Globally Competitive

The world is flat! Does that mean that Columbus and Copernicus were wrong? No, it just means that we are more connected to the rest of the world than ever before. Long distance is not an insurmountable hurdle to cross like it was in Columbus’s day.

I go to the International Festival in Raleigh, NC every year. It’s fun to see the costumes, dance, music, and food from ancient cultures. Though many of these customs are relegated to these festivals, some of the customs have continued to this day, and continue to wreak havoc (provide challenges) in today’s corporate culture.

Our public school system has become the melting pot of international cultures. Immigrants to America may live in communities of similar culture, shop in similar stores, and worship with people from their own culture, but in public school, they are all together.

What happens when they graduate and get out into the workplace? Until now, many immigrants have washed away their cultural heritage in order to fit into the American business environment. But that’s changing since many people are keeping their cultural past and bringing it with them to the workplace. Also foreign companies have purchased many American businesses as a good investment. This leads to a variety of cultures working together and often clashing.

For so many years in America we have been insulated from the rest of the world. Those cultures we read about in the National Geographic are just places to visit, not cultures to understand. It was always understood that foreigners who want to do business in America had to do it our way. Did we even think that another way was possible? (We’re still fighting the metric system.)

Kiss, Bow or Shake Hands is a real eye-opener of a book to learn about customs of other cultures. Understanding that there are other cultures, and that it’s OK to have another culture, can help eliminate some embarrassment when you assume that everyone does it the American way.

I get to see several of my former students at the International Festival. Back when they were in my class I really didn’t consider them different from the others. But here they were, sometimes in native cultural dress and dancing on the main stage. In my class, they were just kids. Now I see the cultural identity.

It also makes me wonder about our own customs from the past that might be displayed at an International Festival in another country. Would they dress up like George and Martha Washington? Would the audience think that that’s the way Americans are still like? What food would they serve in the “American Culture” booth?

The greatest puzzlement comes from those that ask “Where did all these international people come from?” The easy answer to that is that they are all from right here in this community in which we live. They are all part of the great American melting pot, people who have come to this country in search of the American dream.

America is a melting pot of cultures, and that is more evident now than ever in the business world. Your boss or co-worker may come from a different background than you, have cultural values that are different from yours, and may have a different way of looking at the world. It’s up to us to stop looking at things through our American-centric glasses and celebrate the diversity that we have. Bringing unlike people together creates the most synergy to change the world into a better place in which to live.

Well, at least the way that I see it. Let me know what you are thinking, and stop by again soon for more of my ramblings.