In the United States, we have a saying, you never get a second chance to make a first impression as human beings. We are constant stated communicating with other human beings. What we say is immediately interpreted not just for clarity but to understand our intent, our emotions, our desires and more. Even the act of saying someone's name for the very first time can have significance. When we do workshops with new groups, we practice saying the hard to pronounce names over and over again, until we feel we are able to get it right. This little act of saying someone's name correctly, not only gives them a sense of respect, but it can tell them something about us that we want them to know. That we care about understanding them, and understanding their culture and background. So pay attention, we're actually going to tell you about our names in just a bit. >> Great, well my name is Cleveland Justice and I'm the founder and principal paul of Petrillo Group. A research based strategy and management consulting firm. An organizational leader in entrepreneurship and environment for the past 25 years. I have worked and consulted widely with startups, businesses, nonprofits, foundations and governmental organizations. I am the director of the UC Davis Executive leadership program where I received my MBA and PhD at UC Davis. I also teach and run the social entrepreneurship program at UC Berkeley, focusing on international students. >> Great, and my name is Daniel Student and I'm a management consultant and I'm a communications specialist. I have been a cultural, environmental and social-sector leader for over 15 years, and I bring a unique cross-section of creative and business strategy to my work. I have also designed and lead workshops on international teams, communication and implicit bias, storytelling and leadership and adaptive leadership and change management. >> So let's start this our second course in the specialization with explaining our names to you. So you can know a little bit more about the two of us. >> I'll go first. >> Okay. >> So my name is Daniel Student as you heard, so what's interesting about me is the last name Student. I'm not sure where that comes, but my family was from Eastern Europe originally, and I'm Jewish. And in the Jewish faith, there's often what's called a rabbi which is our head of the faith, and so your job is actually to be a student when your rabbi. So I guess that maybe that somewhere in my past that was our job. So that was a little bit about me, Cleve. >> Well, my name is Cleveland Justice, and Justice is a family name, it's probably German in origin. But what's interesting about my name is my first name because for a lot of people it's actually their last name, and it's also the name of a major city and a former president of our country. So I often have to do a lot of explaining about my name, which sometimes feels a lot of energy, but I also enjoy the process of getting to know people through that journey. >> I also have to explain my name all the time. They think I'm a student, I'm not. But the hardest thing about communication is that it seems it should be simple, so we really pay much attention to it. You say something, the other person listens, they understand and you go on to the next thing. But it's rarely that case, even amongst our own families and friends, right? Now, imagine talking to someone who doesn't speak the language fluently, or at the very least, does not come from the same background, or have the same references you do. Tiny little differences change the way that the message you are saying is ultimately received. Those tiny differences, they multiply exponentially, as each communication introduces more miscommunications. >> Therefore, as a result of this course, waiting for you to be able to recognize your communication style, and how others may perceive it differently than what you're intending. You will learn how to recognize and understand the role that culture is playing in communication specifically, so, you can know when it needs to be addressed. You will learn to communicate in all cultural languages. Not just the words that you speak, but how you speak them. And ultimately, you will be able to co-create a new cultural language that you use your team that incorporates all of your different backgrounds from the team. And it elevates them into something that really brings out the best in all of the people on your team. >> So, we consider this in this way, our first intermediate level course. So expect a deeper look at these specific types of communication and their challenges. And an exploration of unique cultural challenges that might arise on your team around communication. We will also begin to more heavily feature, our panel of experienced professionals in this course, and they will tell unique stories that hopefully will bring these concepts vividly to life. >> Great, as a reminder the only other constant that you will see throughout our courses is an encouragement to practice. The approaches you learn with your own teams, and not just to set aside time to answer discussion questions, and read and review them. But really get to know what's happening with the other people in this class. As we dive deeper in the specific cultural divides, you will undoubtedly enjoy hearing stories and examples of how to resolve cultural communication challenges. That could be directly applicable to you and your team. You likely will have some good ones to share yourself, and we encourage you to do that. >> Once again, take a moment and look around you. You may be in your office, or your home, on a bus, or walking down the street. Ask yourself, what am I communicating about myself right now? What cultural artifacts around me, or on my body, and what story do they tell? What did I talk about in my last conversation? Were there any moments of confusion, where I relied on a shared experience with who I was talking to and maybe they didn't understand it? >> Now think about all the people on your own team, and all the recent communications you've had with all of that, and they have had with one another. This is a challenge, and the potential of learning to communicate, and manage this multinational, cross cultural team effectively. All right, let's get started. >> Let's communicate.
