When looking at metrics to support training for communicating to people from different countries, it’s easy. There’s a very clear cut set of rules. You learn specific customs (e.g. don’t show the bottom of your shoe when sitting with legs crossed in Pakistan, exchange business cards with two hands in Japan, etc.); you go to…
DetailsThe first time I went to Brazil to meet my in-laws, over 20 years ago now, everyone was walking around saying “Oy.” In the yiddish of my Jewish culture, “Oy” is what all of the old people say every time they get up….”Oy, my aching back…” Oy, my sciatica…” I associated it with people in…
DetailsThere’s been a lot of discussion lately about Joe Six Pack’s race. NPR was speaking to voters about whether he is white, black, or brown. Macon D on his blog, “stuff white people do” came up with a list of 68 euphemisms for ‘white,’ and Joe Six Pack was on the list. Wikipedia identified the…
DetailsOkay, now I’ve said it, so what’s next? Traditional diversity trainings and rules of political correctness dictate you should suppress that instinct to notice race or be declared a racist. The fact is that categorization is an innate survival response dating back to the era of the hunter/gatherer: Edible, non-edible? Male-female? Friend-foe? Rather than suppress…
DetailsIt would seem impossible for anyone to deny the close, interconnectedness of all peoples around the globe, given the immediate domino effect of crashing economies around the world that continues, following the initial crises in the US. For me, it was Iceland going bankrupt just three days into the crisis that hit this message home. …
Details30 years ago the place where you learned about other countries was in foreign language class. I learned all about the government, cultures and history of countries throughout Central and South America in Spanish class. It seems incredulous that this has not changed, so many years later and after such drastic changes in the growth…
DetailsApparently I’ve been living under a rock. A couple of weeks ago I expressed surprise at the anticipated Civil Rights violations related to the upcoming election, and sent a call out to get some other perspectives. Thanks to everyone who responded. Despite the Voting Rights Act of 1965 which protects the right to vote, “Americans…
DetailsAt a business networking event recently in 21st century ‘post-ethnic’ America, I noticed the same thing I saw in the high school lunch room 25 years ago, and in the college cafeteria: when it was time to sit and eat, everyone self-segregated: African Americans were in their clusters, whites in theirs, and so on. A…
DetailsWhen I took over as Executive Director of a not-for-profit trade association a few years ago, I quickly uncovered some deep financial problems that preceded my arrival but demanded my immediate attention. To fill the gap of day-to-day staff management while I focused on organizational issues, I delegated ‘being nice’ to the Managing Director. He…
DetailsI got an unexpected lesson in Cross-Cultural Communications last week at the “Almost Home” celebration at Kegel Harley Davidson in Rockford, IL. Looking across the field of hundreds of ‘bikers’ wearing faded Levi’s and t-shirts, I felt consciously aware of my striped Capri pants and tailored shirt. “There are no other children here,” I also…
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