These words marked the beginning of the story of GLUE – Global Learning & Understanding Each Other.
What began as a personal conversation between mother and daughter gradually grew into a shared vision: to help people understand each other better – in a world that is becoming ever more complex, faster and more diverse.
GLUE was not created on a drawing board. GLUE grew out of experience, observation, research and an honest desire to rethink collaboration.
Behind GLUE are people with very different backgrounds, perspectives and skills – connected by a shared set of values: trust, openness, reflection and the conviction that understanding is one of the most important future skills of our time.
The foundation for GLUE emerged from the combination of science, international experience and entrepreneurial thinking.
Claudia Jung brings decades of experience in international market research, consulting, training and creative work. Over many years she worked on international projects in a wide range of cultural and organizational contexts, repeatedly observing the same challenge: people work together but often don’t really understand each other.
Dr. Lisa Katharina Johnson brings the scientific perspective to GLUE. As a doctoral cultural anthropologist, organizational ethnologist, migration researcher and lecturer, she has spent many years exploring questions of culture, communication, perspectives and social collaboration. Her international research and her work at the intersection of science, organizations and policy advice shape the substantive foundation of GLUE.
What connects them both is the shared conviction that cultural competence must not remain abstract, but has to become practical, accessible and suitable for everyday life.
Developing GLUE also meant leaving our own comfort zone again and again. There were doubts. Uncertainties. Moments when the path seemed bigger than our own strength.
And at the same time, that is exactly where growth emerged. Not only as a company, but also as a family, as a team and as people.
GLUE became a shared learning process, carried by trust, mutual support and the desire to build something meaningful.
Special thanks also go to Clayton EDB Johnson, who as part of the team not only supported image, sound and creative production, but was often also the calm and connecting force in the background during intense phases.
What began with a conversation ultimately led all the way to a nomination for the HERA Her Science Award.
But for us, GLUE is far more than a project or a platform. GLUE stands for the conviction that better collaboration begins where people learn:
- to reflect on themselves,
- to perceive perspectives more consciously,
- to communicate more clearly
- and to manage differences professionally.
Because the future needs understanding. And we are still at the very beginning.
Our story has become a practical course for cultural competence: flexible, scientifically sound and immediately applicable.