Hilka Klinkenberg helps her clients develop their global leadership and team-building capabilities by providing them with the knowledge and skills they need in order to understand, to manage and to leverage the cultural differences that allow them to become more polished, to outshine the competition, and to avoid costly faux pas at home and abroad.
For 20 years, Hilka has coached executives and professionals one-on-one, worked with teams at all levels from the boardroom to the back room, and has addressed large audiences at conferences and conventions. She has helped business executives objectively assess their strengths and weaknesses, and she has tactfully suggested concrete, proven methods for improvement in specific areas to help them understand the nuances of interacting with colleagues from different cultures. Then she has supported them in implementing these techniques until their desired results are achieved.
Hilka is a certified coach, Emotional Intelligence practitioner, and a recognized expert in the field of international protocol and business etiquette. She holds a Masters in Policy Administration with a concentration in International Policy and Finance from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. Her broad international exposure includes having lived in six countries and having worked with clients in and from several more.
In addition to the protocol columns Hilka has contributed to a variety of publications and web sites around the world, she is the author of At Ease...Professionally (Bonus Books). Hilka has been quoted frequently in a variety of major magazines and newspapers such as Business Week, Investor's Business Daily, Wall Street Journal, and Crain's. She has also been a recurring guest on hundreds of radio and television programs.
Hilka has been an active member of numerous professional associations, including the International Coaching Federation, the National Speakers Association, the American Society for Training and Development, the Americas Society, the Global Business Association, Women in Communications and Toastmasters. She has served on the board of the local chapters of a number of these associations. She is a member of the Global Business Committee of the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce.
When not traveling for business or pleasure, Hilka lives in New York City.