How to make sound decisions
All of us make decisions big and small, every day. How do we know when to stick with them and when to change them? (more…)
Type and Culture
This is what keeps me up at night and gets me out of bed in the morning: What are the best ways to prepare expats for their assignments? How can I help make the experience of culture shock they will eventually go through as smooth as possible? Which tools can I share to facilitate increased self-awareness and open-mindedness towards people and practices in the new country, so expats become comfortable and effective as soon as possible? In other words, big picture: how can we make it easier to understand each other? (more…)
Tending your garden
I had breakfast on the balcony today. I felt the sun’s still cool rays as they made an effort to dry the concrete, still wet from last night’s rain, morning dew, or possibly the sprinklers. I listened to the breeze announcing spring in the air, carrying over chainsaw noise from the gardeners cutting down trees at our apartment complex. The time was right to re-pot my plants. (more…)
Celebrating
Happy Birthday Expat Women, who turned three yesterday! Many happy returns! 
Expat Women is helping women living overseas by sharing tips, tricks, success stories, and giving us a platform to come together and share our experiences. Many times, in order to help someone else acclimatize faster, sometimes it simply allows us to be heard.
I had the good fortune of meeting the founder, Andrea Martins, at last year’s FIGT conference and am happy to extend my congratulations and best wishes for the not-too-terrible-but-thrilling-threes!
Cheers, Slainte and Salud!
Dee
9 Characteristics of Millionaire Women
If you’re a woman in business, you might benefit from checking out your local eWomen Network chapter meeting for networking and communication opportunities. I went to such an event this week in Dallas and am happy to share some of the key information the featured speaker presented. The topic was closely related to my goal this year: increasing my financial awareness, and the speaker was Ashley Parks.
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Conditions for successful coaching
Is your company offering coaching? Have you gone through the process? How did you experience it, would you recommend coaching or was it a waste of your time? Here are some markers that increase the odds of making an executive coaching experience the best it can be, as identified by the 2008 AMA’s global survey into successful coaching practices.
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Cultural lessons of Avatar
Coming from a place of meritocracy that values achievement, paraplegic former marine Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) takes on an assignment of reconnaissance and mediation with the Na’vi people of Pandora. His world is that of technology, corporations, money, and military, not to mention physical alter-ability. The viewer can easily imagine what it means to Sully taking part in this Avatar (second life) experiment: going to sleep in the transformational sarcophagus-like machine in his world and waking up to inhabit and discover the wonders of his genetically engineered lithe, fit, light-blue body of a Na’vi on their magical planet.
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Repatriation strategies
As with all other expatriate practices, repatriation also involves careful planning way in advance. As we have already discussed, the use of mentor programs from early expatriation stages helps to reassure expatriates that their experience will be recognized upon their return to headquarters. Also, thorough training programs should be in place to facilitate the re-entry of the expatriate and his or her family back into their original society.
Expatriate services and training
Once you have decided to use expatriation and an expatriate has accepted an overseas assignment, several concerns have to be addressed. On the one hand, will the relocation allow the expat and their family to at least maintain their current living standards, and on the other, which training does the expat and their family need in terms of language, cultural awareness, and professional skills for the assignment to be successful.
Alternatives to using Expatriates
In order to remain globally competitive, companies have to look at cost. Sending a mid-level executive expatriate may come with a price tag of $1,000,000 and more, so this decision usually isn’t taken lightly. Before going into the costly and difficult process of selecting the right employee to be sent abroad, your company might want to consider using alternatives.
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