Cross-Cultural Twitter Interview With Neil Urquhart

Twitter Interviews – #CKinterview

Today’s Cross-Cultural Interview is with Neil Urquhart.  You can also find them on Twitter: @culturematters. This is a 2 part interview:

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

Neil Urquhart is an expert in cross-culture communication.  In fact, his profession is teaching people the skills they need to communicate in new cultural environments.

I have had the pleasure of several long conversations with Neil during which I have come to really appreciate the depth of this cross-cultural expertise.

Neil often travels to meet his clients, so I feel lucky to catch him in between his busy schedule to have the Twitter Interview with him later today.

Have a look at Neil’s website, Clear Transitions, for more details about what Neil does.

Neil Urquhart – Part 1

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

Cindy King: Hi Neil, it is a great pleasure to interview you here on this blog and on Twitter.  For those who don’t know you, can you please tell us something about yourself

Neil Urquhart:  I was born in Inverness in the Highlands of Scotland which I left when I was 10. I now live in London where I’ve been since 2006. I work as a cross-cultural consultant, trainer and coach.

Cindy King: Can you tell us a bit more about your background… Have you ever lived abroad?

Neil Urquhart: I’ve lived in Japan and Germany for extended periods of time (6 years and 4 years respectively) and spent 6 months in Brazil and 3 in the USA. I would love to spend some more time in Brazil.

Cindy King: Do you speak any foreign languages?

Neil Urquhart: I like to say I speak 5 foreign languages badly! Intermediate French, German Japanese, basic Portuguese and Italian

Cindy King: How much of your cross-cultural experience is related to your professional experience?

Neil Urquhart: When I came back to the UK in 2004, I realized that what differentiated me from other communication skills trainers was my international experience. Although I’d done a fair amount of cross-cultural training since 2000 it was just one part of the work I did.

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

Neil Urquhart:  By studying and reading but mainly my experience of living and working abroad and travelling extensively. I’ve worked in the USA, France, Germany, Luxemburg, Belgium, Italy, Sweden, the Netherlands, Brazil and Japan.

Cindy King: Let’s talk about twitter… What sort of people do you meet on twitter?

Neil Urquhart: Mainly because several of my networking friends started doing it. I tend to meet people working internationally or those who’re interested in the work I do.

Cindy King: Do you have a twitter story to share with us?

Neil Urquhart: I’ve found business and speaking opportunities through Twitter such as ICE (http://twitter.com/ice_2010), the conference on Intercultural Entrepreneurship.

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

Neil Urquhart: I’m a member of several online networking websites. The main ones are Internations, Ecademy, Facebook (I have two separate profiles: a business one and a personal one) Linkedin, Xing and I’ve just been accepted on the invitation-only “A Small World” site.

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

Neil Urquhart: My first choices would be learning Spanish or Russian and at least some basic Mandarin and Cantonese

Cindy King: Is there any foreign country that appeals to you?

Neil Urquhart: In terms of dream vacations, I’d like to spend a month or two in Canada, China and Australia/New Zealand. For short trips, southern Spain and more of Eastern Europe. And for cultural differences, north Africa and the Gulf. I’d go back to live in Brazil for another 6 months

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

Neil Urquhart: That the Scots are miserly and that Germans lack a sense of humour, neither of which are true.

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

Neil Urquhart: Babel by Alejandro González Iñárritu is the best one I’ve seen recently.

Cindy King: Interesting, another movie I’m going to have to watch those… Thank you Neil!  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
• Klaus & Flavia Westerwelle – @transdomo
• Donagh Kiernan – @dkiernan
• Christian Hoeferle – @hoeferleconsult
• Caroline – @ohh_la_la
• Deborah Swallow – @DeborahSwallow
• Steve Roesler – @steveroesler
• Matthew Bennett – @matthewbennett

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