Intercultural Communications, Engagement and Inclusion as seen through Music

  I caught this version of Tracy Chapman’s “Give Me One Reason” on the radio today, that she did with Eric Clapton, and it was great.  Her sultry tones complemented by his distinctive blues guitar were wonderful.  Each was able to bring her/his unique style to the table to produce a fantastic product in a spirit…

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Stereotypes of Women in Ads: Real Women Talk about More than Nails and Shoes

I was taking a trip recently to a city where I’d heard an old friend (Maureen Popkin Chiquet) from middle school had settled, so I looked her up.  Turns out she’s the Global CEO for Chanel and was Glamour magazine’s Fashion Woman of the year in 2008. Oohh…so women DO actually work and hold down careers!  I’d…

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Intercultural Communications Competency at Core of Servant-Based Leadership

Intercultural Talk had a chance to catch up today with Lynn Walker, Interim President at Truman College in Chicago, to talk about how she draws upon intercultural communications skills to lead a 10,000+ student organization with students from over 100 different countries.   Her leadership role requires the ability to shift from speaking to administrators, students, community members,…

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Sascha Finkelsztajn’s Jewish Deli in Paris: Who Has the “Right” Jewish Sandwich?

The traditional Jewish sandwich is a corned beef on rye, right?  It was actually our (not Jewish) Parisian host who told us about Sascha Finkelsztajn’s. Having been to a Jewish seder in Brazil and with a nod to his burgeoning Jewish cultural identity, 9 year old Dillon said it would be fun to try a bagel…

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Multicultural Marketing Needs to “Think Globally” (KFC Pulls Ad in Australia after US Backlash)

There’s a catch phrase in the environmental movement that says “Think Globally.   Act Locally.”  Global advertisers might be well served by doing  the reverse. Of course companies selling internationally need to localize their messages to appeal to regional and national markets.  But they must also think globally.  You have to assume that any ad, no…

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Poetry, Toungue Tennis, and other Tricks for Multicultural Name Pronunciation

  As someone married to an “Eugenio” (Brazilian Portuguese ay-oh-ZHEN-ee-oh) I was delighted to find the website Hearnames.com, which offers audio pronunciation by native speakers of hundreds of names in 44 language categories.  Dale Carnegie taught millions how to Win Friends and Influence People with ideas like “Remember that a person’s name is to that…

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Selling Cigarettes to Women: “You’ve Come a Long Way Baby.” NOT

I definitely smoked Virginia Slims when I smoked 30 years ago. But who wouldn’t want to be that tall, thin, confident, brave, free-spirited, adventurous woman who didn’t take sh— from anybody.  Sign me up! Without even inviting me to a focus group tobacco companies have taken note, creating advertising targeted at women in third world…

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Intercultural Talk with Tim “I Speak Geek” Frick, author, Return on Engagement

Note to self–in USAmerican culture you’re not supposed to tell men you love them in a business setting–but with Tim Frick, owner of Mightybytes and author of the forthcoming book (out June 7 from Focal Press) Return on Engagement, I can’t seem to help myself. For full disclosure, Tim and Mightybytes designed this blog, and…

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“Pleading ignorance should no longer be an excuse for cultural stereotyping”

This line is actually the closing for an editorial in the Greenbay Pressgazette last week about a radio station that pulled a song it had played regularly for weeks, when listeners raised questions and the Menominee tribe said it would pull its advertising: WIXX (101.1FM) rightly decided to stop airing a peculiar 1950s ballad about a love-struck…

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