Good to Excelente Newsletter

Category: Cultural Intelligence

  • 5 MLB Players Who Can Teach You Spanish

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    bradley
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    Know someone who’d enjoy The Good to Excelente Newsletter? Forward this to them so they can subscribe here—and never miss a Wednesday edition packed with cultural intelligence insights and practical advice. With only thirty games left in the baseball season, we know which teams are good and which teams are cooked. As for me, I am still…

  • The Great Mystery of El and La

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    bradley
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    Know someone who’d enjoy The Good to Excelente Newsletter? Forward this to them so they can subscribe here—and never miss a Wednesday edition packed with cultural intelligence insights and practical advice. Saturday Night Live recently tackled one of the great mysteries of the Spanish language: Why does every noun need to be a boy or a girl? In…

  • Meet Them Halfway

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    bradley
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    Know someone who’d enjoy The Good to Excelente Newsletter? Forward this to them so they can subscribe here—and never miss a Wednesday edition packed with cultural intelligence insights and practical advice. Every four years, I become a raving fan of the other football. Maybe you can relate. I’ve spent the last month thinking way too much about the…

  • The Handball Coach, the Opera Singer, and Competitive Advantage

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    bradley
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    Know someone who’d enjoy The Good to Excelente Newsletter? Forward this to them so they can subscribe here—and never miss a Wednesday edition packed with cultural intelligence insights and practical advice. Three summers ago, my family visited Barcelona, Spain. As proper tourists, we toured Camp Nou, FC Barcelona’s stadium, museum, and gift shop. I left with a…

  • Tequila, Brooms, and Bagpipes: What Three World Cup Moments Taught Me About Trust

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    bradley
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    Know someone who’d enjoy The Good to Excelente Newsletter? Forward this to them so they can subscribe here—and never miss a Wednesday edition packed with cultural intelligence insights and practical advice. When passionate fan bases collide in a high-stakes tournament, it usually brings out tribalism. Just attend any Philadelphia Eagles game ever and you’ll see what I…

  • It’s Not a Language Problem

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    bradley
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    The CEO’s question was a non sequitur. We’d been talking about the absurdity of competitive girls softball in Texas. Then he took a sip of his gin and tonic, scanned the steakhouse, and said: “If qualified Hispanic labor is our biggest constraint to growth right now, what do I need to know about becoming the…

  • Crab Mentality: Why Workers Sometimes Pull Each Other Down

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    Question:Brian from North Carolina writes: “I’ve heard you talk about competition and machismo affecting behavior on Hispanic crews. Sometimes it feels like workers compete with each other instead of helping each other. Is that cultural—and how should a super handle it on the jobsite?” Answer: Brian, great question. Let me start with a conversation that caught…

  • Power Distance, Caudillos, and the Standards We Set

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    bradley
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    It was Monday, August 14, 2000. First day on the job, first meeting as a construction professional. The vice president of construction stood at the front of the room, scanning the incoming class of new managers like a man already questioning the job offers he made. “I’ll leave you newbies with two pieces of advice,”…

  • The Plaza System—and What Happens When It Breaks

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    bradley
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    You may have read something interesting recently as The Wall Street Journal reported on an event that doesn’t happen very often. This year, 55 cartel leaders were quietly moved out of Mexican prisons and transferred to the United States. These weren’t low-level thugs. These were the heavy weights, the real jefes at the top of Mexico’s largest criminal organizations.…

  • In the War for Talent, Leaders Cannot Make This Unforced Error

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    Brett Favre may be the simplest example. The NFL had Junior Seau. The NBA has Giannis Antetokounmpo and Victor Wembanyama. MLB has Shohei Ohtani and Xander Bogaerts. Even my low hockey IQ recalls Mark Messier and Jonathan Toews. And it’s not just men—Nadia Comăneci and Martina Navratilova qualify too. All share something: phonetically challenging names.…