Professor of Leadership (HEC Paris / Hong Kong University / University of Geneva) Partner at Cognify (Doha-Tbilisi) Honorary Consul of Romania 🇷🇴 in Geneva
EMMA RADUCANU AND THE ILLUSION OF NATIONS A new tennis champion has emerged. It is fascinating to observe the dynamics taking place around this young lady. Emma's father is Romanian. Her name is Romanian and she speaks Romanian fluently. Hence she is considered Romanian by millions of Romanians. But Emma has actually never lived in Romania. Emma's mother is Chinese. She speaks fluent Chinese, as a recent video available on YouTube shows. Hence she is considered a Chinese hero by millions of Chinese, who seem to forget that the PRC discourages international marriages. Emma was born in Canada but has lived most of her life and trained in the UK. Hence she is considered British by most Britons and was publicly congratulated by the Queen. But the British public that now celebrates her success is the same that voted Brexit with the very objective to make it difficult for East Europeans such as Emma and her father to live in the UK. The reality is that Emma is not Romanian, Chinese or British. She is much more. She is the outstanding result of the combination of Romanian talent, Chinese work ethics and British openness and sport infrastructure. At a time when many countries are going back to very ethnocentric models and policies, Emma is the best evidence that National identities are fading and we must embrace a geocentric mindset. Emma Raducanu is the future of humankind.
Gerry Murray
2y
Thanks for this stimulating post. There's also an identity challenge for children born to parents of different nationalities. My four girls were born in Belgium. The eldest two hold Irish passports but their mother is South African. The youngest two hold German passports but are regarded as Irish by the authorities here because of me. They now want Irish passports. They all four find it difficult to answer questions such as: "Where are you from?" or "What is your nationality?"
Robert Zafft
2y
"Romanian talent, Chinese work ethic"? Our admiration for a remarkable young woman should not devolve into stereotyping. Was Nadia Comaneci wanting in work ethic because she was not half-Chinese? Did two-time Grand-Slam-tournament winner Li Na overcome a lack of talent because she was not half-Romanian?
Totally agree! With the ongoing globalization we need to stop being threatened by interconnecting different cultures, skills, mindsets but start seeing and embracing the potential! I do think though, that we need to be careful with statements based on stereotypes like "she's the result of the combination of Romanian talent, Chinese work ethics and British openness and sport infrastructure". Sounds like her father's side of the family is really talented, her mother's is not...?! The British are open the Romanians are not?! Maybe she got her athletic talent from her mother's father. Maybe it was her coach who taught her good work ethics. Maybe Emma just developed that by herself because of her own ambition... I know of course, that stereotypes exist for a reason and that there are differences between cultures. But to apply a geocentric mindset to me also means to be careful to just assume things. Assuming every person with Chinese roots must have flawless work ethics etc.. I know Latin@s that don't know how to dance and are constantly asked "But why, you're Latin American, it's in your blood!" Or whenever I say that I don't like beer: "I thought you were German, are you not?!" Just trying to raise awareness/sensibility here. 😉
Thanks Dr Professor Gianasso for the post and igniting the spirit in all of us. “At a time when many countries are going back to very ethnocentric models and policies, Emma is the best evidence that National identities are fading and we must embrace a geocentric mindset. Emma Raducanu is the future of humankind”. This is what we as a family believe in.......We as a family always try to bring up our daughter Erina as a Global citizen….When I see many of our friends (irrespective of case, creed, religion, region) and extended families getting more and more close to an ethnocentric culture, we started feeling a sense of “not so well belonging” to any of these groups…. This whole movement is a refresher And We (me and my husband) belong to the same ethinicity, even same family roots...But we never wanted to restrict ourselves or our daughter to these constraints....
happy to see this post attract so much attention, and that "mankind" was replaced with "humankind" - being both a [proud] third culture kid and woman, the former had surprised me and put me off. i would also go further - we need to embrace a humancentric mindset without any sense of superiority between us due to gender, nationality, ethnicity, intelligence, status, title, class, income, etc. and we need it now, not the future.
Sherif A.
2y
As the father of a daughter who is born to an Egyptian 🇪🇬 father, Polish mother🇵🇱, was born in Dubai 🇦🇪and lives in the Netherlands🇱🇺... I totally relate to this. Thanks Guido Gianasso, PhD for capturing what it means to be a global citizen. A feeling I also grew up with but could never could so eloquently express. In a business context, I hope that as my daughter grows, her ability to speak 4 languages and openness and adaptability to different cultures help her get to wherever she wants to go in life.
Well said Prof! Boundaries are not so important when it comes to individual aspirations and countries that embrace this change would have talent.
"The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens." Baháʼu'lláh
Peter Lee
2y
They way of the future
Managing Director - Sales, Marketing & Service (CSO / CMO) (Geschäftsführer) at Vaillant Group
2yThank you, Prof. Gianasso, for this post! I’ve never shared any “political” perspectives on LinkedIn. But in this case, I am equally impressed and inspired. As I am born in South America and grew up with dual citizenship (Venezuela & Germany), have been living on 3 different continents throughout my professional career (North America, Asia and Europe – nearly 6 of those years in the UK experiencing the times of Brexit), I can only agree on your post! The world could (and would) be definitely a better place if we saw the value in cultural diversity, open minds and less ethnocentric conviction. Global challenges like the pandemic or climate change can only be mastered with collaboration across nations. But also small topics - just like living and working together in one country, community or company – do benefit!