Cultural Friction

Brendan Thomas Quinn
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  • Management
  • Updated twice weekly

Cultural Friction is a podcast for managers and executives who lead international, multicultural teams — and want fewer miscommunications, misunderstandings, and conflict getting in the way of good work. Each episode breaks down a real workplace friction point in 20 minutes or less: what's really going on beneath the surface, why it happens across cultures, and what to do about it. No theory for its own sake — practical fixes you can use with your team today. Hosted by Brendan Thomas Quinn, a cross-cultural consultant based in Barcelona with 25+ years of intercultural experience, including nine years leading NGOs in West Africa. Brendan helps international organisations reduce cultural friction through cross-cultural training, workshops, coaching, and advisory, and lectures in Cross-Cultural Communication at SBS Swiss Business School. If your teams span cultures, time zones, or both, this show is for you. Learn more, read the show notes, or work with Brendan: https://brendanthomasquinn.com

Episodes

  1. 5 days ago

    What is Cultural Friction

    What Is Cultural Friction? (And Why Nationality Is Only the Start) A manager gives quick, clear feedback, and the person who gets it goes quiet for two weeks. A team leaves a meeting, and half of them think a decision was made. Nobody did anything wrong, and something still got lost. That’s cultural friction. Nine episodes in, Brendan Thomas Quinn explains the idea behind the show. Brendan is a cross-cultural consultant and trainer based in Barcelona. He runs cross-cultural communication workshops, multicultural team training and leadership coaching for international teams. In this episode we follow Anna, a product team leader, and Daniel, one of her analysts. Three sentences of feedback mean one thing to her and something very different to him. Cultural friction is the performance cost that builds up when people from different cultural backgrounds work together without a shared way of working. In this episode we look at: why friction is quiet, not a culture clash, and why that makes it expensive;the signs to listen for in your own team, including the meeting after the meeting;why nationality is the foundation of how we work, and experience builds on top of it;what a review of 558 studies found: around 80% of the difference in work values is inside countries, not between them;how the Cross-Cultural Assessment (CAT) shows how each person really works, whatever their nationality;three things to try with your team on Monday morning.Every multicultural team has cultural friction. The question is whether we can work with it. CHAPTERS 00:00 Cold open 00:55 Introduction 01:40 What is cultural friction? 04:45 Why it’s so easy to miss 06:50 Where our rules come from: nationality and experience 11:10 The Cross-Cultural Assessment (CAT) 13:25 Where friction shows up: communication, authority and trust 14:45 Three things to do on Monday morning 17:05 To finish WORK WITH BRENDAN Working with cultural friction is a leadership skill, and it can be learned. Brendan works with leaders and international teams through: Cross-cultural workshops for multicultural teams, delivered online, in Barcelona or at your office.The BASIS Leadership Programme, one-to-one leadership training for team leaders, managers and CEOs.Advisory and coaching for leaders managing diverse, international teams.Find out more at https://brendanthomasquinn.com BASIS Leadership Programme: https://brendanthomasquinn.com/leadership-programme/?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=shownotes&utm_campaign=cf-what-is-cultural-friction Try the free Cross-Cultural Assessment and get a picture of your own working style: https://brendanthomasquinn.com/cross-cultural-assessment/ Read the full article: https://brendanthomasquinn.com/cultural-friction-international-teams/ Subscribe to the Cultural Friction newsletter: https://brendanthomasquinn.com/cultural-friction/ Follow the show wherever you’re listening so you don’t miss the next episode. Music by Denis Pavlov / DPmusic via Pixabay SOURCES Edmondson, A. C. (1999). Psychological safety and learning behavior in work teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44(2), 350–383.Hong, Y., Morris, M. W., Chiu, C. & Benet-Martínez, V. (2000). Multicultural minds: A dynamic constructivist approach to culture and cognition. American Psychologist, 55(7), 709–720.House, R. J., Dorfman, P. W., Javidan, M., Hanges, P. J. & Sully de Luque, M. F. (2014). Strategic Leadership Across Cultures: The GLOBE Study of CEO Leadership Behavior and Effectiveness in 24 Countries. SAGE.Leung, K. & Morris, M. W. (2015). Values, schemas, and norms in the culture-behavior nexus. Journal of International Business Studies, 46(9), 1028–1050.Stahl, G. K., Maznevski, M. L., Voigt, A. & Jonsen, K. (2010). Unraveling the effects of cultural diversity in teams: A meta-analysis of research on multicultural work groups. Journal of International Business Studies, 41(4), 690–709.Taras, V., Steel, P. & Kirkman, B. L. (2016). Does country equate with culture? Beyond geography in the search for cultural boundaries. Management International Review, 56(4), 455–487.Vora, D., Martin, L., Fitzsimmons, S. R., Pekerti, A. A., Lakshman, C. & Raheem, S. (2019). Multiculturalism within individuals: A review, critique, and agenda for future research. Journal of International Business Studies, 50(4), 499–524.Cultural Friction is hosted by Brendan Thomas Quinn who works with leaders and teams navigating cultural friction within teams that work together or are dispersed around the world — as an advisor, coach, and workshop facilitator, and as Adjunct Lecturer on an International Business Masters programme teaching Cross-Cultural Communication, Cultural Friction brings that same real-world, research-backed approach to your ears in 20 minutes. Enjoying the show? A quick rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify genuinely helps other leaders find it. And, if you have comments or would like to suggest future topics to be discussed, let us know, we'd love to hear from you.

  2. 13 Oct

    Promotion Bias

    You have two strong candidates for one team lead role. You promote the one who speaks up and asks for it. Eight months later, the other one resigns. Mark speaks in every meeting, talks about his results and has asked twice about the next step. Sofia speaks less, notices what everyone else missed, and is the person her colleagues go to when they’re stuck. She has never asked about promotion. We promote Mark. It feels like an easy decision. In this episode, Brendan Thomas Quinn explains promotion bias in multicultural teams. He covers why we trust people who remind us of ourselves, how confidence in the working language gets mistaken for ability, and how individualist, collectivist and high power distance work cultures teach people different rules for showing good work. He also looks at what promotion bias costs the business over the following year, and gives four moves to make your next promotion decision fairer. The person who waits to be asked still wants the role. CHAPTERS 00:00 Cold open: one role, two strong people 00:45 Intro and today’s themes 01:45 The friction: Mark, Sofia and the promotion decision 07:00 Reason one: we trust what feels familiar (affinity bias) 08:30 Reason two: confidence is easy to mistake for ability 09:45 Reason three: different rules for showing good work 11:45 What we were missing, and what it costs 13:00 Move one: define the role before we look at the people 14:15 Move two: collect evidence from outside the meeting room 15:30 Move three: ask about ambition directly, and in private 16:45 Move four: check our own pattern, and get a second view 18:00 The one thing THE BASIS LEADERSHIP PROGRAMME Seeing people clearly when they work differently from you is a leadership skill, and it can be learned. The BASIS Leadership Programme is leadership training for team leaders, managers and CEOs, built for real teams where people come from different backgrounds. It’s one-to-one, online, in Barcelona or at your office. https://brendanthomasquinn.com/leadership-programme/?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=shownotes&utm_campaign=cf-promotion-bias LINKS Episode page: https://brendanthomasquinn.com/cultural-friction-podcast/promotion-bias/ Full article: https://brendanthomasquinn.com/promotion-bias-multicultural-teams/ Cultural Friction newsletter: https://brendanthomasquinn.com/cultural-friction/ If you don’t want to miss the next episode, follow the show wherever you’re listening. Music by Denis Pavlov / DPmusic via Pixabay SOURCES Kanter, R. M. (1977). Men and Women of the Corporation. Basic Books.Rivera, L. A. (2012). Hiring as Cultural Matching: The Case of Elite Professional Service Firms. American Sociological Review, 77(6), 999–1022.Neeley, T. B. (2013). Language Matters: Status Loss and Achieved Status Distinctions in Global Organizations. Organization Science, 24(2), 476–497.House, R. J., Hanges, P. J., Javidan, M., Dorfman, P. W. & Gupta, V. (2004). Culture, Leadership, and Organizations: The GLOBE Study of 62 Societies. Sage.Hofstede, G., Hofstede, G. J. & Minkov, M. (2010). Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind. McGraw-Hill.Cultural Friction is hosted by Brendan Thomas Quinn who works with leaders and teams navigating cultural friction within teams that work together or are dispersed around the world — as an advisor, coach, and workshop facilitator, and as Adjunct Lecturer on an International Business Masters programme teaching Cross-Cultural Communication, Cultural Friction brings that same real-world, research-backed approach to your ears in 20 minutes. Enjoying the show? A quick rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify genuinely helps other leaders find it. And, if you have comments or would like to suggest future topics to be discussed, let us know, we'd love to hear from you.

  3. 2 Oct

    The Local Team Knew

    The Local Team Knew the Deal Wouldn't Work Head office makes a confident decision. A new market, a price and a partner. The regional team can see straight away that it won't work in their market. Either nobody asks them, or they say so once and nothing changes. Five months later the launch has failed, and it turns out the people in that market knew from the start. Meet Daniel, a commercial director at head office who's good at his job, and Ana, who has run the regional office for six years. Ana sees the plan for the first time on a call two weeks before launch. She knows the price is too high, the partner has a bad name locally, and the launch date falls in the quietest month of the year. She raises it in the clearest way she can in that room. Daniel hears a small detail and parks it. Neither of them is wrong, given what each of them knew. We look at why the company pays for a failure like this twice, and at the two reasons the knowledge never reaches the decision. First, where the decision rights sit: decisions are made at the centre, and there's no real way for what the region knows to travel up in time. Second, power distance: telling head office plainly that its plan won't work carries a real cost, so most people say it once, carefully, and then stop. Then what we can do about it, in two halves. First, when we ask and how we ask: bring the region in before the decision, and ask the people who know specific questions. Second, what happens to the answer: make it safe to disagree, and tell people what happened to their input, even when we decided differently. The company had the answer the whole time. It just never reached the people making the decision. IN THIS EPISODE (0:00) The local team knew from the start (0:40) Today's problem (1:00) Daniel, Ana and the launch call (3:50) What each of them understood (5:20) Why the company pays twice (6:40) Reason one: where the decision rights sit (8:20) Reason two: power distance (9:55) Why Ana said it once, softly, and then stopped (12:15) What to do, part one: when we ask and how we ask (15:20) What to do, part two: what happens to the answer (18:15) THE ONE THING (18:55) Work with Brendan WORK WITH BRENDAN If regional initiatives keep failing for reasons your local teams saw coming, that's exactly the kind of thing I work through one-to-one with leaders: advisory, coaching and workshops. You can find out more about the work I do at brendanthomasquinn.com, and you can also find me on LinkedIn. If you don't want to miss the next episode, hit subscribe wherever you're listening. MUSIC Music by Denis Pavlov / DPmusic via Pixabay SOURCES Bartlett, C. A. & Ghoshal, S. (1989). Managing Across Borders: The Transnational Solution. Harvard Business School Press. Detert, J. R. & Edmondson, A. C. (2011). Implicit Voice Theories: Taken-for-Granted Rules of Self-Censorship at Work. Academy of Management Journal, 54(3), 461–488. Browaeys, M.-J. & Price, R. (2019). Understanding Cross-Cultural Management. Pearson. Hofstede, G., Hofstede, G. J. & Minkov, M. (2010). Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind. McGraw-Hill. Chapter times are approximate. Cultural Friction is hosted by Brendan Thomas Quinn who works with leaders and teams navigating cultural friction within teams that work together or are dispersed around the world — as an advisor, coach, and workshop facilitator, and as Adjunct Lecturer on an International Business Masters programme teaching Cross-Cultural Communication, Cultural Friction brings that same real-world, research-backed approach to your ears in 20 minutes. Enjoying the show? A quick rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify genuinely helps other leaders find it. And, if you have comments or would like to suggest future topics to be discussed, let us know, we'd love to hear from you.

  4. 3 Sept

    The Local Hire Quits

    Why Our Best Regional Hire Leaves Sooner Than We Think We hired well. It took them the best part of a year to find their feet — and then, just as they got good, they resigned. The exit interview said "a better opportunity," so it went in the file under money. It usually wasn't money. This episode is about the person every international team has: the one who ends up as the bridge between head office and the local team. They're the one we ring before a difficult call. The one who explains each side to the other and quietly sorts out the misunderstandings, usually before we've noticed there was anything to sort out. None of it is in their job description, and none of it is in their review. We look at the two forces that push that person out, neither of which gets measured anywhere. First, the second, unwritten job they're doing — what researchers call cultural brokerage — where the only reward for being good at the bridge is more bridging. Second, the small signals that tell someone they belong: asked first, copied in, credited by name, hearing the news when everyone else does. Those signals rarely reach the person furthest from head office, and nobody withholds them on purpose. Put the two together and the person carrying the most is the person feeling the least secure. Then a recruiter calls, and the pitch isn't more money — it's someone finally giving the work a name. Then four things we can do about it this week, none of which costs anything: name the bridge work and count it, share the load, fix the belonging signals on purpose, and check in early and regularly rather than finding out in the exit interview. The people most worth keeping are the least likely to complain. IN THIS EPISODE (0:00) We hired well — and four months after they got good, they resigned (1:00) Today's problem (1:15) The person who became the bridge between head office and the region (3:30) What it really costs us when they leave (5:00) Reason one: the second job nobody wrote down (8:00) Reason two: the belonging signals that don't reach them (10:30) Why the two combine — and why the recruiter's pitch works (12:00) Move one: name the bridge work, and count it (13:15) Move two: share the load (14:30) Move three: fix the belonging signals on purpose (15:45) Move four: check in early and regularly (17:00) THE ONE THING (17:45) Work with Brendan WORK WITH BRENDAN If this is a live issue for your team right now, that's exactly the kind of thing I work through one-to-one with leaders — advisory, coaching and workshops. You can find out more about the work I do at brendanthomasquinn.com, and you can also find me on LinkedIn. If you don't want to miss the next episode, hit subscribe wherever you're listening. MUSIC Music by Denis Pavlov / DPmusic via Pixabay SOURCES Coyle, D. (2018). The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups. Bantam. Molinsky, A. (2013). Global Dexterity: How to Adapt Your Behavior Across Cultures Without Losing Yourself in the Process. Harvard Business Review Press. Jang, S. (2017). Cultural Brokerage and Creative Performance in Multicultural Teams. Organization Science, 28(6), 993–1009. Source article: brendanthomasquinn.com/retaining-international-hires-multicultural-teams/ Cultural Friction is hosted by Brendan Thomas Quinn who works with leaders and teams navigating cultural friction within teams that work together or are dispersed around the world — as an advisor, coach, and workshop facilitator, and as Adjunct Lecturer on an International Business Masters programme teaching Cross-Cultural Communication, Cultural Friction brings that same real-world, research-backed approach to your ears in 20 minutes. Enjoying the show? A quick rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify genuinely helps other leaders find it. And, if you have comments or would like to suggest future topics to be discussed, let us know, we'd love to hear from you.

  5. 31 Jul

    One Merger, Two Cultures

    Two Companies Merged. Two Cultures Didn't. The deal closed. The org chart was redrawn. On paper, two companies became one. So why, eighteen months on, are there still two of everything — two systems, two chat channels, two sets of people who quietly stick to their own side? In this episode we look at why so many mergers stall without anyone noticing, and why "we're one company now" so often isn't true. A merger isn't one team with a mix of people in it — it's two whole teams pushed together, each arriving complete with its own tools, habits and trusted colleagues. So they sit side by side instead of becoming one. It's a quiet stall that costs real money, and it won't close on its own. You'll get four practical, structural moves to weaken the divide — plus the one idea to take away: we don't get rid of a divide by pretending it isn't there; we weaken it by building things that cross it. Cultural Friction with Brendan Thomas Quinn — twenty minutes, one real problem, and what we can actually do about it. If this is live on your team, find out more at brendanthomasquinn.com, and subscribe so you don't miss the next episode. Cultural Friction is hosted by Brendan Thomas Quinn who works with leaders and teams navigating cultural friction within teams that work together or are dispersed around the world — as an advisor, coach, and workshop facilitator, and as Adjunct Lecturer on an International Business Masters programme teaching Cross-Cultural Communication, Cultural Friction brings that same real-world, research-backed approach to your ears in 20 minutes. Enjoying the show? A quick rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify genuinely helps other leaders find it. And, if you have comments or would like to suggest future topics to be discussed, let us know, we'd love to hear from you.

  6. 27 Jul

    Sophisticated Stereotypes

    Cultural stereotypes at work rarely arrive as prejudice. They arrive as preparation — and that's exactly what makes them so hard to spot. You did the reading. A new colleague was joining from a region you hadn't worked with much, so you learned what to expect and adjusted: softened your delivery, slowed the meeting down, held back the direct question. Then you met them, and none of it fit. The careful accommodation you'd built landed as hesitancy, and it took weeks to work out what had gone wrong. The guide wasn't lying to you. It was describing an average. You were dealing with a person. This episode unpicks why even the most diligent, well-prepared leaders walk into this — and what to do instead: What cultural frameworks actually measure — populations, not the person in your Tuesday meetingThe ecological fallacy, and why the variation within any country dwarfs the gap between countries"Sophisticated stereotyping" — why a stereotype built from real research is harder to shake than a crude one, because we defend it instead of dropping itFour moves you can start this week: hold the framework as a hypothesis not a conclusion, ask people directly how they like to work, widen the explanations you reach for before culture, and update fast — out loudThe frameworks earn their place when they make you curious. They cost you when they make you certain. — If cultural friction is a live issue for your team right now, that's exactly the kind of thing I work through with leaders one-to-one — advisory, coaching and workshops. Find out more at brendanthomasquinn.com. New here? Hit follow so you don't miss the next episode. References: Osland & Bird (2000), "Beyond Sophisticated Stereotyping"; Hofstede, Hofstede & Minkov (2010), Cultures and Organisations; Gerhart & Fang (2005); Robinson (1950); Meyer (2014), The Culture Map. Cultural Friction is hosted by Brendan Thomas Quinn who works with leaders and teams navigating cultural friction within teams that work together or are dispersed around the world — as an advisor, coach, and workshop facilitator, and as Adjunct Lecturer on an International Business Masters programme teaching Cross-Cultural Communication, Cultural Friction brings that same real-world, research-backed approach to your ears in 20 minutes. Enjoying the show? A quick rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify genuinely helps other leaders find it. And, if you have comments or would like to suggest future topics to be discussed, let us know, we'd love to hear from you.

  7. 20 Jul

    Rules or Suggestions

    You wrote the process down. Everyone agreed to it. And still — half your team follows it to the letter while the other half treats it as a helpful suggestion, and both sides are quietly deciding the other lot are the problem. This episode is about why. Meet Claire and two of her best people: Kenji in Osaka, who follows every step every time, and Rafa in São Paulo, who skips the review to rescue a client in a panic. Both are doing their honest best. Both are certain they're the sensible one — and the trust between them is quietly draining away. Drawing on Michele Gelfand's research into "tight" and "loose" cultures, we unpick why the same rule reads as a binding promise to one person and a sensible default to another, why enforcing harder (or relaxing everything) both backfire, and four moves you can start this week to turn the divide from a fault line into a real strength. It looks like a discipline problem. It almost never is. Here's what to build instead. Work with Brendan: If this is a live issue for your team right now, it's exactly the kind of thing I work through one-to-one with leaders — advisory, coaching and workshops. More at https://brendanthomasquinn.com Subscribe so you don't miss the next episode. Music by Denis Pavlov / DPmusic via Pixabay. Sources: Gelfand et al., Differences Between Tight and Loose Cultures: A 33-Nation Study (2011) · Gelfand, Rule Makers, Rule Breakers (2018) Cultural Friction is hosted by Brendan Thomas Quinn who works with leaders and teams navigating cultural friction within teams that work together or are dispersed around the world — as an advisor, coach, and workshop facilitator, and as Adjunct Lecturer on an International Business Masters programme teaching Cross-Cultural Communication, Cultural Friction brings that same real-world, research-backed approach to your ears in 20 minutes. Enjoying the show? A quick rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify genuinely helps other leaders find it. And, if you have comments or would like to suggest future topics to be discussed, let us know, we'd love to hear from you.

  8. 13 Jul

    You Said Your Door Was Open

    You say your door is always open. You ask "any concerns?" at the end of every meeting. And still, the bad news reaches you late — from the very people who smiled and said "all good." This episode is about why. Meet Priya, a project lead in Singapore who warned her London manager about a doomed deadline three weeks early — and watched him miss it completely, because her warning didn't sound like a warning to him. Neither of them did anything wrong. The project failed anyway. We unpack the two forces behind almost every "why did nobody tell me?" moment: the emperor problem (the higher you sit, the less you hear) and power distance (why correcting the boss costs some of your people far more than others — a price they feel through their own cultural norms, whether or not it's real on your team). Then, four simple moves you can start this week to make honest feedback cheap enough for everyone on your team to afford — not just the loud ones. An open door removes a barrier. It doesn't remove the risk. Here's what to build instead. Work with Brendan: If this is a live issue for your team right now, it's exactly the kind of thing I work through one-to-one with leaders — advisory, coaching and workshops. More at https://brendanthomasquinn.com Subscribe so you don't miss the next episode. Music by Denis Pavlov / DPmusic via Pixabay. Sources: Hastings & Meyer, No Rules Rules (2020) · Hofstede et al., Cultures and Organisations (2010) · Meyer, The Culture Map (2014) Cultural Friction is hosted by Brendan Thomas Quinn who works with leaders and teams navigating cultural friction within teams that work together or are dispersed around the world — as an advisor, coach, and workshop facilitator, and as Adjunct Lecturer on an International Business Masters programme teaching Cross-Cultural Communication, Cultural Friction brings that same real-world, research-backed approach to your ears in 20 minutes. Enjoying the show? A quick rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify genuinely helps other leaders find it. And, if you have comments or would like to suggest future topics to be discussed, let us know, we'd love to hear from you.

  9. 6 Jul

    Your Team Trusted Each Other on Day One. Here's Why That Won't Last.

    New international teams often feel easy at first — warm, generous, quick to assume good intent. That goodwill is called "swift trust," and it's provisional by nature. If it isn't reinforced, it quietly decays, usually around month two or three. In this episode: what swift trust is, why dispersed and multicultural teams are especially vulnerable to losing it, and four concrete things you can do to actively reinforce it before it drains away. IN THIS EPISODE (1:00) The friction: why the warmth on a new international team quietly cools by month two or three (6:30) Why it happens: "swift trust" — trust extended on credit, before there's evidence to back it (6:30) How high-context vs. low-context communication styles get misread as something's wrong (6:30) The hidden language-fluency dynamic that silently erodes trust in meetings (12:30) What to do #1: front-load face-to-face contact — even one early meeting outweighs months of calls (12:30) What to do #2: don't let silence get filled in by assumption — ask, don't infer (12:30) What to do #3: watch the fluency dynamic specifically — quiet in meetings is rarely a lack of ideas (12:30) What to do #4: name the pattern to your team directly — it removes the mystery and the anxiety (18:00) The one thing: trust is a loan, not a milestone — your job is to actively repay it "Swift trust is trust extended on credit. Like any credit, it has to be repaid — and in dispersed teams, the moments that would normally repay it are often the ones missing." THIS WEEK'S QUESTION Where has your team's trust actually been reinforced since month one — and where has it just been assumed? WORK WITH BRENDAN If trust on your team feels harder to hold onto than it used to — that's exactly the kind of dynamic I work through with leaders one-to-one. Find out more or book a conversation at brendanthomasquinn.com SOURCES REFERENCED Crisp, C. B. & Jarvenpaa, S. L. (2013). Swift trust in global virtual teams: trusting beliefs and normative actions. Journal of Personnel Psychology. Jarvenpaa, S. L. & Leidner, D. E. (1999). Communication and trust in global virtual teams. Organization Science. Gibson, C. B. & Manuel, J. A. (2003). Building trust: effective multicultural communication processes in virtual teams. In Gibson & Cohen (Eds.), Virtual Teams That Work. Jossey-Bass. Tenzer, H., Pudelko, M. & Harzing, A-W. (2014). The impact of language barriers on trust formation in multinational teams. Journal of International Business Studies. Subscribe to the newsletter: brendanthomasquinn.com/cultural-friction Cultural Friction is hosted by Brendan Thomas Quinn who works with leaders and teams navigating cultural friction within teams that work together or are dispersed around the world — as an advisor, coach, and workshop facilitator, and as Adjunct Lecturer on an International Business Masters programme teaching Cross-Cultural Communication, Cultural Friction brings that same real-world, research-backed approach to your ears in 20 minutes. Enjoying the show? A quick rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify genuinely helps other leaders find it. And, if you have comments or would like to suggest future topics to be discussed, let us know, we'd love to hear from you.

  • 9 Episodes

About

Cultural Friction is a podcast for managers and executives who lead international, multicultural teams — and want fewer miscommunications, misunderstandings, and conflict getting in the way of good work. Each episode breaks down a real workplace friction point in 20 minutes or less: what's really going on beneath the surface, why it happens across cultures, and what to do about it. No theory for its own sake — practical fixes you can use with your team today. Hosted by Brendan Thomas Quinn, a cross-cultural consultant based in Barcelona with 25+ years of intercultural experience, including nine years leading NGOs in West Africa. Brendan helps international organisations reduce cultural friction through cross-cultural training, workshops, coaching, and advisory, and lectures in Cross-Cultural Communication at SBS Swiss Business School. If your teams span cultures, time zones, or both, this show is for you. Learn more, read the show notes, or work with Brendan: https://brendanthomasquinn.com

Information

  • Creator
    Brendan Thomas Quinn
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    9
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Cultural Friction
  • Show Website
    Cultural Friction