Jill Perlberg

Working in a diverse environment has never been any clearer than this week. As a Catholic, we celebrate Christmas. But I work with colleagues from 10 countries and 6 continents. You don't want to offend anyone, but at sometimes, being politically correct is not at the forefront on your mind. I said Merry Christmas the other day to a friend at work and she was standing next to an Indian Colleague, he said, "don't you mean, Happy Holidays". Agreed, we need to be cognizant of other people's backgrounds, but in the same breath, we so worried about offending people that we can't be ourselves anymore. My boss is Jewish, but shipped Christmas presents to her family the other day, my cousin is agnostic but gives Christmas presents. What's a girl to do? Well, one way to embrace it, celebrate the differences! My first post in the blog talked about how food helps people connect, that couldn't more true during the holidays. When I was 21 and doing a semester in Ho...

Its that time of the year when vacations begin and people start winding down for the year,or so you think. Why is it that each year you think year end will be easy, slow moving ,everyone else is off and then BAM! it hits you, the craziness of year-end. I was sitting in a management meeting today and we were talking about Holiday coverage, how are we going to get everything done. The conversation goes, what is the highest priority, should we have so and so do it, but that person is already swamped and scheduled to be off the next two weeks. Can anyone else do it? nope it has to be that person. Then my boss in her straight from the hip style brought us back to reality....guys, we are building a website, the world isn't going to end. But how do you know that????? Yes, the world is not going to end, but my work life could really be out of wack and then I'm a pain in the ass to be around. Which is worse? Given the current economic situation and how we are all lucky to have jobs and ...

Is that time of the year, holidays are coming and what does that mean, my family (well, the women in my family) gets together for a day to show our own side of domestic godessness. I have come to accept that I should never decorate a sugar cookie-there was and still is a reason I was not an arts major. However, I am a damn good dough maker and baker. One way I know this is that only 3 days after making Mexican Wedding Cakes, the entire bucket is gone. I think its a good sign, my fiance devoured them. All good karma. So at least he'll love my baking and the fact they are called Wedding Cakes is just the added bonus.

Many of us today work in an environment with team members who are so dramatically different from you. Different cultures, career stage, and age all contribute to those age old comments of "I have nothing in common with him/her?", "We have nothing to talk about". Over the last few months of working on a truly global project, 14 countries and 6 continents represented, the one underlying commonality that brings a group together is...FOOD. Everyone eats and most people have grown up with certain traditions/preparations of food that are near and dear to them who love to talk about it, its nostalgic! Just this week, food was the catalyst for me and an Indian colleague to have a great conversation on his favorite Indian restaurant that actually is near my house and after visiting it for dinner last week another reason for us to catch up for a few minutes over a cup of coffee. Which, by the way, Royal India in Milwaukee is a great find. The service was fabulous and the foo...