Wouldn’t communicating across cultural divides be easier if we were like the character in Star Trek, Dr. Spock, and had the ability to mind meld and read other’s thoughts? The art of communicating goes well beyond the actual words spoken as is seen in the gap between Individualistic and Collectivist cultures. This gap was difficult […]
Cross-cultural Training
Making the Case for Cross-Cultural Training and Coaching
Success in an overseas work assignment or the ability to drive business performance in others who differ culturally is directly correlated to having higher levels of cultural awareness, whether one has “boots on the ground” or is working virtually. Today we have a radically different world than ten years ago. Today’s marketplace can be defined […]
Asia’s Ghost Festivals
The Ghost Festival is a traditional Buddhist and Taoist festival held in many Asian countries. Taiwan is celebrating the Ghost Festival on Friday, August 28th, though in some countries the date is different. Traditionally, locals believed that ghosts haunt the island of Taiwan for the entire seventh lunar month, when the mid-summer Ghost Festival […]
Cultural Brief: Bastille Day
This past Tuesday was Bastille Day, a French holiday celebrating the country’s independence. The French National Day is celebrated on July 14 and is celebrated to commemorate the storming of the Bastille prison in 1789, which helped spark the French Revolution. This was the culmination in Paris of a violent revolution that had begun two […]
Kids & Culture: Empowered Skateboarders in Afghanistan
The joyous activities that many people experience from recreational sports such as rollerblading and biking are often taken for granted. In Afghanistan, however, there has been a recent emergence of skateboarders, typically females. Afghanistan inhibits a very traditional culture where women often stay within the home. In fact, often, Afghan girls are restricted from participating […]
Ramadan Kareem
The world rotates around a variety of calendars: most people follow the Gregorian calendar which is used widely throughout the continents; the Chinese follow their own lunisolar calendar, while Jewish people follow a calendar that shares similarities with the Chinese one. Meanwhile, Muslims follow the Islamic calendar. Within this calendar, a variety of events occur, […]