Cross-Cultural Management: A Competitive Advantage

Throughout my career as an elite athlete, I have had the opportunity to collaborate with and travel alongside partners from very different cultural backgrounds. These experiences did far more than help me perform better on the water: they profoundly transformed my ability to adapt, understand others, and work effectively in an international environment.

1. Discovering Other Ways of Doing Things: The First Step Toward Progress

One of my most memorable experiences involved a Swedish teammate.
He moved forward with rigor and discipline; I relied on instinct and flexibility.
Two worlds, two rhythms, two ways of performing.

We had to learn how to combine our approaches in order to progress together. And I understood one essential thing:

There is not just one right way. True value is born from the meeting of different cultures.

Working with someone who is different forces you out of your habits and opens up an immense field of learning:

• • • technical

    • human

    • relational

2. Traveling: The Best School of Adaptation

During my Olympic preparations, I lived in Spain, Australia, Brazil, Italy…
Not in hotels, but immersed in local life:

• • • markets

    • shifted schedules

    • new habits

    • unfamiliar languages

These experiences taught me that:

• • • adapting to the rhythm of a country is more effective than fighting against it

    • cultural integration reduces mental fatigue

    • understanding local codes enhances performance

In Spain, for example, we had to completely rethink our training schedule to match the local lifestyle. A constraint at first… that quickly became a strength.

3. Handling the Unexpected: A Universal Learning Experience

Traveling with equipment, working with different infrastructures, managing languages, logistics, and mindsets — nothing ever goes exactly as planned.

In Rio, we had to find an unlikely solution to store our equipment:
a Brazilian driver helped us manufacture a custom-made part in a small local workshop… without any of us speaking a word of Portuguese.

That experience reminded me that communication goes far beyond words. It is based on:

• • • collaboration

    • creativity

    • trust

This is exactly what I recreate during my immersive workshops, where teams learn to:

• • • make fast decisions

    • collaborate under uncertainty

4. Understanding Others to Better Understand Yourself

Each country has offered me a different mirror:

• • • Italian expressiveness

    • Scandinavian precision

    • Brazilian warmth

    • Australian directness

I learned to:

• • • avoid judging too quickly

    • analyze what lies behind a behavior

    • question my own habits

    • adapt my communication

These experiences developed:

• • • my tolerance

    • my empathy

    • my ability to challenge myself

All of these are essential skills for evolving within a multicultural team… and for managing complexity within an organization.

Conclusion: Diversity Is Not a Challenge… It’s an Advantage

Working with different cultures is not just about linguistic or logistical adaptation.
It is an experience that deeply transforms the way we collaborate, decide, and interact.

Cultural diversity makes teams:

• • • more creative

    • more agile

    • more human

    • more high-performing

It pushes us to:

• • • grow

    • see the world differently

    • constantly reinvent ourselves

Would you like to help your teams collaborate more effectively in a multicultural environment?
Discover my keynote talks, immersive workshops, or my executive coaching programs.

👉 Contact me to learn more!