
The Scandinavian Cultures

Scandinavia and Finland inspire the world with their unique organisation of society and approach to life. Julien is an award-winning speaker with an expertise on the culture of Norway, Sweden and Denmark, and the author of popular books on the subject.
Julien gives different lectures about the cultures of each of the Scandinavian countries. These lectures are useful for locals and foreigners in each country. Foreigners learn about the culture of the country they live in; common behaviours and their meaning, cultural norms and values. Locals learn about how these behaviours, cultural norms and values - which they often may be unaware of - differ significantly from other non-scandinavian cultures. These lectures are very effective to increase cross-cultural understanding at work and in society in Norway, Denmark and Sweden, and to build robust multi-cultural teams and prevent cultural misunderstandings.
"Cracking the Norwegian Code" (English | Norsk)
"Cracking the Swedish Code" (English | Svensk)
"Cracking the Danish Code" (English | Dansk)
Julien is also known for his useful outsiders view on the differences and similarities that exist between the Scandinavian cultures. He has worked in the three contries for more than 10 years and has a neutral and good understanding of the challenges that will happen when working between the Scandinavian cultures.
The lecture "The Scandinavian Cultures: Similarities and Differences" presents the common bases of the Scandinavian cultures in terms of social interactions, work culture and underlying common values. While the cultures of Norway, Denmark and Sweden may appear quite similar, important differences exist that will make working across these cultures challenging unless these differences are carefully discussed in advance. Julien uses humour to first describe our shared Scandinavian culture and create a sense of belonging. He makes us more aware of how special we are as Scandinavians and how similar we can appear from abroad. The goal is to first create a good Scandinavian teamspirit before he moves on to explain the important differences that can make collaboration challenging between Swedes, Danes and Norwegians. This lecture is a must for Norwegian and Danes that will work with Swedes and for Swedes that will work with Norwegians and Danes.
In all these 4 lectures, Julien talks about perception, expectations, intention, behaviours, rituals, norms, role models and values, using nearly a 100 tailored made illustrations.