To celebrate SIETAR USA's 15th anniversary, Cultural Detective is partnering with SUSA to offer an incredible win-win contest. Want to get six months of service for the price of one? How about 20 months of service for the price of 12?
During April subscribe for one-month to CD Online, giving you access to the complete packages including Values Lenses for more than 60 cultures.
Upload your original critical incident on CD Online, do a debrief, download it all as a PDF, and then submit to SUSA@culturaldetective.com.
That's all you need to do. What do you get out of it?
Upon receipt of your completed Incident and Debrief, Cultural Detective will upgrade your one-month subscription to six months. This means you will get 5 months of Cultural Detective Online free!
CD will determine Incident and Debrief winners, who will receive a one-year subscription to Cultural Detective Online!
Winning Incident and Debrief will also be showcased in a webinar in which winners can promote their services/organization as well as teach others.
2. April SIETAR USA Member Product Discount In addition to the contest, SIETAR USA is offering their members a code for a 15-month subscription for the price of 12 months. If you are a SUSA member and participate in the contest, you'll end up getting 21 months for the price of 12! Now that's a YOU WIN! contest!
3. SIETAR USA 15th Anniversary Conference Proposal Submissions Being Accepted Through May 4th!
Want to earn the opportunity to present at this historic 15th annual conference, October 14-17, 2015 in Orlando, FL.? Session proposals will be accepted through May 4th. Be among the field's leaders and submit yours now!
Have you been wanting to launch your ideal global life, but you are unsure where to get started, how to make it happen, or how to figure out what your ideal global life even looks like?
Cultural Detective colleagues, Cate Brubaker and Sabrina Zieglar, have put together a slate of 20 experts who will present and chat with you free-of-charge during the week of January 13-17, 2014. The five-day summit will be conducted virtually. The full schedule along with daily themes is now live, and registration is open. I am a speaker, several esteemed colleagues are also part of the summit, and there are quite a few others that I don't know but I am also very excited to learn from. Do not miss this opportunity!
As a supplement to the Summit itself, or if you have to miss some of the sessions, I'm excited to let you know of a value-packed resource of inspiring videos from the 20 experts, including life-changing tools like the Destination: Nomadtopia ebook, the Build Your Online Business ebook, a workbook on relaunching yourself after being abroad, and more. Click here for more information or to purchase the bundle.
Who you are, where you are, and what you're doing can't hold you back from living the rewarding global life you desire. Whether you're a digital nomad, expat, work-at-home mom, or travel newbie, 2014 is the year to launch your ideal global life. And this is the only comprehensive resource available that covers everything for the newly global to the experienced digital nomad.
The bundle is only available for a limited time, so don't miss out on this chance to launch your ideal global life with 20 experts and their communities supporting you. Through January 13th the bundle will be discounted at US$47; after that date it is forecast to sell for US$97.
Have You Taken Advantage of Our Free Webinars?
The response to the free "Cross-Cultural Effectiveness" webinars we have been conducting since February of this year has truly overwhelmed me. We've already welcomed hundreds of participants from six of the seven continents, including a broad diversity of professions and experiences—from hospitals to schools, disaster relief to hospitality. I've had the pleasure to meet incredible people who are building cross-cultural competence and using or hoping to use Cultural Detective in the most creative and needed ways! It has been such a joy and learning experience. Thank you all!
People don't need to be inconvenienced by the time difference to participate in these webinars. We offer them twice a month, once at times convenient to the Americas, Europe, and Africa, and another more convenient to Asia and Oceania.
Would you like even better news? Those who participate receive a COMPLIMENTARY 3-day pass to Cultural Detective Online!
I've promised myself to use a different critical incident each and every webinar, and it's amazed me the richness of the discussion this has generated, the powerful ways in which we can overcome stereotypes, the innovative ways the groups have generated to harness the power of diversity.
We also are committed to conducting special-interest webinars for you, to aid in ongoing cross-cultural competence development. Thus far we have held two, both in partnership with customers and colleagues: one on virtual teaming, and another on coaching across cultures. Stay tuned for future additions to the schedule!
If you would like to participate in a webinar, or get more of your colleagues and friends excited about intercultural competence, please register now. We have just updated the calendar through the end of December 2013.
If you use Cultural Detective in your work, and you would like to share what you do and how you do it in hopes of helping others succeed, please contact us. We may be able to partner on an upcoming webinar, or share your story in a future blog post! We also welcome your topic ideas. Keep 'em coming!
Get in Intercultural Shape for the New Year!
Welcome to the New Year — at least for those of you following the Gregorian calendar! Are you ready? Is your organization poised and equipped to make significant positive contributions to this planet of ours? Do you have organizational traditions to kick-off the new year and encourage employees to strive towards new goals?
Most cultures of the world have very special traditions for sending out the old year and bringing in the new one. In Mexico where I live women wear special undergarments on New Year's Eve — either red for love or yellow for gold or money — symbolizing what they most want to receive in the year ahead. Those who would like to travel carry a suitcase out into the street and around the block.
In Japan where I lived previously, the end of the year is a time to clean the house, purging it of things from the past that are no longer needed. We cook osechi foods, the beautiful make-ahead kinds of delicacies that will feed family and visitors through the first few days of the new year, and allow everyone — including the cook — to enjoy a respite.
What are your traditions for saying goodbye to the past year and greeting the future? Do you make resolutions, set goals, or make plans to learn something new?
My absolute favorite New Year's was spent with good friends nearly two decades ago. On New Year's Eve, we wrote down the hurts we'd experienced, the negative habits or memories we continued to carry and wanted to get rid of, the qualities about ourselves that no longer served us, the visions of ourselves, others or our businesses that were not constructive. We made a big bonfire, and we had a field day burning these no-longer-wanted items. Oh how liberating it was! We all felt so light, so energized!
On New Year's morning we woke before sunrise. We had written, on paper we'd folded into origami boats, the qualities we wanted to receive and nurture in the new year. The positive habits and qualities we wanted to cultivate, relationships and moments we wanted to consciously treasure, and healthy visions of ourselves, others and our businesses that we wanted to hold close. We launched these items into the ocean, setting them into motion.
The beginning of a year is a good time to reflect on our cross-cultural successes (Cultural Effectives) as well as to learn from our mistakes and misunderstandings (Cultural Defectives) and decide what kind of year we want in 2013. Back in October we published a post about intercultural fitness. In November we reiterated why such fitness is so important, why organizations need intercultural fitness.
Maybe reading these posts has helped you to decide what to throw in the fire and what to set out into the water? If your fire is full of cultural missteps and your boat contains a desire to expand your intercultural competence, maybe it's time you took action!
Cultural Detective wants to encourage you to get fit, too — interculturally fit! Much like committing to an exercise plan or a sensible nutrition plan, committing to prioritizing intercultural competence in the coming year will serve us well personally, in our families, as well as in our work lives. Also, just like a gym, it can be fun. We can spend as much time as we like and we might meet some really interesting people.
The new year is full of special offers for gym memberships, exercise classes, and diet programs — ways to encourage you to get fit in 2013. Just as gyms and diet programs offer incentives this time of year, the Cultural Detective Online intercultural competence gym is offering complimentary three-day subscriptions to help get you focused and motivated!
Log on to http://www.culturaldetective.com/cdonline/orders/trial before January 31, 2013.
You will receive a verification email from cdonline@culturaldetective.com. Be sure to clear it in your spam filter! Click the link in the email, follow the instructions, and explore a new way to improve your intercultural fitness 24/7!
We hope you will take advantage of this special offer to learn how Cultural Detective Online can assist you at home and abroad, with colleagues and friends, in your community and in your organization! Feel free to share this offer with those you care about — we think the world could benefit from a little more intercultural competence on everyone's part!
Best wishes for a peaceful year ahead from the Cultural Detective team!