First off, I am enjoying these videos.  Learning is always easier and more effective if it is a pleasant experience. 

This week’s video really hits home for me.  Since I was very young, I have been internationally minded.  I was exposed to many cultures and ethnicities being raised in Los Angeles.  With a Indonesian father, American mother, Mexican step mother, and a Indian (from India,) step Father, I have found myself simmered till well done in a cultural melting pot.  At the age of 15, I was a foreign exchange student -- found a free way to look up my heritage -- and spent a year in Indonesia.  I learned early that even though I knew about the culture, I was in a completely different world.  The way I found to quickly adapt was to rely on my first instincts. 

Humans learn extraordinary amounts of information well before they learn to speak, and I was finding myself in a similar situation.  I reverted to thinking like a baby; that is having no assumptions, no expectations, and no preconceived ideas, about anything.  I believe by taking this approach, a person, business, or anything for that matter, would be successful with any culture. 

Looking at Yahoo and Land’s End, these companies learned that they needed the local perspective to succeed.  With Yahoo having their entire business as a search engine they must be very careful on the types of graphics used and language variations.  Land’s End has similar considerations, as they are a catalog.  Language and pictures will determine their differences.  Both businesses must consider many things before entering a foreign market place, and what it boils down to is communication.  A business must be able to communicate effectively what they are selling as explained in the text concerning “Cultural noise in the communication process.”  From pages 102-108, you can see many considerations need to be made with communications.  I found particularly interesting the part concerning nonverbal communication.  This is something that I have always noticed but never to the extent that is explained.  It seems somewhat strange that in warmer climates people tend to be higher contact whereas colder ones are low contact. 

In the military, I have had to defend other cultures on several occasions, mainly Middle Eastern countries.  Often Americans view differences in Middle Eastern religions and “proxemics” as very “Homosexual” when in fact people just act differently.  In Islamic cultures public displays of affection between opposite sexes is shunned.  Therefore, you will see people of the same sexes holding hands or having a arm draped over a friends shoulder.  Such sights to Americans are taboo. 

By having an open mind and keeping your personal stereotypes, expectations, preconceived ideas and assumptions checked at the door you will have a much better chance of success.