Today, I got an email saying my flight for our trip home this summer had been canceled. Considering the state of the world right now, I wasn’t surprised. My youngest daughter was really disappointed — she had been looking forward to seeing her grandparents and cousins, going to her favorite spots, and eating the food […]
The need to measure the effectiveness of a product or service is almost universal in business, regardless of field of service or type of product. Getting feedback is not only how you know if what you are doing is working, but it’s also how you improve and grow. And — it can’t be denied — […]
When it comes to preparing financially for expat life I hardly did a thing — no comparative living expense exercise, no travel budget. I gave no consideration to cost of healthcare or daycare or rent or buying a TV, never mind a car. There was no thought to taxes or saving money. I did the […]
There is a lot of talk about resilience these days — on a personal, professional, and societal level. Resilience is what will allow us to get through, and succeed, in these times of high uncertainty. But what is resilience, and how do we become resilient? In the corporate world, how do resilience and effective leadership […]
This interview, from Fluency Corp, is part of a series of interviews in which Fluency Corp reaches out to clients, friends or even family, who have relocated to another country for a job, in order to ask about why they moved, how they moved and how they made a new home for themselves in their […]
I belong to a professional group that meets once a month for networking and socializing in conjunction with a presentation of some kind. We typically get together at the offices of our presenter and there is always a full house and there are always new faces in attendance. The evening starts with mingling and light […]
It may sound counter-intuitive, but personal relationships are one of the most important components when leading a virtual team, in good times, but even more so in high-anxiety times like the ones we’re experiencing now. So, while it may be that virtual teams owe their existence to advances in technology, it is the people within […]
Things change fast these days. It was just a few weeks ago that I returned to the United States from a trip to Europe (read about it here). At the time, parts of Europe were beginning to shut down (in particular, Italy), and certainly, the coronavirus and its possible effects were all over the news, […]
It’s hard not to think about the coronavirus these days. The news about its spread seems to intensify by each day that passes and the messaging about what we can expect, and what we should and should not be doing is unclear at best and misleading at worst. In the US, news outlets appear to […]
As most businesses know, staying competitive often means “seeing into the future” — as in trying to figure out what the next trends, needs, and musts will be. As in thinking about new innovations, making groundbreaking discoveries, and laying alternative paths. But what are the forces that shape innovation and can we really predict the […]
The basic idea behind a merger is to capitalize on the strengths each side brings to the table with the goal of becoming “bigger and better” together. So why is it that so many mergers don’t live up to expectations, or fail outright? Mergers are time-consuming ventures where the details of each company are examined […]
January may have a reputation as a long and dreary month (at least where I come from), but it has its redeeming qualities as well. In particular, what I like about the early goings of the year is the sense of a fresh start. I try to use it as a time to take a […]
