Thursday, December 12, 2013

Body language 101 for leaders

Dear leader,
Ever wonder how your gregarious and hand-talking presentation style will be perceived on your next trip to China?  How your casual style, self-deprecation and biting sarcasm will be received in Canada?  How your "get to business, I'm pressed for time" way of running by checking your watch and drumming your fingers while running the meeting in Brazil will affect the outcome of the negotiation?  New take on a leader's body language and the cognitive cultural mapping of the brain provide critical insights.

Click here for full article

Cultural ignorance on display in the US Congress

Likening a discussion with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to "talking to the Republic of Korea", US Congressman Shimkus displays his cultural ignorance for all the world to see.  How did this aggressive, dismissive, ignorant person get elected to the US Congress?  He essentially downgraded the quality of our US political leadership with this inaccurate analogy, likening a disagreement to talking to South Korea.  A little self-awareness and a lot of cultural competence is in order for Mr. Shimkus.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9bgWNF6Xxk