By: Tonette Kellett on September 14, 2022
I have to admit, I have had a difficult week. However, I managed to read Nelson Mandela’s book this week and finished Desmond Tutu’s reading tonight. I teach middle school math on the Choctaw Indian Reservation. I’ve been doing this for 21 years. For the first time, yesterday, a seventh grader took her own life.…
By: Michael Simmons on September 14, 2022
This week’s reading beautifully displays perspectives spanning the continuum of both subjective and objective historical viewpoints while centering leadership in its most honest, visceral, and human forms. MLK Jr’s Letters from a Birmingham Jail provided an intimate, incarnate, and soul wrenching glimpse into the imprisonment black Americans experienced from our nation’s inception through Civil Rights…
By: Andy Hale on September 14, 2022
For those who grew up in a Western Euro-American context, a general leadership philosophy is known based on several key models. You know the gurus, Heifetz on adaptive leadership, Kotter on leading change, Sinek on a company’s why and culture, Goleman on emotional intelligence, and Maxwell on whatever John Maxwell thinks he is producing in…
By: Sara Taylor Lattimore on September 14, 2022
As I write this blog, I have to acknowledge that I have been born and raised as a citizen of the United States. This means that my cultural tendencies will include a competitive edge. Understanding where we are from culturally and our cultural tendencies is critical to the engagement of other cultures. Yes, it is…
By: Eric Basye on September 14, 2022
Confession. For years I struggled with the praise of MLK, especially in Christian circles. It wasn’t that I didn’t whole-heartedly agree with his movement to advocate for the rights of blacks, but I struggled with the dark side of King, the alleged affairs and womanizing. It probably didn’t help my ignorance that I grew up…
By: Shonell Dillon on September 11, 2022
I admit that I love to read. I love to read what I want to read, when I want to read, how I want the read. Even with that being said, I refuse to say the words “I CAN’T”. As a therapist my job is to motivate the client to believe that they can make…
By: Mary Kamau on September 11, 2022
There is a common belief that the world is fast becoming a globalized and virtual village, and it’s for a good reason. The greatest contributor to globalization is technological advances that have made communication, commerce, and even travel easier across geographical and other barriers. The ease of communication, commerce, and travel has increased interaction between…
By: Caleb Lu on September 10, 2022
I want to make it very clear from the outset that what Erin Meyer is talking about in “Culture Map” can be helpful. The idea that there are differences in cultural tendencies that make communication and collaboration nuanced is one that is important. Even in her caveat that all people from a country fall on…
By: Greg McMullen on September 10, 2022
In collecting and analyzing data, I believe there is no greater reference that can help us solve our problems than the Bible. Proverbs 11:27 The person seeking good will find favor, but anyone who searches for evil—it will find him.[1] In the bible there are many principals to help have a biblical worldview to love…
By: Laura Fleetwood on September 10, 2022
I once had a startling experience with a co-worker after this person assembled a stage TV and cart for our church. When the TV had been tested and was ready for use, I sent an email to the worship team letting them know we would use the new TV for Sunday worship and in the…
By: Jean de Dieu Ndahiriwe on September 10, 2022
Looking at the presentation and different orientations as shared by Dr. Tremper, I can only imagine what a better world ours would be should every one of us dared to live in harmony with others! It brought to mind Change Your World, a program of Maxwell Leadership that I love to facilitate. In one of…
By: Jean de Dieu Ndahiriwe on September 9, 2022
The Kinyarwanda saying muzangaye gutinda refers to the challenge of time management in my Rwandan cultural upbringing, even after decades abroad it remains hard to break! That’s one of mine to break as I learn to apply these great tools and resources. “I only do what is easy” [1] How and where? Like on a…
By: Michael O'Neill on September 9, 2022
It is common knowledge that the world is extremely diverse and has evolved in many ways since its conception. There has been enormous growth in global populations and global cultures from the earliest records of antiquity. Nations have been built up and torn down. Cultures have dominated regions for centuries and have also been completely…
By: Elmarie Parker on September 8, 2022
We all know the story of the religious legal expert wanting to test Jesus regarding the correct pathway to eternal life. It ends up that loving God with one’s whole being and one’s neighbor as oneself is what it all, in Jesus’ estimation, boils down to. But the legal expert wanted to press things further,…
By: Jenny Steinbrenner Hale on September 8, 2022
I found the presentation on navigating diverse cultural contexts in the workplace and in our personal lives fascinating and relevant to my current ministry position. I direct a nonprofit program called Second Home in the Portland area and along the Oregon Coast. We provide long-term housing for unaccompanied youth experiencing homelessness, so that they can…
By: Audrey Robinson on September 8, 2022
Fascinating. I am sure there has to be research work completed in this space before Erin Meyer. Why? Because it is incredibly pertinent to how global businesses should operate to be effective. The United States has participated in the worldwide realm of multicultural teams for decades. I can recall longing for a two-year assignment on…
By: Kristy Newport on September 8, 2022
My family is among those who have waited for the prequel to The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. Rings of Power premiered this past week on Amazon prime and we watched with eagerness and excitement. It was interesting to note how the characters, almost too many to keep track of, imbued good and…
By: Becca Hald on September 8, 2022
My first cultural experience was when I was five years old. My aunt was at a hospital in Tijuana and we went to visit her. What I remember from this trip was that my parents took a wrong turn, and we ended up driving through a bad part of town. This experience, coupled with racist…
By: Denise Johnson on September 8, 2022
Culture, the lens through which we all interpret life. It colors everything from communication styles, decision making, to resolving conflict and trust. Yet, we are seldom aware of it in ourselves. It is just the way things are done. This status quo remains until that moment we are confronted by a different culture. Erin Meyer,…
By: Jonathan Lee on September 8, 2022
Erin Meyer, the author of The Culture Map, is a professor at INSEAD business school and focuses on helping business leaders and organizations navigate through the complexities of cultural differences in communication. The Culture Map was her first book and it presents her research on how people communicate in different global and cultural settings. She…
