Galileo was right; the world does not revolve around me or anyone like me. By a long shot, mine is not the only column on international business, marketing, language and culture. In fact, I would like to share a list of seven of my favorite global business columnists and bloggers who write fun and informative articles on these topics.
Who are your favorite international business columnists and bloggers?
World wise
Terri Morrison is co-author of the popular business series Kiss, Bow or Shake Hands, which I also strongly recommend. Earlier this month, I was pleased to learn she began writing a new column called “World Wise” for Business Traveler magazine.
“You probably know that the cow is revered in India,” writes Morrison in her latest post, “Actions and Reactions.” “But never underestimate the gravity of insulting this icon. In 2009, a former member of parliament and ex-foreign minister, Shashi Tharoor, flippantly tweeted that he was happily traveling in ‘cattle class’ (economy) on an airplane. His Congress Party rebuked him, stating that his Twitter post was ‘unacceptable,’ in poor taste and a tactless reference to a holy animal.”
Follow Morrison on Twitter at @KissBowAuthor.
Global by design
John Yunker is a web globalization expert and author of reports including the 2012 Web Globalization Report Card, an analysis of more than 100 leading global websites. His books on the topic include the easy-to-read guide to global website navigation called "The Art of the Global Gateway." Additionally, Yunker maintains a regular blog called Global by Design: Adventures in web and mobile globalization.
“Get rid of Flash,” writes Yunker in the recent blog post, “Web globalization in a post-PC world.” “I don’t hate Flash, but I’m a pragmatist. It’s challenging enough for web teams to manage content across so many devices let alone to worry about also supporting Flash vs. non-Flash sites. By eliminating Flash, you free up resources to focus on mobile devices and user scenarios.”
Follow Yunker on Twitter at @JohnYunker.
International search engine marketing
Michael Bonfils is managing director of international search engine marketer SEM International and writes a monthly column on global Web marketing for SearchEngineWatch.com. Topics range from the technical to the practical and are a great resource for any Internet marketer.
“A friend recently tipped me off on Macy’s new global strategy for International SEO and I almost fell off my chair,” writes Bonfils in an article about four international lessons learned the hard way from Macys.com. “It was one of those car wreck moments, where you know you don’t have the time or patience but something intrigues you to look. You slow down, you stare and you wonder, ‘How on Earth did that car flip over upside down and land between the walls of two homes?’ How can the company behind such a well known brand make such critical mistakes with a global launch?”
Follow Bonfils on Twitter at @MichaelBonfils.
Professional passport
ValÉrie Berset-Price is a cross-cultural consultant and trainer who writes about international and intercultural business for The Huffington Post. A dual citizen of Switzerland and the United States, Berset-Price graduated from my alma mater, the Monterey Institute of International Studies.
“Too few Americans have professional international experience, and even fewer have an innate sense of how to lead with cultural intelligence,” writes Berset-Price in her inaugural post, “The Knee-Jerk Reflex of Internationalization.” “As such, sending people on international business development assignments to countries they can barely identify on the map will be challenging and not so profitable as intended.”
Follow Berset-Price on Twitter at @ValerieAntoinet.
Off the map
Kate Edwards is a geographer and expert in digital content culturalization, particularly for the video game industry. Her culturalization column, “Off the Map,” appears in “MultiLingual” magazine.
“In the video game ‘Hitman 2’ from 2002, the game’s plot took the player to the Harmandir Sahib (the Golden Temple) in Amritsar, India — the sacred center of the Sikh religion,” Edwards said in her December article, “Careful Culturalization in India.” “The game’s violent action included combat within the temple itself and even fighting and killing Sikhs in the course of the gameplay. After a furor of protest arose from the Sikh community, the game developer apologized and agreed to remove the offensive scenes.”
Follow Edwards on Twitter at @Englobe.
Global small business
Laurel Delaney is an entrepreneur and global small-business expert who previously wrote a global business column for Entrepreneur magazine. Reading her latest column requires free registration at Crain’s ChicagoBusiness.com.
“For centuries, ‘Made in America’ stood for supremacy in everything,” Delaney wrote in an old, pep-talk column for Entrepreneur. “Now, with globalization on the rise and much of the world resenting the unrivaled power of the United States, American businesses have to deal with protests, boycotts and increased costs of tightened security measures. How do you overcome these challenges?”
Follow Delaney on Twitter at @LaurelDelaney.
Found in translation
Nataly Kelly is a language services expert and the chief research officer at the market research company Common Sense Advisory. She writes a Huffington Post blog on language in business, politics and everyday life.
“It's almost noon, which, on a typical day, means that I've already communicated with people in at least a dozen countries,” writes Kelly in one post. “Some of those countries, such as India and Sweden, are places where I have co-workers, and in the others I have clients. I step into the hallway, but the scene is perhaps even more global, as I hear my colleagues trading phrases in French, German, Italian and Spanish ….”
Follow Kelly on Twitter at @NatalyKelly.
Adam Wooten is director of translation services at Lingotek. He also teaches a course on translation technology at Brigham Young University. Email: awooten@lingotek.com. Follow him on Twitter at AdamWooten.