Archive for July, 2009

Best MBA Schools Recognize a Global Perspective is Vital – Why Wait Until Grad School for Serious Training??

Wednesday, July 29th, 2009

There’s a nice article by the Kellogg Business School at Northwestern University called: “Global perspective:  How Kellogg is shaping students into leaders who are ready to take on the world.”  It can be found at: http://tinyurl.com/globalKellogg.

This is a great pitch to convince smart people about the benefits of a Kellogg MBA.  I think it makes another case:  gaining a global perspective is a “pillar” of one’s education and this is really a life-long process.  

Explaining why it’s important to go global, Sunil Chopra a distinguished professor at the school, said:

“What you cannot do is sit in a corner and say, ‘I’m going to build a wall and what happens elsewhere is not going to affect me.’ Global is where the opportunities are.”

Exactly!  So, smart parents, how do you translate this at home?

In Shanghai They’re Excited about Harry Potter and the Solar Eclipse

Tuesday, July 21st, 2009
Solar Eclipse seen in China from http://tierneylab.blogs.nytimes.com/tag/eclipse/

Solar Eclipse seen in China from http://tierneylab.blogs.nytimes.com/tag/eclipse/

Our daughter Layla is spending 6 weeks this summer in Shanghai.  She called us on Skype the other day (amazing in itself), very excited about two things:  going to see the new Harry Potter movie (I believe it premiered the same day as in US) and even better than Harry Potter, if you can believe it (for those who know Layla, she has LOVED Harry Potter since it came out when she was in 2d or 3d grade and is now going into 11th)…THE SOLAR ECLIPSE.  Now the eclipse is all over the western news (see: http://cnnwire.blogs.cnn.com/2009/07/21/solar-eclipse-excitement-sweeps-asia/).  But a few days ago i had no idea.  Sophia and i then looked it up on-line and voila:  a once-in-a-few centuries view of the sky!  This just gave us a taste of what other folks are excited about on the other side of the planet. 

It will be interesting for Layla to come home from China and realize most people here had no idea about this singular event for the planet, that she got to experience first-hand.

For more on the eclipse from NASA, see:  http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse.html.  You and the kids can imagine you’re in Nepal or China or India or Japan seeing it live…

Friends and the Marketplace

Sunday, July 19th, 2009

I’ve been overwhelmed with the outpouring of support from all corners of the world for this book. By reading this, you know  www.growingupglobal.net is up, though there are still some sections to be completed on the site (stay tuned – the best is yet to come!). Thank you to those who have pre-ordered books on amazon.com. I have seen sales rank numbers fluctuate from #550,000 to a mysterious 7,600 ranking, then hover around 250,000.  Yesterday, Saturday, I was happy the ranking was at 104,000. As several friends texted, told, and posted to me that they ordered the book, we watched the amazon.com sales ranking begin improving dramatically:  at 28,000+ on Sunday morning, and steadily climbing to the current #9590.  It even broke through as #80 among top Child Development books (this is a huge category, led by “What to Expect …” and more titles you probably relied on if you have kids).

These huge fluctuations in the rankings over the weekend mean that each of your advance purchases are REALLY making a difference! It’s very clear that pre-purchases get attention for the book: they indicate to the publisher that it’s got momentum so resources can be put behind marketing, bookstores will make room to stack them on a front table instead of relegate a lone copy to a stack in the back of the store, and it will come up on many more searches among amazon customers. So, for just $10.88, the SALE price of the book, you can help get attention for an idea (plus fun activities!) that you probably already really believe in.

Thanks to all of you - I feel that we are really building a special community here.  (And I promise this blog won’t be all about selling the book.  This is a topic currently in my thoughts and my learning curve is steep, so I wanted to share some of the early process with those of you who will read the blog!)

Hello World!

Saturday, July 11th, 2009

Welcome to the companion website and blog for Growing Up Global: Raising Children to Be At Home in the World.  I’m so excited to roll out this beautiful site designed by my friend, Azita Shahidi of Tuti Design and share the book with the world.  The blog will share more great global ideas tried by families all over, news and trends that affect us and our kids, personal experiences that relate to Growing Up Global, and more.

 I can’t wait to get this blog up and running.  Two-plus years ago I thought I was quite technologically advanced with my blog At Home in the World, which was linked with the Philadelphia Inquirer and found now at http://www.athomeinworld.blogspot.com/.  But today I have much to learn: syncing with Twitter and Facebook, adding multi-media, using tinyurls, linking to lots of other great blogs, and more.  I will update this site regularly, beginning in August, before the book’s official on-sale date of August 25 (you can pre-order on amazon.com NOW!!).