Teachers, Teddy Bears and Blasphemy

Sudan is in the news again with a fascinating little incident.

A school teacher from the UK has allowed the children in the class to give the class room mascot (a teddy bear) the name Mohammed.... She was arrested and put in jail in Khartoum.A colleague of the teacher complained and this started a serious uproar in Sudan and the international media. According to one of the students at the school a boy named Mohammed in Ms. Gibbons class carries the name Mohammed and he wanted the class mascot named after him...
Today in Google News the item already showed 3763 news articles investing words into the issue.

East meets West, Islam meets total misunderstanding all over the world. The calls for her execution are of course totally misunderstood by most... But what is the real reason behind this incredible media focus on this incident?

In some Muslim traditions, making images of all created beings is not allowed, this is why most art tends to be abstract or decorative. Sunni Islam tends to be stricter on this issue than Shia Islam.

Although this is a religious issue, it is very much a cultural issue as well.

As soon as the media started to demand her release and started saying things like: "this is a backward way of looking at things", it triggered the honor - shame mechanism in Sudanese society. Very soon after that you saw protests in the streets of Khartoum and demands for harsh punishment. The media in the West then started to say that maybe the government of Sudan allows these things to happen on purpose, or is indirect involved in triggering events like these...

Again the honor-shame mechanism is triggered and although it probably won't have a major influence on the stability of the government of Sudan, the reality of the situation is that it creates a further rift between the Muslim world and the West.

The West wears their Guilt-Innocence glasses, and the Muslim world wears their Honor-Shame Glasses. As a result a double monologue is started where nobody really understands one another. I guess it's about time to explain the difference between these glasses. More on the blog later about a powerful tool called: "Three Colors Of World View".

Fortunately Gibbons is back home in the UK and has a very positive attitude about the whole episode. In her words: "I got a bit more than I bargained for." From her attitude it is obvious that she is a culturel learner and not a cultural critic. I wish there were more people like her in the world.

Driving, Culture and Emotional Intelligence

Last week I was in Mumbai facilitating a session with senior managers on Inter-Cultural Intelligence and Global leadership. We had a privilege to taste the amazing energy and light of the Dawali festival in Mumbai. The proud Mumbai celebrators told us that Mumbai is the city where the festival originated. Well, with our hotel being on the sea front boulevard called 'the necklace' we were treated with a unorganized show of about 5 hours of fireworks. All along 'the necklace', which is about 10 km long, the one rain of colors after the other went up in the air.
Driving was an amazing experience of 'live and let live' a true community perspective on driving. If there is room for six lanes on a 3 lane road... why not. And if there is even more room for bicycles and carriages, rickshaws and animals, why not? All are on the road to somewhere, and why not be patient and tolerant with one another as we try to move somewhere. I must say I could appreciate the attitude, but was wondering if there wasn't a faster way to organize the flow of traffic...
Contrast this with the sessions we facilitated in Germany 4 days after the sessions in Mumbai. It was an amazing difference between the streets of Mumbai and the 'autobahn' of Germany. So organized, so disciplined, the precision of everything was unreal. I had the opportunity to experience the traffic in Germany, Belgium and The Netherlands as I drove about 1500 km to different meetings.
While I was enjoying a steady 160 km/h on the Germany highway I was getting impressed with the high level of 'flow'. The way people would automatically create two cars distance between cars, resulted in the ability to anticipate and think/act in advance and kept the flow incredibly high. I was just starting to admire the way the Germans had managed to make driving work at it's highest level. BUT: my thoughts we interrupted by a lady who didn't see the Mercedes driving in front of me. She put her indicator on and started moving from the second into the third lane. The Mercedes had to hit the brakes to create enough space and wasn't happy with the move. The driver experienced something they now call flooding in neurological research. The frontal lobe of the brain was flooded with a large number of neuropeptides linked to the anger he experienced. The anger neuropeptides seriously hamper the brain from thinking clearly and I wasn't sure if the driver was going to react...
The driver was very unfortunate... Within six seconds he was on the bumper of yet another car; an Audi that didn't feel like moving from the third to the second lane for a Mercedes... The Mercedes driver got another surge of anger triggered neuropeptides into his frontal lobe and was starting to show non-verbal communication signs. The Mercedes driver pushed close to the Audi, who was gracious enough to move back to the second lane as soon as there was a gap. But the Mercedes driver had by now started a serious snowball of flooding in his frontal lobe. One surge after another of anger triggered neuropeptides was so much hindering his ability to think that he was signaling to the Audi driver something that looked like: "You have just signed the last day of your life." type of 'language. The Mercedes driver forced the Audi driver onto the bumper lane and it was looking like he was going to take the risk of a physical confrontation. In the mean time I was at 160 km/h again cruising to Frankfurt airport to catch my flight back to Dubai. Hmmm, what was that again about the amazing discipline displayed on the German roads??

PS: Great Emotional Intelligence = to consistently follow the: 'Feel, think, act' sequence.
Low Emotional Intelligence = to follow the: 'feel, act' sequence.

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So many ways to post to a blog

His is a test to see how easy it is to write and email that will instantly be posted on my blog.

 

Amazing how technology works.

 

From my PDA, from email, from inside firefox through firescribe, the possibilities are endless!

 

Be a voice to world, the question is: who is out there that can find my words on my blog in the incredible jungle called cyberspace?

 

New blog worth visiting

One of my colleagues has just started a new blog worth while visiting. Beth has a passion for making things work between people in the Inter-Cultural world of today. Have a read on her new blog and keep this space on your radar: interculturalconsulting.wordpress.com/

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Cultural Learner or Cultural Critic

In our exposure to so many cultures across the world I have more and more become convinced that the main determining factor for inter-cultural international success is captured in one simple thing: "Am I a cultural learner or a cultural critic?" This has to be a daily commitment and has to be daily practiced in the same way as a professional athlete never stops training and developing.

How do we define a Cultural Learner... Well, here are a few behavioral traits common to a Cultural Learner:
• one’s own culture is experienced as one of a number of equally complex constructs
• acceptance of other cultures does not mean agreement
• cultural judgments are not ethnocentric
• tends to be curious about and respectful toward cultural difference
• able to express perceptions and behaviours appropriate to another culture
• one’s world view is expanded to include other constructs
• able to look at the world “through different eyes”
• may intentionally change behavior to communicate more effectively
• one’s experience of self is expanded to include movement in and out of different world views
• often dealing with issues related to own “cultural marginality”
• common among minorities, expatriates and “global nomads”
• exhibits high levels of Inter-Cultural Intelligence

A Cultural Critic has a very different way of operating. Here are some traits you might recognize as somebody who is a cultural critic:
one’s own culture is experienced as the only “real” one
• other cultures avoided by psychological and/or physical isolation
• generally disinterested in cultural difference
• may act aggressively to eliminate differences if threatened
• one’s own culture is experienced as the only “good” one
• “we” are superior, “they” are inferior
• may be threatened by cultural difference
• tend to be highly critical of other cultures
• elements of one’s own world view are experienced as universal
• deep cultural differences may be minimized or obscured
• other cultures may be trivialized or romanticized
• may correct others’ behavior to match expectations
• exhibits low levels of Inter-Cultural Intelligence

In the last few weeks I had the opportunity to facilitate a number of groups through a process to look at developing Inter-Cultural Intelligence.

The one group got pretty excited about the idea and when I asked: "Do you really want to create a corporate environment where being a cultural learner is the norm, not the exception?" Most of the participants were ready to embark on the journey.
But the reality is: this 'cultural learner, cultural critic' stuff is not like learning to type, or doing a course in writing technical reports. It's about seriously deep stuff, stuff that has developed in our lives from when we are young.

I had the priveledge of meeting with one of the great leadership thinkers of South Africa last week, Mark Manley. It was refreshing to see how he displayed the attributes of a Cultural Learner in discussions. In his case I wasn't surprised because he was the one who came up with the quote: "Character is the ability to hold on to your truth, learning is the ability to let go of your truth."

The journey of becoming an intuitive Cultural Learner is not always easy, but the view on the other side is surely breathtaking.

Out with Diversity, in with Inter-Cultural Intelligence

For the last 7 years we have been challenged with the Inter-Cultural variety of living and working in the United Arab Emirates.

We love the challenge, we love the variety, and truly are blessed to be part of the Inter-Cultural Life of the Gulf region.

When our business team first started looking into the issue of Inter-Cultural Dynamics we searched the web for the great books.... We were excited about the large number of publications that came out of the US and the UK.

We ordered loads of books on diversity, on teaching methods, on simulations etc. But the more we ordered the more we became discouraged... Something was wrong, something was out of sync.

About 4 years ago we discovered the issue..... The way of thinking behind diversity in the western world was wrong.... Just the word diversity in and of itself creates a problem.... It gives the problem center stage!!

Every time people start dealing with diversity they put diversity at the center.... The result has been more diversity. Over the years diversity has become almost a dirty word, it has become a legal compliance word... Companies just see diversity compliance in the same light as financial auditing compliance or any other form of compliance.
The reality is that diversity has been backed in a corner where it is not adding value to organizations.

Four years ago we decided to not use the word diversity in any of our communication.

We realized that we needed a fresh look at the challenge of creating synergy out of cultural variety.

So what we are saying is: forget about diversity and start thinking in a new way: start thinking Inter-Cultural Intelligence! This goes way beyond anything diversity has been trying preach so far. It goes way beyond diversity compliance.
It takes you down the road of true synergy that can be achieved in an Inter-Cultural team dynamic.

We have defined Inter-Cultural Intelligence as: "The ability to create new cultural spaces together to facilitate win-win solutions, by anticipating, correctly interpreting, and adjusting to the culturally defined behavioral habits of others."

Inter-Cultural Intelligence is not about legal compliance, it is not about learning to co-exists or become better about dealing with 'the others'.
It's a re-wiring of the brain, of the mind, of the attitude we have toward one another. It is truly a form of intelligence that some people intuitively develop, and others have to work on really hard to acquire. TCK's (Third Culture Kids) who were raised in a 'color blind' home typically are intuitive when it comes to Inter-Cultural Intelligence, but most folks who start to move between cultures have to develop their Inter-Cultural Intelligence.
Some people say: "Well isn't it enough to have really good people skills, or have really high Emotional Intelligence to succeed across cultural lines?" The answer is: "No!" There is more to it, there truly is a need for the development of Inter-Cultural Intelligence in this world.

In his famous “Marshmallow Experiment” Stanford University’s Walter Mischel conducted a study in which a teacher gave 4-year-olds a marshmallow and told them that, if they refrained from eating it while she left the room, they would receive a second marshmallow when she returned in a few moments. The 10 percent of children who were able to resist the temptation to eat the marshmallow right away were later found to score an average of 210 points higher on their SAT scores than the 90 percent who could not wait. This ability to discipline oneself came to be called Emotional Intelligence (EI) and Mischel’s study strongly suggests that well-developed EI at an early age has a much more significant effect on future success than does a high IQ.

Emotional Intelligence is a combination of Intrapersonal and Interpersonal intelligence, identified among the traditional seven intelligences by Howard Gardner, professor of education at Harvard University:

• Verbal: the ability to use words
• Visual: the ability to see things in your mind
• Physical: the ability to use your body well
• Musical: the ability to understand and use music
• Mathematical / Logical: the ability to apply logic to systems and numbers
• Intrapersonal: the ability to understand thoughts and feelings in yourself, or “self smarts”
• Interpersonal: the ability to relate well to others, or “people smarts”

Most traditional educational methods, along with standardized intelligence and scholastic aptitude tests, however, emphasize the development of only three of these intelligences, namely Verbal, Visual and Mathematical / Logical.

In today’s demanding business environment, however, this limited focus is inadequate, and those seeking to excel in their work will benefit greatly not only from capability in the traditional seven intelligences, combined with the self-discipline of Emotional Intelligence, but from the “Eighth Intelligence”, namely Inter-Cultural Intelligence (ICI).

In today’s increasingly internationalized global village, the need for effective cross-cultural communication and partnership is increasing exponentially. And those with insufficient Inter-Cultural Intelligence could find themselves seriously handicapped. Many people are otherwise intelligent, have good social skills and demonstrate emotional maturity, but still fail at cross-cultural interactions. They are often unaware of the biases of their own culture. They frequently become threatened or uneasy when interacting with people who are culturally different. Or they find themselves unable to understand or explain behavior of culturally different others. It is often difficult for them to use knowledge gained in their own culture within the context of other cultures. Many times they don’t recognize when their own cultural orientation is adversely influencing their behaviour. In short, they find themselves unable to adjust successfully to living and working in another culture.

This need not be. With properly developed Inter-Cultural Intelligence, one can successfully read, anticipate and adapt to the cultural values of others from differing cultural backgrounds. It becomes easier to make friends in a new culture, and to increase business and organizational effectiveness.

Inter-Cultural Intelligence is a unique kind of ability and can be readily developed in those who are motivated to succeed in their work in a new cultural setting. Those who develop ICI increase their ability to:

• Improve communication. One cannot succeed in any enterprise without being understood, nor without understanding the context.
• Build effective relationships across cultures. Loyal friends and reliable business contacts are essential to success in any endeavor.
• Adapt quickly to new cultural dynamics. The world is changing rapidly. Cultures are in flux. One must develop the ability to accurately read and skilfully respond to these realities.
• Create long-term, sustainable success. Learn to efficiently harness the attributes of people’s varying cultural backgrounds to create synergistic Inter-Cultural partnerships capable of delivering far more than would be possible in a mono-cultural setting.

To be successful in an cross-cultural setting, one must obviously have a sufficient IQ, sufficient self-discipline, or EI, and sufficient experience. But these are not enough in themselves. The capstone of cross-cultural effectiveness is attaining sufficient Inter-Cultural Intelligence. And those who develop and possess it become invaluable to their companies and organizations.

Introducing myself

Just started blogging... Totally new experience for me.

BUT: I love to talk/type and hope I can get some sensible readable pieces of my mind on this webspace.

I am the Director of KnowledgeWorkx: An international consulting firm that makes cutting-edge global expertise relevant to your local context through an integrated approach using Consulting, Training and Coaching. Our website has been revamped recently and we are proud to be involved in making the world a place where people deal with each other in a more Inter-Culturally Intelligent way.