What is culture?
There are many types of culture -- national culture, corporate culture, etc. For the purposes of this post, I'll focus on national culture.
We can define culture as shared behavior with a common language that ties a group of people together, allowing them to communicate in order to get their needs (and desires) met.
When we grow up, we learn about one culture. "Our" culture. We are indoctrinated into it without our consent. It's all we know. Unless and until we make the decision to experience other cultures firsthand. And that is something I strongly recommend doing.
It wasn't until I lived in another country that I realized I had grown up naively thinking that the way things operate in the US is the same way things operate everywhere around the world. NOT. THE. CASE.
There isn't just ONE way of doing things. There are MANY. But we learn ONE. And it is up to us to choose if we will learn MANY.
Have you had an experience abroad where you gained a new perspective? Drop a comment and let me know -- I'd love to hear about it!
There are many types of culture -- national culture, corporate culture, etc. For the purposes of this post, I'll focus on national culture.
We can define culture as shared behavior with a common language that ties a group of people together, allowing them to communicate in order to get their needs (and desires) met.
When we grow up, we learn about one culture. "Our" culture. We are indoctrinated into it without our consent. It's all we know. Unless and until we make the decision to experience other cultures firsthand. And that is something I strongly recommend doing.
It wasn't until I lived in another country that I realized I had grown up naively thinking that the way things operate in the US is the same way things operate everywhere around the world. NOT. THE. CASE.
There isn't just ONE way of doing things. There are MANY. But we learn ONE. And it is up to us to choose if we will learn MANY.
Have you had an experience abroad where you gained a new perspective? Drop a comment and let me know -- I'd love to hear about it!
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