My business partner grew up speaking Mandarin and I grew up speaking English, and we've realized that we approach negotiations, conflict, and even creative brainstorming in completely different ways that seem to track back to our first languages. We're successful together but we're starting to wonder if we're missing huge pieces of what the other person is actually thinking and feeling.
More people experience this than they realize.
Foundational language experiences create different cognitive and relational patterns that remain largely invisible until business stress reveals them.
“Where Are You with Language and identity — what your first language holds?”
If this sounds familiar, the Library can help you find the bigger picture.