Two IEEE Young Professionals Partnered to Write a Book About Their Travels

Living Globalized describes how to live the lifestyle of a ‘global citizen’

2 min read
Illustration of the cover for "Living Socialized"
The cover of Living Globalized featuring Jeffrey Eker and Sarang Shaikh
Photo: Sarang Shaikh

THE INSTITUTEJust about anyone will tell you that a successful elevator pitch is one that forges an interest in pursuing a second conversation. My friendship with IEEE Member Jeffrey Eker, a fellow IEEE Young Professionals member, is one that started with a simple exchange in an elevator at the 2015 IEEE Region 10 Student/Young Professionals/Women in Engineering/Life Member Congress in Sri Lanka. Since then, both of us have traveled the world to gain perspective on the importance of cross-cultural communication and mitigating the geographical differences and cultural gaps between those living in different countries.

Jeffrey and I wrote the book Living Globalized for IEEE young professionals so they can be inspired by our success story—how two young individuals from different towns, countries, and religions bonded, worked to positively impact the world with their IEEE projects, and founded a booming startup.

ABOUT THE BOOK

We live in a global economy. Digital tools such as social media and apps, like the one Jeffrey and I developed, exist to help connect people around the world. We became partners last year at the tech company Tediferous, where Jeffrey is CEO and I am the chief philosophy officer. Tediferous developed CultureCloud—an app that allows people from around the world to connect with others. The creation of CultureCloud is an extension of our commitment to change the world by helping travelers connect based on destination and native language, as well as shared interests. Our work continues to honor that commitment.

Living Globalized focuses on how, with a little hard work, anyone can leverage the opportunities made possible by such tools to travel, gain perspective on cross-cultural communication, and impact global citizenship concepts.

IEEE has helped Jeffrey, a U.S. citizen, and myself, a Pakistani national, better understand today’s world. We believe people must strive to become international, global citizens.

Jeffrey and I have been lucky enough to travel around the world for work, pleasure, or volunteering for IEEE. In Living Globalized, we discuss understanding cultural differences. We partnered on the book to share our international journeys and the lessons we learned from them. We’ve included tales from other IEEE members as well, including two past presidents, Jim Jefferies and Karen Bartleson.

With today’s apps it has become easier to travel the globe and communicate. An app can help guide you through a city, but our book can help guide you in becoming a global citizen. With each chapter, a new lesson unfolds through personal stories and finishes off with exercises that readers can follow to start their own journey to becoming a global citizen.

Every chapter serves as a reminder that relationships can remain strong among people from different cultures.

Living Globalized is available on Amazon. To learn more, follow the movement on our Facebook page.

IEEE Member Sarang Shaikh is the growth hacker and chief philosophy officer for CultureCloud. He is pursuing an MBA in entrepreneurship and innovation at Mehran University of Engineering and Technology, in Pakistan, and is helping universities in the country develop innovation and entrepreneurship centers. He is the global chair for IEEEmadC—a mobile app development competition.

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