In this two-part episode of 'John Scott Lawton's English, You Know', I interview Slovak national Michaela Smith about her fascinating career, initially in the Commercial Hospitality sector, in particular, which has seen her live, work and travel to many different countries. More recently, Michaela has trained to become a Leadership and Transformational Coach to share her vast experiences to help others progress in their careers and to develop personally. This is explored more fully in the second podcast.

In this first part, I ask Michaela what motivated her to want to leave Slovakia as a young woman to work abroad, initially in Tenerife in Spain, before coming back to Slovakia a number of years later. We discuss the changes that happen to us when we have such experiences and what it means to us psychologically, emotionally and practically in terms of the effects our travels might have on our relationships with our friends and family.

From Slovakia, Michaela describes her move to Dubai and how she quickly settled into the Arabic culture, warmly welcoming the more direct styles of communication that she readily adopted to be an effective manager in the country. We talk about the importance of being sensitive to other cultures, but also the need to reflect on our attitudes and behaviours and the need to embrace and adapt to different working styles.

After Dubai, Michaela travelled to Vietnam to work for four years and she describes very eloquently and openly how she found that transition more of a culture shock than going to the Middle East from Slovakia. We explore why that was and talk about some of the difficulties that can be faced when living and working abroad.

In the second episode, we follow Michaela on her exciting journey to work in Japan before a move to England in rather difficult circumstances. We also discuss Michaela's new work aspirations as she establishes herself as a Leadership and Transformational Coach, sharing her many years of experience of managing and coping with change in both personal and professional circumstances.

We hope the podcast is of interest and value to anyone who has lived abroad or is considering it as a career option. Such a move is not for everyone, but Michaela's open and very frank approach illustrates some of the issues that will be faced if people do choose to work away from what they consider home.

You can find out about the coaching services Michaela Smith now provides at: https://michaela-smith.com/ and her LinkedIn profile describing her career in the Commercial Hospitality sector as a Marketing and Sales Director can be found at https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaela-smith-896a5735/

For more information about this podcast series, or to make any comments or to ask any questions relating to English Language learning, please contact me at [email protected]  or visit my LinkedIn profile at https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-scott-lawton/ or my company page at https://www.linkedin.com/company/john-scott-lawton-consulting/?viewAsMember=true

Please use a sound comment if using the Anchor App, if possible, to ask any questions or to comment on the language used in this podcast.

Finally, please take a look at my website where I post additional content to support this podcast series: https://johnscottlawtonsenglishyouknow.wordpress.com/