Intercultural Communications as Antidote to “What Do You Do” Courtesy Nod

I was at a dinner party the other night, and I found myself leaning in when the gentlemen with whom I was speaking said he did “communications infrastructure” for a living.  It’s one of those terms that you kind of know what it means, but not really.  You know it’s really important and helps the…

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Unconscious Bias #44 Revealed: Skinny, White, Beautiful Blondes, aka “Shiksas”

    Let me clarify two things upfront, before explaining my most recent revelation of unconscious bias: 1) Self-revelation of an unconscious bias is the best way to address it and overcome it. It’s like the old AA adage. You have to acknowledge there’s a problem first. 2) I was about to defend my use…

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Happy Halloween. I’m Going as a Brazilian. Or a Jew. Or a Brazilian Jew.

Doesn’t everyone have that one friend who doesn’t dress up for Halloween, but likes to come up with ways to describe his/her costume anyway, as in “I’m dressed as a pedestrian.” At first I declared I was dressed Brazilian, after deciding not to change my shirt in response to my 8 year old’s announcement that “I…

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Cultural Generalizations and Stereotypes, Beware

 I’ve been following Cindy King both on the internet and on Twitter. She’s an International Sales Expert, but also an amazing connector of all things interntional and intercultural.  In the past I’ve referenced websites like culturecrossing.net, which aim to provide a quick “How To” guide to cross-cultural etiquette and understanding.  I have said I find the sites…

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Business Case for Diversity, c-e-o Networking and Diversity Workshop: Conscious vs Sub-conscious Review

The short version of this post is a summary of the workshop I presented today at the C-E-O conference for collegiate entrepreneurs in Chicago.  One person who arrived at the end had asked if there was anywhere to capture the information in the 50 minute workshop.  So, here is the “objective” short version: We covered the “Why”…

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Twinkies, White Castle and Chocolate Chip Cookies…now that’s American

  True American experience for international visitors?  How about White Castle…  This blurb on Brandfreak about endearing images of Twinkies in popular media reminded me of past attempts to showcase our culture to international visitors.  For David from Paris, we spent the week trying to find the perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie.  We tried Potbelly’s  (sidenote–best day ever was being…

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