I received good news at the start of the new school year.
I have been commissioned together with my associate Yang-May Ooi to write a book on international communications that will be published by Kogan Page.
I am very happy about the project. I developed a couple of theories over the years I spent working with people from different parts of the world and the book will finally give me the opportunity to write about them. The challenge will be to distil into words all those things that I do instinctively when I work in a cultural context different from mine.
Another challenge will be to talk about other countries and their communication practices without using cultural stereotypes. This has been my dilemma for years: how to convey the spirit of a particular culture and its unwritten rules without falling into the stereotype trap? Ideas are welcome!
The book will deal with the need in our global village to develop communication strategies that take into account cross-cultural differences. It is about reaching out to new audiences in an era characterised by the globalisation-meet-Web-2.0 phenomenon.
We will try to answer questions like: How do you develop communication strategies for markets you have never worked in? How do you integrate social media in your new global strategies? How can professional communicators help senior executives engage effectively with stakeholders in various parts of the world?
Yang-May, who has strong links to Malaysia and the Far East , will be writing about social media and how to integrate on-line with off-line communication. The Asian internet market is the most active in content creation and China and South Korea are leading the way in terms of socialising on-line. It’s great to have Yang-May on the project.
Yang-May and I will both be blogging about our research for the book and will be happy to hear your ideas.
Cross-cultural communication skills seem to be in great demand these days.
They will also be the subject of my presentation at the Brand You World Summit. Tune in on November 8th for this teleconferenced event marking the Ten Year Anniversary of Personal Branding.
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