Category: Marketing

Linguistic racism is a global phenomenon

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No one owns the English language anymore.

In my BA English literature class in India, I was first introduced to the Cockney accent, the dialect of working-class Londoners. The Queen’s English came to us later.

I got my first taste of linguistic racism working in a newspaper in the Persian Gulf. Linguistic racism occurs when people are discriminated on the basis of their accent and the dominant culture feels superior in the use of a particular language and in this case, it was English.

The Persian Gulf, fully reliant on expat labor, had become an inevitable breeding ground for discrimination against non-native English speakers.

Newspapers advertised for Native English language speakers alone for all the top jobs. It was common to see a British editor at the top in a newspaper with a global mix of underlings, mostly non-Native English speakers from Asia.

One high-ranking English editor who I worked for had a Cockney accent. Being a native, he had only one task daily- write a 750-page editorial on the Arab-Israeli conflict, a perennial conversation point in the region. He mastered it by cutting and pasting sentences every third day!

Meanwhile, the non-Native English speakers brought out the 32-page English newspaper every morning.

Today, there are 400 million native English speakers and around 2 billion non-Native English speakers. Teaching English is now a multibillion dollar industry and no one owns the English language anymore.

“English is constantly evolving, because of the diverse ways different nations and groups use it. Yet instead of embracing this linguistic diversity, we still rank particular types of English higher than others – which means that both native and non-native speakers who differ from what’s considered ‘standard’ can find themselves judged, marginalized and even penalized for the way their English sounds,” according to an article by Christine Ro in BBC Worklife titled “The pervasive problem of ‘linguistic racism’.”

Linguistic racism showed its ugly head when the global economy shifted to a work from home mode. Those with thick accents found it hard to express their ideas to those who spoke ‘standard’ English.

Linguistic racism has created workplace conflicts due to the unnecessary superiority of the Native English speaker. Employees often felt that Native speakers showed superiority and sometimes insulted them.

I believe the term “Native English speaker” must be removed forever. For centuries, we have discriminated against non-Native speakers and shut their voices down. Many great ideas have been lost in the process because we never had the patience to tap into the additional expertise they had, even though their accent was different than ours.

In a language with no masters, a removal of unconscious bias, some empathy and the ability to listen to people from other cultures will only do your business good, now and in the long run.

The “Ramsey effect” and the next wave of tribes

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Twelve years ago, Seth Godin in his book “Tribes,” taught us how groups of people create movements and lead change. Godin showed that “assembling a tribe and leading it” is the new marketing.

America’s debt free guru, Dave Ramsey has proved this well. The “Ramsey Tribe” has transformed shared interests of a group to a passionate goal.

Every day, tribe members visit Ramsey in his studio to give out their visceral “debt free scream,” a testimonial that keeps the cult stronger together. Over $50 million worth of “debt free screams” happen annually through in-person visits or through his talk shows.

This led Ciorstan Smark, faculty at the University of Wollongong to analyze the “Ramsey Tribe” and the criteria used by Godin in “Tribes” to find out their relationship. Smark’s article “Tribes in personal finance? The Dave Ramsey Phenomenon,” in Social & Behavioral Research in Business (2012), found that “Ramsey’s Tribe” relies on his rigid, no-nonsense process urging people to first be debt free and to stay focused on building wealth through self discipline.

While screams make money for Ramsey, from her kitchen in upstate New York, Indian homemaker, Mia has created a different tribe. “Mia’s Tribe” are addicted to her spicy cooking shows and simple renderings of her daily life. They are so attached to her that they can’t miss seeing her for a day.

Marketing built on empathy and trust will help you lead tribes. You will create movements and here are my predictions for the next wave of tribes:

  1. Greater connections and loose leadership structures- Newly formed tribes will have greater communications among members and the outside world. Marketing will build stronger connections among tribe members despite loose leadership structures. Promote self discipline among members if you are leading a tribe.
  2. Trust – Marketing shared interests among tribal members is key but trust will play an important role. Grow your tribe with empathy.
  3. Tips and clues: Your days as a leader offering tips and clues are numbered. Meaningful, valuable content is necessary to keep your tribe together.
  4. Shorter attention spans and longevity: Shorter attention spans will dominate tribes of the future. Market content that energizes the group, builds togetherness and sustains engagement.
  5. Meaningful social cohesion : Greater social cohesion will build your tribe faster than just subject matter expertise. “Ramsey’s Tribe” meets regularly at churches with their Financial Planning University and shares stories of why they got broke and why they have to live on rice and beans.
  6. Lack of transparency equals harsher punishments: Tribes are global movements that can take on powerful corporations like Boeing. When you fail, admit mistakes quicker and be transparent. The Boeing saga and the Iranian fiasco show why it’s difficult to build tribes that will stand by you during a crisis.
  7. Idea sharing is the norm: Tribes are sharing ideas of resistance across a dozen capitals from New Delhi to Hong Kong every day. This is creating headaches for governments trying to find solutions.
  8. The death of monarchies and huge corporations: Marketing will help the growth of internal tribes that will bring the downfall of monarchies and huge corporations around the world. Tyrants and greedy corporate leaders will fall to tribes who want to create a better future for their people.