| Conference brings top speakers to Intercultural Management Institute From American Weekly, February 28, 2006 Some 40 years ago, executives sent to places like Jordan and Japan would often be so unprepared that they left their jobs and fled back to the familiar United States at alarming rates. Life abroad was simply too much of a culture shock. That’s when AU’s Intercultural Management Institute (IMI) got its start. It was known by a different name at the time, but it’s mission was similar to its mission today: Help Americans understand other cultures so that they can do their jobs effectively, happily, and without the sorts of blunders and gaffes that can taint not only personal relations, but business and political affairs as well. Huge numbers of Americans now live abroad, travel on business, or interact regularly with people whose cultural backgrounds may be vastly different. As the numbers have grown, so has IMI’s reputation. Its 2006 Annual Conference, “Best Practices and New Directions in Intercultural Relations: A Forum for Business, Education, and Training Professionals,” will feature a host of presenters who can draw on many years of experience. The conference will run March 16 and 17, with a preconference symposium on March 15. The issues addressed in the panel discussions, workshops, simulation exercises, roundtables, and presentations will cover a range of topics: the use of language in an online world, helping teenagers in crisis who live abroad, understanding specific cultures, cross-cultural marketing, and many more. There are also several featured speakers and presenters, including author and linguistics guru Deborah Tannen, cross-cultural negotiations expert Dean Foster, diversity lecturer and filmmaker Lee Mun Wah, and trainer Sivasailam Thiagarajan, known as Thiagi. Tannen and Foster were recently interviewed by the American Weekly. Foster has more than two decades of experience in some 85 different countries and will bring his knowledge to a half-day preconference symposium on international negotiations. He is president of Dean Foster Associates, where he works primarily with corporate clients. Author of more than a dozen books, Tannen tackles perhaps the most difficult subject yet in her latest offering, You’re Wearing That? Understanding Mothers and Daughters in Conversation. Tannen, a linguistics professor at Georgetown University, peels back the layers of meaning that make up conversations between mothers and daughters, and attempts to make both better communicators. You’re Wearing That? is holding steady on the New York Times bestseller list, where it debuted earlier this month. Read More: |
Vol 1. Issue 3 |
March/April 2006 |
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