Lessons in intercultural communications abound every day, everywhere.  Over the past few days, “my friend” learned how orientation to different jobs/careers fields can yield the same intercultural snafus found in cross cultural communications.
Whether it’s Jargon (think SEO, CEO, B-Hag, NGO, HACE), written communication styles (think Engineer vs. School Teacher) or simply the anticipated protocol for [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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It’s funny that after presenting a workshop on communication styles, I’m obsessing about my communication style. 
I think it’s because I’m more aware now that I’m an “emotive-intuitive” communicator (I speak passionately about things I believe in and like to throw out big ideas as they come to me) and the “norm” for the business world [...]

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(If you’re my client reading this please skip to the second paragraph)
When Carolyn and I first arrived at Chamber Music America’s 32nd annual conference in New York City this past weekend, as “Jazz People” people there representing the Hyde Park Jazz Festival, we thought “what are we doing here?”
At the outset people self-identified as either [...]

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 Here are two resources that go well beyond the two-dimensional, US construct of diversity:  Global Voices–which “aggregates, curates, and amplifies the global conversation online,” and the book “A Stranger Among Us:  Stories of Cross Cultural Collision and Connection,” edited by Stacy Bierlein (the book I picked up at a recent event at ThinkArt Salon, an [...]

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There are two concepts I always remember from Peter Senge’s The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook:  The Left-Hand Column and The Ladder of Inference.
 The Left-Hand Column asks you to compare on a piece of paper “what was said” in the right-hand column with “what you were thinking and feeling, but not saying” in the left-hand column.   
The Ladder [...]

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I was reminded of the Human Genone Project during a conference session today looking at “intra-disciplinary” and “inter-disciplinary” approaches to “advancing service science with cultural considerations.”  The conference, funded by the National Science Foundation and presented by the International Services System Engineering Research Lab (ISSER) at the University of Puerto Rico, looks at how ”the outcome [...]

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  (Originally posted on Illinois Arts Alliance “One State” Conference Blog, 5-12-09)
I’m presenting at a conference at the University of Puerto Rico on “Representations of Race and Culture in Advertising and Marketing” next week.  Funded by the National Science Foundation, the conference will look at the influence of cultural identity on service delivery, and is designed [...]

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