Taking the Highroad Blog

An Amazing Free Tool for Global Teams and Customers!

January 13, 2012

Greetings to my readers,

As I mentioned in my last post, I’m going to be micro-blogging about meaningful tools that help connect us with our global environment. Today, I have made what I can only describe as an amazing discovery! One of the main complaints I hear from my clients on global teams is how difficult it can be to pronounce everyone’s name. This is no small worry; people’s names represent a part of their identity. To say a name incorrectly, especially over and over again, can cause strain. As much of my work revolves around India, I see Westerners struggling with embarrassment over mispronouncing their customers’ or employees’ Indian names.

Those days are over if you use this free tool. It’s called Audioname and it’s so simple to use, yet highly effective. Go to www.audioname.com. You can record your name into your computer (or call a toll free number to record it). Then you have the option to add it to your e-mail signature, social media, or your website. And it’s all free! When I think of the stress this can save worldwide team members I am hardly able to contain myself. Click on the play button below to listen to my Read more...

Happy 2012: The Year of Cultural Connections, Microblogs, and Music

January 6, 2012

Today’s entry is our first microblog, a mini-blog entry based around a single image or concept.

Greetings, readers! Happy New Year! I hope your 2012 is off to a rousing start. While at an event on trends in China last month, I learned about the term “microblogging.” Twitter, for example, is considered a microblogging site where people can post status updates in 140 characters or less. Here at Highroad we have dubbed 2012 the Year of Connection and Growth. Through our upcoming e-book, webinars, and other forums, we want to authentically reach more people around the world. So in addition to our usual essay-type blog entries, we will now post more frequent microblogs on issues of depth and substance. This week we want to share some world music.

In about three weeks I am turning 40. To celebrate, I am putting on a house concert for my family and close friends. I will play guitar alongside a couple of guest musicians. In the past I’ve played music as a hobby, but since starting Highroad Global Services I haven’t picked up the guitar much. My job is so fulfilling I thought perhaps I didn’t need to. However, I cannot express the joy that music has brought to my life since I’ve reintroduced it. I can see why music crosses cultures so well, becoming a sort Read more...

Highroad’s End of 2011 Reflections and Recommendations

December 16, 2011

 

How do you sum up a year? I think about all that has happened here on the Highroad, and yet…

How do you appreciate the millions of little moments that made up our 2011? I think I’ll take the Zen approach and keep it undemanding.

Life on the Highroad this year has given me so many opportunities to learn, sometimes discovering that the solutions to our challenges across cultures are deceptively simple.

Here are 4 discoveries I have made this year that I would like to share:

1. Many of our difficulties, misconceptions, and stresses across cultures could be set right simply by asking questions and listening for the answers. This may not sound profound but it’s true. When I went to Germany this year I discovered that some of the German team members had been working in a virtual environment with Americans for years, yet stereotypes and inaccuracies about the culture abounded. While I was visiting they asked me questions and I answered, clearing up some Read more...

Update on China: Views You Might Not See in Mainstream Media

December 5, 2011

Today’s blog provides insight from expert speakers about China’s economic, political, and educational status. Read on for points of view you might not see in the mainstream media.

Earlier this week I attended an excellent briefing on China organized by the China Research Center (www.chinacenter.net) and the Georgia China Alliance (www.georgiachina.com). I went to the event with enthusiasm, because I am always seeking information directly from country nationals or people intimately connected with an area.

As I’ve said in previous blogs, I wonder how much of the world could be set right if we just talked to people, asked questions and listened.

Here are the critical points I took away from the briefing:

China’s Political Society

Dr. Yawei Liu, director of the Carter Center’s China program, painted a dark but insightful picture of China’s current state. He said that while China has a lot of money, military might, and economic power, Read more...

Europe in Crisis: The Chance to Stop Our Fingers from Pointing

November 2, 2011

In today’s blog we will look at how the Euro crisis brings an opportunity to cease finger-pointing and focus on working together.

Last night I attended the third annual AmCham (American Chamber of Commerce) Business Day, hosted by AmCham Germany and Bridgehouse Law. This event opened my eyes and confirmed a motto I’ve been a lot lately: How much of the world could be set right just by talking to people. I’d like to continue on this theme and explore how we can collaborate more effectively on a global scale to solve the economic crisis.

The AmCham event, which took place at Emory Goizueta Business School, consisted of a panel of distinguished speakers (click here for the speaker list http://www.bridgehouselaw.de/en/aktuell.html#1). The moderator, journalist Katja Ridderbusch, posed questions about  the state of the “transatlantic relationship,” with a focu Read more...

A Big, Giant Discovery: Lessons Learned from Germany

October 6, 2011

I just returned from a week in Germany, a country I have visited and worked in many times over the last thirteen years. This time I made one of the biggest discoveries of my career. The problem with this proverbial light bulb is that it’s so simple people may not think it’s a discovery at all, but rather a “yeah, I pretty much knew that.” My question is do we really know it?

Here is the discovery I made while riding the German trains, staying with a family, building teams, and seeing friends: How much of the world could be set right just by talking to people.

Yep, that’s it. Wait, don’t close your browser yet. Allow me to explain.

As my company Highroad Global Services grows and expands, the world expands and shrinks alongside it. My team and I are constantly challenged by the increasing complexity of global teams, virtual communication, and integrated world economies.

If we didn’t have evidence to the contrary, we might start to assume that with all of this globaliza Read more...

A Giant Spider on the Wall and Singing the Blues: How Perception Changes Everything

September 7, 2011

In today’s blog we will explore how perception management can make or break a business or personal relationship.

Much of our success in managing life and global business comes down to perception. Several years ago I stayed for two weeks in a very basic monastery dorm room in Southern Thailand. One night at bedtime I climbed onto my mat and tucked in my mosquito net around me. Just as I was about to close my eyes I saw a spider on the wall – it was the size of a large man’s hand. I knew that my decision came down to perception management. I could choose to perceive the spider as a threat and run screaming from the room waking everyone else up, or I could accept its presence and just go to sleep. The spider remained the same no matter what I chose. I chose to go to bed. He never moved the whole night.

Years later perception management still fascinates me. As many of you know I help onshore/offshore teams build collaboration between India and the U.S. Not long ago Vantage Partners released a s Read more...

Cultural Confusion: A Visit to the Northeast United States

August 11, 2011

Imagine you walk into a restaurant as a tourist. You’ve never been to this place before but it comes highly recommended, so you twitter with excitement over the gastronomic possibilities. As you wait for the host or hostess, however, no one comes. Suddenly a server sees you and says, “She’ll be right with you.”

So you wait. Another server passes by and says “She’s coming soon.” Who is this mysterious woman keeping you from sitting down? You wait, and you wait. Your legs begin to twitch from standing. Yet another staff member passes by and says, “She’ll be right with you, sorry.”

By this time it’s worth the wait just to see this Grand Master of All Seating. Finally she comes. She looks at you and says, “Oh! I was so busy chatting I didn’t see you there.”

Really?

Then she asks if you have reservations. No, you answer. You are just passing through town. The Seating Master looks at a paper chart and says, “Well, I just don’t think I Read more...

Forget What’s Wrong: Check Out A Company that Got it Right!

May 24, 2011

I love being around people who are as passionate about international business as I am. Sure, not many people get up at 6:30 am to write an e-book on Indian/U.S. collaborative teams (yes, you heard right – stay tuned for more news about the book), but I found camaraderie last week at Technology Association of Georgia’s International Business Society.

Check them out here: http://www.tagonline.org/TAG-International-Business.php

UPS was kind enough to host the event at their headquarters in Sandy Springs, GA and I wandered down in the evening to listen to the speaker. I had no idea what I was in for.

One thing I’ve seen time and time again in both my professional life and in the personal sphere is what I call the Deficit Model – the study of what’s wrong. Think about constructive criticism, performance reviews, the constant need to identify our weaknesses, and gap analyses. While value lies in all of these th Read more...

Global Corporate Leadership: Are You in the Old Paradigm or the New?

May 5, 2011

In today’s blog we will explore how leaders of global organizations “ought to” know by now how to effectively navigate the collaborative, intercultural business environment, at least on a basic level. Yet many leaders are using Old Paradigm ways in a New Paradigm of global connectedness. Read on for an assessment and some strategies!

At a recent industry conference in Denver my colleagues and I were discussing the following scenario: A company finds one of us on the Internet. They call, interested in cross-cultural intelligence initiatives. Within the first five minutes they ask about the cost. Then they issue challenges about the value of the programs. “How do they impact the bottom line? Can you do a two-hour program on cultural competence? We don’t have much time to invest in this. Can you help us?”

The leaders of these companies seem to be standing on the border between the Old Paradigm and the New. They see the value of cross-cultural intelligence in theory, but they haven’t found a way to reconcile that with their Read more...

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