Cross-Cultural Twitter Interview With Donagh Kiernan

Twitter Interviews – #CKinterview

Today’s Cross-Cultural Interview is with Donagh Kiernan.  You can also find Donagh on Twitter: @dkiernan. This is a 2 part interview:

• Part 1 – On this blog we get to know Donagh
• Part 2 – Donagh answers 10 cross-cultural questions on Twitter later today with the hashtag #CKinterview.

The transcript of part 2, the Twitter Interview, is now at the bottom of this post.

Donagh Kiernan is an Irishman who caught the entrepreneurial bug very early on in his career.  He helps businesses go international.  Although he is a key player in the Irish high tech business community, Donagh’s uses his expertise to help businesses in all areas of the world.

Donagh’s blog, Maidsfield, is a great resource giving businesses insights to help find and create international partnerships and develop business in different countries.

Donagh Kiernan – Part 1

Here is the first part of the interview with Donagh – The transcript of the second part of this interview on Twitter is below. You can follow us on Twitter with the hashtag #CKinterview.

Cindy King: Hi Donagh, We were introduced a while back by our mutual friend Niall Devitt and since then we have had several fruitful exchanges. I really appreciate the practical knowledge you have in getting business set up abroad.  It is a real pleasure for me to interview you today and I hope that others serious about developing an international business have a look at your website and follow you on Twitter. For those who don’t know you, can you please tell us something about yourself, where do you come from, where do you live now? What you do in life?

Donagh Kiernan:  Hi Cindy, I’m Irish living in Ireland. I’m from Cavan in the North Midlands of this small country and living in Cork, in the South. I’m married to Richenda with two boys Conor and Ross, aged 12 and almost 10 years old.

I’m a software techie by background and progressed towards the business side in management and sales in my own software business. I started my first software business in 1994 after working for two small software companies developing and selling software product globally. The world got very small for me in my second job as a senior software developer in a small Irish company providing 15 different products in 22 different languages and selling globally.

Today, my business is Maidsfield Associates, providing business development consulting to technology companies wishing to sell internationally. We mostly provide services in sales-side partnerships. That’s Strategic Alliances, OEMs, Sales Channels etc partnerships that bring in revenue.

Cindy King: Have you ever lived abroad?

Donagh Kiernan: I’ve always lived in Ireland but would have spent much time in the US on business trips and attempting as much time as possible in France. On business I have also travelled to UK, Netherlands, Belgium, France, Taiwan, and Singapore.

I like France and get by speaking French. I’m still learning. I like the French insistence on the quality of life.

Cindy King: Is there a story behind your interest in international business?

Donagh Kiernan: I have many stories. I enjoy people and always interested in hearing stories of lifestyles. My sister, Marian, works in the IT Department of a Native American Casino in the US and loved talking to her friends about their people history and way of life today.

I’ll never forget my trip to Taiwan and the friendliness and fantastic work ethic of the people.

Even when on holiday locations I don’t like the tourist areas I want to see and talk to the real people.

Cindy King: How did you pick up your cross-cultural skills?

Donagh Kiernan: For business trips I would prepare by reading about the countries and the customs etc – the do’s and don’ts and from there I was never shy to ask for advice from people I met there to further understand.

Cindy King: Is there anything else about your international background that you’d like to share?

Donagh Kiernan:  My father was born in the US, which from a young age gave me a connection to there, I suppose. I do like the US, fascinating places.

Cindy King: Let’s talk about your blog… how did you come to blog?

Donagh Kiernan: A prominent Blogger and friend, Tom Raftery, introduced me to blogging. It also went well with my thinking on thought leadership strategies.

I’ve been blogging on and off since 2005 and I’ve met more people on Twitter in 2 months there than I have blogging. I do like the combination of the two. It mimics real world networking, but with the world. I do like it.

Cindy King: What do you like about this blog post in particular?

Donagh Kiernan: I have a deep interest in Industry Development of the IT sector in Ireland and in helping people boost their businesses. I’m an Enterprise Ireland (state support organization) Mentor, working with many early stage organizations.

My earlier blogs would have covered things trying to make common sense on some things people were making much too complex – coming to mind what my blog posts on “Seductive Marketing”, drawing in your target client with a series of Yes’s to eventually make them an advocate, an Ideal Client.

Cindy King: Have you found social media helps to connect with an international audience?

Donagh Kiernan: I’m getting better at it. Thanks to Niall Devitt, a great Sales Leadership Consultant and a great guy. I started using Twitter and better structured my blogging routines. I wasn’t getting it out there enough

Cindy King: What other online activities to do you do besides blogging?

Donagh Kiernan: I used LinkedIn heavily for events and Group discussions. Putting on my Industry Development hat, I recently started a LinkedIn Group for “Irish Software CEOs”, to enable CEOs, General Managers, Board Members and Senior Management to share and discuss areas.

We’re currently using it to for a number of events I’m involved in at the end of the month with David Brock of Los Angeles based Partners in Excellence and Niall Devitt, Beyond the Boardroom about Internationalization of Irish Tech Companies.

Twitter is like having the whole world in one room you can converse with anyone and decide to talk about anything. I like meeting people and Twitter is a great place to do this. I didn’t understand this when I started a few months ago. Its very absorbing though and can be very distracting.

Cindy King: Are there any foreign language you would like to learn?

Donagh Kiernan: I would love to learn a number of foreign languages. Get really good at French, possibly Chinese. I did learn some a number of years ago, then maybe Spanish.

Cindy King: Is there any foreign country where you would like to live for a while?

Donagh Kiernan: I would live in most of the countries I visited. We do spend much time in France and want to spend more. I would easily move to the US, China or Singapore for a year or two. Ireland is great though.

Cindy King: Have you come across any cultural stereotypes that bother you, or you find inappropriate?

Donagh Kiernan: I have fun with stereotypes. If we’re to believe that the extreme definition represents the whole cultural group of people. I’m Irish so I’m supposed to love drinking and fighting. It’s a fun image but as in all cultures people have particular traits, the Irish enjoy having fun. There is a certain irreverence to the Irish when it comes to rules. We believe in getting the job done, the method be different but the result is the key point.

I don’t like the extreme definitions and fanatics. They’re closed minded.

Cindy King: Do you have a favorite movie that could help people understand cultural issues?

Donagh Kiernan: Yes, “A Good Year”, a Ridley Scott movie with Russell Crowe, Marion Cotillard and Albert Finney – an English man in France – great movie showing the different focuses on life.

Cindy King: That is a great suggest… Thank you Donagh!  It is great to know more about you.  I can’t wait to get to the second half of the interview on Twitter later today.

Part 2 – The Twitter Interview

This is an interview series of the people I recommend you follow on Twitter for the cross-cultural and international business insights in their tweets.

More Twitter Interviews

• Charmayne Paul – @psitutor
• Lucy Chatburn – @pocketcultures
• Doreen Iannuzzi – @DoreenatDMS
• Donna Jackson – @wisequeen
• Chris Cotter – @CotterHUE
• Jack Yan – @jackyan
• Silvia Cambié – @XCulture
• Bill Ward – @DR4WARD
• Thierry De Baillon – @t_de_baillon
• Seshu – @PicSeshu
• Neil Urquhart – @culturematters
• Klaus & Flavia Westerwelle – @transdomo
• Christian Hoeferle – @hoeferleconsult
• Caroline – @ohh_la_la
• Deborah Swallow – @DeborahSwallow
• Steve Roesler – @steveroesler
• Matthew Bennett – @matthewbennett

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