Sarah M. Dillon

International business researcher & practitioner, based in Brisbane, Australia.

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Former Away employees describe a toxic work environment at the luggage company – The Verge

Like many fast-growing startups, Away’s workplace is organized around digital communication. It’s how employees talk, plan projects, and get feedback from co-workers and higher-ups.

Source: Former Away employees describe a toxic work environment at the luggage company – The Verge

This article provides fascinating insight into the ways digital communication channels can be used for evil by decision-makers within next-generation businesses. It also highlights the way cross-cultural misunderstandings at the founder level can be magnified across the firm as a whole, with astonishing results.

… or maybe not. So far so good. Thanks @ChrisAldrich for the pointers  👍 👍 👍 #indieweb

I may have broken my website again… admittedly likely to be self-inflected. Test driving the update to the Syndication Links plugin. Would like to be able to syndicate to micro.blog via JSONfeed.

Certification: Cultural Intelligence (CQ) Facilitator

I recently had the pleasure of gaining certification as a Cultural Intelligence (CQ) Facilitator. CQ is a globally recognised, evidence-based capability that goes beyond cultural sensitivity and awareness to provide an effective research-backed approach to improving the way individuals adapt, work and relate across cultures and culturally diverse situations.

The benefits of CQ in business include increased effectiveness, speed and efficiency in multicultural and/or global teams, and ultimately, success in culturally diverse markets. As testament to this, CQ is used as a recruitment and development tool among management and employees within organisations as diverse as global healthcare company Novartis, world airline representatives the International Air Transport Association, Harvard University in the USA, and Qatar Airlines.

While there are many measures of cross-cultural intelligence, this certification focusses only on the only scale to have withstood a high degree of validation across multiple settings and contexts. The scale and certification is administered by the Cultural Intelligence Centre, drawing on 20 years of peer-reviewed empirical studies on over 125,000 individuals across 100+ countries.

I see this rigor as a unique and genuine asset for organisations and individuals considering how best to make their way in an increasing globalised world. Combined with my understanding of the wider research around cross-cultural competences and my international business experience, my CQ certification gives me a valuable set of tools to facilitate the development of cultural intelligence amongst others. I look forward to applying what I have learned in my role as a Sessional Academic at QUT, in particular as Coordinator for the units AMB120 Bridging Cultures and AMB390 Bridging Cultures (International).

Marketing Internationally: Teaching

This advanced unit built on postgraduate students’ knowledge and skills to apply business theories and marketing frameworks to strategically respond to the challenges and opportunities faced by international marketers today. As a member of the teaching team in 2018, I was responsible for delivering weekly tutorials to support the content delivered in the unit lectures, as well as grading student assignments and conducting student consultations.

A particular strength of this unit was that it provided an opportunity for students to formulate a culturally-considered, competitive, and evidence-based marketing strategy for an actual Australian brand undergoing expansion into a specific international market. Guest speakers included international Trade Commissioners and expert marketing practitioners in a range of fields. Students appreciated engaging with a real-life client brief in this manner, and frequently commented on how useful and applicable the unit was.

I thoroughly enjoyed being involved with such a successful and relevant unit.

Entrepreneurship for Translators & Interpreters: Invited Talk

I developed and delivered a talk recently on Entrepreneurship for Translators & Interpreters: Strategies from the academic literature“. It came about after an invitation to speak at this year’s Australian Society of Interpreters and Translators (Queensland Branch) Conference in Brisbane. My aim was to inspire and motivate my audience to consider how they could proactively manage their businesses and careers in the face of rapid industry and technological change.

It was my first time addressing my erstwhile peers since my transition into a ‘new’ career as a doctoral researcher & academic. I was keen to integrate some of the insights I’d gleaned from my academic readings in the area of international business and entrepreneurship. Given empirically-based academic articles in these fields can draw on data from hundreds of businesses, it seemed like a worthwhile endeavour. It’s not easy to pitch the academy to practitioners, but as a former translator myself, I was counting using this experience to make the abstract tangible.

I wasn’t entirely certain how the session would work, but I was pretty happy with how it went in the end. I sense this topic has legs, and certainly my talk has scope for further refinement. I’m hoping another opportunity will arise in the future to enable me to develop it further.