Liu Liu is a coach and manager with decades of experience, as a Cross-Cultural Intelligence Coach who specializes in helping international organizations and businesses to improve communications and cooperation among staff for better individual and team performance. He coaches managers and leaders working in a cross-cultural context to build trust, communicate effectively, and deliver results. He also coaches people on management, leadership, and career development. He is someone who helps you to imagine a greater possibility for yourself and supports you in achieving it.
As a senior manager in an international relief and development organization, he has worked with people in over 30 countries over his two-decades-long career. He uses a coaching approach to manage cross-country teams and complex programs to deliver results and impacts.
He is also an experienced trainer and facilitator who has delivered training on management-related and other subjects in over 30 countries.
With a cross-country marriage, developing a career in a second country, and working in an organization that has a reach of 50 countries, Liu Liu understands the importance and pitfalls of working cross-culturally and developing a career in an unfamiliar environment.
Liu Liu is an Associated Certified Coach(ACC), a member of the International Coaching Federation (ICF), and an Executive Contributor to Brainz Magazine.
He holds a BA(Hon) in International Studies and an MSc in Development Management.
Liu Liu, Cross Cultural Intelligence Coach
Please tell us about you and your life, so we can get to know you better.
I am Chinese, or I like to call myself “Made in China.” I grew up in Kunming, the capital city of Yunnan province. If you look at the map of China, it looks like a chicken, the head connects the two Koreas, Hong Kong and Shanghai is at the tummy area, and Taiwan and Hainan island are like the chicken’s feet. My home province Yunnan is the chicken’s bottom. It borders Myanmar and Vietnam. I bet after reading this, you won’t look at the China map the same again. (LoL) It is a beautiful mountain area. The city of Kunming is called “The Spring City” for its pleasant weather.
I never once passed English text in my early school years. Only when I finished high school. My dad sent me to a translation school for two years, it’s almost counterintuitive, but something clicked, the way English was taught there was different. I discovered my talents. Finished at the top of the class, and one of my teachers recommended me for a job at the university he taught. It all took off from there. In three years, I was the foreign affairs secretary for the university language center, where we receive students from over 100 countries worldwide, it was also through the job I met my wife from England. After we got married, we lived in Thailand for a year and then moved to the UK. I have been living and working here ever since.
I like arts, especially visual arts, paintings, photography, and movies. I take photos myself and display them in our home. In recent years, I have had the opportunity to see the paintings of Picasso, Van Gough, and The Kiss by Clint Gustav in Vienna. My work allowed me to travel to over 30 countries, I loved the variety of meeting all the people, visiting different cities and villages, experiencing the different weathers and climates, and eating different food, some are more interesting than others if you know what I mean.
Tell us about your greatest career achievement so far.
When I moved to the UK, I started in the organization I work as a postroom assistant. Like the character in Michael J Fox's film, the Secret of My Success. I did that for 3 years. Working in the postroom allowed me to meet everyone and see how the organization operates, which prepared me for my career progression later. It is also a great character-building exercise. I also started studying at university while doing a full-time job, I have since gained an Honors degree in International Studies and a Master's in Development Management. 22 years later, I am a level 2 manager in this international organization, managing a cross-country team that works in 50 countries. I am the 1st Chinese who has reached this level in the organization's 55 years of history.
What is your business name and how do you help your clients?
LiuLiuCoaching is my business name. I am a Cross-Cultural Intelligence Coach. Cross-cultural intelligence is not simply cross-cultural communication. Communication is an important part, but there is a lot more to it. Cross-cultural intelligence is essentially how a person first understands one’s own culture and one's behaviors as a result of this culture. Secondly, the person has an open mind, a respectful and learning attitude towards other people’s cultures, and tries to understand the different behaviors caused by the differences.
I coach managers working in a cross-cultural context to Build Trust, Communicate Effectively, and Deliver Results. In the business world, it can be a do-or-die situation, and the most ironic thing is that, if you “die”, people tend to give reasons for general management or other issues, and you might not know it is because you don’t have cross-cultural intelligence.
Based on my decades of experience, I designed a 10-module coaching program to take client step by step through the project management process. Helping them to recognize how cultural perspective can both affect positively or negatively what they do, coaching them to develop the skills to detect the issues early and to come up with balanced solutions that take the advantage of different cultures, improve the team performance, minimize the risks and deliver the impacts and results.
What kind of audience do you target your business towards?
We live in a globalized world, and English is the common language in business. This gives a false impression that we all speak the same “language”, but if you look under the hood, you will notice many times we get stuck with cross-cultural issues in our work situation.
My coaching program is aimed at middle to senior managers or managers to be. In today’s world, many companies operate internationally. As a manager, the likelihood for you to manage a project cross country or a team with different cultural backgrounds is high, and yet, this is the 1 missing management tool you don’t have.
If you could change one thing about your industry, what would it be and why?
I was asked the same question when I was interviewed by The ET Project, a podcast based in Asia. My answer is that I will make Cross-cultural intelligence training essential for all managers and staff if possible.
This is because
If a manager, a company, and an organization can recognize the importance and need to learn and apply cross-cultural intelligence in the workplace, it could improve efficiency and profits drastically.
If this is overlooked or ignored, it could create another layer of problems on top of the normal management challenges.
What is your work inspired by?
I like to view things from the macro and micro levels at the same time. At the macro level, Dr. Henry Kissinger is the person who teaches me it is important to always have a global view on cross-cultural issues. His book "World Order" published in 2014 explores the evolution of international relations and the concept of world order throughout history. The book analyzes the role of various actors in shaping world order, including nation-states, international organizations, and non-state actors such as terrorists and multinational corporations.
At the micro level, I took inspiration from Erin Meyer, the author of The Cultural Map, and Robert Gibson who recently wrote Bridge the Cultural Gap. Their work provides technical insights into how to operate in various cross-cultural contexts.
What brings the most joy in life?
I see myself as a “conductor” and “gardener” at work. As a “conductor,” when I manage to bring people of different talents around the globe to work on programs and deliver good results, that brings me joy. As a “gardener”, when I create opportunities, coaching, and mentoring staff to grow into a better version of themselves, that brings me joy.
What is your favorite vacation spot?
Aschau in south Germany right at the border with Austria, with beautiful mountains, and of course the excellent Bavarian beer.
Where would you like to travel?
The American transcontinental railroad is definitely on my bucket list. The Chinese built the west section of the railroads from Sacramento to Utah. I read so much about it I just really want to go and see the work of my fellow ancestors.
