Consultants from around the world coming into Austin, I can see where my friend may have had a point.  We are each diplomats of our own country. More importantly we are diplomats of the human race.  Through the years I’ve come to know many peoples from India and have queried them (as much as they would allow!) about their experience being Indian. What does that mean to them?  How has being born in different areas of India impacted them? What are their beliefs?  Same with people from other countries such as Pakistan, China, Australia, New Zealand, England, South Africa, Viet Nam. The list is endless. The questions are too!  The most valuable gift I received from a Cultural Discrimination class was to ask people their experience of being them–don’t assume you know, because you don’t.
Over the past several months I’ve had the blessed opportunity to meet many people from countries that I had not been exposed, namely Uganda, Iran and Afghanistan.  Thursday evening I was invited to the home of one of these women for a gathering of the Board for Act Women in Austin Texas.  One of their members has been living in China for the past 18 months and had slides and stories to share with the group. Many of the women gathered are of the Baha’i faith.  What I was most impressed with was their loving kindness and beauty (both inner and outer).  I also met photographer Peggy Kelsey who had a selection of beautiful photos made into cards from her Afghanistan Women’s Project.  If I had relied on the broad sweeps that are made in the media about these countries, I may have allowed my fears to get in the way of finding out for myself how some of the people are from these countries.
In reflecting back to the idea that business will be the vessel for world peace, I know that many successful business people have learned over time the necessity of understanding and being able to communicate and relate with the cultures in other countries.  I’m sure we have offended many times in our ignorance much less in our politics.  One of my favorite questions to ask people from other countries, once we’ve established a rapport, is how “we” Americans from the U.S., come across to them.  Sometimes I’m very proud of whom we are and other times, not so much.
Expanding our horizons through getting to know other ways of being both internally and externally is always a good practice.  It causes our thinking to deepen and our opinions to become more flexible.
 How are you going to expand your horizons today?  It can begin with one conversation.
Because my father was a diplomat and my mother loved to explore and understand different cultures, I was exposed to many ways of being from a young age.  I’m so grateful that I was given this gift of horizon expansion and the realization that my family’s way of being was just one way of being. Not THE way of being.   Because of this paradigm expansion, I believe today that there are always more than three options to any one challenge.   
A CEO friend from long ago told me that he believed that world peace would be obtained through business.  After my own experience of meeting numerous IT Consultants from around the world coming into Austin, I can see where my friend may have had a point.  We are each diplomats of our own country. More importantly we are diplomats of the human race.  Through the years I’ve come to know many peoples from India and have queried them (as much as they would allow!) about their experience being Indian. What does that mean to them?  How has being born in different areas of India impacted them? What are their beliefs?  Same with people from other countries such as Pakistan, China, Australia, New Zealand, England, South Africa, Viet Nam. The list is endless. The questions are too!  The most valuable gift I received from a Cultural Discrimination class was to ask people their experience of being them–don’t assume you know, because you don’t.
Over the past several months I’ve had the blessed opportunity to meet many people from countries that I had not been exposed, namely Uganda, Iran and Afghanistan.  Thursday evening I was invited to the home of one of these women for a gathering of the Board for Act Women in Austin Texas.  One of their members has been living in China for the past 18 months and had slides and stories to share with the group. Many of the women gathered are of the Baja’s faith.  What I was most impressed with was their loving kindness and beauty (both inner and outer).  I also met photographer Peggy Kelsey who had a selection of beautiful photos made into cards from her Afghanistan Women’s Project.  If I had relied on the broad sweeps that are made in the media about these countries, I may have allowed my fears to get in the way of finding out for myself how some of the people are from these countries.
In reflecting back to the idea that business will be the vessel for world peace, I know that many successful business people have learned over time the necessity of understanding and being able to communicate and relate with the cultures in other countries.  I’m sure we have offended many times in our ignorance much less in our politics.  One of my favorite questions to ask people from other countries, once we’ve established a rapport, is how “we” Americans from the U.S., come across to them.  Sometimes I’m very proud of whom we are and other times, not so much.
Expanding our horizons through getting to know other ways of being both internally and externally is always a good practice.  It causes our thinking to deepen and our opinions to become more flexible.
 How are you going to expand your horizons today?  It can begin with one conversation.