nayantaraghoshersek
27.Mai 2010 - 17:30

Nayantara Ghosh-Ersek

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The UNIMC was pleased to welcome Nayantara Ghosh-Ersek at the Management Club.

Nayantara Ghosh-Ersek, management consultant and coach for intercultural competence for global corporations, shared her experience about intercultural competence and gave the participants of the Executive Lounge first-hand insights in intercultural communication, using both English and German in her discourse.

Nayantara Ghosh-Ersek, having roots in India and Austria, grew up in Vienna and enjoyed a French school education at the Lycée Français de Vienne. Her ambition to change the world first brought her to UNICEF in Sudan, a job she described as „carrying files“. Later, after obtaining a teaching degree, she taught English and French at the Commercial Academy in Innsbruck. Several years afterwards, she started to work for Apple Computer Inc., which at that time did not boast the operating system Macintosh yet. She was convinced that Apple Computer would change the world and Steve Jobs’ ideology „one person, one computer“ promised to bring real development to India, China and Africa.

„Understanding is a journey in the country of the other“. With this quote by Fazil Hüsnu Daglarca, a well-known Turkish poet, she started her presentation. In today’s world, we have to get along with the corporate culture of the company we are working for, the culture of the country we live or work in etc. But we also have to understand „the other“, which does not only comprise foreigners, but also people that are very close to us, such as the grandmother, the son etc. In some way, each of us has his/her own culture.

The intercultural approach is commonly marked by three stages. First, you have to look at yourself from a helicopter point of view, an approach, which is called „de-centering“. The question you should ask yourself –where do I come from? – is difficult to answer and can take a lifetime. But there are shortcuts. The second stage „walking in the other’s shoes“ means to attempt to understand who the other person is and where he/she comes from with regard to his/her attitude. The third and last stage is negotiating, looking for „bridges“ from one person to the other. Nayantara Ghosh-Ersek assures: „in most cases, there are bridges“.

For more information on Nayantara Ghosh-Ersek, please visit http://www.ghoshinternational.com/nayantara.php.

The UNIMC thanks Nayantara Ghosh-Ersek for her lively and exciting presentation of the opportunities and challenges of intercultural communication.