Category Archives: Culture

The societies in the Global Village

Commerce, Levine articles, Southern Culture

Making the Chattanooga-German Connection – by Deborah Levine

Tennessee is home to hundreds of international companies worth billions of dollars. Chattanooga, the smallest of Tennessee’s four major cities, is the site of the only Volkswagen plant in the United States. VW is not the only German company in our area, but its arrival made cultural competence a high priority. German companies orient their executives to Southern culture, energizing Chattanooga’s globalization and investment in cross-cultural training.

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Groundbreakers storytelling, Levine articles, Of Women, Social Issues, Southern Culture

Global Leadership: Southern Women Lean In – by Deborah Levine

Chattanooga’s Women GroundBreakers is a Think Tank of diverse faith, community, youth, and business leaders. The women meet monthly to discuss trends and strategies for making a difference. As part of the international Lean In movement, their Think Tank discussions are published locally and globally. Be inspired by their Words of Wisdom on Global Leadership. First, check out their strategies for building a global mindset.

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Around the world, Levine articles, Of Women, Social Issues

Technologies Shift: Women and Girls Lead – by Deborah Levine

The Independent Television Service (ITVS) is a global asset for women and girls. ITVS supports a dynamic field of independent media makers whose programs creatively engage audiences, expand cultural awareness and catalyze civic participation. Filmmakers from around the world came to ITVS with incredible stories about women and girls. Using a holistic approach, ITVS created Women and Girls Lead, a multi-year initiative with documentaries about women and girls. After launching the domestic initiative, the project went global. Combining the expertise in international broadcasting, storytelling, and on-the-ground knowledge of its partners: USAID, the Ford Foundation, and CARE, ITVS recently launched Women and Girls Lead Global.

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Gender, Levine articles, Race & Ethnicity, Social Issues, Southern Culture

Tennessee’s First African-American Female Public Defender: Ardena Garth — by Deborah Levine

Ardena Garth Hicks was the first African American female public defender in Tennessee’s Hamilton County. When the State of Tennessee created the office of public defenders 18 years ago, it was an appointed position by the Governor. Ardena was the only applicant with both defense and prosecutorial experience. Of the 27 initially appointed public defenders, only two were black females.

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Commerce, Levine articles, Southern Culture

Globalization in Chattanooga – by Deborah Levine

The transformation of the South by international industry has picked up speed. In 1974, there were only 19 foreign-owned manufacturers in Tennessee. They were valued at $649 million. In 1995, the state had 400 foreign-owned firms with a value of $15 billion. By 2013, the number of foreign-owned firms had more than doubled to 864 with a value of $30 billion. According to the Global Location Trends Report by the IBM Institute, Tennessee led the nation in jobs created by foreign owned firms.
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Around the world, Authors A-H, Teams & Leaders, Wellness

Learn to Relish the Inconvenience – by Terry Howard

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Guess what readers? It took me 25 hours to go from Dallas to Germany a while back.

But don’t feel sorry for me because that trip was one of my best ever. Now before telling me to get a checkup from the neck up, bear with me for a moment. I’ll get to the rest of the story further down. I first need to come clean with you on a revelation.

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Levine articles, Race & Ethnicity, Southern Culture

Race Relations and the Confederate Flag – by Deborah Levine

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Morris Dees, Founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), was the featured speaker at the Jewish Federation of Greater Chattanooga annual First Amendment dinner. Mr. Dees was introduced by Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke. Mayor Berke, a member of Chattanooga’s Jewish community was comfortable in the Federation setting and shared that he was not wearing a tie due to the well-known perils of ketchup. Picking up on the informality, Dees removed his own tie and listened, along with a packed house, to the mayor’s remarks.

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Levine articles, Race & Ethnicity, Religious Diversity Kit, Southern Culture

Faith, Race, & Leadership: Conversations with Morehouse College’s 11th President — by Deborah Levine

I recently had the privilege of interviewing Morehouse College’s 11th president, Dr. John Silvanus Wilson, Jr. We explored his background in both religion and education, his experience in universities and government, and his plans for Morehouse’s future. A deeply religious man, Dr. Wilson’s faith has been the driving force behind his many achievements. Writing this article, I drew on my own interfaith experience in Chicago as a member of its Black-Jewish dialogue and coordinator of Black-Jewish Seminarians Conferences for the American Jewish Committee. The Black-Jewish dialogue lost steam over the years, but remains strong at Morehouse.

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Around the world, Authors A-H, Culture

No Diversity Problems Here – by Gladys Gossett Hankins, Ph.D.

“We don’t have diversity problems here. It’s our neighbors south of the border who have those kinds of problems. Don’t forget, this is Canada, and remember, Toronto is the most diverse city in the world!” So said a group of Canadian professionals who were about to participate in a multi-day diversity workshop. These people may have been in denial, or perhaps they were just rationalizing. They were taking diversity to automatically mean a problem in the U.S., primarily with African Americans. After all, who hadn’t heard about the civil rights movement? So after a series of questions that allowed us to peel away the layers of reasoning proffered, these participants were able to acknowledge the issues, ultimately saying, “Yes, we do have diversity problems. It’s just that we are usually much too polite to talk about them, especially in mixed company.”

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Around the world, Authors A-H, Commerce, Teams & Leaders

The Challenge of Global Diversity: Cross Cultural Competence for a Rapidly Shrinking Planet — by Curtis Curry

For every car GM sold in China in 2004, it sold 10 in the United States. By 2009, sales in China equaled those in the US. Rapid economic growth in Brazil, Indonesia, China, and India will add a billion new consumers clamoring for goods and services from around the world over the next decade. With increasing frequency, professionals from one country are interacting with customers and colleagues from other countries.

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