In this interview, Evan Carmichael asks Stephen Kelly for practical advice on communicating and doing business across cultures. Stephen emphasizes that the internet provides a global canvas, allowing products to go viral without traditional borders. He advises doing cultural research, road‑testing ideas with local communities nearby, and using simple local‑language greetings to build rapport. He stresses the importance of intent—approaching foreign markets with a genuine desire to help rather than fearing mistakes. Stephen also highlights staying aware of local news, sports, and cultural touchpoints (e.g., Toronto Blue Jays) to create common ground. The conversation includes a concrete example of Gemma Price, who grew an organic food business in Yorkshire into an export operation in 29 countries, illustrating how a great product combined with research and incremental testing can scale globally. Overall, the dialogue presents a step‑by‑step mindset: prioritize intent, research culture, test locally, leverage internet tools for translation and e‑commerce, stay market‑savvy, and scale what works.
Chapters
Next up, coming in from Luigi, any suggestions on how to better communicate with people from other countries? I mean, foreign languages, different cultures, different beliefs. So, I mean, Stephen's a great guy to talk to. He's got offices around the world, you know, thousands of thousands of employees. How do you handle it, Stephen?
Yeah, I think, Luigi, I think the great thing is And this is the power of the internet, is everything's available. And you can— because I think there's a love about business. You want to become always educating yourself more and more. And I think, you know, Evan, I speak for you, great business people are just great people in life. Normally they're very tolerant. They love diversity. They love inclusion. You know, they've got tremendous outreach. And actually, they kind of love the stranger in many respects. And when you're going and you're looking at your business, Luigi, whether you're going kind of across the border or you're looking at going out to Asia or Europe, first of all, I'd obviously, again, back to kind of what Evan said, is do a bit of research about the culture, the difference, and how your idea might translate. And then the other thing is the great thing about if you live in Canada or the US, you'll find loads of people whether they come from, it could be, you know, Asia, Africa, and they're probably within half a mile of where you are. Go and test drive some stuff in terms of how it might work with them. And then I think, you know, the great thing I've experienced is obviously, you know, the world is diverse and we celebrate the tolerance and actually everything that is fantastic about, you know, centers like Toronto. You walk down the street there It's a fantastic multicultural center. Same with New York, same with London. But in reality, what I would say, the nice thing about products and services, if you've got a great idea, it can go global, it can go viral. And the internet has no respect for international boundaries. And that's the game changer in the last 15 years. And that gives you a huge platform because you now have a canvas that is the world. That is your canvas, that is your playground. So I definitely think it's worth going for it, looking, doing a bit of research on the web, and then, you know, it's road test stuff. Kind of launch a— if you want to do Italy, an Italian website. And, you know, before you had to get translators to start, but you can do loads of auto translation stuff and then get an Italian friend just to cast their eye over it, make sure it all makes sense, and you could go and have an e-commerce platform with your product and test drive it into that marketplace. So it's just incredible. And we've got loads of customers. The great customer of ours, Gemma Price, who started a business up in the north of England, Yorkshire. And she started a great organic, really healthy food business. And now I think she exports to 29 countries, loads of different currencies. And when she started her journey, she was passionate. About healthy organic eating. And that was her dream. And really, if we're honest with ourselves, she probably didn't know she'd be as successful as she has been, and she didn't know she'd be in as many countries. But I think what the power is, and again, it comes back to kind of believing in yourself and everything Evan talks to, is if you've got a great product, almost if you put it out there, the market will find it. It will create a pull. Instead of what was the old way where you had to push, push, push, push. So you got that kind of canvas around the world. Find out and do the research, and then I would go for it. Road test it, test drive it, and scale up on what works. Evan?
Yeah, I have two thoughts. The first thing that comes to mind is that the intent is most important. That I think a lot of people avoid going into another market or dealing with people from different cultures because they're just really worried that they don't speak the language or they don't know the culture. And that prevents them from taking any action. Your intent is most important. Like, if you know that you can solve this person's problem in that market, then you should go out and do it, 'cause it's coming from a good place. And yes, you're gonna make some mistakes, and you know, you're gonna trip up a couple times, and the thing that gets you through is the intent. Like, you're not going in there trying to harm them, you're going in there trying to help, and even if you make a couple mistakes, you say the wrong word that maybe you mispronounce and it becomes something offensive, like you can work your way through it because they can feel the genuine care that you have to try to help. And don't let that fear of not knowing the culture prevent you from doing something potentially really helpful and great in that market. So that's first.
Evan, a little bit, I'll tell you, you got a second point, you go for your second point. 'Cause I've just gone, no, I'm just in the mood now, so go for it.
Okay, the second point was, I think something that Stephen does actually really well is he's always hyper-aware of what's happening in the markets of the places that he's going to. And so every time we get on, he's talking about the Blue Jays, he's talking about my prime minister, you know, he's always super aware of what's happening in the markets he's going to. I would like to think that Stephen's favorite baseball team of all time is the Toronto Blue Jays. You're gonna break my heart, Stephen, if you're saying that.
Go Jays.
But he's really great at that. And so if you know you're going to a local market, just understanding some things about them, understanding what's relevant in the news, Understanding, you know, I like baseball, but I don't pay attention to other things. It allows you to have some points of commonality and doing a little bit more research and groundwork before going in can really help. Just a couple of touchpoints really helps make a difference when you're communicating with them.
Hey, listen, you know, when you were talking there, Evan Carmichael, and I was just listening, and again, you've got a great gift of putting a human touch on things. Just a little thing I do when I go around the world. So I'm in Berlin next week. I don't know, a couple of thousand people, but my first 3 sentences will be in German. So if you're going to meet or you get on Skype with people in Italy, down in Brazil, and you're looking to strike some sort of partnership or distribution agreement with them, it's pretty powerful, especially actually face to face. If you can learn a couple of opening, you just say, Bonjour, je m'appelle Stephen Kelly. And I go to Canada, up to Montreal. If I can speak a little bit in French, it means you break the ice. 'Cause I think what we forget, and it's so easy to forget, because the kind of voices in our head tell us people are strangers. But the reality is when you show a bit of vulnerability like that and say, look, I don't speak very good French, but at least I had a go. Because I respect you and I respect your nation and culture, then I've always found people reach out and actually embrace you. And it's very powerful. And it's just a very human thing to say. But it's something where you can go to. And if you're looking to go overseas, then as you say, do a bit of research about what's topical, what's happening in the news, what's happening with Justin Trudeau and all that sort of stuff when we go to Canada, if the Blue Jays are winning. But then also, just if you can say a few words in their language, it's so powerful. And I remember when I used to go to Tokyo, I had a business out there, and literally the first couple of sentences of saying kanji, and then that exhausted my totality of my Japanese. But honestly, you hear stuff about the Japanese and they're very civilized and they're very respectful and they're lovely people, but you hear it's really hard to go to Japan, it's a difficult market to break into. But I think if you show a bit of interest in them and their culture, and if you can even say 2 sentences, then you find them grabbing you and bringing you into their community and making you successful in their world.
