tips to become more culturally competent are: Listen, listen, listen; and this is more than hearing. What is the other saying? Do you truly understand what the other actually means? If not, ask. Be more aware of your own culture. Your own culture colors how you see the others. As the Chinese saying goes: "When you and I look at the same river, we both see a different one". Respect the differences you face when communicating interculturally. Interview Links Links that are mentioned in this episode: LinkedIn Twitter Facebook Build Your Cultural Competence In the Culture Matters podcast, we interview real people with real stories. Every other week there is a guest with broad international experience and lots of cultural insights. I interview real people with real stories. To subscribe directly using iTunes or Stitcher, Click here, or here (or click any of the images below). How To Get In Touch With Culture Matters I'd love for you to get in touch. There are a couple of ways you can do this: Via this website: Just use the “Ask Your Question” tab on the right of the screen and leave a voicemail Email me at chris.smit@culturematters.com Send me a Tweet: @chrissmit Finally Thank you so much for taking the time to read this far, and to listen to my Podcast. I hope you will be back for the next episode of the Culture Matters Podcast!

Pricing and Cultural Differences Why Doing Business is Never About the Price Possibly a bold statement, but I still believe it is true: doing business is hardly ever about the price. It is much more about emotions and... about people or the perception that we have of other people. Here we talk about Pricing and Cultural Differences. Many business decisions made are not about the price. They are much more about emotions. And emotions... are culturally motivated. Listen to the podcast and let me know what you think. An article about how to "behave" in an international environment can be found here. Build Your Cultural Competence In the Culture Matters podcast, we interview real people with real stories. Every other week there is a guest with broad international experience and lots of cultural insights. I interview real people with real stories. To subscribe directly using iTunes or Stitcher, Click here, or here (or click any of the images below). How To Get In Touch With Culture Matters I'd love for you to get in touch. There are a couple of ways you can do this: Via this website: Just use the “Ask Your Question” tab on the right of the screen and leave a voicemail Email me at chris.smit@culturematters.com Send me a Tweet: @chrissmit Finally Thank you so much for taking the time to read this far, and to listen to my Podcast. I hope you will be back for the next episode of the Culture Matters Podcast!

Why Culture Plays a Role in Sports About This Week's Guest Susan Salzbrenner Susan Salzbrenner supports multicultural teams, professional athletes, and leaders of today and tomorrow to navigate diverse cultural contexts. In this podcast, she explains the role that culture plays a role in sports. She is an organizational psychologist, consultant, and trainer, focusing on diversity & inclusion, cultural intelligence, and international talent development. She's lived in 6 countries on four continents, has learned (and failed at) many languages, and played a bit of basketball along the way. Her three tips for becoming more culturally competent follow the acronym FIT F: Find new perspectives. Observe stuff that is new to you; actively look for new and unfamiliar things I: Integrate what you have found into your own life and personality T: Trust the process; don't be impatient. It will happen, but might need time. Interview Links Links that are mentioned in this episode: Twitter: @fitaxcultures Website: http://fitacrosscultures.com The book Play Abroad 1-0-1 Build Your Cultural Competence In the Culture Matters podcast, we interview real people with real stories. Every other week, there is a guest with broad international experience and lots of cultural insights. I interview real people with real stories. To subscribe directly using iTunes or Stitcher, Click here, or here (or click any of the images below). How To Get In Touch With Culture Matters I'd love for you to get in touch. There are a couple of ways you can do this: Via this website: Just use the “Ask Your Question” tab on the right of the screen and leave a voicemail Email me at chris.smit@culturematters.com Send me a Tweet: @chrissmit Finally Thank you so much for taking the time to read this far and to listen to my Podcast. I hope you will be back for the next episode of the Culture Matters Podcast! Want to know more: https://culturematters.com/sport-and-culture-why-the-dutch-never-make-it-to-the-finals/ Culture plays a role in sports on Culture Matters.

How Culture and Personality are Intertwined Culture and personality. Where do they fit? How are they mixed together? Is there overlap? Which one dominates? In this short podcast, I'll give you my, non-academic, view on this very interesting topic. I'm curious to hear your feedback, so please do not hesitate to drop me a line. Thank you!   Build Your Cultural Competence In the Culture Matters podcast, we interview real people with real stories. Every other week there is a guest with broad international experience and lots of cultural insights. I interview real people with real stories. To subscribe directly using iTunes or Stitcher, Click here, or here (or click any of the images below). How To Get In Touch With Culture Matters I'd love for you to get in touch. There are a couple of ways you can do this: Via this website: Just use the “Ask Your Question” tab on the right of the screen and leave a voicemail Email me at chris.smit@culturematters.com Send me a Tweet: @chrissmit Finally Thank you so much for taking the time to read this far, and to listen to my Podcast. I hope you will be back for the next episode of the Culture Matters Podcast!

About This Week's Guest Thomas Kessler on culture and M&As Thomas Kessler is Partner and Managing Director of Global PMI Partners and draws on 20 years of experience in Mergers & Acquisitions and particularly in Post Merger Integration. The importance of culture in transactions is one of the essential success factors. Thomas looks at culture beyond being a success factor. In his experience culture should be a key decision factor when acquiring. He will present his view on how companies can incorporate culture during strategic selection and due diligence to ensure they are considering the impact of culture integration in the purchase decision. His three tips for becoming more culturally competent are: Be open and listen actively. Take note of the others' organizational culture; What do you see? What do people talk about? What do they celebrate? etc. Realize that culture is a major success factor when it comes to M&As. There are plenty of success stories (mentioned in the interview), but unfortunately also many failures. Have people on board in your organization that act as "champions"; so other people can see what they do, how they act, and in this way identify themselves with the desired (new) culture. Interview Links Links that are mentioned in this episode: Email:thomas@gpmip.com Telephone: +49 172 255 9788 Build Your Cultural Competence In the Culture Matters podcast, we interview real people with real stories. Every other week there is a guest with broad international experience and lots of cultural insights. I interview real people with real stories. To subscribe directly using iTunes or Stitcher, Click here, or here (or click any of the images below). How To Get In Touch With Culture Matters I'd love for you to get in touch. There are a couple of ways you can do this: Via this website: Just use the “Ask Your Question” tab on the right of the screen and leave a voicemail Email me at chris.smit@culturematters.com Send me a Tweet: @chrissmit Finally Thank you so much for taking the time to read this far, and to listen to my Podcast. I hope you will be back for the next episode of the Culture Matters Podcast!

How to Explain Culture to Kids Kids are no adults. With this, I'm not telling you anything new. So how do you explain culture to kids? Most of the work I do is with adults. All of the work I do is with adults. Except for this one time I had the opportunity to work with Children. I was asked to explain the concept of cultural differences to a group of children ages 6 to 16, from several European countries. I can tell you, it was quite a challenge. But it was a really nice challenge to take up. I learned several things that I will address in this podcast. So have a listen to this podcast where I share my ideas and wrap up with some tips for you if ever you're working with kids and need to explain culture or any other abstract concept. Build Your Cultural Competence In the Culture Matters podcast, we interview real people with real stories. Every other week there is a guest with broad international experience and lots of cultural insights. I interview real people with real stories. To subscribe directly using iTunes or Stitcher, Click here, or here (or click any of the images below). How To Get In Touch With Culture Matters I'd love for you to get in touch. There are a couple of ways you can do this: Via this website: Just use the “Ask Your Question” tab on the right of the screen and leave a voicemail Email me at chris.smit@culturematters.com Send me a Tweet: @chrissmit Finally Thank you so much for taking the time to read this far, and to listen to my Podcast. I hope you will be back for the next episode of the Culture Matters Podcast! More on how to explain culture to kids on this podcast.

About This Week's Guest Christophe Van Gampelaere Christophe Van Gampelaere is the Belgian partner at Global PMI Partners, the only global consultancy focused exclusively on international merger integrations and carve-outs. Christophe Van Gampelaere's three tips for becoming more culturally competent are: Read. Read books from Geert Hofstede Erin Meyer and others when it comes to culture (see the links below). In other words, educate yourself. Know where you are yourself when it comes to cultural differences. Institutionalize culture in the M&A pre-deal negotiations. When you're communicating with different cultures, after the M&A deal has been signed, take into account that different cultures communicate differently and that you should do too. Interview Links Links that are mentioned in this episode: Website: http://gpmip.com Books by professor Geert Hofstede Books by Erin Meyer Build Your Cultural Competence In the Culture Matters podcast, we interview real people with real stories. Every other week there is a guest with broad international experience and lots of cultural insights. I interview real people with real stories. To subscribe directly using iTunes or Stitcher, Click here, or here (or click any of the images below). How To Get In Touch With Culture Matters I'd love for you to get in touch. There are a couple of ways you can do this: Via this website: Just use the “Ask Your Question” tab on the right of the screen and leave a voicemail Email me at chris.smit@culturematters.com Send me a Tweet: @chrissmit Finally Thank you so much for taking the time to read this far, and to listen to my Podcast. I hope you will be back for the next episode of the Culture Matters Podcast!

How to Work with a VA and Cultural Differences Working with a Virtual Assistant (VA) from a different culture is not always easy. In this podcast, I talk about my own experience and how you can benefit from this as well. Overcoming Cultural differences is usually the biggest hurdle to take when it comes to working with a VA. It's not PowerPoint or Dropbox or any other technical platforms that will make or break your relationship with a VA. It's the cultural differences that will. Pay attention to those and things will run smoothly. If you don't things could get a lot rougher. Links in this episode: The Four-Hour Work Week Other books on working with VA's How to work with a virtual assistant Sunder P talks about Get Friday and International VA's [Podcast] Build Your Cultural Competence In the Culture Matters podcast, we interview real people with real stories. Every other week there is a guest with broad international experience and lots of cultural insights. I interview real people with real stories. To subscribe directly using iTunes or Stitcher, Click here, or here (or click any of the images below). How To Get In Touch With Culture Matters I'd love for you to get in touch. There are a couple of ways you can do this: Via this website: Just use the “Ask Your Question” tab on the right of the screen and leave a voicemail Email me at chris.smit@culturematters.com Send me a Tweet: @chrissmit Finally Thank you so much for taking the time to read this far, and to listen to my Podcast. I hope you will be back for the next episode of the Culture Matters Podcast! Work with a VA on Culture Matters