Cultural Intelligence: People Skills for Global Business (Easyread Large Edition) - Softcover

What this globalization means for businesspeople is that the need to interact with people who are culturally different has never been greater and will only increase in the future. Cross-cultural people skills are important because managing people effectively is key to organizational effectiveness, and the people in organizations are increasingly multicultural. This book is about becoming more effective in dealing with people from different cultural backgrounds. It is about acquiring the global people skills that are important for twenty-first-century managers. It is for people who travel overseas and encounter new cultures, as well as for those who stay at home and find that other cultures come to them. It is about acquiring the cultural intelligence not only to survive without difficulty or embarrassment in the new global, multicultural business environment, but to pursue your goals in this environment with the confidence needed for success.

David C. (Dave) Thomas grew up in the mountains of North Carolina, followed a respectable career, and became a vice president at Bank of America. He found it a little dull. Kerr Inkson grew up in the Highlands of Scotland, did some degrees in psychology, and became a lecturer at Aston University in England. He found it a little dull. Dave's life changed when he went to do an MBA. He discovered a new intellectual world, full of exciting ideas and intellectual challenges. He left the bank, and completed a PhD. He found himself especially interested in the issue of internationalism and cross-cultural differences in business. He started to publish research papers and acquired a major international reputation in the field of international management. Kerr's life changed when he saw a job ad for an assistant professorship in management in some beautiful islands called New Zealand. In this remote corner of the globe, Kerr and his wife, Nan, found themselves living in Auckland, the city with the largest Polynesian population anywhere in the world. He was first author of a book called Theory K, a kind of New Zealand version of In Search of Excellence, which became a local best-seller. He did a lot more writing, much of it about new forms of career - including international careers - and became a full professor. Dave's and Kerr's lives changed again when they met one afternoon in Washington, D.C., and Kerr persuaded Dave to come and work with him at the University of Auckland. Dave and his wife, Tilley, spent several happy years in New Zealand's unique multicultural environment and traveling around Asia. Then Dave got itchy feet again and moved to Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, another multicultural city. Soon Dave too was a full professor.