What Working Across Cultures Teaches You About What Truly Matters

As the year draws to a close, I find myself reflecting on what matters most.

For many, this is a time of celebration or simply a moment to pause before the new year begins. For others, it's business as usual, planning for what lies ahead in 2026.

What strikes me, working across cultures and continents, is how universal certain values remain: integrity, family, trust, and legacy.

Whether I'm sitting with a family office principal in Doha during Ramadan, celebrating the end of year with colleagues in London, or planning transitions that span generations and geographies - the fundamentals don't change.

Happy Holidays From Thorp Advisory

What Transcends Culture

People want to know their life's work matters. That what they've built will endure. That the values they hold won't be lost in translation across generations or borders.

This is what I love about advisory work: it transcends cultural boundaries whilst honouring them.

The questions a British principal asks about succession aren't fundamentally different from those a GCC royal family navigates. A father in London wondering if his daughter is ready to take over faces the same internal struggle as a chairman in Dubai watching his son step into leadership.

The fear of letting go. The hope that what you've built survives. The question of whether you've prepared them well enough.

These are human questions, not cultural ones.

Where Culture Shapes Everything

But here's what changes: the conversations required to address those questions look entirely different depending on context.

In Western family offices, there's often an expectation of direct dialogue. Principals and successors sit down, articulate concerns, negotiate responsibilities. Transparency is valued. Directness is expected.

In GCC contexts, the same conversations happen - but they unfold differently. Hierarchy matters. Respect is demonstrated through patience, not confrontation. What might feel like avoidance in one culture is actually careful consideration in another.

Neither approach is better. Both require understanding, not judgement.

The principals who navigate succession successfully aren't the ones who impose one cultural framework on another. They're the ones who recognise what's universal (the psychological challenge of transition) whilst respecting what's particular (how that challenge can be discussed).

The Values That Don't Change

No matter where I work, the values that define successful families remain constant:

Integrity. The quiet commitment to doing what's right when no one's watching.

Discretion. Understanding that trust is earned through what you don't say as much as what you do.

Loyalty. The kind that extends beyond contracts and exists in the relationships you build over decades.

Legacy. Not wealth for its own sake, but the principles and purpose you're passing forward.

These aren't Western values or Middle Eastern values. They're human values. And they're what make families, and the wealth they steward, endure across generations.

Looking Ahead to 2026

As we close out 2025, I'm thinking about the transitions that lie ahead.

The principals preparing to step back after decades of building.

The next generation stepping forward, carrying both opportunity and pressure.

The families asking hard questions about what comes next.

Whatever you're celebrating this season - or however you're spending this time - I hope it includes clarity, honest conversations with the people who matter most, and confidence in the legacy you're building.

Because the work of transition doesn't pause for holidays. It's always present, always evolving, always requiring attention.

But it also doesn't have to be faced alone.

The Work Continues

If you're approaching a leadership transition in 2026 and recognising that the technical planning is in place but something psychological or cultural is creating friction - that's where I work.

Not in the governance documents or the legal structures.

In the conversations that make those structures actually function.

In the space between what families say and what they mean.

In the cultural nuances that determine whether honesty feels like respect or betrayal.

That's the work. And it continues into the new year.

See you in 2026 - ready for whatever transitions lie ahead.

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James Thorp is the founder of Thorp Advisory, providing executive coaching and strategic advisory services to family offices, UHNW individuals, and founders globally. With a decade of experience serving royal families and elite clients in the GCC and Western markets, James brings deep cross-cultural fluency and expertise in the psychological dimensions of succession planning and leadership transitions.