Fons Trompenaars

World authority on Managing Cultural Diversity

Partner People & Change at KPMG

Fons Trompenaars
Dutch · English

Fons Trompenaars studied Economics at the Free University of Amsterdam and later earned a Ph.D. from Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, with a dissertation on differences in conceptions of organizational structure in various cultures. He experienced cultural differences firsthand at home, where he grew up speaking both French and Dutch, and then later at work with Shell in nine countries.

Fons joined Shell in 1981 and moved into the Personnel Division for Shell in Rotterdam. From 1985, he worked in job classification and management development at the Shell Research Laboratories in Amsterdam. In 1989 he founded the Centre for International Business Studies, a consulting and training organization for international management. Since 1998 we operate as Trompenaars Hampden-Turner.

 

Fons Trompenaars has worked as a consultant for Shell, BP, ICI, Philips, Heineken, TRW, Mars, Motorola, General Motors, Nike, Cable and Wireless, CSM and Merrill Lynch.

 

Fons Trompenaars is known all over the world for his work as consultant, trainer, motivational speaker and author of many books on the subject of culture and business. He has spent over 25 years helping Fortune 500 leaders and professionals manage and solve their business and cultural dilemmas to increase global effectiveness and performance, particularly in the areas of globalization, mergers and acquisition, HR and leadership development.

Fons Trompenaars wrote “Riding the Waves of Culture, Understanding Cultural Diversity in Business”. This book sold over 120,000 copies and was translated into French, German, Dutch, Korean, Danish, Turkish, Chinese, Hungarian and Portuguese. He is co-author of “Seven Cultures of Capitalism, Building Cross-Cultural Competence and 21 Leaders for the 21st Century” with Charles Hampden-Turner.

 

In addition, he published “Riding the Whirlwind”, a dynamic new take on creativity and innovation. Fons has co-written an article with Peter Woolliams entitled “Lost in Translation” regarding culture and failure, which was published in the April 2011 online issue of the Harvard Business Review.

 

In 1991 Fons was awarded the International Professional Practice Area Research Award by the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD). He was mentioned as one of the top 5 management consultants, next to Michael Porter, Tom Peters and Edward de Bono in a leading Business magazine in August 1999.

 

Fons Trompenaars was voted one of the top 20 HR Most Influential International Thinkers 2011 by HR Magazine. He is also ranked in the Thinkers50 to be one of the most influential management thinkers alive in November 2011 and shortlisted as making substantial strides in the contribution to the understanding of globalization and the new frontiers established by the emerging markets.

 

In 1994 the translation of his book Riding the Waves of Culture was awarded “Book of the Year” by the Order of Experts and Consultants on Organization (OOA), a Dutch management organization.   The third edition has just recently been published stateside and in Europe in 2012.

An informative and insightful speaker, Fons Trompenaars also entertains with his lively and humorous style. He addresses audiences around the world, in English, French, Dutch and German.

 

Managing across Cultures

Multicultural Management

International Teambuilding

Remote Management

The Management of Strategic Dilemmas

Culture Compass Country Briefings

The Challenge of International Business

Leadership for the 21st Century

Nine visions of capitalism (coauthor)

Capitalism does have a future, they say, but only if the standard Anglo-American model of capitalism is radically transformed. As the authors point out, creating wealth is much more than simply making money. They say, “A community is only better off when it creates wealth through the transformation of money into products and services and the transformation of these back into money via revenue received.” The current model of capitalism has led to a situation where the net worth of the world’s top 10 billionaires stands at over $500 billion, enough to end world poverty instantly twice over. But the global economy is not richer for the presence of billionaires if the money in their pockets has simply been transferred from those of other people.

So how can this failing model be fixed? Hampden-Turner and Trompenaars argue that accommodating diversity is a pre-requisite for the reinvention of wealth creation. China’s spectacular growth, the dynamism and flexibility of the Mittelstand of German-speaking economies, Singapore’s hybridization of East and West, the world’s vibrant immigrant communities and the drive for renewable energy offer different aspects of an authoritative and challenging blueprint for the future of capitalism. Finally, the authors draw on examples of innovation in capitalism such as the Conscious Capitalism movement in the US, the Cambridge Phenomenon in the UK and the Global Alliance for Banking on Values, which has members from Mongolia to Patagonia as well as the US and UK, to demonstrate what can be done to reinvigorate tired models, and provide a realistic, practical and powerful transformation agenda for the global economy.

Nine visions of capitalism (coauthor)

THE GLOBAL M AND A TANGO

n our rapidly expanding and increasingly volatile global economy, mergers and acquisitions are becoming the strategy of choice for businesses seeking to stimulate growth while managing risk. As more and more M&A deals are struck between global organizations, difficult new issues involving cultural differences have arisen.

In The Global M&A Tango, international management experts Fons Trompenaars and Maarten Nijhoff Asser explain how to detect and manage these issues before they become major problems.

THE GLOBAL M AND A TANGO

RIDING THE WAVES OF CULTURE

As U.S. organizations continue to explore overseas business opportunities, they will be challenged to adapt to the new market's local characteristics, legislation, fiscal regime, sociopolitical environment and cultural system. Riding the Waves of Culture shows international managers how to build the skills, sensitivity, and cultural awareness needed to establish and sustain management effectiveness across cultural borders. This revised edition is updated with new research and statistics.

RIDING THE WAVES OF CULTURE

INNOVACIÓN EN TIEMPOS DE CRISIS

Fons Trompenaars y Charles Hampden-Turner exploran la creatividad y la innovación como fuente de ideas para favorecer la sostenibilidad empresarial.

INNOVACIÓN EN TIEMPOS DE CRISIS