Intercultural speaker Saskia Maarse delivers sharp, humorous insights into Dutch culture and global collaboration.
5.00 of 5
Top rated!5 of 5
Saskia is a very skilled and positive speaker. She can really creates a nice vibe in the room, making the audience relaxed and engaged.”
FindMyPublisher
Saskia Maarse is a sought-after intercultural speaker and trainer known for making cultural differences both understandable and engaging. Drawing on extensive international experience, global travel and years of interviews with professionals from multiple countries, she offers valuable insights into Dutch business culture and how it contrasts with other cultures. Through her six culture principles, she helps teams strengthen communication, collaboration and trust.
Saskia Maarse is an intercultural speaker, trainer and author with deep expertise in Dutch culture and the dynamics that arise when people from different backgrounds work together. Her understanding stems from a unique blend of professional experience abroad, years in the tourism sector, international travel and a long research period interviewing managers and professionals from various countries. After returning to the Netherlands, she spent six years gathering stories and insights that helped her map the habits, expectations and unwritten rules that shape Dutch behaviour both in business and in everyday life.
Her lectures and workshops are known for being fact-filled, accessible and funny. Saskia explains cultural patterns with clarity, illustrated by concrete examples that participants recognize instantly. She uses her five culture principles as a practical framework to help people understand cultural differences better.
Organisations across sectors book Saskia to strengthen intercultural understanding and improve international cooperation. Whether teams work with Dutch colleagues, manage Dutch clients or operate in multicultural environments, they benefit from Saskia’s ability to translate cultural theory into everyday behaviour. Her sessions offer participants a better understanding of their own cultural lens as well, making it easier to adapt, communicate and collaborate across borders.
She tailors each session to the audience’s needs, whether the focus is on cultural awareness, navigating Dutch business habits or dealing with common intercultural challenges. The result is a learning experience that fosters openness, reduces friction and builds confidence in international situations.
Saskia offers lectures, workshops and training programs on:
These sessions give participants a structured and engaging way to explore cultural contrasts and similarities. They also help teams understand why certain interactions feel smooth while others spark confusion. Saskia explains typical Dutch traits such as direct communication, egalitarian leadership and the preference for planning and clarity, in a way that helps international colleagues navigate them with ease.
One of Saskia’s strengths is connecting big cultural concepts to everyday practice. She illustrates how Dutch people express trust, what they expect from leaders, how meetings unfold, and why clarity and honesty are valued so strongly. At the same time, she highlights how these traits differ from other cultures, offering balanced and practical guidance on bridging gaps.
Participants walk away with tools to improve communication, avoid misunderstandings and adapt their style when needed. Her approach supports smoother teamwork within global organisations and strengthens relationships with partners and clients abroad.
Saskia has captured her insights in two books: Tutti frutti – het succes van kleurrijk en ondernemend Nederland and Onder de zeespiegel – samenwerken en samen leven met Nederlanders. These works reflect her deep curiosity about cultural identity and her ability to translate observations into clear and relatable narratives. They further establish her as one of the most prominent voices on Dutch culture in an international context.
Through her writing and her work on stage, Saskia continues to help people understand what makes Dutch culture unique and how to approach cultural differences with openness and curiosity. Her combination of research, lived experience and vivid storytelling makes her a powerful speaker for organisations seeking to strengthen global collaboration.
5 of 5
Saskia is a very skilled and positive speaker. She can really creates a nice vibe in the room, making the audience relaxed and engaged.”
FindMyPublisher
5 of 5
“During our team building day in Openluchtmuseum Arnhem we have had the pleasure to enjoy a very interesting cultural awareness workshop focussing on the Dutch culture in comparison with other cultures, how other cultures see us Dutch and what we can learn with the 6 principles of intercultural working from Saskia Maarse. The diverse group that we were with 25 people, 6 nationalities and even more cultures (including Frisian and Limburg) were really enthusiastic and even more understood the importance of good communication (verbal and visual) in international business.”
Marko van der Smitte Sales Director Alfa Laval
5 of 5
“Very nice and interactive intercultural workshop – will surely help us to better work together” –
Pierre Andurand Thales
5 of 5
“I found the Cultural Awareness Workshop very insightful and interesting. Saskia raised several points regarding culture differences that I was always curious about, but never knew the explanations. Now it totally makes sense! Also, the workshop was done in a very interactive and fun way and it was easy to follow the information. It was interesting to observe how participants were reacting in different ways to certain situations based on their backgrounds. There were a lot of discussions about emotions and trust differences. Additionally, I really enjoyed that Saskia was using a lot personal examples, as this way you can really experience cultural awareness in real life. On top of that, I have received great feedback for this workshop from other participants. They confirmed that the information was very useful and relevant for work, as we spend a lot of time in a very international environment. I would totally recommend this workshop to everyone. Thank you, Saskia!”
Natalie Sebel WoMen’s Network, Bayer
5 of 5
This was a fantastic workshop! Saskia was very knowledgeable and was able to put into words, in a very clear and concise manner, thoughts that go through our heads while working in an internationally diverse team, whilst also teaching us thoughts that may go through our colleagues’ heads and why they behave differently. It was very interesting to reflect on how we communicate and how we may bridge the gap when working with people from a different background. Her language and message were always inclusive and highlighted our commonalities rather than differences. I also really enjoyed the anecdotes she shared about herself and the people she had interviewed. The workshop was also very interactive which meant I felt like I absorbed all the information rather than zone out at any point. All in all, a great experience.”” –
Marjolijn Buis-de Groot Principal Admin and HR Assistant, Lummus Heat Transfer
Keynote by Saskia Maarse:
Why are the Dutch so blunt?
Who is actually the boss in the Netherlands?
Why do the Dutch leave their curtains open at night?
And what are the cultural differences between the Netherlands and other countries?
The Dutch have been doing business overseas for centuries. At the same time people from other countries have come to work and do business in the Netherlands. Working across cultures can result in all kinds of blunders – both socially and in business. Knowledge of each other’s cultures – and awareness of one’s own – are essential requirements for avoiding such misunderstandings.
In her lecture / workshop ‘How to deal with the Dutch’ Saskia Maarse shows how Dutch culture is seen by other nationalities and cultures. She provides a lively analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the Dutch character. For instance, the Dutch norm that ‘an appointment is an appointment’. And while this is very much appreciated by people from other cultures in the context of business – it is regarded as somewhat bizarre in private life. Why consult your agenda to schedule time with family members?
Saskia humorously describes the origins of some typically Dutch characteristics, as well as what we can learn from and about other cultures – in areas like communication, leadership and behaviour.
She shares anecdotes from business professionals and managers from a variety of countries and offers background information and useful insights on how to deal with the Dutch and how to bridge cultural differences in business and social life.
Overview of the lecture / workshop content
Watch Saskia Maarse in action!
