TWM 181: How Cultural Differences Can Affect International Business Negotiations w/ Dean Foster



(Length: 33 minutes)

Dean Foster is a cross-cultural business expert, intercultural training consultant, author, speaker, and the Founder & Principal at Dean Foster Global Cultures, a training and coaching company focused on cultural competencies and agilities.

Based in New York City, Dean has played a central role in the development of the field of cross-cultural training and consulting.  He has worked with most major Fortune 500 companies, national governments and NGOs. His work has taken him to more than 100 countries around the world, and to every continent – including Antarctica. He believes that living in the 21st century means experiencing cultural complexity every day, allowing it to transform our travel, our work, our holidays, our relationships – in short, our very being – if we are to become the global citizens we need to be.

Besides his consulting work, Dean is on the faculty of the American University’s Intercultural Management Institute in Washington, D.C. He has also taught at other premier institutions, including Harvard Business School, Columbia University School of Business, New York University, and Darden Business School. He’s a frequent contributor on the topic of culture, global work, and social issues for major media outlets such as CNN, CNBC, the BBC, Newsweek, USA Today, and The New York Times.

Dean is the author of five books, including Bargaining Across Borders, which was voted one of the top 10 business books of the year by the American Library Association. And he is the co-host of Oops, Your Culture Is Showing! – a podcast that explores global cultures and issues around cross-cultural communication.

 

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Note: this interview was recorded at the very beginning of March 2020, just before the spread of COVID-19 caused international travel to be suspended. Still, as corporate executives are forced to move their international business meetings into the virtual realm, and companies rely entirely on digital channels for their global business communications, cultural differences in communication require as much attention as ever.

– Kathrin Bussmann

 

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