Q&A
Doing business across cultures
Why communicating across cultures matters for business.
As Chair for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, as well as Academic Director for the Executive Master in Digital Innovation and Entrepreneurial Leadership (EMDIEL) at ESCP Berlin René Mauer, strongly believes in developing intercultural competence to succeed in today's globalized business landscape. We have asked him 3 questions as to why he thinks multiculturalism is more important now than ever.
ESCP: René, with the EMDIEL, you have created a programme that has a strong focus on both technical skills, and personal development. Participants come up with an idea for a product or project and take it through different stages - and across 3 continents. Why do you think looking at a project through different cultural lenses is important?
René Mauer:I strongly believe in the power of perspective-taking. We are all growing up in our contexts. And these contexts frame us heavily, which comes with a lot of advantages. However, if you want to drive new ideas, innovation and change, I believe looking from different perspectives is an amazing resource. In a way, more information is coming your way and more configurations of possible futures come into sight. However, "culture" in that regard is not just national culture. There are also cultures of knowledge fields, industries, job categories, etc.
ESCP: In the past years, geopolitical tensions have been rising. What makes you hopeful when working with individual participants from all over the world?
René Mauer: What truly makes me hopeful is that our students and participants make a conscious decision to learn at a place like ESCP, where cross-cultural collaboration has been a key pillar of our doing for over 200 years.
ESCP: How has your own experience abroad influenced your teaching and altered your perspective?
René Mauer: I learnt from my grandmother that tolerance is important, and that tolerance is the personal decision to appreciate the diversity of others. That is a bit abstract for a kid, but it stuck with me and unfolded beautiful elements of sense in different phases of my life. When I lived in the US for half a year at the age of 16, it was a huge step for me. Learning the other perspective takes energy, but can be very rewarding, too. I became a big fan of the US, and was critical of Germany and Europe at the time. Later, it balanced out and made me a very proud European.
My personal take away is that perspective-taking is not an easy thing to do, but more and more necessary on our small planet. In my teaching I try to be aware of three things:
- That I have my perspectives and may be lacking relevant perspectives
- That others have their perspectives and may be lacking relevant perspectives
- That we will all benefit from bringing different perspectives into interaction
Thank you very much, René for sharing these thoughts!
Would you like to do business internationally and enhance your own intercultural competence?
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