Overcoming Cultural Barriers to Confident Communication
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Most people don't struggle with confidence. They struggle with identity. And if you've ever had to rebuild who you are in a completely different culture, you know exactly what I mean. Welcome back to Speaking with Confidence, the podcast that helps you build the soft skills that lead to real results. Communication, storytelling, public speaking, and showing up with confidence in every conversation that counts. I'm Tim Newman, a recovering college professor turn communication coach, and I'm thrilled to guide you on a journey to becoming a powerful communicator. Today's guest is Anna Dennis. Anna is a public speaking and communication coach. TEDx organizer and author researching what it truly means to find your voice.
With more than twenty years of experience in marketing, public relations, media, and cross cultural communication, she blends research based frameworks with her own reinvention journey to help people express themselves with clarity and authenticity. Without fear of becoming Visible. Her mission is to support communication across cultures, listening deeply, collaborating with ease, and building genuine connections. Anna is the founder of Reinvento Club, a space for reinventors, and an organizer of TEDx The Hague. Anna, welcome to speaking with confidence.
Thank you, Team. Thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here.
I'm so so excited you're here and it's gonna be a lot of fun because you know we're we're gonna talk about something that we don't generally talk about and that's you know um reinventing your yourself based on on uh moving from one culture to another and you you move from uh Russia to the Netherlands, right? Yeah. And and that really kind of forced you to re rethink everything, your your language, your culture, even how you how you showed up. Um And you didn't just have to learn communication, you had to reinvent yourself. What were got challenged the most in that process.
Oh that's such an interesting question. It's just I never expected the difference to be so big. Because from our point of view, it was just Europe. It's so close, right? And probably people think in the same way, they have the same values. They they do things similarly every day. But when I got here in the Netherlands, what I realized is that this culture is truly unique. It is unique for not only for me, but it for everyone. And there are a lot of expats here. I'm kind of In the expat community, so I get to meet people from different walks of life, but also from different parts of the world. And it's and it's but difficult for everyone because it's unique, for example, in its individualism. So it's a very individualistic culture which is kinda creates some kind of
fraction with the collectivist cultures. If you are accustomed to working in a team And you're accustomed that all the decisions are made together and and you have to consult your team before before going um on a on a higher level of management. then here it's just, you know, you are very independent. You are like an entrepreneur. We're an entrepreneur working within a company and you have your own set of responsibilities, and then it's up to you to make the decision. And it's just It's it's not good or bad. It's just different. And uh sometimes it it just challenges your worldview and the way you used to do things.
You know and um I I'm glad you said it's not good or bad, it just it just is. Because that's is especially here in the United States, I think you know We we put a l we We put values on things that maybe we shouldn't put values on. It's just it's it's not right, it's not wrong, it just it just is. And you talk about, you know, changing cultures You know, going from one country to another is is obviously very different than here in the United States. Let's just say 'cause I grew up in the Mid Atlantic, maybe northeast. But I've tr I've traveled all over all over the country here and even going from one state to another culture's a little bit different. But I can't imagine going from From one country like Russia.
to the Netherlands and trying to to assimilate and
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:09–6:43
2
What cultural shock did Ana experience moving from Russia to the Netherlands?
6:43–15:47
3
How did learning Dutch change Ana’s sense of belonging and trust?
15:47–24:31
4
What challenges did Ana face rebuilding her identity as an entrepreneur in a new country?
24:31–32:01
5
How do Dutch communication norms (directness, consensus) differ from collectivist cultures?
32:01–40:21
6
What caused the conflict in the volunteer project and how was it resolved?
40:21–46:26
7
How can asking questions and active listening improve cross‑cultural teamwork?
46:26–51:50
8
Why does Ana say labels limit genuine human connection?
51:50–55:56
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from Speaking With Confidence
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Unlocking the Four Communication Styles to Lead Any Team With Confidence
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Talk Like You’re Right, Listen Like You’re Wrong: The Key to True Connection
The Three-Second Move That Boosts Confidence and Calms Any Conversation