My initial impression of the global business program was that we were going to understand how past leaders, and impactful people in the city of Athens, Greece and Rome, Italy have shaped how global practices in management translate to what philosophers and kings shaped their empire to be. That being cultural intelligence and adaptive leadership tied into this program. I am hoping to gain a cross-cultural perspective of leadership and a gain of confidence from being in these countries, while fully immersing myself into their culture and everyday life for the time being in each of the countries. Mainly want to get a practical understanding of the complexities of international leadership
Some differences that you caught right away when first arriving in Greece was the transportation and infrastructure. Majority of the buildings here in Greece are low-rise buildings, that is on purpose so that no building will block and be as high as the Acropolis. The streets are very narrow to where many of the citizens drive small compact cars, if not mopeds. Compared to the U.S. we have really tall buildings and try to maintain a lifestyle of bigger SUV/trucks to drive everyday. Another major cultural difference is that even though their native language language is Greek, they make it standard to speak and understand English and even convert basically everything from menus to signs to English as well. In the U.S. it is mainly English all the way around. Greece also has a feel of a more quiet and relaxed pace of life, especially in comparison to the fast-paced lifestyle in the U.S. Along with somewhat of a later time approach. What I mean by that for example, lunch and dinner times feel more pushed back in time, whereas they still drink coffee at 8pm.
