By Dr Tanya Finnie

Returning to the land that shaped you is a strange feeling. It touches your soul in ways I can’t quite describe. It brings back a familiarity you forgot you were missing.

This April I am back on African soil, the continent where my story began. The smells, the sounds, the rhythm of conversation and community. There is a familiarity in the air that settles into the body before the mind even catches up.

And yet, it is no longer home in the way it once was. Migration changes us. Over time your identity stretches across continents.

When you live between cultures long enough, you realise something important: home becomes plural. When asked where I am from, I always say I’m a child of the world.

Living Between Worlds

I grew up in South Africa during a complex and turbulent time. The cultural layers of that experience still shape the way I see leadership, fairness, and belonging today.

Now, living in Australia and working globally, I carry different cultural lenses at once.

African relational depth.
European precision from my German roots.
Australian pragmatism.

My Indigenous colleague Jahna Cedar speaks beautifully about this idea of living between two worlds in her TEDx talk. Her perspective reminds us that cultural identity is rarely singular — it is something we carry, negotiate and honour across different spaces. Here is a link to her talk.

This layered perspective is exactly what cultural intelligence is about. It is the ability to understand that no single worldview holds the entire truth. Instead, wisdom often sits in the intersection of cultures.

What Land Teaches Us About Culture

Being back in Africa reminds me of something many modern workplaces forget.

In many African cultures, relationships come before transactions. Time moves differently when connection matters. Conversations stretch longer. Stories are shared before decisions are made.

For global leaders used to efficiency and speed, this can feel frustrating. I always say the leadership lesson sits in the discomfort.

Connection builds trust. Trust builds collaboration. Collaboration builds results.

This time around I’m travelling with a dear friend and her family. Even before we land, I know she’ll hear my accent change. My behaviour will shift too, as I slip back into the African banter I usually reserve for when I’m there. I’m curious to see what they notice, the things that feel completely normal to me but unusual through their Australian eyes (watch this space for an update).

Why Cultural Intelligence Matters More Than Ever

As organisations become more global, leaders increasingly work daily across cultures, languages, and value systems.

Without cultural intelligence, misunderstandings grow quickly:

• Communication styles clash.
• Decision-making feels slow or disrespectful.
• Trust erodes.

But leaders who develop cross-cultural communication skills recognise something powerful:

Different cultural approaches are not obstacles. They are resources.

The Gift of Standing Between Cultures

Returning to Africa reminds me that identity is never fixed. We carry pieces of every place we have lived, whether we realise it or not. And sometimes the greatest leadership advantage is not belonging fully to one culture – but learning to move between them.

That space between worlds is where cultural intelligence grows.

And it is where the future of leadership is being shaped.