What does it take to be successful in multicultural business? How do you learn to be thoughtful and sensitive about traditions and customs held by other cultures? Maybe you’ve never thought about the coaching opportunities that exist in other countries, or what that might look like. Today’s show gives you a glimpse into the world of global coaching with someone who has great tips and insights from her interesting and valuable perspective.
Alexandria Hilton is the owner and CEO of Eurous Global Leadership Group, LLC, which is based in the San Francisco Bay area. She’s a global leadership coach, consultant, executive advisor, and conference speaker. The International Coach Federation recognizes Alexandria as a Master Certified Coach, their highest honor. Alexandria specializes in global leadership development, executive coaching, corporate leadership, and communications training. She helps leaders develop and leverage high-performance leadership skills to become inspiring, transformational leaders who bring bold, innovative initiatives and shifts to their teams and company culture.
Show Highlights:
- What brought Alexandria into the coaching world as she trained leaders all over North America
- How she was born into the human potential movement and learned discipline and recovery as a lifetime endurance athlete
- Why she kept her Bay area business going while raising her daughter as a single mom, but then moved into global work
- How she grew up with immigrant grandparents from Switzerland, was exposed to European culture, and became fascinated with other cultures
- Why her coaching business is based on relationships and her affiliate team
- How it took two years to establish the global leadership market of affiliates around the world
- Learning to respect cultures, religions, traditions, and languages
- Tips for building a multicultural coaching business:
- Always be curious, but don’t assume you know everything
- Get outside the “Ameri-central” mindset
- Know the religions of the country
- Learn proper greetings for religious holidays
- Adjust your pace of speech for those with whom English is not a native language
- How others around the world view America: they are very aware of US and global politics and are respectfully curious and frightened
- How to put the best foot forward in multicultural work
- How even something as simple as where you sit when you enter a room can be a faux pas in Asian cultures
- Coaching people while respecting their culture—with trust-building and rapport-building
- Alexandria’s work in helping clients adapt and honor other cultures
- A personal experience of Alexandria’s of a challenging interaction with a colleague about white privilege
- Why we need to teach our clients to pay attention to other cultures and balance “getting the job done” with knowing the other person
- How to take cues from the other person as far as how they do business and how relationships are formed BEFORE the deal is made
Resources:
Email Alexandria: Alexandria Hilton Eurous Global