Hi Adrian,
Thank you so much for your thoughtful and deeply personal message. I truly appreciated the way you reflected on your multicultural experiences and the continued learning you’ve embraced throughout your journey. I completely agree—no matter how globally experienced we may be, there are always new insights to gain when it comes to cross-cultural understanding.
Your question on how we can raise broader awareness about these cultural dimensions within the ICANN ecosystem really resonated with me. To continue this important conversation, I’d like to share a video by Erin Meyer, author of The Culture Map, titled “The Culture Map: The Future of Management.” In the video, Meyer draws on 16 years of research to explain how cultural differences impact communication, leadership, and trust across organizations.
Here’s a quick summary I put together for our NARALO colleagues to bring everyone up to speed with the core ideas:
🔹 Personal Anecdote – Meyer reflects on her early experience in Japan, where she learned the importance of nonverbal cues—like eye contact—in communication. This moment sparked her interest in cross-cultural dynamics.
🔹 Framework Development – Her team created a model for mapping trust-building, decision-making, and communication across different cultures.
🔹 Key Lessons:
- Relativity of Cultural Scales – Culture must be understood in relation to other cultures, not measured against a single norm.
- Evolving Leadership – Effective leaders practice “authentic flexibility,” adapting their leadership styles to the cultural expectations of their teams.
- Subtle Impact – Even in our interconnected world, cultural differences remain powerful—often showing up in small but important ways, like how follow-up emails are interpreted after a phone conversation.
Watch the video here - The Culture Map: The Future of Management
From <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qf1ZI-O_9tU>
I believe that bringing this kind of awareness into our Universal Acceptance (UA) advocacy efforts can help us craft outreach strategies that are more responsive to regional and cultural contexts. As we promote UA globally, understanding these nuances could make our programs more inclusive and effective.
I would love to hear thoughts from others in the community on how we can build this into our engagement model. Let’s keep the conversation going!
Warm regards,
Mohibul
On Wed, Apr 23, 2025 at 5:38 PM Adrian Schmidt-ICANN <adrianicann@gmail.com> wrote:Hi Mohibul and all,
I wanted to follow up on your message about cultural awareness. I recently read "The Culture Map" myself and, even at 57, found it remarkably enlightening. Despite what I considered a diverse background—growing up in Argentina with Spanish as my native language, working across government, private sector, entrepreneurship, education, and the non-profit sector—I discovered I still had much to learn about cross-cultural interactions.
Even with my multicultural experiences (including missionary work in the Philippines), immigrating to Canada, becoming a Canadian citizen, and now working from the United States, I've realized there are always new dimensions to consider when engaging with colleagues from different backgrounds.
I'm interested: how can we raise broader awareness about these cultural challenges and make the ICANN ecosystem more welcoming, safe, and inclusive for everyone's participation?
Regards,AdrianOn Wed, Apr 23, 2025 at 12:31 AM Mohibul Mahmud via NA-Discuss <na-discuss@icann.org> wrote:Dear NARALO Colleagues,
I hope you’re all doing well.
Following the recent NARALO UA Day sessions and the valuable conversations we've had, I wanted to share a brief reflection that might add another dimension to our continued efforts around Universal Acceptance (UA).
As we know, UA is not only a technical priority but also a social one—requiring awareness, trust-building, and tailored strategies for engagement across diverse communities. In thinking about how we implement, spread, and support UA programs, I believe it's helpful to consider the cultural context in which these efforts take place.
Drawing inspiration from Erin Meyer’s The Culture Map, we are reminded that cultural differences—such as communication style, trust-building approaches, or attitudes toward hierarchy—can greatly influence how information is received and acted upon. For example:
- In some regions, trust may be built through formal credentials and technical accuracy; in others, personal relationships and storytelling may carry more weight.
- In highly hierarchical cultures, individuals might expect endorsements from senior figures before engaging.
- Communities with a more flexible view of time may respond better to iterative, ongoing awareness efforts than to single-time campaigns.
Understanding these dynamics could help us customize our strategies more effectively, especially as we promote EAI readiness and multilingual Internet adoption. Whether we are supporting Indigenous language communities in Canada or engaging local stakeholders in other regions, being culturally attuned will increase the reach and impact of our UA advocacy.
I would like to finish by saying—this is just my two cents on the matter, shared with the hope of sparking further dialogue and collaboration as we continue strengthening our work together.
Warm regards,
Mohibul
------On Tue, Apr 22, 2025 at 2:34 PM Glenn McKnight via NA-Discuss <na-discuss@icann.org> wrote:Hi AllThis is something that Adrian did for the Spanish session as well. I hope that the UA people will provide translation for our sessions and followup the efforts by Mohibul and Adrian will summarize the talking points and relevance to NARALOGGlenn McKnight, MAVirtual School of Internet GovernanceChief Information OfficerYOUR SOURCE FOR INTERNET GOVERNANCE EDUCATIONMobile 437-237-4655------On Tue, 22 Apr 2025 at 14:24, Louis Houle via NA-Discuss <na-discuss@icann.org> wrote:+1------
Thanks Mohibul.
Louis Houle Président Un Québec branché sur le monde UQBM.Quebec 581 994-9955Le 2025-04-21 à 16:53, Glenn McKnight via NA-Discuss a écrit :
Excellent
On Mon, 21 Apr 2025, 3:55 pm Mohibul Mahmud, <mohibul.mahmud@gmail.com> wrote:
Hello,
A quick summary of the English session if anyone interested:
Universal Acceptance (UA) Day English session focused on promoting domain and email inclusivity across languages.
Glenn McKnight opened the session, joined by co-hosts Louis Houle and Rukaya Gulmahamed, celebrating a trilingual event (English, French, Spanish).
Naela Sarras (ICANN) explained the history of domain names and the need for Universal Acceptance of all valid domain names and email addresses.
She emphasized that despite global linguistic diversity, English still dominates internet content (~52%).
IDNs and EAI (Email Address Internationalization) are critical for digital inclusion but face systemic rejection in software.
Louis Houle shared Canada's volunteer-led effort to develop Label Generation Rules (LGR) for 65+ Indigenous languages.
Kevin King highlighted that even with encoding and input, proper font design is essential for readable, culturally accurate text.
He shared real-world challenges and partnerships with Indigenous communities to ensure correct typographic representation.
Bridget Chase detailed Indigenous language revitalization in British Columbia, stressing gaps in encoding, keyboards, and fonts.
She emphasized the human right to language access, citing UNDRIP Article 13.
Julien Bernard covered EAI's technical aspects, showing most email servers still reject non-ASCII addresses.
He explained that implementation gaps, not technical limitations, are the real challenge.
Speakers urged tech vendors to update systems and support inclusivity.
Funding and ethical collaboration are vital for scaling this work.
The session ended with appreciation for volunteers and a call to continue UA advocacy.
Best
Mohibul
On Mon, Apr 21, 2025 at 1:04 PM Glenn McKnight via NA-Discuss <na-discuss@icann.org> wrote:
------Hi AllPlease see the three recordings in Spanish( Moderator Adrian Schmidt), French (Moderated by Rookayya) and English ( Moderated by Glenn)Special thanks to Louis Houle who provided his leadership in all three sessions and vision to focus on Indigenous Languages in the three sessions.Recording 1:
Passcode: JCg$X7=H+W
Recording 2:
Passcode: JCg$X7=H+W
Recording 3:
Passcode: JCg$X7=H+W
Glenn McKnight, MAVirtual School of Internet GovernanceChief Information OfficerYOUR SOURCE FOR INTERNET GOVERNANCE EDUCATIONMobile 437-237-4655
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