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“Self-absorption in all its forms kills empathy, let alone compassion.”  Daniel Goleman knows a thing or two about developing empathy, as the author of Social Intelligence: The New Science of Human Relationships.  Showing a genuine interest in others and actively listening to them are clearly key components of empathy.  But when we are talking about global leaders who work across many cultures, how does one develop intercultural empathy?  It’s an important question, since social expressions and behaviors vary widely among cultures.  For global leaders, the answer to this question is…

When I was a teenager my parents told me to be careful about the character of my circle of friends.  Positive friends make good friends and will likely improve your quality of life and decision-making.  Negative friends, on the other hand, will have the opposite effect. Before you know it, toxic friends will craftily lead you to make poor decisions, ultimately directing you to a bad place in life.   You are eventually the product of your environment. That’s why I highly recommend you surround yourself with good, smart and honorable people.   When I was…

What will you do?

If your team or organization is going to get serious about pursuing additional value or advantage associated with diversity and inclusion this year, it will likely be because you decide to make it so. I spoke to a lot of HR professionals in 2011 and one of the things that I heard a lot, goes something like this …   “I am totally on board Joe, but ________ just does not get it.”   They. Don’t. Get. It.   Your supervisor, your peers, your senior leadership team is not likely going to…

There are 9,497 books with ‘global leadership’ in the title on Amazon.com, as of January 12, 2012.  Yet multinational organizations continue to struggle with how to develop their global leaders.  We see that daily in our work with these organizations at the Najafi Global Mindset Institute at Thunderbird School of Global Management.      Why is global leadership development so difficult to figure out?     There are many reasons, and chief among them is that global leadership is complex.  It encapsulates management, leadership, diversity, intercultural competence, and strategy, to name a few critical areas.  …

As 2011 draws to a close and a new year begins, SHRM is pleased to report that the global HR standards initiative has not only successfully launched but also continues to gather steam across the world.  As of the end of December, there are 13 participating countries and 19 observing countries from around the globe that are involved with ISO Technical Committee 260 for Human Resource Management.  Additional countries are expected to join the effort in 2012.  This assembled body will propose and develop global standards for topics within the purview of HR.     Why do standards matter for HR?   …

With 20 slides and 5 minutes, Joe Gerstandt brings a new clarity to what diversity is, why it matters and how it shows up in our work and our relationships with others.

 

 

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As a loud and proud advocate for diversity and inclusion, I am supposed to be all about harmony right? Well, I am not. Harmony scares me.

At the core of the definition of harmony is:

a consistent, orderly, or pleasing arrangement of parts; congruity

It is hard to have real order or a “pleasing arrangement of parts” when there are awake and alive human beings involved. The fact is, if we are being authentic and honest with each…

Note: This series is based on the paper My Generation.

Each generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it.  - George Orwell

For perhaps the first time in recorded history, labor markets in the 21st century are comprised of members of four generations. This situation presents very real challenges – and opportunities - to organizations and…

Diversity in business and other organizations has been a goal for more than a quarter of a century, yet companies struggle to create an inclusive workplace. In Reinventing Diversity, Howard J. Ross, one of America’s leading diversity experts, explains why most diversity programs fail and how we can make them work.

Ross uses interviews, personal stories, statistics, and case studies…

SHRM is proud to congratulate our very own Dr. Shirley Davis for being named one of Profiles in Diversity Journal’s “100 Women Worth Watching” for 2012.  As SHRM’s head of Diversity & Inclusion initiatives, Shirley has been instrumental in advancing the D&I field – and has become a leading voice on the challenges and complexities associated with managing diversity in a global workplace and marketplace.…