The Authors
Mike Nicks
Barry Tomalin
Who I am
I’m a journalist: I write, I develop media brands, and I train people. I write about a variety of topics: business cultures, languages, grand prix motorcycle racing and much else. I develop media brands: I work with teams to take editorial concepts and deliver them to the marketplace. I train journalists how to write stories and edit magazines and newspapers, and I coach business people in using words to communicate powerfully and persuasively.
What I’ve done
I began my life in media as a reporter on daily newspapers – a fantastic training ground where you walk the streets to find stories to create a new product every 24 hours. Now we use the same techniques to refresh websites every few minutes.
I’ve edited several car and motorcycle publications, including Motor Cycle News, Performance Car and Bike. I’ve also worked on the launch and development of more than 30 magazines and newspapers in Britain, France, the USA and Australia, including surfing magazines in Sydney, the million-selling monthly Motor Trend in Los Angeles, FHM in Paris, and specialist titles such as Nursing Times, Living France and Garden News in England.
I cover MotoGP – the motorcycle equivalent of Formula 1 – for national newspapers including the Guardian and the Observer, and I contribute to the UK’s leading motorsports website, crash.net.
My latest venture is the writing of The World’s Business Cultures and How to Unlock Them, with my co-author Barry Tomalin. I’m a tutor with PMA, the UK’s largest media training organisation, an awards judge with the PPA (Periodical Publishers Association), and I run a training course, Working with Editors, for FIPP (International Federation of the Periodical Press).
Passions
I love languages: I work and socialize in French and Spanish, and I’m learning Italian. I’d also like to learn Mandarin and Arabic, but that won’t happen in this lifetime. I have three children, and I live in Cambridgeshire. I ride bicycles, read massively and dance salsa (very averagely).
Who I am
I'm a trainer, writer and broadcaster, specializing in cross-cultural training for business. I have worked in over 65 countries and am director of Cultural Training at International House, London, headquarters of one of the largest language and cultural training organizations in the world, with 148 centres in over 50 countries. I also teach on the MA programme at the Diplomatic Academy of the University of Westminster in London.
I also run the Business Cultural Trainer's Certificate, a programme for teachers and HR and training managers who want to learn the skills of cross cultural training in business. (See www.ihlondon.com/culture for details).
What I've done
I have worked as a language teacher, for the Ministry of Overseas Development and as Editor of the English Language Division of the BBC World Service, as well as running my own consultancy company, before joining International House to start up their cross-cultural training division in 2003.
I have lived in Algeria, in France and in Francophone West Africa and have worked in every continent in the world, except Antarctica.
We have just published, 'The World's Business Cultures and How to Unlock Them', which represents our training method in print. We are very proud of this book. But it's just the start. Expect many more briefings and cultural insights on these pages.
Passions
I guess I'm a Francophone but have learned to love Latin America and Hispanic culture. I'm also a lover of Japanese culture and food. But my heart is in West Africa, where I lived for ten years. I love learning and writing about what makes my own and other cultures tick and sharing that experience with others, and the fruit of that research is what you'll find on this website.
