We as humans have always struggled to deal with people who are different than us. Our judgements come fast and furious about each other when someone acts in a way that is confusing to us.
We make negative assumptions about each other in the blink of an eye. These assumptions stick around in our brains, and we are unable to see the different person without a veil of distrust.
Have you ever been mad when someone was 20 minutes late to a meeting with you? They clearly don’t respect your time.
Have you ever been angry when someone won’t tell you like it is? They beat around the bush, and they are hiding something from you, but you don’t know what. It’s just plain deceitful.
Have you traveled and seen a line that isn’t perfectly straight, and you couldn’t believe how a country could even operate in such disorganization?
These are negative assumptions you are making based on cultural behaviors. If this is how you think when you meet people different from you, you will never be able to genuinely connect with people from other cultures. What holding you back is that you aren’t able to acknowledge how your own culture influences how you act and see the world, so you won’t be able to learn a new way to act and see the world. You will find yourself stuck in an unchangeable worldview where everyone different than you is bad.
Beyond Tourism is for people who want to learn to act and see the world in a new way. They want to have human-to-human connections across cultural lines, because they know that kind of interaction can change the world. Beyond Tourism is for people who want to break down stereotypes and want the opportunity to deeply connect with someone different than them.
Keep reading to learn how you can improve your cross-cultural communication skills and your cultural intelligence.
Cultural intelligence is a skill that enables people to be successful in today’s multicultural, globalized world. It’s the capability to function and relate effectively in culturally diverse situations.
“International travel is consistently listed as being among the top three to five transformative experiences in the lives of adults. Experiencing the jarring nature of being removed from our familiar surrounding, when combined with these other practices, is one of the most powerful ways to look below the tip of the iceberg. Those of us with opportunities to travel abroad are entrusted with an amazing resource for deepening our interpretive CQ.”
— David Livermore in
Cultural Intelligence: Improving Your CQ to Engage With Our Multicultural World
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Hi! I’m Renae and I own and operate Beyond Tourism. I love talking about, thinking about, and teaching about cultural intelligence. It’s one of the most exciting things I’ve discovered in life, and has allowed me to get to know and hear the stories some of the most remarkable people on the planet.
I lived abroad in South Korea for a year in my 20s teaching English to kids. That’s when I first started to understand the significance culture has on a person. It was a challenging and growth-filled year for me, not to mention when I came back and struggled to find the words to describe what I experienced.
I have spent many years of my career working and volunteering with refugees and immigrants, so while I have lived abroad, I also know a lot about building cultural intelligence from home. You can read more of my story here, including about my passion for music from around the world and radio show I have every week. I am certified by the Cultural Intelligence Center and you can see my credentials below. I can’t wait to help you grow your cultural intelligence!
What customers say…
“Renae was a great facilitator and provided engaging content and conversation.”
“I feel like I understand myself better by looking through a cultural lens.”
“Working with Renae and going through the initial CQ Workshopping is just the beginning of a new understanding for me as I continue to work closely with many people from other cultures. I was challenged to consider ALL the cultural backgrounds and cultural containers in which I live and interact with daily. Though it will be a deeply introspective process with much “mind-“ and “heart-work,” I’ve no doubt the journey will be richer and interactions with others more genuine than had I not embarked on this relationship with Beyond Tourism & CQ. Thank you, Renae, for sharing your passion with me and encouraging me!”
“Love the combined knowledge and stories of cultural differences - from visits, life, research and readings. Great info.”
Values and Logo
In the Beyond Tourism logo, there is a paper crane. The paper crane is a symbol of peace and hope, illustrated by the story of Sadako Sasaki.
Sadako Sasaki was a young girl when the atomic bomb fell on Hiroshima, and as many others in her community, came down with “A-bomb disease.” While she was in the hospital, a friend told her that if she folded 1000 paper cranes, she could be granted a wish. Sadako folded over 1000 cranes before she died.
In Japan, you can visit the Children’s Peace Monument, build in her honor during the 1950s, where people from all over the world bring folded paper cranes to wish for peace in the world. Renae had the opportunity to visit in 2017, and the experience of visiting the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and the Children’s Peace Monument made a big impact on her.
The most important idea at Beyond Tourism is that when individuals are able to genuinely connect across cultural lines, those individuals can change the world. It’s not easy to do. It’s easier to stay in your own comfort zone, in a place where you don’t have to be faced with differences, to allow others to exist separate from you. But we don’t learn or grow from being isolated from each other. Beyond Tourism challenges you to examine your cultural behaviors and learn to adapt. How you use your new cultural skills are up to you; it might be for international travel, to help an immigrant or refugee neighbor, in a multicultural work environment, on a missions trip, or an international work trip. In the adaptation, you find the real riches of the world, which is its people.
“The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page. "
St. Augustine of Hippo
Recent Blog Posts
You can deeply connect with people all over the world who are different than you.
In doing that, you will radically change your perspective on the world, and be a better leader and global citizen.
Learn more about cultural intelligence and the services at Beyond Tourism.