There is no clean playbook for building a People function in a scaling organisation, especially across borders. As companies grow, priorities shift, structures break, and what once worked quickly becomes a constraint. The challenge extends beyond growth to navigating cross-cultural realities, where differences in expectations, communication, and ways of working surface quickly, and where alignment is often tested. This session brings a pragmatic, experience-driven lens to scaling People and culture where global ambition meets local complexity. Drawing on cross-cultural experience between Germany and India, it explores how different cultural strengths can complement each other in building stronger, more resilient teams, while also addressing the tensions around equality, decision-making, and workplace norms. It highlights the importance of intentionally building cross-cultural teams, the challenges leaders face in making them work, and the role of leadership in creating alignment without erasing differences. Attendees will gain a clearer perspective on how to navigate these cultural and organisational trade-offs, build and lead cross-border teams effectively, and create People practices that scale across geographies, while fostering cultures that are inclusive, adaptable, and grounded in real-world complexity.