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The Invisible Elephant - Exploring Cultural Awareness
Why the Invisible Elephant? Many aspects of culture are invisible, yet culture has an enormous impact on our lives. Like an Invisible Elephant, if ignored these aspects can lead to misunderstanding, stress and conflict. Alternatively, if attention is given to the Invisible Elephant, it can enhance productivity, improve teamwork and create more joy in our lives. Dealing with cross cultural issues can be like trying to control an Invisible Elephant. The issues are real and crucial as we journey into this new era of increasing globalisation. The Invisible Elephant will improve your understanding and awareness of all cultures, including your own. It's a user-friendly, easy to read guide designed to increase your effectiveness when dealing with people of different cultures. The theories and models presented will increase your Cultural Intelligence and help you prepare for tomorrow's world today.
80 pages, Paperback
Published October 3, 2006
17 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 6, 2022
🚀The Book in 3 Sentences
Globalization is a powerful driving force that has brought our world closer together. This has enabled businesses to expand their horizons and work across cultural dimensions. Cultural diversity is a trend that is apparent in our workplaces and communities. This is where the “Invisible elephant” acts as a incredible primer and tool which can effectively be used to engage with colleagues, friends and family. Similar to IQ (Intelligence Quotient) or EQ (Emotional Quotient), CI (Cultural Intelligence) plays a remarkably important role in our personal and professional lives. As a first generation immigrant, the Invisible elephant has helped me dive deep into the depths of my own cultural dimensions and better understand the culture in which I conduct business.
🥑Impressions
Experiencing early childhood as a first-generation immigrant growing up in one of the most culturally diverse cities in Canada, I initially approached this book with the perception that I already knew everything there is to know about cultural diversity, this is where I was completely wrong. This book completely shattered by ego’s “know it all” assumptions, and rather introduced a unique dimension and framework to understand cultures. Tom encourages readers to hold the elephant by the trunk, instead of ignoring it. This is a mistake that many organizations and their leadership across the world have chose to do. As a result, the incredibly powerful potential that arises from cultural diversity may not fully be harnessed. Ultimately, it can cause alienation of a workforce and work counter intuitively to business goals. Understanding the concept of “Cultural Synergies” has helped me refine my mindset to both understand the world around me and acknowledge that it is imperative that in parallel I make efforts to also be understood by those around me. This isn’t an easy challenge, as consistent effort is required when it comes to maintaining empathy, keeping an open mind, and challenging your own internal & external biases. What I love about this book is that it provides a clear framework with relevant scenario’s highlighting these unique cultural dimensions. I look forward to continuing to use “The Invisible Elephant” as a reference to enhance exploration of communication strategies and leverage this skill to amplify and increase my potential to become a leader in my industry.
🔍How I discovered it
I discovered this book after hearing Tom Vergus speak about the concept of “Unconscious Bias” at an International Nuclear conference I attended in the year 2020. His impressive delivery of such a relevant topic helped me understand how our own cultural biases can at times distort our perception of the world around us. It was also a call to action, to better understanding myself, and how I can enhance my communication approach when it comes to working in culturally diverse workplaces. This had the potential to enhance my own leadership potential in my home country, but also expand my horizons to one day be involved with successful business ventures across the world. Coming from a family of immigrants, I understood the direct correlation of success and adaptation to culturally different environments. As this was once a learning curve for indivudals persons, it has transformed into increasingly becoming a challenge for organizations across the world. Moreover, in Canada & the United States, a strong D&I (Diversity and Equity) movement was launched in the year 2020 which brought to light unequitable practices in workplaces across North America. Due to extensive media coverage and areas of improvement being brought to the forefront, organizations are starting to understand their own unequitable policies and how improvements can be brought to organizational structures and practices to enhance business success.
📔Who Should Read it?
Selfishly, the minimum benefit this book can bring to you is to help you thoroughly understand your own cultural programming. Similar to taking the red pill, you will never see the world the same again after reading this book. Culture is strongly engrained into the very fiber of our psyche. It impacts us at a behavioural and action driven level which has the potential to impact our families, work culture, mental health and overall day to day lifestyles. Simply unravelling the dimensions of the concept behind culture facilitates a enriched understanding of the external environment. It helps provide clarity to the lenses in which we see the world through.
⚡How The Book Changed me
Originating from a south Asian culture and conducting business in the western world, this book has helped me understand both eastern and western business practices. Throughout the span of this book, I sought deep reflection over personal experiences at the work place which have helped me solidify understanding of the frameworks shared in this book. I will continue to use this book as a reference tool to help me enhance my awareness and genuinely improve communication strategies at the work place.
Globalization is a powerful driving force that has brought our world closer together. This has enabled businesses to expand their horizons and work across cultural dimensions. Cultural diversity is a trend that is apparent in our workplaces and communities. This is where the “Invisible elephant” acts as a incredible primer and tool which can effectively be used to engage with colleagues, friends and family. Similar to IQ (Intelligence Quotient) or EQ (Emotional Quotient), CI (Cultural Intelligence) plays a remarkably important role in our personal and professional lives. As a first generation immigrant, the Invisible elephant has helped me dive deep into the depths of my own cultural dimensions and better understand the culture in which I conduct business.
🥑Impressions
Experiencing early childhood as a first-generation immigrant growing up in one of the most culturally diverse cities in Canada, I initially approached this book with the perception that I already knew everything there is to know about cultural diversity, this is where I was completely wrong. This book completely shattered by ego’s “know it all” assumptions, and rather introduced a unique dimension and framework to understand cultures. Tom encourages readers to hold the elephant by the trunk, instead of ignoring it. This is a mistake that many organizations and their leadership across the world have chose to do. As a result, the incredibly powerful potential that arises from cultural diversity may not fully be harnessed. Ultimately, it can cause alienation of a workforce and work counter intuitively to business goals. Understanding the concept of “Cultural Synergies” has helped me refine my mindset to both understand the world around me and acknowledge that it is imperative that in parallel I make efforts to also be understood by those around me. This isn’t an easy challenge, as consistent effort is required when it comes to maintaining empathy, keeping an open mind, and challenging your own internal & external biases. What I love about this book is that it provides a clear framework with relevant scenario’s highlighting these unique cultural dimensions. I look forward to continuing to use “The Invisible Elephant” as a reference to enhance exploration of communication strategies and leverage this skill to amplify and increase my potential to become a leader in my industry.
🔍How I discovered it
I discovered this book after hearing Tom Vergus speak about the concept of “Unconscious Bias” at an International Nuclear conference I attended in the year 2020. His impressive delivery of such a relevant topic helped me understand how our own cultural biases can at times distort our perception of the world around us. It was also a call to action, to better understanding myself, and how I can enhance my communication approach when it comes to working in culturally diverse workplaces. This had the potential to enhance my own leadership potential in my home country, but also expand my horizons to one day be involved with successful business ventures across the world. Coming from a family of immigrants, I understood the direct correlation of success and adaptation to culturally different environments. As this was once a learning curve for indivudals persons, it has transformed into increasingly becoming a challenge for organizations across the world. Moreover, in Canada & the United States, a strong D&I (Diversity and Equity) movement was launched in the year 2020 which brought to light unequitable practices in workplaces across North America. Due to extensive media coverage and areas of improvement being brought to the forefront, organizations are starting to understand their own unequitable policies and how improvements can be brought to organizational structures and practices to enhance business success.
📔Who Should Read it?
Selfishly, the minimum benefit this book can bring to you is to help you thoroughly understand your own cultural programming. Similar to taking the red pill, you will never see the world the same again after reading this book. Culture is strongly engrained into the very fiber of our psyche. It impacts us at a behavioural and action driven level which has the potential to impact our families, work culture, mental health and overall day to day lifestyles. Simply unravelling the dimensions of the concept behind culture facilitates a enriched understanding of the external environment. It helps provide clarity to the lenses in which we see the world through.
⚡How The Book Changed me
Originating from a south Asian culture and conducting business in the western world, this book has helped me understand both eastern and western business practices. Throughout the span of this book, I sought deep reflection over personal experiences at the work place which have helped me solidify understanding of the frameworks shared in this book. I will continue to use this book as a reference tool to help me enhance my awareness and genuinely improve communication strategies at the work place.
January 4, 2022
Simple read. Also very informative and applicable, given if you take the time to note down main takeaways and relate it to your real-life scenarios.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews