Engaging Internationally

Words that Communicate

July 28, 2010

Don’t all words communicate? you may be thinking.  Well, yes, of course they’re intended to, but we don’t always define and practice ‘communication’ as two ways – a message that is sent, received and understood.  If we focus on our messages being received, and ideally understood in the way we intended, the choice of words …

What’s all this interest in the World Cup?

July 9, 2010

I hadn’t originally thought I would blog about the World Cup.  But as I’ve spent a significant amount of time over the past month watching matches, talking about them with family, friends and colleagues, and yes, even tweeting about them, a blog post seemed appropriate.  For those of you who may not follow it, the …

A really big dream takes its first steps to reality

June 23, 2010

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that one million babies die each year from birth asphyxia (eg. inability to breathe immediately after delivery).  A few years ago a group of pediatricians affiliated with the American Academy of Pediatrics developed a neonatal resuscitation program that was evidence-based, easy to teach and easy to use in resource …

Living with Ambiguity

June 2, 2010

When I was an Executive Director and hiring staff, I liked to hire people who had international experience.  There are many skills one learns from living in another culture that in many ways are great life skills. Michael Keizer writes about some here “Eleven Helpful Skills”. The competency I was particularly interested in for NGO …

How Relevant is Global Thinking? (Don’t click away from this post!)

May 12, 2010

“We don’t need a more global perspective. What we need is help in our own backyard”!

You’ve probably heard a statement something like this before. Somehow we separate ourselves into those who are enthusiastic about “global thinking” and those who see it as irrelevant to their day-to-day activities. But why the need for such polarization? …