Cultural Friction

Brendan Thomas Quinn
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  • Management
  • Updated Semiweekly

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. 6d ago

    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.

  2. Jul 31

    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.

  3. Jul 27

    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.

  4. Jul 20

    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.

  5. Jul 13

    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.

  6. Jul 6

    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.

  • 6 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
    6
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Cultural Friction
  • Show Website
    Cultural Friction