| Lectures Are you in search of a speaker who can
make sense of human behaviour in organized life? One who is good at making
things as simple as they can possibly be made, but no simpler? One who
can make sense of the latest hypes but is not swept away by them?
You could try me. I like to create tailor-made presentations or
training sessions. I can be serious or playful. I can also listen to and
discuss with your people.
Some special topics are in the links, some general considerations are
presented below.
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Languages in which I can deliver talks and discuss: dansk, deutsch, english, français, nederlands. |
Experience
Over the last years I have advised or trained various companies, a.o.
Alcatel-Lucent, BP, Deutsche Telekom, GITP, Kroymans
Corporation, Oranjewoud, Procter & Gamble, Rabobank, RijkZwaan, Swis
Reinsurance, Vos Logistics. I have held invited lectures at many events
for companies and universities in various
countries: Belgium, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands,
Norway, Poland, Portugal,
Romania, Saudi Arabia, Scotland, Singapore, Slovenia, Switzerland, USA.
I have discussed with expatriates, immigrants,
managers, politicians, professionals, students, and even with
scientists. |
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Companies have a tendency to ask me, not for hearing
how many challenges are posed by cross-cultural collaboration, but for pep
talks about how fantastic cross-cultural teams are.
I can do those, but they will be tongue-in-cheek.
'Celebrating diversity' sounds great but real diversity is hard to cope
with. Cross-cultural teams
are a bit like marriage: getting married is great, but honeymoon can be a
shock and coping with families-in-law can be
hard...though the harder the battle, the sweeter the victory.
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Diversity
Diversity is a fashionable topic. It is usually used
in the sense of individual differences. Yes, everyone is different - but not
only at the individual level. There are also differences at group level.
Identity
First, there can be differences in group identity. This is about the
group labels that people attribute to themselves, e.g. religious, national,
or gender-based identities. Group identity is what you think you are. All
groups like to think that they are somehow more moral or smarter
than others.
Culture
Then, there are differences in culture.
Most people are not aware of these, but they play a role in all social
situations. People are very much aware of their identity - but they do not
know their culture. Culture is the unwritten rules of the social
game of a group. We all act with an accent - that is our culture. |
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Working with foreigners
Are you having trouble with foreigners? Too bad, because wherever you
are from, most other people are foreigners to you. In today's world you need to
be able to work with them. I can help you understand how you differ
from them and what you have in common. That will be good for business, for
negotiations, even for conflicts. Topics that are especially
troublesome across cultural boundaries are: leadership, incentives, rewards,
and teamwork. Why do collaborations and
mergers fail? If you happen to think that it's nothing to do with culture
then you are wrong - and unlikely to be proven so because you can always
blame something else. If you think that culture is never the only cause then
I agree. |