Reviewed by Rama Gaind.
By Gaiti Rabbani, Major Street Publishing, $29.99.
It’s time to refocus our lens on culture to cultivate cross-cultural understanding. We are a culturally rich nation, with 75 per cent of us identifying with an ancestry other than Australian.
Culture is about more than just where we are born and where we live. Among other factors, gender, generation and language all contribute to our cultural standpoints and how we connect with others. Improving cross-cultural engagement in the workplace starts with better understanding ourselves. It’s here we uncover our cultural drivers that help us cultivate meaningful cross-cultural conversations.
Drawing on her rich, personal and professional experiences, along with research-based insights, Rabbani creates a relatable, insightful and thought-provoking read.
“The ease with which we connect and maintain personal and professional relationships is influenced by the lens through which we view others. To connect across cultures with people of diverse backgrounds, we first need to understand the values that mould our own lens of the world. To improve interpersonal effectiveness in any sphere of our lives we need to look within, understand ourselves and venture into the deeper subconscious patterns of our minds.”
The cover of this book features kaleidoscopic glasses – for good reason. In an era of instant gratification our minds seek quick fixes and ready-made solutions. “In reality, each situation is unique; every one of us is different; every cross-cultural encounter is underpinned by different dynamics. To be prescriptive would not do justice to the cultural nuances that sway our thinking and behaviour.”
The way we view culture is unique to each of us. Ultimately, we all view the world differently. We view people differently. We perceive cultural identities differently.
To sum it up, Henry David Thoreau said: “The question is not what you look at, but what you see.”
