Zenon, Girl of the 21st Century

This week's blog assessment asked us to discuss our 21st Century skills, and I couldn't help but think of the Disney movie, "Zenon, Girl of the 21st Century."

Zenon was banished to Earth after causing commotion on the space station she lived on. Of course being from another "planet" she was initially tagged "weird" and avoided. While it may seem a tad silly, this movie actually creates a great scenario for cultural awareness. 

Two boys from school, Greg and Andrew, eventually befriend poor Zenon after they all decide to listen and get to know each other. As the article, Cultural Awareness in the Workplace states, one of the key components of creating a welcoming work environment is educating yourself about the backgrounds of your fellow employees. You can then use your knowledge to help break down cultural barriers. 

Our assessment also asked us to discuss the skills we would need in our respective fields.

Being a Marketing major, the 21st Century skills that will make me excellent are to be innovative, to communicate effectively, and to be creative. 

As the 21st Century Skills, Education, and Competitiveness Guide states, our economy has changed. The U.S. has made a major shift from providing predominantly manufacturing jobs to being a major service driven economy. 

Marketing is a fast paced, ever changing field. It is important to be innovative to stay ahead of the competition. I also need to be able to use the new innovative technology to not only make my job easier, but to stay relevant. 

Marketing is the communication aspect of the business world. Without it, consumers would not realize they need to buy your product, where to buy it, and for what price. Communication within the workplace is also vital! We all know how frustrating it is when we find ourselves in a group where the leader doesn't know how to communicate. An effective communicator keeps the morale up and tasks on track. 

Creativity is another essential piece of the marketing pie. Employers are looking for people who can think outside the box for ways to separate their company from the competition. 

These skills can be acquired with further education and most importantly experience. Work experience is the best experience to gain these skills, but volunteer work and experience working in groups from school are all great practice on communication and creativity. 

Back to my girl Zenon. She discovers trouble back home and has to come up with an innovative and creative way to save her space station (because no one believes her, of course). 

Like the stellarnarious girl that she is, Zenon saves the day by using her creative, innovative, problem-solving 21st Century skills. 

She said YES!

Our cultural lenses are the glasses we wear when we are deciding how to interpret situations. It elicits the automatic response we have acquired from our environment on what is socially acceptable. If we have lenses that are culturally fluent and understand the differences among groups of people, our interactions will go smoothly. If we can only see the way we think and act, we have a greater chance for misunderstandings and strong emotionally based reactions.

I think the greatest reason Americans avoid traveling abroad is the answer to the question, "Why?" Fear and cost are big contenders, but I think they are more easily overcome than the psychological factor. As Americans, 'we got it good.' We enjoy several amazing liberties that most people do not. For one, we have our freedom. We can say what we want about who we want when we want and not get penalized just for voicing our opinion. We have the opportunity to worship who/what we want and the ability to further our education in the path we so desire.

Other countries do not share these rights and privileges. So, why should people leave? It's like going wedding dress shopping. Once you have found "the one", you stop looking. For most Americans, home is "the one." There is no reason to go looking for something better. After my two trips abroad, I have had people, sounding almost disgusted, asking me why I left in the first place. It was not even a figment of their imagination to WANT to adventure somewhere besides Arkansas. Don't get me wrong, I looooove my home state; it is beautiful! I just have a hunger for traveling. I realize there is a great big world out there ready to be explored. 

But, for most, home is perfect and there is no reason to wander. They are perfectly content sipping their sweet tea in their small town enjoying the beautiful view of the lake. That is just wonderful, just not for me.