Become a Global Leader: Amplify your impact and communicate across cultures
Victoria Rennoldson, author and coach in conversation with Fiona Murchie
9 March 2026
In a lively conversation with Managing Editor, Fiona Murchie, author, educator and coach Victoria Rennoldson shared her experience of studying languages, German and Russian and living and working abroad, during her early career.She soon recognised that the way people communicate, the way they interact with each other, how teams work and how effective leaders have a cultural nuance to them. During her 12 year international career, she noticed how sometimes people relocated really successfully but in other circumstances, it didn't land well, and there were frustrations and small things built up, that ultimately led to really quite a lot of tension within teams.Recognsing this she moved into the career space around global leadership, communication and cultural intelligence. The following conversation explores cultural intelligence and how her Four Pillar Approach explained in the book Becoming a Global Leader being: confidence;, clarity; the ability to handle challenging conversations; as well as being able to bridge across cultures.
• She explained in a construction industry case study, how the way that team members expected people to respond to them as a leader, was not happening in the same way, which was unsettling and eroding confidence because relying on methodologies, approaches and motivating people in a certain way wasn’t working.
• Working with women at a crossroads in their career, confidence is a curvy journey with ups and downs. That’s normal. it's about recognizing and managing yourself when you're in those low moments and bring yourself back up with the energy, with the leadership presence to really project how you're showing up in your role.
• Work on your person brand for global success
• AI – Are you going to be scared of it? Are you going to lean into it? I think this is the time when we need to be really paying attention, investing in human capabilities more than ever.
• Challenging conversations particularly when working virtually. If you are a leader, or you're somebody leading that virtual meeting, it's your responsibility to think about, how do I get people talking? How do I get to hear from those voices that are not saying anything regularly, and then afterwards follow up, in the conversation that happens after the meeting. This takes time and we have to slow down, to speed up sometimes, especially to build success in virtual teams.
• International experience is incredibly important. It always deepens somebody's lived experience as a leader or in their career. It's incredibly vital because it's putting you in new context, new challenges that's going to stretch your capabilities, stretch your ability to understand how to be a good leader, how to connect with people effectively, how to engage and motivate people towards goals, towards a vision.
Discussion highlights
• You may be speaking the same language but cultural languages can be super challenging even after 25 years’ experience working in complex environments• She explained in a construction industry case study, how the way that team members expected people to respond to them as a leader, was not happening in the same way, which was unsettling and eroding confidence because relying on methodologies, approaches and motivating people in a certain way wasn’t working.
• Working with women at a crossroads in their career, confidence is a curvy journey with ups and downs. That’s normal. it's about recognizing and managing yourself when you're in those low moments and bring yourself back up with the energy, with the leadership presence to really project how you're showing up in your role.
• Work on your person brand for global success
• AI – Are you going to be scared of it? Are you going to lean into it? I think this is the time when we need to be really paying attention, investing in human capabilities more than ever.
• Challenging conversations particularly when working virtually. If you are a leader, or you're somebody leading that virtual meeting, it's your responsibility to think about, how do I get people talking? How do I get to hear from those voices that are not saying anything regularly, and then afterwards follow up, in the conversation that happens after the meeting. This takes time and we have to slow down, to speed up sometimes, especially to build success in virtual teams.
• International experience is incredibly important. It always deepens somebody's lived experience as a leader or in their career. It's incredibly vital because it's putting you in new context, new challenges that's going to stretch your capabilities, stretch your ability to understand how to be a good leader, how to connect with people effectively, how to engage and motivate people towards goals, towards a vision.
About the Guest
Victoria Rennoldson is a multi-award-winning Coach, Speaker, certified Facilitator, and best-selling Author, specialising in Global Leadership, Communication and Cultural Intelligence.She helps professionals and teams to thrive in their global careers by amplifying their impact through speaking up confidently and communicating clearly, and collaborating and connecting across cultures.Victoria is the CEO and Founder of Culture Cuppa, and a top-ranked Podcast host with over 160 episodes and counting. Her first book, Become a Global Leader, became a bestseller in Career Advancement and Professional Development on its release.See all Think Global Women resources
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