The Home of Blogs for Culture Vultures

Would you drink fermented mare’s milk with your new potential Mongolian business partners to seal a deal? Or would you politely decline? The answer may come down to the strength of your stomach or your awareness of local etiquette.

Working with people from different cultures is becoming increasingly more common; however it can also give rise to challenges. Thankfully, Erin Meyer has recently published a book that provides a framework on how different cultures across the globe view communication at work.

What can movie trailers teach us about cultural differences in advertising and marketing?

A lot argues interculturalist, Désirée Gergen, in her blog for the Culture Vulture.

Culture impacts almost everything we do - including interior design! 

Being surrounded by other cultures can bring a great deal of benefits: new research has shown that living in a culturally diverse community can even make you smarter!

Global Training Manager, Caroline, gives some insight into an upcoming train-the-trainer course for business professionals looking to become cultural awareness trainers and coaches.

Russians have a reputation for being loud and rowdy tourists when they travel abroad. However, this might soon be a thing of the past as an Italian hotel owner has created an etiquette guide for Russians who are visiting Italy this summer to try and temper their 'uncouth' ways.

If you work cross-culturally, whether abroad or at home, chances are you have found yourself in a situation whereby you find yourself a little lost with the way people work and/or behave.

Sometimes, this comes down to culture - i.e. differences in values and how this translates into the way someone carries themselves at work.

On our blog we love to look at different takes on cultural differences. Understanding culture and how it impacts your business isnt just about dos and dont's. It is SO much more and this little piece on culture and security highlights nicely how culture impacts pretty much everything we do from handshakes to security fences.

Recently, expert on global leadership, Erin Meyer, published a new book that aims to help managers lead global teams. By using an eight-scale framework, team leaders can guide their teams to a more effective method of working.

It was all over the news, on the radio, on TV all day, finally…. the World Cup has started!

Football is an excellent example demonstrating how culture impacts life and business.

For instance, it shows how diversity is a value-add and what a foreigner can bring to another cultural environment.

According to new research, the cultural divide between the West and the East can be explained by the type of farming methods used between the regions. As rice requires more human labour, researchers say it’s no wonder that people in the East are more interdependent.

In 2001, the UN General Assembly declared May 21st to the World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development due to UNESCO’s Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity in the same year. This day is dedicated to enhance our understanding of values of cultural divergence and raise awareness for cultural differences for a better collaboration around the world.

Recent studies on facial expressions have destroyed any suggestions that facial expressions convey the same emotions or meanings all over the world.

Easter is nearly upon us and will be celebrated across the world! Here in the UK we have seen chocolate eggs of all sorts on our market shelves for weeks. However, Easter is not celebrated the same way everywhere in the world. Some countries have their own traditions and some, believe it or not, dont have chocolate eggs!

I'm really happy to announce the release of some new soft-skills DVDs which we think you'll soon be passing around the office. These DVDs have been added due to customer demand and we have a great choice now covering a range of topics from customer service to management to listening skills.

Are you going on a business trip and wondering about the cultural etiquette of the country? Are you working with international counterparts from a specific country and encountering some issues related to communication, relationship building or management?  

All eyes on Brazil!

The country is the fifth largest economy in the world and covers over nearly half of the South American continent.

With a whopping population of over 200,000,000 it is home to some of the most world renowned tourism attractions and is oozing with cultural magnificence and multiculturalism!

Chances are you have been to an airport at least once in your life: thus, the fact that airports can be characterised as culturally diverse places is probably nothing new to you. Of course, airport staff should be prepared to cope with people from all over the world. But how should they handle all these different cultures?

In January 2014 I participated at the event ‘Doing Business in Germany’ hosted by UKTI (UK Trade & Investment) in Bristol. This event was held due to the upcoming German trade fair Hannover Messe and CeBIT to enable UK businesses to see the export opportunities available.