Cultural Resolution

Very excited to see the 2-page spread in Comunicas magazine featuring me talking about Twitter.  Now if only I could read Spanish.

Doing so much reading, I keep coming across great quotes.  Thought I’d share a few from this week:

“Civilization is the process in which one gradually increases the number of people included in the term ‘we’ or ‘us’ and at the same time decreases those labeled ‘you’ or ‘them’ until that category has no one left in it.” — Archeologist Howard Winters

“Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future, and renders the present inaccessible.” — Maya Angelou

“Sympathy is based on cultural similarities….  Empathy is based on accepting differences and building on these in a positive manner.” — Richard D. Lewis (from When Cultures Collide.)

Surrounded by bilingual and multilingual people as I am on my Intercultural Communication course, I feel quite inadequate with my single language.  For me, it’s not about the arrogance of believing that English is the international language and that I don’t need to learn another.  It’s that I have no talent for languages.  I’ve tried, taken countless hours of classes in German, French and Spanish, listened to audio tapes, used interactive computer learning modules, all to no avail.  I still don’t even have much better than tourist-level proficiency in any language.  I consider it one of my greatest weaknesses, and it’s a source of shame for me.  Still, I haven’t let that stop me from exploring the world, learning about other cultures and developing close personal relationships with people around the globe.

Since beginning my studies, I’ve been confronted several times, in lectures, books and journal articles, with the opinion that you can’t truly understand a culture without learning the language.  I’m not sure I buy it.  Admittedly I haven’t delved deeper to see if anyone has backed up the opinion with proof, and maybe my own lack of language skills makes me biased, but I’m sceptical.  For one thing, I’ve known many many people who are fluent in a second language, and yet remain completely monocultural, keeping their minds closed, holding onto their cultural biases.  Their knowledge of the language doesn’t seem to have increased their cultural understanding at all.  They seem, instead, to simply be translating, substituting words but not ways of thinking.

However, I do agree with Wierzbicka that delving into key words in a language can provide cultural insights. In fact, just learning a bit about the Japanese word “enryo” provided insights for me that I’ve already been able to put to use in my ongoing work with a Japanese client.  It’s not being able to speak the words that are important, so much as it’s understanding what is behind the words.

So here’s my own theory: You can learn about and understand a culture without becoming fluent in the language, but not without developing insights into the emotions and beliefs that are central to it. Studying key words is one way to gain insights, but I suspect there are insights to be gained by examining other clues, including cultural icons, foods, customs and other behaviour. 

But I still wish I could speak additional languages. And I’ll keep taking classes and buying the latest language CD sets.  In fact, just last week I spent a day at The Language Show, and took my first lesson in Japanese.  I think optimism must be an American cultural trait.  

Probably it’s just a case of the old maxim “when the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.” I’m completely immersed in research and theories on intercultural differences at the moment, and everywhere I look, I see obvious examples that illustrate just how big a role culture plays in our lives, and how cultures within cultures often have opposing values.

A column on the Financial Times website FT.com by Lucy Kellaway, titled “Why ‘chillaxing’ isn’t cool,” seems to me to perfectly illuminate both the dominant national culture in the UK, and the different culture of some groups within it, in this case, youth.  Kellaway is appalled at her son’s apparent failure to embrace hard-driving ambition, the kind of live-to-work attitude that places Great Britain near the top on the Masculinity index (Hofstede, p 84).  She speaks with such certainty about these culturally embedded beliefs that no further proof is needed:

“But it is clearly true: even though to be chilled might be very zen, it does not lead to success. To succeed in corporate life – or in any competitive field – one must be driven, obsessive and hardworking.”

While it’s clearly true to her, and probably to most people in the UK, there’s no doubt that I could find successful people in other cultures who would look at her statement and believe it to be false.

I’m not arguing that she’s wrong (after all, I share her cultural traits), or that her son shouldn’t be taught to work hard.  I’m just finding the article a fascinating mini-case study in intercultural differences.  It also makes me want to look into the cultural differences between her and her son, to understand the reason he doesn’t share her values.  Is it indicative of a larger cultural rift, perhaps between the UK primary school culture (which is likely more feminine and nurturing) and secondary school culture (which has embraced the more masculine traits required for success in this country)?  My research-focused brain is swimming with ideas and questions and theories.

Now, where did I lay my hammer?

More info that should be setting off the snooze alarms for those communication professionals who still haven’t embraced social media:

B M Social Media Fortune 100

Anyone who has studied intercultural communication will be familiar with Geert Hofstede’s Dimensions of Culture, a way of measuring cultural differences across five dimension, including Power Distance, Individualism, Masculinity, Uncertainty Avoidance and Long-term Orientation (for more info, see his book Cultures & Organizations).

While not everyone agrees with all of Hofstede’s findings, every single one of the stack of books I’m currently plowing my way through as part of my doctoral studies references Hofstede in some way. So I was really interested when I received a tweet from @DR4WARD telling me about an iPhone app called CultureGPS.  There’s a free Lite version, and a Pro version that costs $24.99 (or €19.99).  I’m trying out the free version now, so thought I’d share it here in case anyone else is interested.  From what I’ve seen so far, it could be useful as a quick-reference tool, especially for students (like me).  Here are some screen shots:

I’d be interested to hear from anyone who is using either version.

I’ve been working in and with international companies for more than a decade, often specifically brought in to help solve cross-cultural communication or management challenges, or to fix disfunctional internal corporate cultures.  So my ear has become attuned to the “us versus they” clues.  They never listen. They just don’t understand. We are right, they are wrong.

British author and poet Rudyard Kipling summed it up nicely in this excerpt from his poem, “We and They”:

All good people agree,

And all good people say,

All nice people, like us, are We

And everyone else is They

Sure, cultural differences — whether between people from different countries or within an organization — can become barriers.  But it helps to realize that the biggest barrier is in our own heads, in the us-versus-them thinking. If we can set aside our own cultural biases, we may be able to see that they aren’t wrong after all, or find a common ground upon which to build understanding.  We might even find, as Kipling said, that we are only a sort of they.

When I wrote my last post and hinted about Part 2, I was in the midst of discussions with potential partners for plans to launch a new global consultancy.  My enthusiasm was high and we were moving quickly, caught up in the euphoria of the big idea.  It felt really right, at least at first.  Right enough that I explained away the first couple of red flags that popped up.  I told myself it was just my tendency to avoid commitment (hey, I was over 40 before I got married, and I’ve even avoided mobile phone contracts most of my life).  But a partnership is a big commitment, not something to be rushed into. So I started paying more attention to the red flags and trusting my own feelings, and in the end, pulled out. Disappointing on some levels, but definitely the right thing to do.

In the meantime, going through that process helped to clarify my thinking about what I really want to do.  Now two weeks in to my PhD programme, I have a better idea of my workload so I can make realistic decisions about how much I want to take on. And immersing myself in the intercultural communication topic has confirmed for me that I want to focus my work more exclusively in that field.

So I’m launching a new consulting business aimed at helping companies overcome cultural barriers and succeed in global markets.  My plan is to assemble a virtual team of communication experts around the world that will collaborate to provide a full range of services, customized to meet the needs of the client company.  So obviously, I’ll be looking to my IABC network to find potential associates.  If you’re interested, give me a shout.

And stay tuned for the official launch, as well as a new name and focus for this blog, in the next week or so.

I can’t believe that I haven’t updated my blog in three whole months.  But as my last post warned, I took the summer off to focus on the quest for my next big challenge.

The process included research, reflection, brainstorming, endless flip charts stuck up on the wall, and countless discussions with friends, family and mentors.  It was messy, and at times uncomfortable.  I’ve never taken that long to decide anything.  By nature, I’m a quick decision-maker, comfortable with risk and prone to leaps of faith.  But I don’t like not having a clear direction, feeling like I’m drifting from possibility to possibility.  When I still hadn’t reached any firm conclusions in late August, I felt an almost overwhelming urge to choose something, anything, and just get on with it.  But none of the possibilities that had emerged felt like it — my next big thing.

Then BAM! Everthing started falling into place, and within two weeks, it all came together.  Not one, but two very big things, each perfectly meshing with the other. Both incredibly challenging and exciting.

I can only talk about one of them now, because the other isn’t quite ready for public launch, so here’s the Part 1 announcement:

As of next week, I’ll be a doctoral student at Birkbeck College, University of London, working towards a PhD in Intercultural Communication. This topic has become a passion for me over the past few years, and was further inflamed by my experiences serving as 2008-09 Chair of IABC.  Throughout my whole process, it was clear that my next big thing would have to entail a focus on expanding my cross-cultural knowledge and experience. I looked at a number of universities in the UK and abroad, and Birkbeck seems like the perfect fit.  With only a BA in Mass Communication, I was initially looking at MA programmes.  But based on my 20+ years of experience, they waived the MA requirement and accepted me into their “new route” PhD programme.  So I’m prepared to feel like I’m in over my head at first, but I’m hoping I’ll catch on fast.  Hey, I said I needed a challenge, didn’t I?

Stay tuned for Part 2 sometime in the next few weeks. It’s big.

So I guess I should provide a bit of explanation about the new name of this blog.  For anyone just tuning in, I started the blog one year ago, to be my blog for my year as Chair of IABC.  My term ended on Tuesday, so it’s time for a change.  Not just in the blog, but in my whole life.  Thus the new blog title, which is a kind of placeholder while I figure out what what my “next big thing,” my next big challenge, will be.

I’ve always been a challenge addict, and I was noticing earlier this week that the word keeps popping up, but that when other people use it, it’s a euphemism for a bad thing.  Like “financial challenge” instead of “bankrupt.”   The dictionary definition doesn’t quite get to what I feel about challenge either, though the fifth entry came closest:

To arouse or stimulate, especially by presenting with difficulties.

I think the first part of that is right for me, but I’m not sure the word “difficulty” fully captures it.  It’s more about taking on something new, that I’ve never done, that maybe no one has done, that will stretch me, grow me, make me think in new ways, fire up new parts of my brain, find a talent I didn’t know I had.

The past year has done all that for me.  It has truly been the best year of my life, and that’s saying a lot because I’ve had quite a few really good years.  So the next year has big shoes to fill.  Now that I have time to catch my breath, I want to take a bit of time to think, research, prioritise my short-term and long-term goals and passions.  Of course, IABC will continue to be a huge part of it, and I’m excited about continuing to serve as Past Chair (by the way, the new IABC international executive board, led by Mark Schumann, ABC, is spectacular).

First, though, I’m spending a little time with my best friends, followed by a lot more time with my dear sweet hubby and pups (who have put up with a lot of me being away for the past year).

Fair warning that the emails may go unanswered for a bit, and the tweets may be less frequent, but only for a little while.