Expand Your Borders: Discover Ten Cultural Clusters (CQ Insight Series)

I had to read this book for class, but I really enjoyed the read. My roommate is currently reading it and she loves it as well. Everybody working in business should read.

Livermore writes a good read that highlights some basic differences while keeping things simple by using cultural clusters rather than individual cultures. "Ethnicity and Family Therapy" this isn't. It will serve you best if you're interested in the nearer clusters rather than the farther ones (with respect to American culture.) This is because there is one cluster for anglo, four clusters for Europe, one each for Africa, Latin America, and Arab, and two for Asia. Not exactly proportional to population sizes, to say the least. In fairness, Livermore did not make up the clusters, he draws them from some other studies. I'm following the winter olympics in Sochi right now, and there are actually no clusters for all of the Russian and former Soviet republics. Also, China gets lumped with Thailand, Japan, and all of east Asia while India is lumped with Pakistan and Bengladesh. Aussies and Kiwis, I guess you're Anglo.That said, this is an accessible way of beginning to understand some of the ways cultures diverge, and that's all Livermore promises--as the back cover says, "a macro comparison of the most significant cultural similarities and differences (with a western bias.) My parentheses added there.Pick this book up for a quick read, an initial introduction to some of the ways cultures differ from the US, whether they're near or far, but not too much more. It would be a good choice for an undergraduate course in cultural diversity or an orientation for people in business venturing out of their own culture without much experience. It won't overwhelm you, but it will start to orient you as you...expand your borders!

Point: Some of humanity’s greatest strengths come from its diversity, if we can understand and appreciate it.Path: Livermore takes the reader through a whirlwind our of our small planet, focusing on 10 major cultural spheres. He evaluates them through different criteria and gives the reader a cursory understanding of how a given individual within that culture MAY think.Sources: Exhaustive traveling, education, and investigation.Agreement: I find these general categories to be great starting points as I interact with individuals from various cultures. It is a platform from which I can ask thoughtful questions as I get to know the individual. Of course they will differ from the norm, but I would never know that if I didn’t have an idea what the “norm” was.Personal App: Am I thoughtfully engaging with individuals from different cultures around me?Favorite Quote: “But some of the most helpful insights, opportunities for growth, and potential lie in our differences; diverse perspectives plus cultural intelligence leads to better solutions for all of us.”It would be worth another read and I would recommend it to someone who:>Likes to travel>Lives in a city>Works with someone from another cultureOther books along this theme would be:Lingenfelter, Judith E., and Sherwood G. Lingenfelter. Teaching Cross-Culturally: An Incarnational Model for Learning and Teaching. Baker Academic, 2003.Lanier, Sarah. Foreign to Familiar; A Guide to Understanding Hot- and Cold- Climate Cultures. McDougal, 2000.

Absolutely love!!

I feel like there's often a trade-off in academia. For theories to be sound in research, they have to be written to read like a dissertation. David Livermore proves otherwise. Expand Your Borders is rooted in some of the leading research on cultural intelligence but reads like an owner's manual: straight-forward, instructive, and well-illustrated. Livermore removes the judgment that often surrounds stereotypes, instead making carefully thought generalizations that bond countries and cultures together for the purpose of effective working relationships. For the second time, I'll liken this resource to an owner's manual for anyone who is involved in connecting, working, or leading across cultures.

I have read quite a few books on cross-cultural understanding, but if you want to understand a lot of different cultures quickly, this is the book to get first! It's practical, informative, concise, and will help you better understand people from other cultures. It's a delight to read, digest, and apply. The section on Anglos will make you laugh--and understand North American culture better. This book will not take long to read, and it's a treasure.

Needed for grad school, okay book.

Short enough to finish in a day, rich enough to come back to in the future. I thoroughly enjoyed learning about the 10 cultural clusters.

A very useful and concise passage was all I needed to help with a business deal for an international student. Excellent.

Well written book that was very readable and informative. The author didn’t just give dry facts but wove anecdotes and application points that made the facts more memorable.