Want to network with CEOs and HR Directors interested in fairness and inclusiveness in Asian workplaces? Are you based in Asia and wanting to learn more about Cultural Detective? Then definitely plan to participate in the Conference on Fair Employment Practices in Singapore on February 10, 2009. We will have a strong presence including an experiential session by Kathleen Curran (CD Singapore) and Karen Huchendorf (CD Australia), a demonstration of CD iReality, our new online course, and a keynote by Peggy Hazard from Global Lead, one of our partners.

March 3 and 4 in Houston, the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics will host the Utilities and Energy Compliance Conference. Monica Francois (CD Global Business Ethics) has been asked to co-present on the topic of "Creating a Global Ethics & Compliance Program that Will Truly Promote and Reinforce Ethical Behavior."

At first glance, Cultural Detective seems to be a culture-specific tool. After all, a typical package is labeled with a particular nationality or culture, and most people who buy our materials want to learn about a specific location or population.

After using our materials, however, most customers tell us their real value is that they build culture-general competence, the core around which the Cultural Detective method and three capacities are anchored.

We hate to disagree with our customers, but culture general and culture specific are a bit of a yin and a yang; both are needed and improving one can help improve the other.

Dr. Janet Bennett, Director of the Intercultural Communication Institute, has written an article on the distinctions between and the important intertwining of culture general and culture specific. We trust it will provoke your thinking on the subject.

Talented and good-looking participants like those on the left tell us this workshop is one of the best professional development events they've attended, deepening their knowledge of the complexity of intercultural communication and enhancing their versatility with techniques and approaches.

The workshop receives superb reviews from both experienced interculturalists and those new to the field. Participants can also register to receive one graduate-level continuing education credit.

When facilitators are willing to take some risks and get creative, amazing things can happen!

Gilles Asselin, Rita Wuebbeler and Ruth Mastron (CD France and Germany) had the chance to break new ground during a recent training program for about eighty top managers from France, Germany and the US. To introduce the Cultural Detective, they decided to turn the meeting room into a theatre. A few simple props and costumes brought from home or borrowed from the hotel turned the trio into a German detective, a French waiter and an American tourist in Paris.

You have asked us for these packages, and we are very pleased to be able to give you good news. Cultural Detective Romania is now available, and Cultural Detective Turkey will be available within the next ten days.

It all depends on your perspective. But, you've got to be curious...

The fifteenth anniversary, special fourth edition of this classic multicultural teaming simulation has already sold out and is being reprinted, thanks to your excitement and use. The game now comes in a lightweight, hard plastic briefcase with handle, for added portability.

All the good stuff you are used to is still included (culture name badges, 30 sets of rule cards, case studies, task instructions, process mapping), but the great news is that the facilitator guide now gives you instructions for conducting and debriefing this simulation in significantly less time! It also includes explanations of the theory underlying the simulation, more examples of its uses worldwide in multiple contexts, and detailed instructions on using the handouts to maximize learning.