'All the world is singing Lady Gaga -with different accents'

Pico Iyer  FIGT 2013

It’s the dangerous illusion of closeness, according to Pico Iyer.  The world appears to us as homogenous.  Commonalities like popular culture and the English language draw us together as though we are all the same, and culture or nationality don’t make a difference. 

Hearing Pico speak at the recent FIGT (Families In Global Transition) conference, and being surrounded by so many people from around the world who share common interests and concerns for Families in Global Transition, I could almost have agreed. 

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4 things not to do on an international business trip!

On a recent business trip to Hong Kong I made a number of critical travelling errors so I thought I would document them to acknowledge my foolishness and hopefully prevent them from happening to me again (public humiliation is good like that!).  And although with me, I’m usually all about focusing on the culture –these mistakes weren’t cultural based but they did impact on my effectiveness in the culture!

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