Michael Landers

Michael Landers – Founder of Culture Crossing

For more than a decade, Michael Landers has been captivating diverse audiences through his live speaking events, engaging more than 100,000 people on five continents. His interactive and entertaining presentations resonate with people from all walks of life and careers: from CEOs to college students, to those in sales, engineering, marketing, design, hospitality, finance, and education, and countless other fields that have become increasingly multicultural arenas.

Audience members are led on an eye-opening journey of self-discovery in which they begin to uncover the many ways that their own culture shapes their perceptions and behaviors, impacting everything they need and want to accomplish in their jobs and personal lives. In turn, this increased awareness enables them to establish more productive, profitable, and peaceful connections with people from all walks of life — and from all corners of the world.

Although US American, Michael was raised in countries throughout Latin America. He returned to the U.S. to receive a B.A in International Relations followed by a Masters degree in Intercultural Training & Leadership . Fluent in Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese, proficient in Japanese and Italian, Michael’s language skills enable him to establish strong and sustained connections with his clients.

Recent speaking engagements include: SAP, Uber, Google, CNH Industrial, Tenaris, Midco, MI Homes and a host of leading start-ups.

Featured Topics:

GROW YOUR GLOBAL IQ

This talk introduces the Cultural ROI™ technique that enables people to RECOGNIZE cultural cues, OPEN their minds to alternate ways of thinking, and IDENTIFY opportunities to adapt their responses. It’s a method that helps people to take some of the “cultural reflex” out of the equation and set themselves up for success. The methodology is widely applicable, whether the goal is to increase sales, build strategic partnerships or maximize the potential of a diverse customer base. Given a tool kit for helping to navigate the most complex cross-cultural interactions, participants will be empowered to control their own behaviors, anticipate and identify potential cultural crashes BEFORE they happen, and transform obstacles into opportunities.

EXCELLENCE IN CUSTOMER SERVICE 

This talk examines CUSTOMER SERVICE from both an internal and external perspective, whether you are interacting with customers within your own company or outside of it. Participants will be given the opportunity to explore the diverse array of values and expectations that people bring to every service encounter and the impact they have on day-to-day exchanges.  They will learn the key to avoid the “10 Syndrome” and consistently exceed customer expectations as well as recognize the 3 different levels of expectations and how they impact success. This talk also focuses on how to create a more consistent, predictable and familiar customer service experience for both internal and external customers.

THE INCLUSION EQUATION  

How do you open your mind to alternate ways of thinking? How can you identify opportunities to adapt your programmed responses to what’s happening around you? Everything from the great resignation, to cancel cultures, to a drive for more equity and equality to simply connecting and communicating effectively has challenged our ways of living and working. Given a simple and practical toolkit to gain and embed the power of new inclusive perspectives into their lives, participants will be empowered to control their own behaviors, recognize a few of their conscious and unconscious biases and transform obstacles into opportunities.

Key Takeaways

• Recognize where you may unknowingly be excluding opportunities for creativity, innovation and growth.
• Learn the small moves you can easily take to cultivate a more inclusive mindset.
• Gain leadership communication skills for managing, working in and/or leading a diverse workforce.

Present Company: Cultivating Cultures of High Performance in Teams and Organizations

Being present is more than just a trendy catchphrase. In Present Company, Timothy Dukes and Michael Landers reveal how the art of presence can enhance your creativity, productivity, and engagement-ensuring that you enter any situation with confidence and a newfound awareness

As a transformative resource, the authors introduce the four powers of presence—Induction, Awareness, Authenticity, and Connection—the key to cultivating cultures of high performance in teams and organizations. Through Induction, you’ll learn how to enter a moment with the right mindset. With Awareness, your mind is trained to hold space for differing opinions and perceptions. By risking Authenticity, you explore vulnerability and truth while fostering Connection—true engagement. By bringing these powers into focus, leaders can create dynamic and welcoming cultures that maximize their teams’ potential.

Takeaways

• Take responsibility for fostering growth and change
• Communicate successfully
• Take success to the next level
• Overcome obstacles with intention

What people are saying..

Between working abroad in India and starting a company in NYC, I’ve found myself in so many situations where I didn’t know what the cultural norm was, and I know this book would have helped me adjust to otherwise unfamiliar situations much more quickly. I can’t wait to apply the lessons I’ve learned from Culture Crossing to situations I know I’ll find myself in in the future.

Liz Wessel -Co-founder & CEO | WayUp

Michael is one in a million. He combines a rare and deep understanding of global cultural issues with humor to create awareness on one of the most important topics of our era. His stories and teachings have been invaluable for us at SAP Academy, as we have trained hundreds of millennials from over 50 countries in our global training facility.

Global Senior Vice President – SAP

Drawing upon his own extensive international experience, Michael has created an indispensable tool for anyone who interacts with people from other cultures. (And who among us doesn’t?!) Michael’s insights, told in an easy-to-follow style and illustrated with eye-opening anecdotes, will help so many global citizens open up their minds and better understand each other — more easily accomplishing their mutual objectives.

Global Head of Employee Communications, Engagement, and Culture – HP Inc.

“The most profound reality we face as marketers is the multicultural fractionalization of our marketplace. We are perplexed by this so we continue to talk in our own voice rather than learning how to listen to these diverse voices with an empathy that is agile and truly customer centric. Michael Landers has changed the way our people think and act with his method and teaching.”

CMO – MI Homes

“The most powerful influence on attitude and behavior is one’s culture – and Michael shows you how to be more effective with more people from different cultures.”

Brian Tracy – Author – How the Best Leaders Lead

Michael was excellent in working with us; his cheerfulness, professionalism, knowledge, enthusiasm, and ability in front of an audience was second to none.

Founder – Brain Institute

Quote:

“Culture Crossing employs a highly selective and diverse team of global multilingual consultants who help our clients navigate the complexities of cross-cultural interactions in order to achieve their goals.”

In an era when people and money are flowing fast across international boundaries, physically and virtually, culture crashes have become increasingly frequent, says international business consultant Michael Landers. A culture crash is what happens when someone unwittingly offends, frustrates or mystifies a person from a different culture. This can lead to lost business, hurt feelings, damaged relationships, even international incidents, as when Bill Gates shook his South Korean host with one hand when he was supposed to use two (very disrespectful). So are culture crashes inevitable? No! All cultures fall into certain broad categories, and if you can figure out what kind of culture you’re dealing with you can avoid committing a major faux pas. Landers first helps you become aware of your own culturally conditioned behaviors, perceptions and values, which seem so “normal” you don’t even notice them (kind of like thinking you’re not the one with an accent). Then he shows you how to figure out where a culture lies along continuums like individualistic vs. collectivist, direct vs. indirect, punctual vs. relaxed, and formal vs. informal. Filled with dozens of instructive and entertaining stories, this book will point you in the right direction as you navigate through the new global era.

Present Company: Cultivating Cultures of High Performance in Teams and Organizations

Being present is more than just a trendy catchphrase. In Present Company, Timothy Dukes and Michael Landers reveal how the art of presence can enhance your creativity, productivity, and engagement-ensuring that you enter any situation with confidence and a newfound awareness.

As a transformative resource, the authors introduce the four powers of presence—Induction, Awareness, Authenticity, and Connection—the key to cultivating cultures of high performance in teams and organizations.  This book is for those who take responsibility for fostering growth and change with the intention to overcome obstacles, communicate successfully, and pave the way for their families, teams, or organizations to take success to the next level.

Check the availability of this speaker