Monthly Archives: August 2013

I Have a Dream, #DreamDay

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Oh how those words, spoken 50 years ago today — August 28, 1963 — have inspired us! The wisdom and passion with which they were spoken!

I Have a DreamSo many have shared their memories on this anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous address. There have been incredibly motivational talks, such as this short one by the Dalai Lama.

Through all of it, however, most of us remain troubled. Are we any closer to that dream? Have each of us done our best, in our lives and in our own ways, to help make that dream a reality?

One thing I know, both from my heart and professional training, is that the Dalai Lama’s message about focusing on the oneness of humanity is based upon a deep recognition of and respect for diversity. Those who know the oneness also respect individual and cultural differences.

I say this because it’s too easy to fall into the superficial “feel good”-ness of “it’s a small world.” Common goals, shared dreams, are necessary to tie us together. And our distinct gifts are necessary to implement those dreams. It’s a converge-diverge dynamic, a yin-yang, in which both commonality and diversity are needed.

Today, let us renew our quest. Inclusion, the oneness of humanity, is not the polar opposite of diversity, as too many believe. A oneness of humanity must be accompanied by a respect for diversity; the two go together hand in glove.

Thank you all, today and always, for being part of our community, for helping us all achieve the dream that justice will roll down like water upon us! That we all will be free at last!

If you haven’t yet rewatched the famous speech, here it is. Sit down, enjoy, and refocus.

Have You Taken Advantage of Our Free Webinars?

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Night work

  • “Really? You are logging into this webinar, willingly and of your own accord, at midnight? No joke? And for you it’s 3 am?”
  • “Yes! I am so very excited to be here! Thank you for offering this learning opportunity!”

The response to the free “Cross-Cultural Effectiveness” webinars we have been conducting since February of this year has truly overwhelmed me. We’ve already welcomed hundreds of participants from six of the seven continents, including a broad diversity of professions and experiences—from hospitals to schools, disaster relief to hospitality. I’ve had the pleasure to meet incredible people who are building cross-cultural competence and using or hoping to use Cultural Detective in the most creative and needed ways! It has been such a joy and learning experience. Thank you all!

People don’t need to be inconvenienced by the time difference to participate in these webinars. We offer them twice a month, once at times convenient to the Americas, Europe, and Africa, and another more convenient to Asia and Oceania.

Would you like even better news? Those who participate receive a COMPLIMENTARY 3-day pass to Cultural Detective Online!

I’ve promised myself to use a different critical incident each and every webinar, and it’s amazed me the richness of the discussion this has generated, the powerful ways in which we can overcome stereotypes, the innovative ways the groups have generated to harness the power of diversity.

We also are committed to conducting special-interest webinars for you, to aid in ongoing cross-cultural competence development. Thus far we have held two, both in partnership with customers and colleagues: one on virtual teaming, and another on coaching across cultures. Stay tuned for future additions to the schedule!

If you would like to participate in a webinar, or get more of your colleagues and friends excited about intercultural competence, please register now. We have just updated the calendar through the end of December 2013.

If you use Cultural Detective in your work, and you would like to share what you do and how you do it in hopes of helping others succeed, please contact us. We may be able to partner on an upcoming webinar, or share your story in a future blog post! We also welcome your topic ideas. Keep ’em coming!

Today’s Cultural Defective: A Humorous Short Story

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ImageThe past few weeks our family has been busy traveling around visiting universities with our son, who will be a senior in high school as of next week, as well as visiting family and, of course, working in between. Many thanks to all our wonderful guest bloggers who contributed posts during this time.

We are home again, and I thought you might enjoy a humorous “Cultural Defective” or cultural misstep story that happened to us upon our return. The guard, our neighbor, and our family had a good chuckle over it. Hopefully we’ll be a bit clearer in our communication with our building staff going forward, but more importantly, we gained a better understanding of our own worldview and that of the people working in our building. Here’s the story:

We live in a large condominium building. We receive a newspaper delivered to our door every day. Normally when we leave town, we tell the building staff that they are welcome to keep and read our paper while we are gone, and that we don’t need them back. It tends to be much easier and less confusing than starting and stopping delivery, and the staff enjoys the small perk. This time, however, our neighbor was in town, so we invited him to take and read our paper every day while we were gone.

Today, one of our building guards showed up at our door with a huge stack of newspapers. He most kindly explained to us that someone had been stealing our newspaper every day while we were gone (we live on a floor with three other families). Therefore, the staff had decided to hold the papers in the office, to guard them, and give them to us upon our return.

I guess we should have communicated our plans with the building staff more clearly. This was certainly nothing I would have expected. I do hope that at least the staff read them!

To me this incident is refreshing in that it didn’t really harm anyone, as many cross-cultural misunderstandings unfortunately do. However, I’m sure if confused our neighbor (why has newspaper delivery stopped?)!
If we take a bit of time to apply the Cultural Detective Method, we can easily see the value differences it illustrates:
  • The value placed upon a daily newspaper delivery—a luxury available to professionals, but beyond the reach of a laborer here in western Mexico.
  • Feelings of protectiveness and responsibility—the building guards are accustomed to a huge status differential; they don’t want to do anything that might disappoint a homeowner, or that an owner might accuse them of doing incorrectly. They were protecting us, and they were protecting themselves.

In my worldview, it never occurred to me that an owner might want six weeks of newspapers saved. Also, I have a different the sense of responsibility than our guards have. I might figure, “Hey, if the lady didn’t tell me to save her papers for her, or what to do with them while she is gone, I can’t be responsible.”

Of course, it could also have been that the guards really wanted their few weeks of leisurely newspaper reading, and resented an owner (our neighbor) taking what would otherwise be theirs, but I really don’t think that’s what happened. They just figured we’d forgotten about our paper, and that a neighbor was taking advantage of our absence. And, they did the right thing—they protected us.

This is just a small, humorous story of daily life as an expat, and how easily any of us can jump to negative conclusions. Or, if we take a few moments to reflect on our missteps, we can gain insight about ourselves, others, and living together enjoyably.

We have such a wide range of readers—I’ll bet many of you have similar anecdotes of unintended consequences to your actions (or lack of action) as you have navigated life in a foreign culture. We’d be delighted to hear your “Cultural Defective” stories and the insights you gained through the experiences.

40 Maps That Will Help You Make Sense of the World

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You’ve seen some of these maps before, but I’ll bet you haven’t seen all of them. A very interesting way to visualize differences in our world from various perspectives. Enjoy!

 

twistedsifter's avatarTwistedSifter

 

If you’re a visual learner like myself, then you know maps, charts and infographics can really help bring data and information to life. Maps can make a point resonate with readers and this collection aims to do just that.

Hopefully some of these maps will surprise you and you’ll learn something new. A few are important to know, some interpret and display data in a beautiful or creative way, and a few may even make you chuckle or shake your head.

If you enjoy this collection of maps, the Sifter highly recommends the r/MapPorn sub reddit. You should also check out ChartsBin.com. There were also fantastic posts on Business Insider and Bored Panda earlier this year that are worth checking out. Enjoy!

 

1. Where Google Street View is Available

map-of-the-world-where-google-street-view-is-available

Map by Google

 

 

2. Countries That Do Not Use the Metric System

map-of-countires-that-use-metric-system-vs-imperial

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Estereotipos: entre el bien y el mal

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(English follows Spanish)
La subjetividad es tan inherente al ser humano como lo son sus propias emociones. En el alma mezclamos de manera inseparable la voluntad, el intelecto y la emoción; y según cada una de estas “sea alimentada” podremos actuar de una manera u otra. De hecho es por esto tan famosa la llamada Inteligencia Emocional, que no es otra cosa que alimentar el intelecto y la voluntad para controlar las emociones (y que Daniel Goleman me perdone por hacerlo parecer tan simple).

Por nuestro lado, y digo nuestro porque aquí es lo que nos reune, la Inteligencia Cultural (CQ) busca entonces alimentar “el conocimiento” , la “aprehención mental de las diferencias” y modelar el “comportamiento” entre las culturas.  Obviamente el comportamiento se nutre de nuestras emociones y por ende de alguna manera querámoslo o no se relaciona con nuestra subjetividad.

Sin embargo, como si fuera parte de un círculo vicioso nuestra subjetividad cambia según alimentemos el conocimiento y nos dispongamos a aprender y aprehender. Sí hay que conocer y disponerse a conocer, además de buscar fuentes de información diversas… variadas y paradójicamente, objetivas.

Los estereotipos sin duda alguna son uno de los principales desafíos en nuestra interacción intercultural. Para algunos es el bien… la bendición y el llevar consigo ese pre-juicio (pre: adelantado…inferido…establecido… no cuestionado) que les abre puertas y que les da acceso a una serie de oportunidades negadas para otros.

Ejemplos de esto hay muchos. Podríamos comenzar por las diferencias de género y por ende los pre-juicios alrededor de hombres y mujeres para el desempeño de oficios y responsabilidades. Aún es una realidad latente que hombres y mujeres no recibimos la misma remuneración al realizar/ejecutar la misma tarea y ocupando la misma posición.

Nelson Mandela es tristemente célebre por luchar contra el Apartheid y entregar su vida por demostrar que el color de la piel no interfiere con lo que somos o podemos ofrecer. Los prejuicios sociales se dramatizan entre el amarillismo y el realismo trágico en miles de tragicomedias y novelas reflejando una sociedad estereotipada.  No hay que dar muchos detalles de lo que significa tener un nombre de ascendencia árabe y musulmán en los Estados Unidos luego del 9/11.

Y así hay otras tantas, como la que vivo cuando me discriminan por el lugar donde nací. Entonces los estereotipos se convierten en una especie de estigma, de etiqueta, de prejuicio sin sentido y sin razón. Aunque parezca irreal cuando vivía en Londres a una compañera del college le prohibieron hablar conmigo “peligro es colombiana” y en 1998 buscando un lugar para vivir, llegué a uno de los suburbios a una casa donde lo primero que me dijeron: es usted familiar de Pablo Escobar?

Al final no importa lo bueno que cualquiera nacido en este país pueda tener. Lo malo es la nube negra que nos acompaña, nos limita, nos cierra puertas y lo peor, muchas veces tristemente habla por nosotros y enmudece nuestra voz.

Hay problemas, tal vez más que en otras latitudes… tal vez menos y más publicitadas. Los estereotipos se vuelven peligrosamente en contra de todos, y nos llevan al facilismo de generalizar y el derecho sesgado del absolutismo puro. TODOS los nacidos son, o TODOS los hombres, TODOS los musulmanes, TODOS…. y no! No todos ni todas somos iguales, si bien es cierto tenemos rasgos y características compartidas, el absolutismo es negarnos la posibilidad de nuestro valor como individuos… lo que somos más allá de lo que otros dicen que somos o debemos ser.

—

(English translation by Dianne Hofner Saphiere)

Stereotypes: Between Good and Evil

Subjectivity is as inherent to humans as are our emotions. In our souls we inextricably mix intellect and emotion, and we behave in one way or another depending on which one we feed. That which is famously called “Emotional Intelligence” (EQ) is, in truth, nothing more than feeding the intellect and controlling emotions (forgive me, Daniel Goleman, for making it seem so simple).

In our field, and I say “our” because it is what brings us together, Cultural Intelligence (CQ) seeks to feed “knowledge,” “mental appreciation of differences,” and to model “behavior” across cultures. Obviously behavior is influenced by our emotions and therefore, like it or not, it relates to our subjectivity.

However, as if it were part of a vicious cycle, our subjectivity changes according to how we nourish knowledge, and we can become better able to learn and comprehend. Yes, it’s necessary to know and to be ready to learn, to search for diverse sources of information — varied and, paradoxically, objective.

Stereotypes without any doubt are one of the major challenges in intercultural interaction. For some it’s the good; the blessing to take with them prejudice (established assumptions and inferences that are not questioned) that opens doors and gives them access to a series of opportunities denied to others.

There are many examples of this. We could start with gender differences and the prejudices surrounding men and women’s abilities to perform jobs and responsibilities. We live with the reality that men and women still do not receive equal pay for equal work or when occupying the same position.

Nelson Mandela is sadly famous for fighting Apartheid and devoting his life to demonstrating that the color of one’s skin does not interfere with who we are or what we have to offer. Social prejudices are dramatized between sensationalism and tragic realism in thousands of tragi-comedies and novels representing a stereotyped society. There is little need to give details surrounding what it means to be a Muslim man of Arab descent in the USA after 9/11.

And there are many more, like those I live with when people discriminate against me due to where I was born. The stereotypes become a type of stigma, a label, of mindless and irrational prejudice. Although it seems surreal, when I lived in London a college friend was prohibited from talking with me because I was “the Colombian danger,” and in 1998 when I was looking for a place to live, I arrived at a suburban house where the first thing they asked me was, “Are you related to Pablo Escobar?”

In the end, it doesn’t matter how good anyone born in this country might be. The evil is the black cloud that accompanies us, limits us, closes doors for us, and worse, that many times sadly speaks for us and mutes our voice.

We in Colombia have problems, perhaps more than in other locations; perhaps fewer but more publicized. Stereotypes come dangerously back against all of us, and they easily take us to generalizations and pure, biased absolutism. ALL OF US are born, ALL OF US are human, ALL OF US are Muslim, ALL … and not!

Not all of us are equal, even though we may share certain traits and characteristics. Absolutism negates the possibility of our value as individuals — it negates who we are, beyond that which others say we are or should be.

Want to Get Rave Reviews AND Truly Make a Difference?

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WowlargeHow would you like to revel in unsolicited, overwhelming praise and gratitude? And, on the job, no less?

We all make fun of “happy sheets,” those “feel good” evaluation forms participants are asked to fill out at the conclusion of a training session. But how sweet it is when a hardworking facilitator or coach receives unsolicited kudos! And Cultural Detective can enable you to do just that.

We help you look better and DO better! Cultural Detective provides a core process for developing intercultural competence, and you facilitators, coaches, team leads, study abroad counselors, professors—you add the bells and whistles, the supplementary activities and simulations, the design and personality that weave it all into a smashing success! You know you’re using a state-of-the-art Method, grounded in developmental and constructivist theories, adding both to your credibility and effectiveness.

Here’s an email one corporate trainer recently received after using Cultural Detective. Thank you for sharing it with us!

“Hi,

I trust you are back home, and preparing for your next Cultural Detective training session. I hope all is well.

I want to thank you for coming and bringing your fabulous Cultural Detective presentation and training. I swear to goodness I have used what I learned no less than five times, within our group, to resolve differences that could have been roadblocks otherwise. You squarely “nailed” the subject matter and how to use it. Your passion, your examples, your group exercises, how you drew people out to share their experiences and expectations and your patience (with at least one of us, who shall remain nameless) was inspiring. It was excellent, and the water-cooler talk I heard echoed the same thoughts as mine. I can truthfully say that I got more out of those short, few hours, than any other training I can think of. I am anxious to use the strategy in a discussion with parties of more diverse cultures than my five encounters so far. I’m confident we both will win.

I hope you can carry Cultural Detective all across the organization, because it applies to everyone; I even used it with my wife to determine where we were going to eat, just like the example you used! How about that for an example of classroom to practice! I don’t think it gets any better than that.

Well, thanks again. I just wanted you to know how much I though of your training and what it had done for me, in, what, a week? It was great. Thanks, and if ever I can be of service to you in someway, please don’t hesitate to ask.

Sincerely,

(signature removed for privacy), a practicing cultural detective