Listen to The American Entrepreneur radio segment “Crossing That Cultural Chasm: ‘The International Capitalist’ Talks With Two Experts” (be sure to click on the second clip), in which David Iwinski interviews RW3 CultureWizard’s CEO, Michael Shell, and EVP, Charlene Solomon. Below is a blurb from the show’s website:

So how do you take your business global? “The International Capitalist” David Iwinski has some answers, as he takes over the hosting reins on American Entrepreneur Radio to discuss that very topic. He’ll talk with the authors of two of the hottest books on the market when it comes to globalization. First, Charlene Solomon and Michael Schell discuss how to effectively manage when your people are scattered around the globe, as covered in their book, “Managing Across Cultures: The Seven Keys to Doing Business With a Global Mindset”.

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The cover story of this month’s American Executive, titled “Global Mindset,” features Charlene Solomon, Michael Schell and their book Managing Across Cultures. The growing need for executives and their organizations to effectively do business in a very global market is highlighted by the crucial role culture plays worldwide. “The most serious errors made by Americans when dealing with other cultures include ignoring other cultures’ need for relationship building and assuming other cultures share our love for risk-taking, say Schell and Solomon…One reason Americans tend to underestimate the need for relationships, said Solomon, is that time is so important to us. ‘We don’t realize that building relationships and taking time to talk to people are really important. We tend to think these things are gratuitous.’”

A strong sense of relationship and rapport prevails in many cultures outside North America and Western Europe. In East and South Asia and the Middle East, business is built on trusting, personal relationships that extend beyond the workplace.

According to Solomon, this relationship building takes “a few minutes to chat about something on a conference call, taking a little bit of a personal interest in the person on the other end of the phone, and being polite in an opening note in an e-mail.” Cognizance of the cultural need for this kind of behavior is not difficult, and practice makes perfect. “We practice it internally,” she said. “Opening an e-mail with a hello, if appropriate saying you hope they had a good weekend, closing it with your name, just being polite. Also, we take some time before meetings start and see that time of relationship building as part of the business process.”

Owning this knowledge of other cultures empowers you as a global professional, and builds on your global mindset, a must-have for the 21st century.

Click here to jump to the full article online.

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Read about Charlene Solomon and Michael Schell’s book, Managing Across Cultures: The Seven Keys to Doing Business with a Global Mindset, in Re:locate Magazine, a website for HR and Relocation professionals.

Paul

RW3 CultureWizard

Charlene Solomon and Michael Schell’s Managing Across Cultures was recently reviewed in Etihad Airway’s Aspire in-flight magazine. See the magazine and read the review below.

“Management speak can be hard enough to understand at the best of times: paradigm shifts? Blue sky thinking? Incentivise? Ehm what? But imagine if boardroom strategy was outlined in Swahili rather than business English. Presentations as dry as a martini can leave cosmopolitan boardrooms at a loss; country-specific humour rarely makes it past the unhappy customs officials. Today, in the ever-expanding global marketplace, cultural sensitivity is at a premium. Step in Solomon and Schell, experts in cross-cultural training, who are promising to change all this. Crucially, their self-help manual features case studies on how Colgate-Palmolive integrates cultural understanding into global marketing, how GE adapts management style to local cultures and how Intel�s global corporate culture is critical to its ongoing vision. It�s not just a catalogue of different customs, gestures and language faux pas. Problematically, however, the book rigidly focuses on western corporates, raising an interesting question. If translated for non-English speaking businesses, would it not get lost in translation too?”

Sean

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In the Report on Business section of The Globe and Mail, a Canadian periodical, Harvey Schachter reviews Charlene Solomon and Michael Schell’s recently published book, Managing Across Cultures, The Seven Keys to Doing Business with a Global Mindset (McGraw-Hill, 2009). He compared it to other books in the field and concluded the following:

“…If you could only read one, I’d nominate Managing Across Cultures, which is more comprehensive, particularly in taking readers through the seven key differences they will encounter in other countries, and having you fill out a questionnaire so you know your personal instincts, should they be different from other Canadians.”

Click here to read the full review.

Josh

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This Friday, July 31st at 11:30am PDT, Charlene Solomon, EVP of RW3 and co-author of Managing Across Cultures, will be on the blogtalkradio.com show “The Feisty Side of Fifty.”

The show’s host, Mary Eileen Williams, gives us a synopsis of the discussion: “[Charlene] will be discussing the unique challenges faced by women in management, especially in the global marketplace. Women in authority must be culturally competent, so tune in to learn the keys!”

Click here to listen on Friday, or afterward to listen to a recorded version.

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FORTUNE’s Anne Fisher writes on RW3, Michael Schell and Charlene Solomon in her column “Ask Annie.” She points out that “success in foreign markets demands that you understand differences between cultures.”

Click on the article below to jump to the full version!

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We’re very excited to share the cover art for our upcoming book, Managing Across Cultures: The Seven Keys to Doing Business with a Global Mindset.

It will be released by McGraw-Hill on May 22, 2009. Let us know what you think!

See it on their website here. Pre-order the book on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or Borders.

Mike and Charlene
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