InternationalHub: Cultural Conversations

An interview with Kent White, the CEO of A Child's Hope Foundation - a foundation that supports orphanage leaders and helps them to provide loving, family-style environments where the children can thrive.

Emma Brown shares her expertise on attachment theory disorder and how it affects children in disenfranchised areas.

Welcome to our first ever mini series! We are thrilled to welcome two fantastic MBA student hosts to our team. Joseph and Kenzie have interviewed multiple individuals about their experiences with various forms of childhood crisis. These episodes will explore what these adults lived through during adolescence, how they learned, grew, and overcame these challenges, and ultimately what we can can do in order to help alleviate these issues on a global basis. Thank you for listening!

Oscar Cordón shares insights from his two internship experiences in China. He demonstrates that it's possible to go abroad even with relatively little experience. From Oscar, you can also learn how to determine how deeply you dive into the culture of your host country when seeking out professional opportunities.

The number of U.S. students studying abroad has increased 15% in the last five years. But how can we break into international academic work? We've got four experienced guests lined up for our upcoming mini series on doing graduate school abroad. In this episode, they share their insights on finding impetus to study abroad, selecting the right opportunities, and the logistics of an international move. For more great content, visit us at internationalhub.org and join us on https://www.linkedin.com/company/internationalhub/mycompany/ (LinkedIn )and https://www.instagram.com/theinternationalhub/ (Instagram).

Learn about Dr. James Moore's experiences moving his young family across the world to China. Dr. Moore discusses his experiences adapting to life in China, becoming a CEO of an international company at a young age, and different global management strategies he's learned throughout his career. Dr. Moore now teaches at the Harvard Kennedy School where he is also currently getting his MPA.

Throughout history, sport has played a role in the shaping of our societies and communities. In this episode, we take a leap into some of these moments and explore the “why” behind the massive influence sports have on political and social issues. Former NBA player Earl Cureton shares his insight on the role of basketball within diverse teams and in local communities. We then outline some ways you can get involved with organizations that try to harness the power of sport to bring about positive change.  Get Involved: Right to Play - https://righttoplay.com/en/ Football for Peace - https://footballforpeaceglobal.org/ Peace Players International - https://www.peaceplayers.org/ Earl Cureton's podcast - 3 League OGs https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/3-league-ogs/id1548014597 Sources: Francois Peinaar's snippet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pdr5ksJhKi8 Rugby game announcer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8y63a5z0h4

Billie is an implementation consultant at Restaurant365, an Irvine-based software startup that provides accounting solutions for restaurants. Billie's education and experience aren't typical for his field – he got a bachelor's degree in history before realizing his passion for numbers and getting a master's in accounting. He spent several years as a business owner in Laos before returning to California. In addition to his business experience, Billie is a big foodie and is always a great resource for restaurant recommendations.

In this episode, Will Perry walks us through how his career path brought him to the favelas of Brazil, to the heart of Washington D.C., to his current residence in London. Listen to hear some of Perry's favorite (and most dangerous) travel stories, as well as his valuable advice for future international professionals. Find more podcasts, videos, articles, assessments and other international business resources at internationalhub.org!

In this episode, https://www.linkedin.com/in/reziausman/ (Rezia Usman) walks us through some of the biggest lessons she has learned on the importance of networking in the business world. Although Rezia has lived in very different countries, she has found that being kind and making meaningful connections are universally important in building your network.   Guest: Rezia Usman is a passionate educator with high interests in language education and international education. Her work experience extends from international higher-ed relations, student recruitment, classroom language teaching, teacher training, curriculum development, program implementation supervision, maintaining relationships with schools, providing academic information, and consultation on international program implementation.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/brooke-squires/ (Squires) walks us through her path to receiving and navigating an internship in China. She shares how she networked for the internship and how to have an open mind in a new culture, and also describes some of the cultural differences that she experienced.   Guest: Brooke Squires grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, before graduating from the Global Supply Chain program at BYU. After an internship in China. Squires now works at Sunrise Technologies as a supply chain consultant on projects with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  

Terry is an associate at The Boston Consulting Group in Dubai, UAE, and has extensive international experience for such a young professional. During his time at Queen's University, Terry interned in Toronto, Johannesburg, and Washington D.C. He also spent a semester abroad at the Vienna University of Economics and Business.    In addition to Terry's wide range of experiences abroad, he speaks fluent French and Mandarin. He is passionate about adventure photography, and his photos have been featured in National Geographic. 

Cragun's unique engineering internship in China helped him get into one of the top MBA schools in the world. Get his advice on how to find great opportunities and find the internship that is best for you.   Guest: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cragun-liston-4347874b/ (Cragun Liston) grew up in Ogden, Utah. He moved to Provo to study at Brigham Young University where he first started studying Finance before switching over to *Manufacturing Engineering*. Cragun was first exposed to Asian culture when he served a mission in the Chinatowns of New York City. He then did a couple of international internships while at BYU. The first, where he traveled around Asia with a group of BYU students and presented to the management of different companies. The second, he worked at a shrimp peeling factory in China to work on process optimization. After graduating from BYU Cragun worked at Whirlpool for a couple of years. He is currently starting up his first semester at Harvard Business School where he plans to get his MBA.  

https://www.linkedin.com/in/dsundwall/ (Dan) has over 20 years' experience in Finance Operations / Shared Services. He has key skills in International Leadership, Finance Operations, Business Process Transformation, ERP Implementations, extensive Program, and Project management experience, building and maintaining Key Performance Indicators, and other related financial and accounting reporting.Dan has led both on-shore and off-shore organizations around the world and managed the migration of work in several different business models. He has worked mainly in the U.S. and has international experience having lived and worked in The Netherlands and Mexico City.In addition to leading Finance Operations organizations, Dan has utilized his background and skills to consult as a Subject Matter Expert in finance organization design, outsourcing strategies, business process-led transformation, and leveraged his knowledge of best practices to help several organizations achieve leading practice.

Guest: Jeff Jenkins grew up in Spokane, Washington before his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Accounting at BYU. He started with Deloitte in the Bay Area before taking on his current opportunity in Finland.

Guest: Carolina Núñez is the Associate Dean for Faculty and Curriculum and Professor of Law at Brigham Young University’s J. Reuben Clark Law School. She is a summa cum laude graduate of the Brigham Young University Law School and Managing Editor of the BYU Law Review. Dean Núñez co-founded the J. Reuben Clark Law School’s Refugee and Immigration Initiative. Her commentary on immigration-related current events has appeared in the Deseret News, the Salt Lake Tribune, on BYU Radio, and KUER.

Guest: Jennifer Birtcher is an accomplished human resources leader with experience in many different industries and countries. She has lived and worked in England, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, and Kenya, among others. With experience working for large companies such as Saudi Aramco and Nestle as well as nonprofit experience in Kenya, Jen has vast knowledge about leadership, how to develop talent, and international culture and business.

Guest: Lori Nichols was born and raised just outside of Portland, Oregon. She received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Accounting at Brigham Young University and has her CPA. Lori started at Ernst and Young and is now the Senior Director for International Tax at Adobe.

Guest: Dr. Chantel Sloan is a professor of health sciences at BYU. Dr. Sloan joined the faculty in the BYU Department of Health Science after completing a postdoctoral program at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. She received her Doctorate from Dartmouth College, and her bachelor's degree from BYU-Hawaii. Dr. Sloan has researched a variety of topics in respiratory health, genetics and applications in Medical Geography.

Guest: Kristie Seawright, a native of Southern California, received her undergrad from Brigham Young University. She then received a second bachelor’s degree, MBA, and a Ph.D. in Operations Management and International Business from the University of Utah. After 18years of being a full-time homemaker, she taught Marketing and Global Supply Chain at BYU and has been heavily involved in many international study activities while there.Connect with Kristie on LinkedIn!

Guest: Ken Wilson: Finance leader with 20 years experience including 8 years team management in finance and accounting functions with global companies ranging from rapidly growing venture capital funded startups to Fortune 500. Led global cross-functional teams to improve profitability by $100M on 4 occasions.Connect with Ken on LinkedIniHub on LinkedIn and InstagramCheck out our website and get more content on international businessConnect with Meg Rowley on LinkedIn

Guest: Joshua Loud: Received his undergraduate degree in Economics and Political Science from Brigham Young University. He then went on to receive a PhD in Political Economy from Stanford. Prior to working for the EBRD, Joshua worked for the United States Department of the Treasury and GE.Connect with Joshua on LinkedIniHub on LinkedIn and InstagramCheck out our website and get more content on international businessConnect with Meg Rowley on LinkedIn

Guest: Scott Lalor started his undergraduate education at Brigham Young University where he studied economics and finance. After graduating he had the opportunity to work for a few local companies in Utah including Zango, Goldman Sachs, and England Logistics. He then got his Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Notre Dame. After receiving his MBA Scott recruited straight to Amazon at their headquarters in Seattle. A few years later he transferred to their Luxembourg office where he is currently living with his family and filling the role of Senior Vendor Manager. Overview: Have you ever wondered what it’s like getting a career in international business? Or how to manage diverse teams representing a variety of cultures and countries? Join us as we learn from Scott Lalor, Senior Manager at Amazon in Luxembourg as he shares with us his experience managing abroad. Transcript Meg: So first Scott could you give us a little bit of a background about yourself? Scott: Absolutely, first thank you for inviting me out. I’m excited to be back on campus and speaking about business. So, I grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah and then out of high school I came to BYU. I played on the lacrosse team, had a ton of fun doing that. And then I spent two years on a church mission in California. I came back from that and focused more on my studies. I ended up graduating in Economics but also spent a fair amount of time in the business school studying finance. And then I ended up getting my MBA at the University of Notre Dame. Personally, I am married to my wonderful wife Allie. We have two boys ages eight and four. We absolutely love to travel, it’s one of our favorite things to do; my two boys have been to twenty-one countries already, so they love to travel as well so we passed that on to them. And anything outdoor-related hiking, biking, fly-fishing, and most recently I’ve picked up soccer or as my European colleagues a called it Futbol. I am still pretty bad, but I have a lot of fun doing that. Meg: Tell me a little bit more about some of your travel experiences… Scott: So, we’ve lived in Luxembourg for two and a half years. It has really become kind of our leap pad to the world. We’ve been able to travel to a lot of European countries and we’ve also been able to go a little bit farther. So, we’ve spent time in Israel, Turkey, Morocco, and Egypt. Some really some special places and it’s really taught our family about the world and different cultures. Just a few fun stories that I like to tell. First, a funny one. So, we were in Germany’s late one night visiting some Christmas markets and we were all hungry and so we went to this pizza place. They didn’t speak English, our German is quite bad and so my son ordered a pepperoni pizza for dinner and when it came out it wasn’t pepperonis like we know here in America, it was actually huge peppers across every inch of the pizza. So, he looked at me in fright. We all had a good laugh about that. So, we ended up picking the peppers off and enjoying now a cheese pizza. I would say, on the more serious side, we visited Egypt. Egypt as many know, has been through some real challenges over the past five or so years after Arab Spring and you know their economy is struggling. So, we went to a city called Hurghada which is on the Red Sea and visited Luxor and some of the some of the neat Egyptian sites that a lot of people know. When we’re there we got a taxi every day and went into the city and we met this wonderful taxi driver named Mohammed. We became close friends with him. The first day he picked us up and said, “Hey do you do you need a taxi the next day?” and we said, “Sure.” So, we ended up going with Mohammed four or five nights in a row. So, the third night he turned around in the cab and said “Are you interested in meeting my family and coming to my house?” And you know we were in Egypt in the middle of nowhere and we felt a little hesitant about that. We didn’t know how safe would be. I think what I’ve learned so much about living abroad is we have preconceived notions about people and countries and religion and often that is driven by what the media tells us. And so of course we felt hesitant, but we were able to build a relationship with him. And so, my wife and I just said, “Sure.” We ended up going to his parents’ house. Just to kind of paint a picture, it was a very run-down apartment. We walked in, still a little bit nervous and right when I walked in Mohamed told us to sit down on the floor. We met his parents, they were wonderful. But Mohammed ran out the door. So we were now thinking “Wait, what’s going on? You just brought us unto your home you ran out the door.” I didn’t know what he was doing, if he was going to get whoever. He ended up bringing his whole extended family in. So, all of a sudden, a whole bunch of kids can run in the door and his sister and his other sister and brother-in-law. They were speaking in Arabic and basically saying, “The Americans have arrived.” So, they made us tea and we sat on the floor, they showed us their wedding video, and his kids start playing with my kids. They were telling us about their lives in about the challenges that they’ve had with the Taliban and have his brothers fought terrorism and how his brother died in the Army. We walked away from this experience just loving the Egyptian people. It was such a special moment to connect with these people from a completely different part of the world, but they want the same thing that we want. Like a stable government, good jobs, and a safe place for our family. We actually still keep in contact with Mohammed. We’ve been able to support him in some ways. His mother is quite sick and unable to support him. That’s a really special experience that I was able to share with my family. Meg: Sounds pretty amazing. It’s one thing to visit another country, but really amazing thing when you can actually connect with the people. Thanks for sharing those cultural experiences with us. So now can you give us a little bit of a description of your career path, where you’ve been, what you’re doing now? Scott: When I was at BYU, I was very lost. All my friends seem to know exactly what they want to do, whether it be investment banking or consulting and I frankly didn’t. I didn’t know what to do. So, like I said I did economics and was interested in finance. I graduated around 2010 right after the financial crisis so there were a ton of jobs out there. The economy wasn’t doing great. So, I ended up starting a company called Zango. They have a big international presence and I knew I want to work in finance, and I knew I want to work in an international environment. I started as a treasury analyst managing the European business consisting of money movement, foreign exchange policy, and working to ensure that we have the right cash in the right places. So that was a fun job. I was then recruited by Goldman Sachs in their Salt Lake office working with hedge fund clients, so being both operational support and customer support to that. I learned a lot at Goldman. Very tough environment. After that, I was recruited by a company called England Logistics, also a local company here in Utah. It is mainly a trucking logistics company, but they had a separate arm where they did accounts receivable factoring. So, basically buying receivables from trucking companies and then paying out at a discounted rate. I manage that whole division risk and risk portfolio. So, we would analyze the risk of each receivable and manage the trucking companies that we work with. We grew really fast, had a big team, both from a finance standpoint and an operations standpoint. I learned a lot. That was like a crash course on management. Things are going really well but I always knew I wanted to get an MBA. I wanted a broader business education and I knew I wanted more International exposure. I ended up applying to the University of Notre Dame, I had friends go there, and got accepted. That was in Indiana and just a wonderful experience. I loved culture Notre Dame, and the people were really special, and of course the sports and the football games were extra fun. Out of my MBA I was recruited by Amazon. They came on campus and did four interviews in two days and then I was lucky enough to receive an offer. I started to Amazon in Seattle as a Senior Product Manager over a Prime Now. Prime Now is an ultra-fast 1-2 hour shipping and it was brand new. Honestly, the best way to describe it was like the wild west. We were trying to figure out how to continue to meet our customers promise, which is 1-2 hours, which is much faster than what we’ve ever done at Amazon. So, I got thrown in there when it was part of the product team. So, I help to define what selection our customers would want in 1-2 hours. It was more of a consumable base model than what you traditionally buy at Amazon.com. I did that for about two years and really enjoyed it. But that desire to do more international work was still in me. I hadn’t ever worked in-country and so after that two years I did a lot of networking in the different global companies within Amazon. I reach out to the London office, and the Luxembourg office, and Singapore, and any of the more English-speaking countries. I ended up finding this role in Luxembourg. When I started Luxembourg, I was a manager of vendor management for the automotive team. So, I’ve been doing that role now for about two and a half years. Meg: So now that you are working internationally will you explain to us a little bit more of the nature of your business interactions with different cultures and countries? Scott: The Amazon that Americans know and love is the retail Amazon. It’s basically three things in our business model, it’s selection, convenience, and price. What we try to have is the best selection of the whole world, which means a really broad selection. We always have good prices or sharp prices. Third is convenience and the way we think about convenience is that we can deliver it to you fast and that whatever products you want we have in stock. So, we’re basically taking that Playbook from the US and taking it to Europe. So, within the automotive team we’re were much younger. So, the automotive division that I work in has only been around five or six years. So, we’re building our selection, we’re making sure we can deliver fast, and that we have the proper prices. So, in my role as a Senior Manager I interact and my team interaction with vendors across the EU, the US, and Asia to sell products in our five Amazon EU websites. So, Spain, Italy, France, Germany, and the UK. My team manages all aspects of the vendor relationship from introducing them to Amazon, to contract negotiations, and then to account management. I love it because we get a build a strategy the start of the year and how we think to grow this business profitably and then we got to go execute that strategy and we have full P&L responsibility. Meg: So, you mentioned that you’re kind of taking the amazon structure that they have here in the US and taking it there. What are the main differences of working here in the US versus what you do there? Scott: My experience is that Europeans have a more balanced approach to work life. Secondly, working a Luxembourg offers much more International diversity for such a small country. Luxembourg is a special place. Many people don’t know much about Luxembourg. It’s a tiny country that is in between Germany, France, and Belgium. It has about 600,000 and half of the people are expats or not from Luxembourg. That makes for a very International community that you just don’t find in too many places. I think big cities like London, and New York, and Singapore have that and so I would put Luxembourg out there. So, you get that international feel. A fun story that I like to tell or two different stories I like to share. So, my son had a party a couple months back at our house and all the kids are playing and there were 8 or 9 kids over there. The countries of those children represented where India, China, England, Greece, Italy, and Turkey. In his classroom there’s 12 or 13 different countries represented, and we love that I think it’s so cool. The conversations that we have with our boys about these different cultures and about how different parents are and different relationships are is something that that we love. Meg: I bet. And they’re probably learning a lot from their different experiences. Scott: Absolutely, we have conversations that we just wouldn’t have if we lived here in Utah or somewhere else. We’ve talked about currency and how a Euro isn’t exactly worth a dollar and why that is, and we talked about languages and how the different languages work. Both boys are learning French so that’s exciting to see them progress in their learning. And like I said we talk about culture because the way our friends’ parents interact with their children is different than us. Another funny story is our Italian friends invited us over for dinner on a Saturday night. So we said, “great, we’re excited,” good fresh Italian food. That was earlier in the week and so it was Saturday and so we text them and said, “okay what time should we come over? us Americans usually eat dinner let’s say 5 or 6 p.m.” and they said, “come over around 8:30 and we’ll start eating at 9 p.m.” So, we kind of laughed, our kids typically go to bed around 8, but all Italians culturally they have really late dinners. Kind of as a joke we bring our two boys in their pajamas because we knew we were going to be over there till 11 or 12 and we were thinking about getting up early in the next day. So that was a funny experience. Meg: That’s funny that you mention that because I noticed even when we were in Luxembourg there everything seems to close a little bit early. The city goes to sleep. So, what’s the day to day like at your job in Luxembourg? Scott: It’s quite similar to my time in Seattle. Generally, working in Europe the way I described it is that it is a little bit more complex. You have the EU, European Union, which bring some unification to working in those different countries, but every country has its differences. So, whether it be different currencies or different languages. Logistically each country does it a little bit differently, the regulations I would say or less unified than the US. So, when we manage 5 websites with 5 different languages and multiple currencies it’s a little bit harder to scale and to accomplish some of the things that we need to accomplish. So, it becomes challenging you have to be really creative about where you spend your time and you have to ruthlessly prioritize on the most important things. Meg: Sounds like you have a little bit more steps along the way. So, how do you approach management and leadership when working in a multicultural team or working in a multicultural environment? Scott: This is something I’ve learned a lot working internationally. The first thing I would say is listen more and talk less, which is hard for me. I would say one of the greatest takeaways from working and living abroad is it has made me more unsure of myself and how I think the world works. And I mean that in a good way. Regardless of who you are if you live and grow up in the same location your whole life you come to believe your surroundings are how the world works or how the world should work. When you get thrown into a different country, a different culture, you see other ways of solving problems and you say to yourself “wow maybe there is more than one way to solve a problem. Maybe the way we do it isn’t the best way or maybe there’s other ways.” And even better you say, “you know these people and these cultures they understand something that I don’t understand.” So, I love that as I’ve re-evaluated how I think about different cultures and think about the world. As a manager I’ve learned that diversity is so important in building a team. If you can build a diverse team then you can tap into different strengths and have greater outcomes. I’ve also noticed if you have people that are all the same whether it be all from a country certain country or from a certain part of a country, or all male or all female it often quiets the minority group. The ideas aren’t as good, because not only do the majority think a lot alike and agree with each other, it can hurt the team dynamics. So, being attentive to diversity on a team is super important. I try to make sure that everyone has a chance to speak up and has a platform to share his or her opinions. Meg: Has it ever been difficult for you in trying to form teams and deciding who should be on what team? Scott: Yeah cause the core of what you do is your people. Our Vice President said it the other day. He said, “our main focus is to build and develop our people. Luxembourg makes it a little bit easier maybe then some locations. So, within my vendor management team we have people from Italy, Germany, France, Turkey, India, America, and the UK. That geographical diversity is so valuable, and you know the questions you asked was “is it difficult?” I think it’s really difficult. Also, from a female perspective I work in the automotive world and there’s these preconceived notions that it’s only a male driven culture. And so, we’re trying to be the leaders in the automotive world to bring with more women into it. We as a leadership team focus a lot on that and not only just wait for female applications to come in but go out and recruit female employees. That’s been really important for me and it’s led to such great success. Meg: When it comes down to it would you say the diversity really trumps the specific skill needs, or is it a balance of both? Scott: That’s a really hard question to answer. Let me answer it in this way. At Amazon we don’t believe so much in industry knowledge. We specifically have on our application “no Automotive experience necessary.” Which I think it completely different than a lot of other companies. We believe if you’re smart and you can meet our leadership principles, core values, and our culture we can teach you about the automotive industry. But it’s very difficult to teach culture. It’s difficult to teach diversity. But if you can build a strong culture and you can build a diverse team, we can teach you the necessities of the industry. Meg: That’s an interesting perspective that not many have. I like that. Does your approach to vender management differ between different countries? How? In what way? Scott: For sure. As mentioned, different cultures approach business differently and to get positive results I have to adjust accordingly. For example, Italian vendors that I work with, in my opinion, value relationships more than other cultures. In the US when I worked with vendors everything is very email-based. We didn’t necessarily build a relationship. It was more of a transactional relationship than a personal relationship. I’ll give a story to illustrate what I mean. As I mentioned my vendor managers and I we go out and we try to bring vendors onto Amazon. So, we were working to sign a vendor on Amazon, this was a very important vendor, we called them and sent them emails and tried to convince them to join Amazon for years really. Things were just not moving. We could always get kind of wishy-washy answers and “yeah we’ll join” or “yeah we’ll do this” but we just never saw the results. Finally, my Senior Vendor Manager and I got on a plane down to Milan, drove a couple hours, and went to meet this vendor face-to-face. We shook their hands, we visited their factory and we sat we and just talk for a half an hour 45 minutes about them, about the history of their company, about their products, about them personally. And then after we built that trust, after we got to know each other, after they looked in our eyes and trusted us. Then we could actually talk about business and the conversations we had there so different than the ones we had on our phone. What I learned from that experience and others like that is that each culture has a different style of doing business. To be successful you first have to be aware of these differences. It has taken me a year to really understand these differences. Secondly, adjust accordingly. We had a lot of success with that vendor after that meeting and we’ve had subsequent meetings where they’ve come to Luxembourg. Now they know me personally, they know about me, and they know about our business. So, it required a higher level of trust than what I’m used to. Like I said once I realize that then I’ve become much more successful in knowing what’s important to these vendors. Meg: That’s very interesting. And that kind of leads to my next question. What would you say are necessary skills that you need when working in vendor management with different countries? Scott: What we call vendor management at Amazon other companies can call different names. We’re kind of like a sales team and we’re kind of like account managers. We do both functions. The way I would answer that question is first you have to have good strong interpersonal skills. Like I said earlier you have to be able to listen. Close your mouth and listen because what’s going to come isn’t maybe what you expect. Because each business has a different strategy and different philosophy and that’s especially true of the international level. So, being able to listen, to ask questions, and being able to build those relationships at a personal level are absolutely necessary. Second is negotiations. We negotiate every day. We have interest and the vendor has interest and sometimes those are aligned and sometimes those aren’t aligned. You have to be creative to find solutions that benefit both parties and where both parties can gain. You have to understand where there is value for them and where you can add value. Sharpening this negotiation skills is really important. Third is data analysis/finance. My core education, like I said, is economics and finance. You can’t own a P&L Statement, you can’t own an income statement if you don’t understand how the income statement works. So, things I learned at BYU and the Notre Dame, just those core fundamentals of how the income statement interacts with the cash flow statement and the balance sheet. Because I know that I can then take action that will impact those different line items. So being able to both understand the financial aspect and then the data analysis comes when you have millions of rows of data and how to tell a story. At Amazon as you can imagine we have so much data, more data than you could ever want. Data about what customers are looking at, what customers are clicking on, what’s the click-through rate, what’s the sell through rate, how often are we out of stock when someone comes and looks at a product, and our pricing. It’s easy for new employees Amazon and other companies to get totally lost in this data. We’re in a world of data now with the internet and with cell phones. So being able to know what data is most important and really sharpening those data analytics skills. And like I said in Europe at least you have to be able to deal with ambiguity. You have to deal with uncertainty. For example, you have situations like Brexit or certain situations like we’re having in Turkey where the currency devaluations day over day 25%. You don’t necessarily have those experiences in a more stable environment like the US. You have to wake up and be ready for whatever comes at you. So, dealing with ambiguity because there are more political, economic, and cultural differences and so sometimes you just have to roll with the punches and figure out the best solution. Meg: Sounds like flexibility is a big key needed for success. So, it seems like a big part of what you do has to do with effective communication with different countries. Have you ever had any miscommunication because your expectations were different from another’s? Or just in general? Scott: Yeah, very good question. So, speaking about myself and where I’ve grown is I was too direct. And I would say on the cultural Spectrum Americans are more direct or one of the most direct cultures. When I first arrived in Europe, I found myself mostly in internal meetings being very direct with people. Not necessarily in a rude way, but just like very direct to the point and I maybe missed some of the small talk and miss some of the relationship building. I remember after about a year my boss took me aside and said, “Scott I appreciate your hard work and you’re doing great things, but you need to be less direct.” And that took me by surprise. I guess at first I was a little mad. It’s hard to receive criticism or feedback when I thought she was wrong. But in retrospect she was totally right. What I learned is to be successful in the long run, in any culture, is you have to make friends. You have to make allies both internally, within your company, and external. What I mean by that is don’t just think about the business problem. Don’t think about people as somebody’s who is going to help you solve a business problem or a transaction. But get people on board. Get them on your boat. Get him going in the same direction, because you’re going to need those same individuals at a later point. When you work for a company for multiple years you interact with those same people whether it be in your department or in the finance department or the marketing department or in operation. You’re going to need those people again. You want to make sure you keep a high standard, you keep a high bar, and your work quality is high, but you don’t you’re not so driven in a way that you burn bridges or hurt long-term relationships. Meg: That’s a good piece of advice for us to all keep in mind. With that, what other kind of advice would you give for someone who is planning on working internationally? Scott: I think there’s a few different ways. I think it’s hard to find a job internationally direct from the US to a foreign country. I found it difficult. I tried that but it is very hard. What I’ve seen most people do is get hired within a local company that has operations globally. You do well in your current role, receive high feedback, and let your manager know that you want to work internationally. Then after a year or two or however long you go connect with those local Global office. You build a network there. When hiring internationally if the hiring manager already knows you fit the company culture and you have a track record and they can communicate with your current manager it makes getting hired a lot easier. So that’s what I did at Amazon. I worked for two years in Seattle, built a really strong relationship with my manager, told her exactly what I want to do next, which was work internationally. So when the call came in from my next manager she was prepared and we were all on the same page in terms of what my skill-set was and what was what I was able to accomplish. Meg: So really prove yourself and then the doors will open. So how could a student like me prepare for a future job in international business? Scott: The first things I would say is be curious. I would read about the different challenges that are going on in the world. I subscribe to the Wall Street Journal, which has an international section so I can stay up to date on all the trends and all the world events both politically and economically in Europe, Asia, and America. So that first will give you an understanding of what’s out there. Secondly, I would say just be brave and get out in the world. Whether it be a vacation first, or a volunteer opportunity, an internship, or something else. My biggest message to young people today is, the world is a big beautiful place and has so much to offer the mind and soul. I love the different cultures, the food, the people, that I’ve been able to experience over the last few years. They all provide an element of excitement and joy. So those connections you make both personally and professionally will be some of the most important connections and the most important things in your life. Meg: Thank you. We really appreciate you joining us today and all your insights. Scott: Absolutely, great to be here. Thank you!

God save the Queen! The last stop of the study abroad group’s hop across the pond was to London, England. Join us as we learn about business, food, and culture in England.

Our students had the chance to spend two days in Belgium. While there they were able to explore the cities of Brussels and Bruges as well as visit the European Commission headquarters and one of Cargill’s production facilities.

Ever heard of the country Luxembourg? Neither did many of our students before going there. Let’s learn more about this beautiful country in the middle of Europe, including the melting pot of cultures and the big businesses that are run there.

In this episode, we hear from students about Germany. The group visited the University of Duisburg-Essen to learn about education in Germany. Join us as we learn about German food, culture, and education.

Join us this week as we hear a little more about Polish education, history, and culture, but this time from some of our international friends we made while we were there.

Join us as we follow the study abroad to Katowice, Poland and learn about Polish food, education, and culture.

Join us as we follow the Study Abroad group to Paris, France and learn about French cuisine, culture, and business.

In this week’s episode, we reach out to the 2019 BYU Accounting Study Abroad group to hear about their time in Rome, Italy. Join us as we learn about Italian food, business, and culture.

Each year, the Brigham Young University School of Accountancy takes a group of students on a Study Abroad in Europe. This next series includes interviews from those who attended the study abroad.

In today’s episode, we talk with Hiram Chan, an international student from Hong Kong studying accounting at Brigham Young University. During the discussion, Hiram shares Hong Kong’s cultural characteristics as well as the transitions he has made after coming to the United States.

Do you have an upcoming business trip to a foreign country? How can you be prepared to enter a new culture? In today’s episode, we talk with Greg Jones about the lessons he has learned during his international travels. As a volunteer church missionary, Greg spent two years in Argentina. As a lawyer for Novell, Greg has traveled to Japan, India, Germany, China, and South Korea.

:Today on the show, we talk with Dave Pierce over the phone about foreign currency and capital markets. We discuss why you should care about foreign currency risk, whether you are part of a small domestic company or a giant multinational corporation.

Etiquette –“It’s not rules. It’s people.” Learn from Candilyn Newell, wife of a former US Ambassador to Sweden, about managing relationships and etiquette in an international setting.

Belief systems are an integral part of every culture. In today’s show, we focus on belief systems –what they are, why they are important, and how they affect business.

This episode is all about managing relationships. Join us as we take on two more “Culture Map” scales: Leading and Trusting.

What is considered “on-time” in the US Army versus a company in Costa Rica? And what drives student and employee motivation in different countries? In this episode we dive into two different “Culture Map” scales, Persuasion and Scheduling.

In this episode, we discuss the evaluating, disagreeing, and communicating scales formed by Erin Meyer. Along the way, we learn why the Swiss don’t necessarily mean to be rude, the Japanese know how to read the air, and more.

Join us as we begin a new season of our podcast!

What does innovation look like in emerging markets, and how is it different from innovation in developed markets? Jim Oldroyd explains his thoughts on the subject during this interview.

Earlier we heard from Aric Johnstone about his experiences working around the world. Aric moved back to the US not long after our interview. Today we hear about his experiences during his first 30 days back in his home country.

Have you ever wondered what it is like to work for a joint-venture between two global companies? Join us as we hear from Swedish professional Örjan Olsson’s about his experience working for the joint-venture between Universal Pictures and Sony, as well as his thoughts about Swedish Fika and the summer semester.

Living and working abroad is really what you make of it. Join us as Rob Jenson guides us through his experience as an expat in the Netherlands. Find out how he manages cross cultural relationships and communication outside of his home country.

What do you do when a bribe payment is the only thing keeping your company’s supply chain from moving? What about when an HR employee messes with your company’s severance policy? Find out in this episode of Cultural Conversations as Bill O’Rourke shares his experiences as a business executive working in Russia.

On this episode of Cultural Conversations, we hear from Marc Eulerich, a German professor with experience working in both America and Germany. Listen to learn the difference in how Americans and Germans value education.

This is the story of an American physician and his experiences researching and working with doctors in Japan. Join us as we learn how Robert Carlile navigated his way through Japanese culture.

Kip shares his wisdom from years of working as an international business consultant in Mexico, Brazil, Canada, Switzerland, the Netherlands, the UK, Japan, China, and Hong Kong. He discusses the necessary procedures before entering a foreign country, the difficulties of international business travel, and how to understand cultural nuances.

Working in England sounds easy right? You speak the language—they have those charming accents. Where’s the difficulty? Jonathan Young explains how moving to England is more of an adjustment than you would imagine, what it’s like to be an American foreigner, and his experience with cross-border mergers and acquisitions.

Meet Veasna Neang, a Cambodian educated in the United States, who developed his career in Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, and Myanmar. He tells us why a student would rather unzip his own pants than tell a teacher his fly is open and why doing business efficiently in Asia always includes significant time socializing.