I saw an ad on late nite TV last night for a pharmaceutical promoted as critical to help men’s health as they age.  The patient was an older white man, and the doctor (also a man) was African American.

According to a recent article by Ronald Brownstein in the National Journal Magazine, “The Gray and the Brown:  The Generational Mismatch, this casting is an accurate representation of the future.  According to the article, 

From one direction, racial diversity in the United States is growing, particularly among the young. Minorities now make up more than two-fifths of all children under 18, and they will represent a majority of all American children by as soon as 2023…

At the same time, the country is also aging, as the massive Baby Boom Generation moves into retirement. But in contrast to the young, fully four-fifths of this rapidly expanding senior population is white.

Brownstein reflects on this as a source of conflict:  “In an age of diminished resources, the United States may be heading for an intensifying confrontation between the gray and the brown”

But what if it was the exact dynamic that would make everyone jump up and say “we all need intercultural communications training…NOW!”  And why now?

A look at small business marketing may help.  When a business owner thinks of his/her “elevator speech,” the 30 second encapsulated description of his/her business, the advice is to go for the pain.*  What is the pain your client feels and how does your company heal it—that’s how you get someone hooked

Until now, perhaps majority white populations haven’t collectively felt the pain.  But an aging population dependent on younger, diverse caregivers may shift that balance.

I always refer to my 79-year-old white dad as my “single person focus group.”  When I explained my work in intercultural competence and communications, he would say “that’s nice, for those who need it, but not integral to success of a business.”

Yet when he recently was in a rehab center after a fall, he called me.  “Can you give me some of your tips on Intercultural Communications?” he asked.  “I’m realizing it’s critically important for me to connect to the (majority African American) people helping me here.”  From the physical therapist to the nurses to the person delivering his meals, “If I connect with them I feel better, and I recover more quickly.”

Suddenly he realized the critical need for intercultural competence because he felt the pain.  Understanding when “the difference makes a difference” or recognizing direct vs. indirect communications styles, helped.  “You’re a genius” he said at the end of our “lesson.”

So federally mandated Cultural Competence Training for all seniors?  Ultimately it takes “two to tango” and it always works better when both ‘sides’ of a conversation have facility in recognizing and understanding the influence of culture on different communication styles.

But why not?   As I sit at the precipice of being an old white woman, and it’s more authentic to say “here’s what I can do” rather than “here’s what you can do to serve me” (ah, if only it worked that way!) and 2.) The person feeling the “pain” is the one with the most impetus to start.

What do you think?  Are we headed for doom, or opportunity, as gray meets brown?

*Sign up for the free American Family Insurance Business Accelerator Program for access to the free webinar “Refining Your Elevator Pitch and Taking Your Business to the Next Level.”

What happens when you open yourself up to different interpretations of the same item?  That’s what intercultural communications does–it encourages you to see things through a different lens…to look at something through another perspective.

In the workplace (or in real life) the theory is that it can explode the average white bread experience (aka The Brady Bunch) into something exciting and alluring–helping all to see things in a new light.

There are certain skills that can be learned to develop intercultural competentce and commununications.  But it’s the application and practice in everyday life that builds expert facility.  Today, the Brady Bunch…tomorrow the World!

What can you look at through someone else’s glasses?  What does it look like?

(Thanks to Nancy Barnard on Facebook for the tip)

There’s been much discussion of late about the dynamic between multicultural marketing agencies vs general market agencies–as the latter begins to expand its offerings, the former is prompted to justify its deeper insight and its superior positioning as an ethnic specific agency.

And even within General Market Agecies there’s discussion about the “profile” of the multicultural marketing Director (see “Three Multicultural Marketing Directors Walk into a Bar” on Adage, found via @MiguelACorona.

On the one hand, Ethnic agencies originally formed in response to growing multicultural markets, but also by amazingly talented people who grew frustrated at not being heard or finding room for advancement because of discrimination. 

I’m a believer (along with Jose Villa, who recently wrote about the threat to and  future of multicultural marketing agecies on Adage), that as the population continues to diversify that advertising will have to shift to speak to people of different backgrounds.  People don’t live in silos, and people of different backgrounds interact in and consume the same messages in the same space, all the time.

But let’s go back to the stereotype (note the two young women coming in at the end–isn’t that the stereotype shunned here?  Timid, giggling, shy Asian girls?) and whether ultimately a multicultural agency will always produce bias free, well-targeted ads.  Judging from the ad above, created in China for the Chinese market, presumably the answer is no. 

It could be conscious – PepsiMax is geared to men, so the target for this ad, the young, hip, Chinese male is well-served.  But having a creative team that matches the target audience doesn’t mean you’ll avoid unconscious bias or stereotypes.  They’ll just be those of the person creating the ad.  From that perspective, having a truly multicultural agency (whether it be a general market agency expanding its offerings or strategic alliances among tartet/ethnic agencies) might actually be better, to create messages that resonate with the largest group.

What targeted ads, created by ethnic agencies, have you seen–how did they fare in avoiding stereotpyes?

(Thanks to adfreak as the source of the ad)

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 of mutual respect. 

Kind of like the way it’s supposed to work in the workforce.  It’s called engagement and inclusion–and studies show that diverse teams, where team members recognize and value each other’s styles and what each brings to the table, consistently outperform homogenous teams. 

In the workforce many still struggle–While companies work toward a truly diverse workforce, reward bands (particularly in US corporations) tend to favor direct, immediate, task oriented output and don’t always keep employees who are relationship oriented or who provide critical support roles motivated.

The music analogy is a good one, and is particularly true with Chamber music, including jazz.  According to Chamber Music America, Chamber music is “music for small ensembles in which players perform one to a part, generally without a conductor.”

At the heart of this art form is a spirit of collaboration. Democratic in essence, chamber music demands that each individual engage in a close musical dialogue with the other performers. Their collective musical instinct, experience, knowledge, and talent guide the process of interpreting, rehearsing, and performing.

In other words, it respects the expertise of each individual musician and values the unique sound they bring to the whole.  Isn’t that what would make a diverse workplace thrive?

p.s.  If you are in Chicago you can get a first hand taste of this kind of musical collaboration with the new Jazz Duets Series created by Carolyn Albritton for Chicago’s Hyde Park Neighborhood.  Howard Reich, Arts Critic for the Chicago Tribune thinks it’s terrific.  (Albritton is also Music Director for the September 25, 2010 Hyde Park Jazz Festival.)

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, government leaders and more from moment to moment throughout the day.

Also known as “code-switching,” Walker credits a focus on Servant-based leadership–putting the needs of those she is serving first–plus being genuine at heart, as feeding her success. 

Funny, those are the same skills that drive great intercultural communications competence:  know thyself first, and learn to be attuned to the styles others.

Okay, and she does give an unsolicited plug to ask for help from professionals (like me), when in doubt.

What are your secrets to successful, intercultural leadership?

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 countries.  According to Douglas Bettcher, a World Health Organization expert, the tobacco industry is selling cigarettes “using stereotypes such as associating smoking with women’s liberation, the kind of stereotypes featured in smoking promotions decades ago in the rich nations.”

WHO presented a report late last week on tobacco use and women in anticipation of world anti-tobacco day on May 31.

As cigarette advertising laws in the US have become more stringent (you won’t find Joe Camel around anymore), tobacco companies have turned to new horizons.  Of course in the US it’s because we know that smoking kills.  According to the American Cancer Society, “each year about 443,600 people die from illnesses related to tobacco use.”

Whose job do you think it is to design “pink packs of cigarettes…aggressively promoted to attract girls” or  cigarette packs “resembling a perfume containers,” to get little girls in foreign lands to take up smoking?  

In the spirit of intercultural appreciation and respect, I am going to go buy my 9 year old a pack of cigarettes.  Well, that’s one way to look at it, right? 

Photo credits: flickr MsBlueSky, ANT204 University of Toronto

For some, learning Social Media is comparable to learning a foreign language.  What’s SEO?  Or RSS? Or SOB (oh, wait, that’s something else…)?

Deanna Shoss, President of Intercultural Talk, Inc. caught up with Suzanne Franklin, Director of Community Programs, Planning & Development for Jewish Child & Family Services in Skokie, IL this week following a session on “Social Media for Community Building and Marketing” that she led for JCFS staff.

At the core of intercultural communications and inclusion is the desire to connect and interact with people from different backgrounds and from around the world.  It seems turning to the web would be a “no-brainer” as a start, and yet the field has been slower to turn to the new technology.  Espcially when ultimately the point of service or connection is face-to-face, some practioners still question “why use social media?”

Just as some might feel when approaching learning to speak a foreign language or being immersed in another culture, participants at the outset expressed anxiety, fear of the unknown, or flat out skepticism of the need.

The outcome was at least a better understanding as to how one might use social media to connect with peers, build thought leadership, and promote programs–particularly for the organization as a whole.  And in an insight that combatted assumptions/biases going in (a common problem in Intercultural Communications), an older, more hesitant participant said “so it’s not just for letting someone know I just got a new bag at Nordstrom’s.”  

That’s right…unless that’s what you WANT to be known for.

How many languages do you speak?  Is social media one of them?

In the end,

I’m often asked “what got you started in your interest in intercultural communications?”  Sometimes I say it was born inside of me, referencing the names of my pet black and gold fish at age 10, Martin Luther Fish and Golda My-Fish respectively (what 10 year old names their fish that?). 

Other times I refer to my first trip outside of the USA, on a three week exchange program at the Instituto de Filologia Hispanica in Saltillo, Mexico.  (This picture, which surfaced on Facebook today via an old friend, shows me deep in study…See, I told you, mom and dad that’s ALL we DID–we did not go to discos, learn how to do Tequila shots, or hang out with cute boys!)

This picture seems so calm for a life changing moment.  After 3 years of “levanta-te” (stand up), “pasa a la mesa” (go to the table), and “toma el lapiz” (pick up the pencil) I burst into Mexico like a “papagallo,” a parrot who could not stop talking. 

That I could be speaking and communicating in another language was exhilarating.  And, the night I separated from my USAmerican friends to go to a wedding reception with my Mexican tutor was pivotal in understanding the idea of multiple perspectives, as I found myself the sole anglo-USAmerican at a gathering of several hundred…for the first time I was the minority…I was ”the other.”

I came back home to St. Louis and at 15 road my bike up and down Olive Blvd. and applied for jobs at every business along the way.  I lied about my age (legally I was supposed to be 16) and started hostessing at Caleco’s after school.  Anything to start saving money to travel again.  I started studying French in fall, and the rest has grown from there.

Did you see all that in this picture?  What are the cardinal moments that changed your life?