Celebrating the Lunar New Year

We join many cultures and peoples across the globe who are ringing in the Lunar New Year around the world this week. Year of the Dragon as 2012 is in the zodiac, holds special significance. The dragon portrays a legendary beast that comes from a combination of many animals (snake, carp, tiger). This year is considered especially lucky, as it will be the Year of the Black Dragon, an event that occurs only every 60 years. Although the Year of the Dragon occurs every twelve years, only every fifth occurrence is the Black Dragon. Many predict a prosperous year for those born in the year of the Dragon (those born in 1940, ’64, ’88,’ ’12), Rat (’36, 60,’84,’08), Monkey (’32, ’56, ’80, ’04) and Rooster (’33, ’57, ’81, ’05).

Cultures from Indonesia to the Philippines, China to Vietnam, Korea to Tibet, all celebrate the lunar new year. I have included three videos to illustrate fun and light-hearted way in which youth celebrate this annual holiday.

This first one from Singapore gives the viewer a unique view of the blend of contemporary eastern and western culture.

This second video depicts a traditional children’s song from China celebrating the New Year.

Finally, we turn to Korea where “Seollal” or “Gujeong,” is Korea’s most celebrated holiday. To mark the beginning of this year of good fortune, Korea has a four-day long weekend. This is traditionally done to allow Koreans a full day before and after the holiday to travel to their hometowns and meet with family.

“Charye” a traditional ritual performed early in the day, consist of an offering of food sacrificed for ancestors and family members respectfully bow twice. “Sebae” offers the opportunity for younger people to pay their respects to their elder relatives by performing one deep bow and saying “Sae hae bok mani badusaeyo” which translates to “Receive many new year blessings.” They are then rewarded with pocket money and words of wisdom. This video playfully shows the expectation of these teens in their traditional hanbok.

A final note, this photo poignantly expresses deep desire for reconciliation of the Korean people. This photo, along with several others can be found on msnbc.com. 

Go Byung-sam, a North Korean refugee, right, and his wife Suh Jung-hoon bow to show respect to their ancestors in North Korea in front of a barbed wire fence as they celebrate the Lunar New Year at the Imjingak Pavilion, in Paju, South Korea, on Jan. 23.

Flying on a Wing and a Prayer

In a recent announcement to their frequent fliers, Alaska Airline noted that the prayer cards that had been a benchmark of customer service for thirty years would be discontinued.

For those who have not traveled Alaskan Air, it has been a trademark for the airline to provide the prayer cards on meal trays. The practice has had its detractors from the beginning, but also has received praise for its’ low-key positive message.

Last fall the company decided to stop distributing the cards because, airline spokesperson Bobbie Egan said, “We believe it's the right thing to do in order to respect the diverse religious beliefs and cultural attitudes of all our customers and employees.”

 “…[W]e've heard from many of you who believe religion is inappropriate on an airplane, and some are offended when we hand out the cards. Religious beliefs are deeply personal and sharing them with others is an individual choice.”

“It always seemed odd to me,” said George Hobica of the consumer travel website Airfarewatchdog.com. “Flying on a wing and prayer? I don’t think those two go together.”

Travel humor aside, Alaskan Airlines responded to a legitimate sensitivity to the ever-changing cultural attitudes of the flying public. However, in other places in the world, such a practice would not be seen as offensive. Whether one is in an airport in Chennai, Bangkok, Tegucigalpa, or Manila, religious paraphernalia is not uncommon. I suspect most “Americans” traveling on Alaskan Air would not be offended by such religious encounters in these cities, but would simply identify the religious reference with the culture. So, is the culture in the U.S. becoming areligious? What do you think?

Time is Money

We went on “date night” last night.  Something my wife and I try to do regularly. It was rainy and ugly and I wasn’t in much of a mood to go anywhere.  But we went.

The agreed upon movie was “In Time” starring Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried.  It was a fascinating movie.  The movie was all about time.  You live for 25 years and then your clock starts ticking, literally.  You worked at a job to get time to lengthen your life.  For everything you purchase, it cost you time that shortened your life.  You could earn time.  Share time.  Steal time. Borrow time. Gamble away time.  In this movie, “time is money.”

Part of the fascination of this movie for me was, that even in that society, there were the “haves” and the “have-nots.”  For the “have-nots,” life was a scramble for more time. Every purchase seemed to be thought out and calculated with the end result, “How much time to I have left.”  The “haves” didn’t seem to notice the cost of things.  They knew that they had plenty of time and that life would not end soon.

Without giving away all the details of the movie, I have been drawn back time and again in the way time was spent.  Every transaction seemed to be done with careful consideration.  Do I really need this?  How much time will I have left?  Will I have enough time until I can get more or will my life “time-out (die)?”

If we gave the same consideration as to how we spend our time and money, this world would be a much better place in which to live.  With this consideration, we seem to become aware of how precious life really is.  Not only for us, but for all people.  We learn that true generosity comes out of a place of gratitude in our own lives, where we remember someone else generously sharing with us when we were in need.  There becomes a deep need and passion to help others.

How will you share your time and money?  

Do you know how precious life is?  

Isn’t it time that we shared that with others?

For many of us today, we find that we have more time at the end of the money.  So what do we do with our time?  We don’t have to worry quite as much about the hour of our demise. We can take a lesson from the movie.  Life seemed to be more precious.

2011 Dale Jones, Synago Consultant

Hallyu

I spent a great deal of my time 2004-2009 in Korea. Even as an expat with limited understanding and appreciation for the unique expression of Korean culture films I became vary aware of their growing popularity across Asia and beyond.  

The Korea Society is the foremost and oldest non-profit private organization in the U.S. dedicated to expanding understanding of Korea. After his tour of duty in what U.S. historians typically call the Korean War, U.S. Army General Van Fleet established the Society to promote understanding and cooperation between the U.S. and Korea people. The Society has been active in recent years in promoting Korean film with the Museum of the Moving Image in New York though a large, annual film festival.

When we think of "Korea" these days, we inevitably think of something contemporary first. A good keyword to use to describe Korea would be "successful innovation", not only in economics, but also in political, cultural and international diplomacy. "Hallyu", or the Korean Wave of fashion, style, music and art, has become a cultural phenomenon in Asia for the last fifteen years and is beginning to take hold in the United States.  There's a growing awareness of the world of arts and design in Korea, particularly Korean film and literature. 

One of the challenges of East Asia relations has historically been the bond between Korea and Japan. Geographically close, the two countries share an intertwined history; yet have two very distinct cultures and languages, each rich and diverse. Tourism from Korea to Japan, and from Japan toward Korea has been rapidly increasing in this last decade.  The current administration of Korean President Lee Myung-bak has handled relations with Japan with a mature, sophisticated and sensitive approach. The Japanese are impressed by the political, economic, and industrial achievements of the last 25-30 years on the Korean peninsula. The youthful pop cultures in Japan and Korea are increasingly influencing American and European music, theater and arts. 

c. 2011 Gary W Logan, Synago Consulting

Mr. Rogers: A Post-Modern Prophet

When I was an early teen (a bit above the target audience), I found him on the PBS channel once we purchased one of those old UHF converters.  He was woefully nerdy, signing painfully un-cool songs, and doing puppet shows I could have done in my basement – and I found myself strangely captivated. 

I found Mr. Rogers to be “unique” to anyone I had known, and it’s taken me years to understand why.  Mr. Rogers character came home from his daily occupation (whatever it was) and the first thing he did was remove his “business” motif – first his suit jacket for a sweater and then his dress shoes for some sneakers.  He was an adult who became “real” as soon as he entered the extended home of my TV screen.  He asked questions rather than giving answers.  He spoke life lessons in the kingdom of make-believe.  And chief among his message was the desire to be engaged in community – inviting me to be a neighbor.

I know now that Mr. Rogers was trained to be a Presbyterian minister – and though he was firmly a member of the “builder” or “greatest” generation, he was paving some post-modern paradigms whether he knew it or not.  Being a neighbor is becoming a lost art among many of us today.  I have to admit – I don’t know many people who live on my street.  I know the crab grass in my front yard must be an object of distain to those who live on both sides of me and I know that the guy who lives behind me has a stainless steel grill – but that’s about the extent. 

Harry Truman, who lived in my hometown when I was growing up, noticed a negative phenomenon occurring as he made his daily walks – as soon as a neighbor got central air conditioning, they disappeared.  This home-cooling invention I give praise for every summer here in Missouri also has a downside – it began the long cocooning process that most post-moderns exist in today.  It’s been compounded by TV, electric garage doors, the internet, triple-pane windows, and on and on. 

We’ve worked hard to build our privacy fences and designed our biggest windows to be away from the streets.  Is it any wonder that emerging generations long for community?  They desire to experience what it means to know those on your street on a first-name basis and know the blessing of “community in proximity.”  Unlike Mr. Rogers, I don’t talk to my postal carrier, I don’t have someone drop by for a cup of sugar, and I don’t have that Officer Clemmons come knocking at my door (OK, maybe that last one is a good thing).

I do have communities to which I belong – my church, the division in my job, my kids school, the Disney online community I frequent, and the restaurant I go to on Saturday morning, just to name a few.  Yet, I’m still captivated by the concept of the community in proximity that I saw on Mr. Rogers.  It doesn’t happen enough – and I feel a sense of loss.

Post-moderns are longing for true community – people who will invite them over to watch the big game, folks who will share their recipe for butternut squash soup, neighbors who can be trusted to watch the kids when an emergency occurs, people who will look beyond the privacy fences to check on their neighbors from time to time.  Look at the last decade of sit-com’s on TV – the community in proximity still exists in our “Neighborhood of Make Believe.”

Post-moderns long for us to take off our office jacket and shoes, feed the fish, and engage in community.  We need to ask questions and share life lessons.  Maybe we shouldn’t do it in song, but our actions need to invite others into community.

I’ve got a cookie recipe that’s really great – and I’d love to know from the guy behind me what that wonderful smell is that comes from his grill during the summer.  Maybe the “Neighborhood of Make Believe” Mr. Rogers created is becoming a call to us post-moderns.  Won’t you be my neighbor?

I. David Lloyd

Risk

Travel for business in Japan is quickly becoming non-existent. Concerns about radiation, in-country transportation, and food contamination as a result of the nuclear crisis are causing corporate travelers to cancel trips to Tokyo and other Japanese cities.

The U.S. State department directive to avoid travel to Japan has multinational employers following their lead. Many companies are not only canceling scheduled trips, but are prohibiting travel for non-essential employees.

Companies that rescue corporate executives and business travelers are anticipating a wave of demand from clients as the rolling blackout and infrastructure problems move through the rest of the nation.

 Crisis management teams for companies with a major footprint on the Japanese economy are operating 24/7 to ensure the ability of expats and their families to evacuate.

While safety and security issues should always be taken seriously, the challenge is to balance such issues with the overt and covert messages risk management behaviors send across cultures. Company actions that are considered “prudent” for employed expats are often interpreted as “abandonment” by the local population.

New learning, new ideas, new processes can flow from situations of risk and uncertainty. The global workplace is where executives make a commitment to working interculturally in order to competently strengthen relationships while addressing difficult circumstances and issues.  

There are times when safety and common sense dictates “prudence.”  Fleeing a situation, or cancelling travel to an area sends a powerful message to those who are left to “pick up the pieces.”  Staying in a situation or traveling to a place that is "at risk”, to be “with the people” also sends a powerful message. Developing culturally intelligent leaders to work in a world at risk will increasingly challenge international organizations and business in the 21^st Century. 

Ubiquitous

I first saw the word "ubiquitous" on a billboard in Seoul two years ago describing ... well, something. Since that time, ubiquitous began to 'turn up everywhere' in the global marketplace and defines and describes a wide variety of diverse concepts and practices.

Ubiquitous technology is that which uses multiple devises to integrate information processes into everyday life, i.e. Apple, in the latest operating system just introduced the ability for me, the user, to watch TV, listen to music, and access video on any apple devices in my home--ipod, ipad, iphone, mac... just because ... it's home!

Starbucks, McDonalds, Gap, Wal-mart, Amazon and other retailers have effectively created a ubiquitous consumer culture in the pervasive presence of their products virtually anywhere in the world.

Global leaders are persons who not only are aware of their own cultural setting and traditions, but effectively navigate organizational culture, marketplace culture, and international cultural boundaries and challenges. Developing one's cultural competency requires one to engage in an ubiquitous experiential learning process that incorporates emotional intelligence, mental capacity, global perspective and an openness to new insight  across cultural lines. This cultivating of one's cultural intelligence is truly a ubiquitous adventure!