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Intro to Indian Culture in 20 minutes
By marissa | February 28, 2010
[See, I used to want to be a history teacher. I haven't taught much about history in quite a long time, but I thought I could put something together based on this video I found on line. Take 20 min out of your day and learn something.]
In January, I went on a trip to India for a few weeks. (You can read all about it here.) Before I left, many people asked me the same question: Why India? Well, the answer is that I was invited to go; but there’s a little more to it then that. I have always been interested in India. I studied a lot about it in college and I taught about it when I was student teaching. Does this make me an expert? By no means – but because of this interest, going to India was one of the things I hoped to accomplish before I died. So when the opportunity came along I jumped at it. I realize that I am in the minority, as many people that I talked to still questioned my wanting to go.
I found this clip on TED.com that really explains the difference between our two cultures – well as best as one can in 20 minutes – and might shed some light on that famous Indian head bob. The Western World operates with the belief that we only have one life to live, that’s it. While in Indian culture, a person has many lives to get it right. As a result each culture has developed their business models around their respective cultural view. I believe that each view can learn from each other. Take a look:
And just for fun, here are some questions I thought of while watching this presentation. Leave a comment if you want. It’d be fun to start a discussion. (Can you tell I miss intellectual discussions?)
- What do you think would happen to the American business model if individual thought was valued over institutional thought? Or do you think that Americans value institutional thought over individual thought to begin with?
- Which cultural view do you identify with most? How does this influence your behavior?
- Based on what you know about Indian culture, what aspects of American business do you think would benefit their business model?
- Thinking about what Pattanaik said about how mythology impacts business; what parts of American mythology impact American business?
- How would having a Chief Belief Officer change the American Business model?
I hope, if you took the time to watch the video, you learned something. If you made it to the end of this entry, thanks for reading the first lesson I put together in a long time. I guess I’ve still got it!
Class dismissed!
Topics: gotta love it | 1 Comment »
May 19th, 2010 at 10:05 pm
nice 1. Thanks for sharing