Getting to Know You – Erica Golden

My name is Erica Golden and I just moved back to Chicago after a couple of years living in Texas for work. I have lived in multiple areas of the United States and China over the last 10 years, which has been amazing, but I am glad to be back in the midwest. I have worked for Apple for more than a decade in Human Resources and do a significant amount of travel. I am interested in this course because I have always cared deeply about environmental issues, but because I also travel, I am taking this course to enhance my understanding of the different environments I am in.

Working in Human Resources as long as I have, I am surprised by the number of leaders I interact with that do not believe that their environment has shaped their perspective on their beliefs or, simply, their views on people. The clip from The West Wing from the first lesson is one of my favorites from that series because of what it isolated out: the inherent judgement we may have that is derived from things we may have never questioned. I think that geography can help level some of those inaccurate perspectives that may increase ego or decrease the value weight of a people from a particular part of the world because of the way that others see it (read: small).

6 thoughts on “Getting to Know You – Erica Golden

  1. Hi Erica!

    I am so glad to see another person who has also lived in Texas! I have grown up there for most of my life so it is always exciting to see people who are from there and have lived there.

    The West Wing is one of my favorite shows so it was nice to see that somebody else actually enjoyed the clip. This clip is perfect in describing how people judge other things everyday even though they might not know what it is.

    Also here is a link to my post if you wanted to check it out!
    http://geog030.dutton.psu.edu/2016/01/20/getting-to-know-you-kelsey-shoepe/

    Kelsey Shoepe

  2. Hi, Erica!
    What an exciting life you’ve led! I grew up with a mom who has been in HR as long as I can remember, so I’m quite familiar with the work you do. Do you deal with hiring/recruiting, benefits?
    It’s pretty spot on how out of the loop a lot of leaders in big corporations are about their environment’s effects on them, as well as vice versa. Look forward to hearing back from you!

    Jessi Krugger

  3. Hi Erica! I’m Haley and I found your blog very interesting. I think it’s so cool that you lived in China for awhile. I’ve never been there and always wanted to experience it just because it seems so different from what I’m used to. It’s awesome that you work for such a big company like Apple and I’d love to hear more about what that’s like. Best of luck in this course!

    Here’s a link to my blog: http://geog030.dutton.psu.edu/2016/01/20/getting-to-know-you-haley-overton/

  4. Hi Erica! I’m Annaliese. I find your story about all of the places you have lived in the past couple of years truly amazing. I for one love to travel as well, so I am completely in awe that you got to live in such different places of the world. I also enjoyed the clip from The West Wing because it brought up a great point about how little we actually know and how just the differences in a map can impact our points of view regarding other societies of the world. Good luck in this course!

Leave a Reply