Articles by Cultural Confidence

  • Happy New Year – When? Cultural Variations Across History and Geographyby Anna Katrina Davey, Principal & Founder at Cultural Confidence

    Defining and celebrating the beginning of the New Year has always been subject to cultural variations. Until 1752, colonial America along with Britain celebrated the beginning of the New Year on March 25th, i.e. Lady Day, in Christian tradition the day that Mary found out about her pregnancy. They also still used the Julian calendar, […]

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  • “Same Same But Different”: The Need for Cultural Competence in a Globalized Worldby Anna Katrina Davey, Principal & Founder at Cultural Confidence

    The iconic phrase “same same but different”, ubiquitously heard in the tourist areas of Thailand as well as other parts of Southeast Asia, is a metaphor I like to use to describe people and culture. While the versatile Tinglish expression is generally used in the context of justifying a higher price for something that may […]

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  • A New Memorial Dayby Anna Katrina Davey, Principal & Founder at Cultural Confidence

    As every year on the last Monday of May, yesterday in the USA we celebrated Memorial Day remembering the men and women who have died serving in the armed forces. Rhetoric aside, it seems to me that we have become comfortably complacent with the status quo and reality of war. Now really, how much are […]

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  • Equinox Symbolism as a Modern Model for Intercultural Trainingby Anna Katrina Davey, Principal & Founder at Cultural Confidence

    The occurrence of the Equinox and the start of the astrological New Year this past week have deepened my reflections and desire to forge a more modern and holistic approach towards intercultural training. Traditionally, intercultural training has focused almost entirely on the differences between peoples. And understandably so given widespread cultural myopia and the tendency […]

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  • Bridging Cultures Across a Sea of Differences: A Personal Journeyby Anna Katrina Davey, Principal & Founder at Cultural Confidence

    I was born and raised in Trieste, Italy, city of arcane splendor and elusive identity cradled at the top of the Adriatic Sea. I have called Italy as well as Connecticut, Germany and more recently Texas, home. I have also lived in Hanoi, Vietnam and have traveled about 45 countries, many of which for extended […]

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  • 3 Lessons I Learned from My TEDx Talkby Anna Katrina Davey, Principal & Founder at Cultural Confidence

      Giving a TEDx Talk on Cultural Competence as a Paradigm for Peace has been a beautiful journey and I’d like to share 3 key lessons I learned from giving the talk that you might find useful as well. Lesson 1: Stretch Yourself The theme of the TEDx event in Paris was “Beyond Our Limits”. […]

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  • Unified Communications and Cross Cultural: Enhancing the Effectiveness of Global Virtual Teamsby Riccardo Perna, Lead Trainer & Business Developer, Cultural Confidence Europe

    “Today we work very well with colleagues from countries all over the world. Unified communications and global virtual teams have simplified our lives.” This is what system managers often think with regards to working with foreign subsidiaries and making use of the tools to interact with them. Although I strongly believe in the use of […]

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  • 5 Mistakes to Avoid when Working Across Culturesby Anna Katrina Davey, Principal & Founder at Cultural Confidence

    Most businesses and other organizations work across cultures every day of the week. They may have offices around the world, work on multinational projects, or work with a culturally diverse team in their local offices. Never before has the need for intercultural competence been greater. In fact, the main reason for failure in international business […]

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  • France & Italy: Estranged Cousinsby Riccardo Perna, Lead Trainer & Business Developer, Cultural Confidence Europe

    “Why should we pay for an intercultural training about working effectively with Italy? These two countries are so close … we know each other, we’re cousins, we do not need such training.” 
This is often what training managers of French enterprises think when it comes to organizing expatriations to Italy or when dealing with Italian […]

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  • The Meaning of Cultureby Anna Katrina Davey, Principal & Founder at Cultural Confidence

    What is culture? And how does it affect us? We encounter and make use of the word culture several times a day and in very different contexts. We attend cultural programs, discuss cultural differences as well as agricultural practices, read about the danger of cults and cultivate good or bad habits. Even when standing in […]

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