The Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce will host a seminar discussing the cultivation of global business mindsets Aug. 1.

The event will take place from 9:30–11:30 a.m. at The INCubator, located at 100 Cherokee Blvd. Guests must register to attend. Space is limited.

As the fourth installment of the Chattanooga Chamber’s year-long “Developing a Global Mindset” series, this seminar will feature presentations and interactive exercises that encourage audiences to further develop a shared cultural awareness and culturally literate business practices. Participants will engage in discussions of established business initiatives that seek to improve cultural relations in the international workforce and markets.

Presenters include Monique Prado Berke, vice president of Human Resources for Global Services at Unum, Bilda Acuña, assistant vice president of Hispanic Markets at Unum, Velvet Hernandez-Johnson, program implementation manager for Hispanic Markets at Unum, and Nicholas Siler, an independent intercultural trainer. The discussion, titled “Cultivating a Global Mindset,” will cover the following points of interest:

·         Degrees of cultural awareness in the work environment

·         Cultural initiatives and practices at Unum

·         Lessons learned around developing global stewardship in the workplace

·         Overview of Unum’s Hispanic Market Strategy 

According to Ms. Berke, this seminar will build on past discussions to encourage participants to employ greater self-awareness when engaging in international business.

“Many factors play into developing a successful global mindset, from cultural differences to tactical matters such as time zones,” said Ms. Berke. “It takes outreach and willingness to work with one another to think more globally in our business initiatives and strategies. Through these types of forums, we can ask questions that spur deeper discussions with our participants.”

Those discussions, said Ms. Berke, should explore relationships at every level of business.

“We need to ask ourselves how we can enhance the quality of our workforce and look for ways to connect with external customers that could be anywhere in the world,” she said. “Assessing ourselves in these areas is critical to establishing the effective relationships needed to grow our businesses.”

Texas native Monique Prado Berke is vice president of Human Resources for Global Services at Unum. A graduate of Stanford University, Ms. Berke served as Chief Operating Officer and vice president of External Affairs for The Ochs Center for Metropolitan Studies prior to her time at Unum. For eight years, Ms. Berke ran her own successful business, Berke Coaching & Consulting, where she served as an executive business coach and strategic planning consultant. Ms. Berke serves on numerous boards in Chattanooga, including The Lyndhurst Foundation, The Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga and the Creative Discovery Museum, where she is immediate past chair.

With the goal of bringing intercultural expertise to area businesspeople, the Chattanooga Chamber launched its six-seminar “Developing a Global Mindset” series to generate conversation about subjects such as employing multi-cultural sensitivity at home and abroad, navigating cross-cultural business environments, selling to global markets and executing culturally-sensitive HR strategies.

The seminars take place from 9:30 – 11:30 a.m. in the Technology Conference Center at The INCubator. Price of admission is $10 for Chattanooga Chamber members and $12 for non-members. Advance registration is required. For more information or to RSVP, please contact Gladys Pineda-Loher at gpineda-loher@chattanoogachamber.com.