Dan Bullock - How to Communicate Effectively With Anyone, Anywhere

This edition first published in 2021 by Career Press, an imprint of Red Wheel/Weiser, ixc

With offices at:

65 Parker Street, Suite 7

Newburyport, MA 01950

www. careerpress.com

www. redwheelweiser. com

Copyright 2021 by Ral Snchez and Dan Bullock

Illustrations copyright 2021 by Rod Snchez

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from Red Wheel/Weiser, ixc. Reviewers may quote brief passages.

ISBN: 978-1-63265-179-2

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available upon request.

Cover design and cover artwork by Rod Snchez

Interior by Happenstance Type-O-Rama

Typeset in Gilroy and Times New Roman

Printed in Canada

MAR

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Every moment is a fresh beginning. T. S. Eliot

T he most powerful cognitive shift can happen when an astronaut turns back in spaceflight to view the earth; in that moment, all boundaries fall away and clouds of difference part to reveal a fragile planet that we all share. This is termed the overview effect, and in fact, this shift in awareness can be so great that many have said that an astronauts view of the earth is the key to sustainability and world peace. How do we bring this perspective to our work on Earth in the global marketplace? Astronauts have described this transformative experience as leading to a profound sense of interconnectedness, and this interconnectedness is what we need to tap into in our interactions across the global canvas. Cultures are now merging from traditional spheres of communication into one dynamic landscape, and the role of the global communicator has taken center stage. But how do we arrive at the skills to communicate and, ultimately, innovate together across the global canvas? We first have to expand our skillset interculturallywe have to develop a global mindset.

How to Communicate Effectively with Anyone, Anywhere: Your Passport to Connecting Globally reveals a new approach to becoming a global communicatora set of actionable patterns we can use to communicate with culturally-diverse professionals from around the world. How do we connect globally? By recognizing the communication patterns between us. The impact of globalization has resulted in a singular and connected global business landscape with many shared methods of communication. If cultures can be defined as patterns of thinking and doing, then in our globalized era, these patterns have begun to intersect and overlap now more than everrecognizing these patterns is our key to communication success.

Imagine speeding away from the earth into the overview perspective and being able to recognize the general communication patterns of the countries across the world. Feel this instant global consciousness coming into focus, as you tap into these global communication patterns within one single overlapping system of unified perspective and guidance. For example, emailing is all too common for many of us, but effectively emailing counterparts in the US, China, Brazil, or Germanyor anywhere in the worldrequires us to upgrade our skills with a singular set of key intercultural strategies that allows us to create an expanded and productive network of global interaction. The same approach is essential when enhancing public speaking skills for the world stagein our globalized era, we often encounter culturally-mixed audiences all over the planettherefore, we have to develop an international presentation style when delivering ideas in service to others. Globalization has resulted in a communications system of profound interconnectedness, and the patterns in this book are the building blocks for global communicationcontaining unifying models of messaging and interaction. The result is a set of culturally-powerful blueprints that completely change the way we communicate across the global marketplace.

The phrase How to Communicate Effectively with Anyone, Anywhere is intended to imply a greater communication practice. Instead of communication strategies that target a homogenized audience from a specific country, we need to find singular communication models that reach diverse and mixed audiences in every country. In our globalized world, we encounter mixed audiences and networks wherever we go. We need to expand to a perspective that views our connections as part of a single, breathing system.

Hence, this book is not a travelogue; it is a practical skill-based tool that can lead us, not just to a future of greater communication, but to greater collaboration and innovation as well. The focus centers on singular models of communication that link our identity across the earth as a whole. Unlike most intercultural texts, which contain chapters organized by country-specific knowledge, this book contains chapters divided by skills, such as effective emailing, public speaking, and negotiating. The unique focus is on patterns of communication, singular models that work with diverse audiences and networks from all over the world.

Most cross-cultural training programs focus on culturally-specific values, customs, and factsbut professionals need a more practical and holistic approach. Many of us in the twenty-first century often encounter dozens of cultural contexts every dayoften in a single day, at work, socially, or online. New research shows that cultivating skills with a certain cognitive flexibility is what unlocks the skills of cultural competencea global mindset. In a truly globally-connected world, professionals could find themselves in any number of locationstherefore, they need to be able to operate in any cultural environment they enter. This would not only require specific linguistic skills for messaging but would also require a new adaptability to ever-evolving circumstances and an ability to respond to new contextsa cognitive flexibilitya global mindset leading to global communication skills.

Drawing on our research backgrounds in psycholinguistics and intercultural communication, this book bridges the gap that exists between traditional training in cultural-specific knowledge and the practicalities of putting that knowledge into practice. Traditional knowledge-based models of cultural competence have yet to show us how to jump from abstract concepts into an actionable set of principles. However, the solution to communicating effectively across cultures resides in integrating blueprints we can then actively work fromconnecting perception to specific behavioral skillsultimately, expanding our ability to operate across cultural settings and enter the future transactions of global business, international relationships, and worldwide innovation.

These contents are based on our years of research and teaching experience as professors, corporate trainers, and intercultural communication specialists at New York University and at entities such as the United Nations (UN) Headquarters. For years, we have educated American and international students and professionals in the global classroom, a shared space that continues to enrich the multiplex process of