Presented by: Annette Merritt Cummings, Cummings and Company, LLC
“The Best of Times…The Worst of Times”
"Ignorance of foreign languages and cultures costs U.S. companies over fifty billion dollars a year in lost sales."
U.S. State Department Report, 2010
As business leaders and trainers we know that many U.S. organizations understand the necessity to “think locally and act globally,” but may not be ready to fully understand the implications for change in behavior required to do business with a multicultural workforce and customer base. The Cross Cultural Skills and Global Competence session will increase awareness of the issues surrounding cross cultural interactions, its dimension, implication and applications. Attendees will gain an appreciation and acceptance of the practical aspects of cross cultural understanding and collaboration and its benefits to them professionally and personally.
Learning Objectives:
1. Understand the business case for cross cultural skills at work and the impact on the organization as a whole.
2. A review of the practical skills needed for working, communicating, and collaborating effectively at all levels with people who are from different cultural backgrounds.
3. Session will cover:
a. Cultural awareness, insights for understanding culture
b. Definitions and business case for cultural competency
c. Experiencing cross cultural differences
d. Understanding Mainstream American culture and American
Sub-cultures versus Traditional cultures
Speaker Bio:
Ms. Cummings is the Founder and Managing Partner of Cummings and Company, LLC, a public relations, diversity and cross-cultural communications firm. She has over 25 years of experience in marketing and communications with leading U.S. companies and non-profits: DuPont, Gannett, and the Wexner Center for the Arts and the Department of Defense. She currently consults on diversity and inclusion, public relations strategies, communications and management. Over the last 15 years, she has advised clients on diversity branding, communications and developed strategies to help organizations recruit and retain a diverse workforce.
Ms. Cummings retired as a Vice President and National Director of Diversity & Inclusion Solutions, for Bernard Hodes Group, after twelve years of service. She has an M.B.A. from the University of Detroit-Mercy and has completed Diversity Practitioner training at the American Institute for Managing Diversity, the National Multicultural Institute and is a HumaNext certified Global Diversity Trainer. Clients have included Brown-Forman, McGraw-Hill, the F.B.I., Novo Nordisk, Massachusetts Ear and Eye Infirmary, The National Cancer Institute and the National Parks Service. Ms. Cummings is a contributing author to “On Staffing” by Staffing.org and to the “The Census 2000 Toolkit,” Society for Human Resource Management. She also authored articles for Black Professionals and for Black Enterprise.
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