Cross cultural communication | Pellegrino Riccardi | TEDxBergen

under the wheel. You are not allowed to park here; I was in a bit of a hurry. My wife said, "I think you should move the car forward a little." I asked why?" "Just move your car. It's... they're going to give you a fine." "Why?" "Just... please move the car." (Laughs) You could tell she was very uncomfortable. This bothered me and I thought, you know what? I don't have time for this. Doesn't matter. So I went. Well, and this is especially for the Norwegians in the room, did I get a ticket? (Audience) Yes. Do you feel sorry for me?

No. You're welcome. (Laughter) No compassion not at all. It's a simple rule. Stick to the rules. Italians believe that the power of speaking, the power of persuasion, is the most important tool in life. We believe that you can attract people and if you are good enough at this, maybe they'll listen to you and come up with an alternative. So I thought I'd call the Oslo traffic police and get out... I already see the Norwegians doing something like this: "Oh no! You are losing your time. Forget it." No! I wanted to try. I called the traffic police: "Hello, I'm Pellegrino..." - of course, I spoke English, not Norwegian, because then people take you more seriously - "Hello, I'm Pellegrino...

I'm calling about case 78206." "Yes, I have that in mind." "I was wondering if we could be a little more flexible with this, we're only talking about 20 centimeters; I'm so sorry - I learned from this and I'll never do it again." Did it help? You're welcome. What spoke for him was that he was good. Really very good. I heard him click, he had all the lines, he said: "I'm sorry a lot, but the wheel has to be in the box." (Laughter) "Here it says: line 5, paragraph D." He had all the answers in front of him. Then he said something I'll never forget: "Your name is Riccardi, so Maybe you're Italian.

You must love football." I said, "I like football." "It's like football, you know. The ball has to be on the line. The wheel has to be..." (Laughs) Great. It was incredible. I had all the answers, in black and white, I had them all. Well. I told it to my friend Yves, the Frenchman, who got very irritated. - - Do you remember? "Is that so?" - He is very good at asking questions and said: "Then the wheel has to be in the box. What happens if I remove the wheel? What happens then?" (Laughs) I called again and asked, "What would happen if I removed the steering wheel?" He couldn't give me an answer.

He couldn't answer this question. Why not? It's not an accepted and ordinary question. He doesn't understand that approach. You have to be Italian for that. Because when I parked in Italy... I looked for a parking space when I was on vacation, impossible. I see a parking attendant and I approach her. I speak to her in Italian and I tell her, "I'm looking for a place to park." She says, "There's a garage nearby, but you shouldn't park there." "Why not?" She says, "Too expensive. 40 euros!" (Laughs) "But what should I do?" She says: "You seem like a good person.

I like your Italian, I'll help you. Park your car there." And she points to that sign and says, "Park there." (Laughter) "But that can't be..." "It's good, it's not dangerous. Park there. You don't have to pay 40 euros for the garage. Park your car there. I'll give you 30 euros." Fine one euro and you save 10 euros. (Laughs) I won't say if this is right or wrong, but I can say that I understand it. I understand it because I have it in me. I've seen it before, I accept. and I can see the positive sides of those three cultures that I have inside me.

I want to finish with what I am passionate about: I have three cultures inside me, they are very different and they are miles apart, really miles apart in some ways. . But do you know what I try every day, especially with my kids? I try to take the best of all three and merge them into a new culture where you have the best of all three. For me,

cross

ing borders is not

cross

ing borders, it's about crossing borders. push boundaries and create new boundaries. If you can create a new culture where you have the best of the three, like I'm trying to do, it's not easy, what do you get?

Then you create a global way of thinking. I think the world revolves around this. Thank you. (Applause)