Calendar of Events

How Culture Shapes the Brain: Implications for Leading across Borders and Cultures

Presenter: Samad Aidane, MSc., PMP

As globalization continues to gain speed and strength, the 'one-size-fits-all' approach to leadership is no longer sufficient to effectively engage an increasingly diverse, multicultural, and international project stakeholders.

What makes you successful in one culture may be the exact reason you struggle when leading across cultures.

More than ever before, the capacity to manage and leverage cultural differences is becoming an increasingly important skill for individuals at all levels of the organization and especially for project managers and team leaders.

Drawing from the growing body of research in cognitive, social, and cultural neuroscience, the presentation will introduce a framework for understanding how culture shapes the brain and the core cultural dimensions that drive thoughts, emotions, and behavior in global, virtual, and culturally diverse project environment.

You will gain fresh insights to help you examine your culturally learned assumptions about leadership and practical strategies to adapt your communication and leadership styles to the needs and demands of culturally diverse environments.  

This presentation fits the criteria to comply with the Leadership value of 1 PDU.

Learning Objectives:

• Recognize the challenges of leading in a cross-cultural environment and gain a better understanding of the essential leadership skills for leading culturally diverse teams and stakeholders
• Understand how culture shapes our definition of dignity and respect and the implications for engaging culturally diverse teams and stakeholders
• Gain practical insights to help you adapt your communication and leadership styles to the needs and demands of culturally diverse teams and stakeholders

Presenter Bio:

Mr. Samad Aidane, MSc. PMP, is a cross-cultural leadership development researcher, trainer, and coach. His industry experience spans telecom, finance, health care, and government projects in the U.S., Germany, Austria, and Belgium, with organizations such as HP, Cap Gemini, Time Warner Telecom, and Telefonica.

Samad holds a Master of Science Degree in the Neuroscience of Leadership from Middlesex University, U.K. His current Ph.D. research interest in Applied Neuroscience investigates how findings from social and cultural neuroscience informs our understanding of the effect of culture on emotions, cognition, and behavior and their practical application to leadership and Cultural Intelligence development.

Samad is certified by the Project Management Institute (PMP). He has been a featured speaker for organizations such as Nike, J.P Morgan, and Emirate Airlines.