Joan Pastor

Joan Pastor

Executive Advisory Services, JPA International, Inc.

United States

DATE: Monday, 10 July
TIME: 4:15 – 5:30 CET
CPEs: 1.2

GENERAL SESSION: Building Bridges Through Cultural Diversity and Cross-Cultural Communication

Session details:

As the world becomes smaller, there is a good chance your meetings will be rich with people from a variety of different cultures. Whether your meetings are virtual or in-person, the need to have a core understanding of how different people in different cultures think and operate is critical.  This session will be your passport to learning how and why different cultures exist. Understanding cultural differences and similarities gives you the foundation for a much better understanding of where others are coming from. All people have prejudices and biases; the goal is not to eliminate them (that is impossible), but to gain self-awareness, and apply that to your thinking and your actions to obtain a more collaborative and professional result with others.   

In this session, participants will:

Understand exactly how one’s cultural origin affects everything — perception, communication styles, and especially expectations.

Gain insights into overcoming difficulties originating from unintentional as well as intentional bias, and techniques to avoid cultural faux pas.

Learn how to determine when a problem might be due to a cultural misperception (and when it is not), and communication tips that are known to help.

Joan Pastor is President of JPA International, Inc. and has been a professional international speaker, trainer, and coach for almost 35 years. She is one of very few people worldwide who holds and is licensed with two PhDs (business psychology and clinical psychology).

Pastor has worked with numerous audit, compliance, finance, fraud, and risk associations since the 1990s, including delivering 90+ presentations to IIA conferences, congresses, and chapters. She has coached boards, audit committees, and executive teams for organizations and governments on all seven continents.

Her honors include being named by the University of Michigan as a Preferred Executive Coach for alumni, a top coach for PwC’s partner level, a “Trusted Advisor” by the San Fernando Valley (Los Angeles) California Business Journal, and a recipient of Temple University’s “Gallery of Success” Lifetime Achievement Award. Pastor is the author of Conflict Management and Negotiation Skills for Internal Auditors and Success as an Introvert.

Her unique assessment-based executive and leadership development coaching model has been embraced and is taught globally.