Bridging borders: Leveraging language for international business growth

Malte Zeeck is the Founder and CEO of InterNations, the world’s leading social network for expatriates and global minds. He explains why true connection is key to international expansion. Malte speaks English, French, German and Italian, and benefits from a breadth of global experience, including in Brazil, Germany, Italy, India, Netherlands, South Africa, Switzerland and the USA.?

From language exchanges in High School to traveling the world as a TV reporter, Malte’s international experiences have defined his career, leading to the inspiration for his business, InterNations.??

Now the world’s biggest social network for expats with more than 5 million members across the world, Malte reflects the diversity of their membership in the InterNations team with more than 50 nationalities working together to provide a more effective, powerful support network for people living abroad.??

English as the inspiration?

Without English, I wouldn’t have started my company.??

Having strong English skills from school and language exchanges in the US got me onto an MBA program in Switzerland, followed by a career as an international TV reporter.??

That took me across Europe, India, and Brazil, building a love of travel, culture, and people.??

Those early experiences as an expat and the practical and social challenges of making a life abroad were what inspired me to start InterNations.??

Almost 20 years later, we’re now the world’s largest community for expats, helping them connect both online and in-person.??

Without English, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to be an expat and get the inspiration for the business that has defined my career.??

International experience for better product-market fit?

Having international experience is crucial for feeling close to my customers, and it’s something I’ve made a focused effort to prioritize throughout my career.??

From studying in the US and Switzerland to relocating to South Africa with my family, living in another country allows you to really immerse yourself in another culture.??

It gives you that awareness and perspective of how different — and similar — people can be.??

As a business leader, traveling to different countries helps me keep an open mind and connect with customers, partners, and colleagues wherever they’re based.??

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The ultimate multinational team??

Having that international perspective and experience allows us to understand our customers better.??

They’re incredibly diverse: 5.2 million members based in 420 cities around the world.??

To help us build something that works for such a wide range of people, we need a team that’s equally multicultural and international.??

We have more than 50 different nationalities in our team currently, most of whom are, or have been, expats themselves.??

Reflecting the global nature of our business in our workforce means we can build a better, more effective service and a more successful business as a result.??

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Like a gym for your mind?

We encourage language learning within our team because it brings a whole range of benefits to the individual and the company. For example, we subsidize language lessons for people who want to learn German, and we facilitate language tandems within the team.?

Just as going to the gym improves your physical wellbeing, the mental challenge of learning a new language is good exercise for the brain.??

It teaches you to really think about the way you communicate and builds awareness of how that might change depending on the language you’re speaking and the cultural context.??

That mental challenge and cultural awareness help us build a high-performing global team.??

It also helps us attract people with an international mindset who are a good fit for our business and help us grow.?

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One language, one community, one team?

A shared language and shared experiences.??

Both in our community and within our business, we use English as a common language.??

Whether it’s within the expat community or life more generally, we often default to cliques based on what’s familiar to us, and language can be a divider.??

We wanted to create a sense of oneness and community by using a shared language for our network and within the business.??

For our team, we want to foster that global perspective and awareness. They can work from many different countries, experiencing expat life first-hand.??

We then bring all those experiences together with regular team socials and whole-company trips to different countries around the world.??

That way we get all the benefits of different perspectives as well as a shared sense of community, belonging, and purpose.?

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Malte and his family are currently based in Munich, Germany, which is the headquarters of InterNations.??

He spends much of his time traveling to meet the network of hosts that make InterNations events possible in more than 420 cities around the world.??

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From brain training to meeting the needs of a global audience, we spoke to six international business leaders about the common themes, challenges, and benefits of an international career and the role language learning can play in taking careers from local to global. Read more in Local to global: How English skills unlock a career in leadership .??

This interview is part of Pearson Languages’ series, Global Voices: Leaders on Language and Business, an exclusive exploration into the pivotal role of language in achieving international business excellence. In this thought-provoking series, we examine how leaders foster diverse teams, navigate global markets, and ultimately propel organizational success to new heights by leveraging language skills. Explore the rest of the series on Pearson Languages’ LinkedIn. ?

#Leadership #InternationalBusiness #LanguageLearning #HR #PearsonLanguagesforWork?

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