Global Mindset

12,000 baby-boomers are leaving the workforce daily

2011-01-07T14:11:00.000-05:00

According to the U.S. Department of Labor and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics December 2010:

As you read this, over 12,000 baby-boomers are leaving the workforce daily. Most due to age, many due to reductions.

This leaves us with a shortfall of over 42 million people in the workforce, 8 million of which are professionals.

Gen-X is not making up the difference simply because Gen-X is half the size of the Boomer generation.

Gen-Y/Millennials are nearly as big as the baby-boomers but it will take another 3-5 years before they are ready to take their place.

Entrepreneurs say they desperately need more foreign workers

2010-09-21T18:06:00.000-04:00

According to a brief from Worldwide ERC, U.S. entrepreneurs say they desperately need more foreign workers but the government is only making it harder. Maureen Torrey, who owns Torrey Farms in upstate New York, says she cannot find Americans with the skills she needs to tend her crops and her farm has lost money for the past two years. Meanwhile Atul Jain of Global Software Solutions says he may have to send work overseas this year because there are not enough Americans with technology skills and a willingness to spend months overseas. “We’re in a crisis situation as we see no action by Washington,” he says. He and other entrepreneurs had hoped immigration reform would bring in more foreign talent, but Congress has not moved on the issue and federal agencies are making it harder to get employment visas. Regulators say they are protecting U.S. jobs and want to make sure they are not being taken by foreigners, but Jain says “The economy will not improve just because foreign workers can’t come.” The problem is tougher for small companies, as they have fewer resources for managing visa applications or establishing units overseas to take advantage of cheaper labor.

It's Getting Harder to Hire Foreign Workers

2010-09-21T18:04:00.000-04:00

Immigration - some countries want it!

2010-08-18T16:30:00.000-04:00

Here's an interesting snippet from the Guardian.co.uk - especially in light of the current debate about immigration into the United States:

With the financial crisis a thing of the past, the authorities in Singapore are looking at ways of letting in a fresh wave of immigrants. This year 100,000 foreign workers should be needed to cope with the powerful surge in the city-state's economy, with 18% growth for the first half of the year.

The full article is worh a read - see it HERE

Left Brain, Right Brain

2010-06-17T16:40:00.003-04:00

One of the things I have learned during my career is the need to develop synergy between both hemispheres of the brain. In order to be truly effective, we need to use the logical and analytical left side of our brain without neglecting the creative and intuitive right side of the brain.

Most analytical, logical, and rational thought takes place in the left hemisphere, where the tasks for well reasoned arguments take place. That may be the reason most people prefer to hold their phones against their right ear. The right ear connects directly to the left side of the brain - the side that processes language and analytical thought.

In today’s work environment, I find the right side of the brain is not used nearly enough. The right hemisphere is where our brains focus on the big picture. It is where we are creative and intuitive. In order to gain a competitive edge, especially in the realm of international business, we need to be able to draw on the resources of our whole brain – creativity and intuition to find the possible solutions and alternatives to a problem and logical and analytical reasoning to implement the solution.

In the world of organizations and business, the logical thinkers who tend to concentrate on data and details often dominate. In my consulting work, I find many teams where not one team-member is right-brain dominant. In part the reason for this is that the detail oriented logical thinkers find it hard to recruit personalities different to their own. The result of such self-selection is quite predictable – the team gets lost in data, details and processes, struggling to see the big picture.

During my career (see my memoir "Driving Straight on Crooked Lines"), I think I was able to develop synergy between both halves of my brain. My boss, for many years, was a logical thinker who focused on detail. He didn’t spend a lot of energy on feelings – but he always seemed to manage to stay in touch with his intuitive side. He trained us to see the big picture, to seek creative solutions and then focus on process and implementation. Like so many corporate and organizational types, I tended to be a data-focused logical thinker and the organization I was with became quite left-brain dominant. The how of getting things done tended to be more important than the why. As a result, we tended to focus on a rational approach to life and spirituality with a decided bias towards action. On the positive side, that is one of the reasons we got so much support from powerful business people – we knew how to get things done and we spoke the action oriented language of business.

Our bias toward action was tempered with an intense dedication to prayer – although our prayer life too tended to be structured and regimented. That approach probably worked best for our dominant personality type. A solid prayer life does help one keep in touch with the creative and intuitive side of the brain. I have since learned that optimism is probably the most important emotional asset in business. There’s nothing like a good prayer life to cultivate optimism.

As part of our prayer life, I would have to include the enormously healing, holistic effect of Gregorian chant. The French doctor Alfred Tomatis pioneered research on the neurophysiologic effects of chant on the minds and bodies of its singers and listeners. According to his theory, there are two kinds of sound: "discharge" sounds (those that tire, fatigue and drain the listener) and "charge" sounds (those that give energy and health). According to Dr. Tomatis, Gregorian chant may be the most potent "charge" sound to promote strength and vitality. Unlike other types of music, the rhythm of the chant is based on the breathing of the participants rather than on a mathematically calculated beat. Just try listening to a small amount of it each day, or better still, chanting some of the traditional melodies, and you will quickly notice how calming it is as you get in touch with your intuitive and creative side.

I am thankful that most of us analytical types got to spend a balanced amount of time on creativity-enhancing exercises. A solid physical exercise regime helped us manage stress; we all spent a lot of time on writing, metaphysics and brainstorming. We listened to well selected classical music and had ample time for silent meditation. I think the positive result of all of the above, for me, is that I learned to be in touch with both hemispheres of my brain. As I wrote at the beginning, this is not a skill I come across often in the corporate, technically oriented world I live in. Did I learn anything usefulfor the oft-maligned creative types? Yes. My creatively inclined confreres got in touch with their logical left-brain processes by playing dominoes and chess, studying scholastic philosophy, developing plans and budgets and adhering to the strict schedules that marked our life in community.

New Memoir About Life in the Controversial Legion of Christ by a Former Member Reveals Insights into the Double Life of Founder Father Marcial Maciel

2010-05-26T09:25:00.000-04:00

Press Release

TRUMBULL, Conn., May 26 /PRNewswire/ -- As Vatican-watchers await the appointment of a papal delegate to oversee the Legion of Christ, a new memoir by a former member claims that few Legionaries were aware of the double life led by their founder, the late Father Marcial Maciel.

Driving Straight on Crooked Lines: How an Irishman Found his heart and Nearly Lost his Mind, http://www.drivingstraight.com (ISBN 978-0-9845227-0-5, Trade paperback, 352 pp, 5 1/2 x 8 1/2) provides author Jack Keogh's insights into the inner workings of the Legion of Christ and the intimate thoughts of a former priest who collaborated with the controversial Maciel, the founder of the Mexican congregation.

Keogh, the first Irish-born Legionary to set foot in Mexico, tells how he ultimately came to believe that God does indeed drive straight on the crooked lines of our lives after first nearly losing his mind.

Spanning locations across the globe, Keogh's "gripping story offers realistic insight, told with a subjective, non-judgmental outlook," says Australian writer and editor Cerian Griffiths. "Keogh's sincere narrative, in which he faces many challenges, inspires an attitude of hope for the future. His story is told with candor, a sparkle in the eye, plenty of blarney, and Irish good humor."

Investigative reporter, author and film director Jason Berry, whose recent report on the Legion of Christ's Father Marcial Maciel was published in the National Catholic Reporter says, "I was pulled along by the story of a young Irishman drawn into the world of the Legionaries of Christ, unable to see the raw truth of Father Maciel, coming to the painful realization of Maciel's psychological tyranny as time passed, and having the fortune to leave early enough to make a new life. This is a sad yet, in the final measure, uplifting memoir."

Keogh is Managing Director of Keogh & Associates Consulting, LLC of Trumbull, CT, which advises multinational corporations on leadership and cross-cultural communications. A resident of Fairfield County, CT, Keogh studied in Spain and Italy and is fluent in their languages. Many thousands of people around the globe have attended his presentations.

For more information about Driving Straight on Crooked Lines or to schedule an interview, please contact Jack Keogh at (203) 268-3126 or visit http://www.drivingstraight.com. The book is available on http://www.amazon.com, and http://www.barnesandnoble.com.

Book Cover: http://www.ereleases.com/pic/DrivingStraightonCrookedLines.jpg

CONTACT: Jack Keogh Iveagh Lodge Press Trumbull, CT (203) 268-3126 info@iveaghlodgepress.com

This press release was issued through eReleases(R). For more information, visit eReleases Press Release Distribution at http://www.ereleases.com.

SOURCE Jack Keogh

Matcing the right hire to the right job: a critical managerial skill

2010-05-25T14:24:00.000-04:00

No one can guarantee the performance of a manager or executive appointed to a new position.
The reports and surveys we are constantly bombarded suggest we can safely say most executives make poor promotion and staffing decisions.

Peter F. Drucker repeatedly said:

“In no other area of management would we put up with such miserable performance (as we do in people decisions)...indeed, we need not and should not...Managers making people decisions will never be perfect...But they should come pretty close to batting 1,000, especially because in no other area of management do we know so much..."

I completely agree with the following points taken from Human Resources. Read the full article here.

1) Think through the assignment. Failure to think through the assignment, Drucker observed, was the number-one reason for staffing failures. Put differently, executives making staffing decisions must “match strengths to opportunity.” many times when thinking through the assignment, the necessity for reorganizing the existing organization becomes apparent. The nature of the assignment requires multiple knowledges and a variety of skills impossible to find in one person.

2) Make sure the appointee understands the job.“It is not intuitively obvious to most people that a new and different job requires new and different behavior,” Drucker said. “Most people continue to do what they've done before.”

3) Match The Right New Hire For the Right Job. A successful bus driver, in all likelihood, cannot run the bus company.

Questions to ask:
"What is the task?” “What is the experience and knowledge base required to carry out the task?" "Does the appointee understand the job?"

Creating new opportunities for people involves helping them learn and develop. That's something Keogh & Associates Consulting, LLC specializes in - but that is a topic for another day.

Emotional intelligence and its relationship to transformational leadership

2010-05-22T15:19:00.000-04:00

The May, 2010 of the "I E Update" Newsletter provides the following abstract of a research study on Emotional Intelligence. The study refers to the "MSCEIT" one of the instruments that Keogh & Associates Consulting, LLC uses in our approach to team and leadership development.

Clarke, N. (2010). Emotional intelligence and its relationship to transformational leadership and key project manager competences. Project Management Journal, 41(2), 5-20.

This study examined the effect of Emotional Iintelligence, as assessed using MSCEIT, on several competences (i.e., communication, teamwork, attentiveness, and managing conflict) and transformational leadership after controlling for personality and cognitive ability. Results based on a sample of 67 UK project managers revealed a number of significant correlations between the MSCEIT and the dependent measures. Branch 2 of the MSCEIT (using emotions to facilitate thinking), Branch 3 (understanding emotions), and the overall EI score were all found to positively correlate with the project manager competence of managing conflict. Both the abilities of using emotions and of understanding emotions positively correlated with the project manager competence of teamwork. Using emotions to facilitate thinking was the only EI ability found to have any significant correlations with transformational leadership. Both total EI and branch scores showed minor correlations with personality measures, offering further support for the predominantly independent nature of these two aspects of individual difference.

A strategic approach to Talent Management

2010-05-19T15:47:00.000-04:00

According to Michael Fineman and Jodi Starkman of ORC worldwide, the most important thing a company can do to ensure a continuing supply of well-prepared, well-deployed key players is to create a talent culture: an environment in which finding and nurturing talent is considered an important management function.

Fineman and Starkman identify seven essential elements for building a talent culture. They lay the groundwork for translating business strategy to people strategy, create a common understanding of process and vocabulary, and provide the tools managers need to help them implement a coherent, aggressive talent management plan.

Deep involvement of senior management
Dedication of sufficient time, staff and IT support
Breadth and depth of talent reviews.
Consistency and Structure.
Meaningful Developmental Experiences
Motivation and Retention
Monitoring the TM Program

Expatriates are not a dying breed

2010-05-19T15:35:00.000-04:00

From an article by Sanchia Temkin:

"Expatriates are not a dying breed.. They are still very much part of the business strategies of many companies seeking to expand their activities beyond their homes bases," said Siobhan Cummins, MD for Europe, the Middle East and Africa of ORC Worldwide."

However, expatriate assignments are changing, with assignments lasting only one to three years, instead of much longer, which used to be the norm. Another change is that companies are paring down the assignment package, and are no longer paying large tax-free gratuities upon the completion of an assignment."

Light in the darkness of the soul

2010-05-18T12:53:00.001-04:00

Viktor E. Frankl was Professor of Neurology and Psychiatry at the University of Vienna Medical School and Distinguished Professor of Logotherapy at the U.S. International University. He is the founder of what has come to be called the Third Viennese School of Psychotherapy (after Freud's psychoanalysis and Adler's individual psychology) -- the school of “logotherapy.”

Born in 1905, Dr. Frankl received the degrees of Doctor of Medicine and Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Vienna. During World War II he spent three years at Auschwitz, Dachau and other concentration camps. He died in 1997.

His book "Man's search for meaning" where he describes his ordeal in the concentration camp is a marvelous and uplifting read.

I’ve just come across a short video snippet of one of his lectures. It lasts four minutes. You can see it here. Dr. Frankl in his charming accent basically says: “If we take man as he is, we'll make him worse. But if we take man as he should be we make him capable of becoming what he can be". A beautiful and relevant lesson.

The ancients knew well there is indeed light in the darkness of the soul. To get to the truest nature of a human being we have to aim very high. Dr. Frankl suggests that being an idealist is the only way to be a realist.

Value of training

2010-05-14T17:08:00.002-04:00

According to Jim Harris in his book The Learning Paradox, a number of issues would begin to appear, if company employees did not receive on-going training. In a down economy – like the one we are currently experiencing – one of the areas that is subject to cutback is training and development. This means, I think, that HR people need to know how to measure the strategic value of training in business terms. Harris suggests the following outcomes when training goes away; I suggest that these outcomes should be the basis of how we measure the value of the training we deliver:

1. Fewer skilled employees
2. Lower-quality work
3. Poor customer service
4. Higher customer turnover
5. Increased marketing costs
6. Slow corporate growth
7. Higher employee turnover
8. Higher recruitment costs
9. Reduced attraction for new employees
10. Increased IT support
11. High informal training costs
12. Increased workload
13. Increased burnout
14. Slow response to bids
15. Slow response to competition
16. Turf battles, office size and politics are valued

Where you live affects your attitude to sports and physical activity

2010-04-08T14:41:00.000-04:00

Since 1973, the European Commission has been monitoring the evolution of public opinion in the Member States, thus helping the preparation of texts, decision-making and the evaluation of its work. This is the website for the Public Opinion Analysis sector of the European Commission (Eurobarometer.) I found the following analysis of Europeans reactions to sport and physical activity interesting. I did know that, allegedly, my fellow native Dubliners are, I think, the second fastest walkers... what follows is more scientific!

40% of EU citizens play sport at least once a week and 65% engage in some form of physical exercise. But 25% are almost completely inactive, according to a special Eurobarometer Survey on Sport and Physical Activity published by the European Commission today. Ireland and the Nordic countries take sport most seriously, with 23% of Irish citizens practising sport 5 times a week or more, while Sweden, Finland and Denmark score the highest ratings for exercising ‘regularly’ or ‘with some regularity’ (once a week or more). At the other end of the scale, only 3% of citizens in Bulgaria, Greece and Italy say they play sport regularly. Men in the EU play more sport and also exercise more than women. The disparity is particularly marked in the 15-24 age group. The survey also finds a correlation between socio-economic status and physical activity. 64% of people who left school by the age of 15 say they never play sport, while this rate falls to 24% for those who left education after 20.

HR Leadership Abilities

2010-02-04T10:57:00.002-05:00

I consult with a broad range of HR Professionals. Often, I work with them to deliver leadership training programs. Here are some leadership qualities, in no particular order, I wish I saw more of amongst HR Leaders:

Emotional intelligence
Strategic thinking ability
Creativity
Ability to manage ambiguity
Cross-cultural communications skills
Global Mindset
Change management
Coaching ability
Negotiation skills
Courage
Interpersonal skills: Diplomacy
Mature judgement & decision making
Integrity
Humility

Social Networking. Time to turn on the privacy settings?

2010-02-03T16:56:00.002-05:00

A survey by CareerBuilder.com of about 2,700 executives in America last year found that 45% of them looked at job candidates’ social-network pages as part of their research, and more than a third of those had unearthed information there that put them off hiring someone. Time to turn up those privacy settings?

In recessionary times it is very smart to stay in touch with as many social and professional contacts as possible. Reinforcing the connections with the people you work with and improving your ability to stay in touch with and expand your “network” of contacts, is a great way to join the digital revolution - in the unlikely event that you are not already on board. I’d like to share a quick and simple method that I use for researching contacts. CLICK HERE to read a short article I wrote.

Phoebe Prince, an Irish teenager

2010-01-31T15:04:00.000-05:00

This story might make you feel sad. I think it's the sort of story that we must read. What can we do to deal with this awful problem?

"Like a lot of kids her age, Phoebe Prince was a swan, always beautiful and sometimes awkward."

That's how Kevin Cullen begins to report on a truly heart wrenching event - the result of school bullying.

"Last fall, (Phoebe) she moved from Ireland into western Massachusetts, a new town, a new high school, a new country, a new culture. She was 15, when all that matters is being liked and wearing the right clothes and just fitting in. She was a freshman and she had a brief fling with a senior, a football player, and for this she became the target of the Mean Girls, who decided then and there that Phoebe didn’t know her place and that Phoebe would pay.

Kids can be mean, but the Mean Girls took it to another level, according to students and parents. They followed Phoebe around, calling her a slut. When they wanted to be more specific, they called her an Irish slut.

Ten days ago, Phoebe was walking home from school when one of the Mean Girls drove by in a car. An insult and an energy drink can came flying out the car window in Phoebe’s direction.

Phoebe kept walking, past the abuse, past the can, past the white picket fence, into her house. Then she walked into a closet and hanged herself. Her 12-year-old sister found her.

You would think this would give the bullies who hounded Phoebe some pause. Instead, they went on Facebook and mocked her in death.

They told State Police detectives they did nothing wrong, had nothing to do with Phoebe killing herself.

And then they went right back to school and started badmouthing Phoebe.....the Mean Girls who tortured Phoebe remain in school, defiant, unscathed.

Last week, Phoebe was supposed to visit Ireland, where she grew up, and she was excited because she was going to see her father for the first time in months.

She did end up going back to Ireland after all, and when her father saw her she was in a casket."

CLICK HERE to read the poignant, thought provoking report.

Kevin Cullen is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at cullen@globe.com.
© Copyright 2010 Globe Newspaper Company.

Get a Visa to Work Overseas

2010-01-27T18:47:00.001-05:00

Useful information from Juliette Giannesini.
Check Juliette's blog for the details!

"Most people assume that working abroad is synonym with finding an employer willing to do the immigration paperwork on your behalf or immigrating permanently. There is an easier way: the Working Holiday Visa (WHV).

What is the working holiday visa?

The WHV is a work and travel permit issue by one of the many participating countries:

Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Chile, Denmark, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, South Korea, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the United Kingdom.

Haiti: How You Can Help

2010-01-15T11:56:00.002-05:00

American Red Cross	Doctors Without Borders	Operation USA
Americares	International Medical Corps	OXFAM America
CARE	International Rescue Committee	Partners in Health
Catholic Relief Services	Haitian Ministries	Save the Children
Convoy of Hope	MADRE	UNICEF
Direct Relief International	Mercy Corps	World Vision Int'l

2009-04-09T12:04:00.001-04:00

Using the Power of Social Networking in a Recession
Jack Keogh

I “discovered” Facebook a couple of years ago when I received an invitation to be a “friend” of the teenaged niece of a family connection in Mexico. I accepted the invitation and, to my surprise, some twenty minutes later, I got a message from my daughter – in her early twenties – saying “Dad, get off this site – it’s for kids, not people your age!” At that time, Facebook had a mere 12 million members. My daughter fretted that the site, designed for college students, had been hijacked by teens. I marveled at the connectedness of the younger generations – how did my daughter, at work in New York City, realize so quickly that I had responded to an invitation from Mexico? Then, undeterred, I went ahead and set up my Facebook profile. I figured that one more profile might complement my web “presence” – company website, blog, and profiles on Linked-In and Plaxo. What, did I learn and how can it be helpful to you?

In recessionary times it is very smart to stay in touch with as many social and professional contacts as possible. Reinforcing the connections with the people you work with and improving your ability to stay in touch with and expand your “network” of contacts, is a great way to join the digital revolution - in the unlikely event that you are not already on board. For starters, I’d like to share a quick and simple method that I use for researching contacts.

I use the search feature on ZoomInfo.com. Suppose that you want to research a potential contact – take me, for example. Type in “Jack Keogh” and the site delivers a list of “Jack Keoghs” retrieved from the web. You can refine your search to pick the name that most closely matches your contact. In my case, I usually come us in about the second spot on ZoomInfo. When you find me, click on the profile page and then click “view sources” at the top right corner and you will get a good listing of all the information on the web about me. Not perfect – but you find out more than the controlled “public” profile delivered by Plaxo or LinkedIn. In terms of keeping up with your existing networks, do you know how many people can you reach out to?
Facebook, the “new” social networking giant was designed a college student Mark Zuckerman now 24. It has grown to 175 million users. The MySpace network has 130 million users and is enjoying new growth among the 6.9 million 55 year old plus generation who spend an average of 204 minutes a month on the site. Not to be outdone, Facebook's greatest growth has come from 35-49 year-olds and it has added twice as many 50-64 year-olds as those under age 18. It is the new leader of the pack, worldwide, with monthly visits by three out of ten Internet users. According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, fully one third of adult internet users have a profile on a social networking site – an increase of 25% since 2005.

A new study from Nielsen shows that “Social networking and blogging sites are now the 4th most popular activity on the Internet (overcoming personal email) with 67% global reach as to December 2008. That is 5% more of what they attracted a year ago. While social networks started amongst the younger audience, today’s audiences are becoming broader and older. This shift has primarily been driven by Facebook, successfully opened opportunities of social networking to a much wider audience”.

The Nielsen Report states that “Social Networking has been the global consumer phenomenon of 2008. Two-thirds of the world’s Internet population visit a social network or blogging site and the sector now accounts for almost 10% of all internet time. ‘Member Communities’ has overtaken personal Email to become the world’s fourth most popular online sector after search, portals and PC software applications”.

According to Nielsen, “the story is consistent across the world, ‘Member Communities’ has taken a foothold in every major market from 50% of the online population in Switzerland and Germany to 80% in Brazil. Facebook has become the largest player on the global stage, dominant in many countries, yet localized offerings have won the day in many others. However, the growth in popularity of social networks – and the resultant broadening audience – is only half the story. The staggering increase in the amount of time people are spending on these sites is changing the way people spend their time online and has ramifications for how people behave, share and interact within their normal daily lives”.

Although adults share some teen internet habits like connecting with friends, planning events, staying in touch, it seems we now differ form the teenagers by using social networking to meet new friends from across the country and across the world. The sixteen-and-a-half million adults ages 55 and older who are already engaged in social networking have helped AARP’s network attract 350,000 users who have already created 1,700 interest groups. Another site, designed for baby Boomers, is Eons.com which has 800,000 users.

In my native Ireland, adults still use the “Pubs” to gather with friends and share group moments. Our bars serve the same purpose. As we grow up and become geographically mobile because of our jobs we are often living further and further away from our family and old friends. Social networking on the internet can help bridge that gap.

Just a few days ago, I got another invitation to be a “friend” on Facebook. This time it was from an elementary-school classmate with whom I had completely lost contact since I was about 12 years old! The upside to social networking is the ability to reconnect with long lost friends and to stay in touch with the many people we meet along the way in our journey through life. In order to minimize the potential downside (sharing too much personal information) before you post, remember that whatever you write can be read by millions of people – most of whom are not your “friends”. Your career is as strong as your personal network; and these days, with people spending more and more time at work, your personal life may only be as vital as your professional network. I think it’s smart, most especially in a recession, to become fluent with social networks and to discover the power of relationship.

Ireland Rolls the Dice on Financial Bailout

2008-10-02T15:15:00.005-04:00

Ireland has launched a full-scale rescue of its financial system, issuing a state guarantee worth €400bn (£316bn) to cover the key liabilities of its biggest banks and mortgage lenders.

The Irish government guaranteed all deposits and debts of the country's major banks, one day after the Irish stock market plummeted 13%, nearly twice the decline of the Dow Jones industrials according to the LA Times

"We have to create confidence," Finance Minister Brian Lenihan said on RTE Radio, according to Bloomberg News. "We can't bail out a particular bank. That wouldn't be right. What we have decided to do is give a general guarantee that the banks can lend in security and safety."

According to the Guardian newspaper, "desperation can sometimes engender inspiration. During Monday night, the Irish government was facing the potential collapse of the Republic's banking system. Shares in Anglo Irish Bank had lost half their value in a single session, with similar sharp falls in other publicly listed Irish banks. Real concerns about the stability of Ireland's banking system – prompting a signal from the government a week earlier that it would "intervene" in the event of a bank collapse (Irish Times) – that had been percolating for months finally boiled over.

The goal is to jumpstart international confidence in Irish banks, to help unfreeze interbank money markets and give potential lenders confidence based on the Irish government's guarantee.

Domestic reactions to the bailout scheme were broadly positive. Although there were warning voices about the enormous risk potentially being taken on by the state – the €400bn commitment is more than twice Ireland's GDP and nearly 10 times its entire national debt – and critics on the left demanded that the Irish taxpayer be compensated for the risk with an equity stake in the institutions.

Other observers put the deal in its dramatic historical context, comparing it to the Irish decisions – also born of desperation – to open up its economy, slash taxes and grab foreign investment, that led to the Celtic Tiger phenomenon of supercharged Irish economic growth in the 1990s through the early part of this decade.

But for a government that seemed impotent and paralysed in the wake of the defeat of the Lisbon European reform treaty referendum in June, the radical action has proven to most Irish observers that their government – unlike most others in the western world – is willing to try whatever it takes to get through this crisis."

Corporate Global Mindset

2008-09-20T17:09:00.003-04:00

Geocities.com poses the following questions:
Why are some companies highly successful in spotting and exploiting global opportunities, while others mismanage them or miss them entirely? The answer could lie in the company’s mindset, a topical subject currently doing the rounds at numerous executive education seminars. The term corporate mindset refers to how the company sees the world and how this affects its actions.

For companies operating on a global scale, developing a global corporate mindset presents a formidable managerial challenge. The corporate mindset determines to what extent management encourages and values cultural diversity, while simultaneously maintaining a certain degree of strategic cohesion. Developing a global corporate mindset and a group of global managers as its main flag bearers has become a key prerequisite for successfully competing and growing in worldwide markets.

Think Globally, Act Locally

2008-09-20T17:06:00.002-04:00

""Think globally but act locally" sounds nice", says an article in the Washington Post, "but most people think and act locally, and short term to boot. This is why efforts to conserve resources and energy, reduce pollution, and decrease carbon dioxide emissions remain fragmentary and marginal. The scale and complexity of the problem are enormous. Most of the world's societies, including ours, resist acknowledging the problem and refuse to seriously tackle it."

Future World class Economies

2008-09-16T11:06:00.002-04:00

From the archives of Workforce.com:

"The Philippines now rivals India for BPO investment and leads Southeast Asia in call center growth. Vietnam successfully competes against both China and India for software development centers and pharmaceutical facilities. Bangladesh is pulling light industry out of India and China, and Turkey is beating out Eastern Europe for auto assembly.

The Philippines, Vietnam, Bangladesh and Turkey are part of the "N-11," the Next Eleven, a designation developed by Goldman Sachs in 2005 to identify a group of developing countries with the demographics and economic capability to become major economies and potential rivals to the "BRIC" nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China). In addition to the Philippines, Vietnam, Bangladesh and Turkey, the N-11 includes Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, South Korea, Mexico, Nigeria and Pakistan."

Relocating to find a new job

2008-09-15T09:52:00.003-04:00

From MSN Careers with Career Builder.com:

In an ideal job market, you would find the job of your dreams right under your nose. You'd have a hefty paycheck, great benefits and flexibility, and you'd wake up every day loving the work you do.

The reality is you'll probably spend several weeks -- even months -- scouring the Internet and chasing job leads just to find a few openings worth pursuing. Even after all of your efforts, the jobs you find may fall short of meeting all of the criteria to be the right opportunity for you.

People in such situations may never come across their dream job because they've limited themselves in the job market. They've narrowed their search to local job openings and have no idea that their dream job is actually in another city or state.

Many people, however, would be willing to pursue those opportunities if they were aware of them. According to a study from CareerBuilder.com and Apartments.com, conducted by Harris Interactive, 59 percent of employees say they'd be willing to relocate to another city for a new job and 44 percent say they'd be willing to relocate to another state, province or region for a new job.

"Depending on your career goals and where you live now, your best chance of finding work and achieving a rewarding career may be in another city or town," says Michael Farr and Laurence Shatkin, co-authors of "Today's Hot Job Targets."

They warn, however, that relocating for a job isn't the best option for everyone. In their book, they encourage people to consider five factors before making the decision to relocate.

International Travel: Good for Children

2008-09-10T16:36:00.004-04:00

Rebecca Ruiz at Forbes.com says: "Parents have been sending their children abroad for education and culture since at least the advent of the Grand Tour in the 15th century. At that time, young men from aristocratic families spent months traveling Europe with the aim of learning about music, classical history, languages and art, among other subjects.

Times have changed and now kids have countless demands on their time, from SAT-prep courses to playing the latest Wii game. But that doesn't mean parents should give up on turning their son or daughter into a world traveler. Even by taking one trip abroad each year, parents can instill in their children an appreciation for languages, food, history and cultural traditions.

The New Generation Gap - and Retention

2008-09-10T14:24:00.003-04:00

I (www.JackKeogh.com) just saw this on "WorldatWork:

August 28, 2008 –– With four generations of employees that are as different as LPs are from iPods, companies need to do a better job of identifying and utilizing the varied skills available to them under the same roof. A recent study has found that almost 70% of companies don’t have programs in place to deal with the four different generations currently in the workforce.

The Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) study found that a third of the companies say that generational issues are not important or only somewhat important in their organizations. Additionally, a full eight out of 10 companies devote less than 5% of their learning and development budget to the issue.

"With four distinct groups at work, building relationships that cross generational gaps is important to a cohesive culture," says Jay Jamrog, i4cp's SVP of research. "If you want to be a preferred employer with the ability to attract, retain and engage top-flight workers, it makes sense to be keenly aware of the beliefs, attitudes and values of your workforce, no matter how diverse it is."

Of the organizations that do have generational initiatives in place, most cited the inclusion of training and/or educational programs, flexible work arrangements and overall issue awareness. When asked what the specific focus of their generational initiatives was, 59% of respondents pointed to awareness, a measure that jumps to 67% for companies with more than 10,000 employees. 47% overall said they look at differences beyond the generational issue (other diversity issues), and 45% utilize tools for promoting better interaction.

To gauge the effectiveness of generational initiatives, 33% of organizations track the impact on retention, 28% measure impact on engagement, and 26% look at individual performance/productivity. 43%, however, admit their organizations do not measure the effectiveness of these initiatives. Furthermore, even though companies say they do measure retention and engagement after an initiative, 72% don't know if retention rates increased in correlation to the initiative and 64% don’t know if the initiative is responsible for improved employee engagement.

Global Thinking! delivers the biggest foreign buy-out in China

2008-09-05T10:17:00.004-04:00

Peter Galuzka reports that Coke is “it” in China. The soft drink maker was part of a group of 12 international companies that put up $1 billion to become official “sponsors” of the just-ended Beijing Summer Olympics.

Apparently, those bucks generated more fizz for Coca-Cola which is on track to make the biggest foreign buyout ever in China — that of juice maker China Huiyuan. According to CNN "China Huiyuan Juice Group Limited is one of the leading companies in the Chinese juice beverages market. The company generated total sales of approximately RMB2.7 billion (approximately EUR270 million) in 2007".

Chinese government officials still need to approve the all-cash dea,l valued at $2.5 billion. But it seems obvious that Coke’s handling of the Olympics is about to earn it a gold medal.

The juice deal will give Coke a better market position as it battles arch-rival PepsiCo. in the Middle Kingdom. China is Coke’s No. 4 market and is increasingly important as domestic U.S. sales have been rather flat.

Business observers have been watching closely how companies played the Olympics for marketing tips. It looks like Coke might be a great example.

Olympic corporate sponsors included Kodak, Johnson & Johnson, Lenovo, McDonald’s, Panasonic, Visa, Atos Origin, Samsung, Omega and Manulife. All bet that their prominent exposure to more than a billion potential Chinese customers will make a positive impression and win market share. Keogh & Associates Consulting, LLC helps multinational companies develop the international talent needed to win Olympic Gold in a global economy.

Global Mindset and Inclusion of students with disabilities

2008-09-05T09:54:00.006-04:00

The following is from Jim Fennell, a Staff Sports Writer at the Union Leader of New Hampshire.

"Including Samuel" is the personal journey of Dan Habib and his family -- his wife, Betsy McNamara, and two sons, Isaiah and Samuel -- told over four years. At the heart of the story is the family's support of Samuel, who has a rare form of cerebral palsy, a disorder that makes it difficult for the brain to control the body's muscles. It's about their efforts to make him part of educational and recreational activities open to kids without physical or emotional disabilities.

The film tells not only the story of Samuel, but also of four other people with disabilities. There is a balance between the positive and negative aspects of inclusion that reveals Habib's journalistic background. Some of the greatest advocates to emerge from the film are the students without disabilities whom Habib interviews.

"I really want every school to be welcoming to all kids," he said. "It's all about problem solving. It's about saying this is a value that we embrace, that we want our school to have the diversity of kids of all abilities. I honestly believe that's part of the natural diversity of our society, but a lot of schools are challenged by that, so you have to get together and say how do we do this well".

Simply stated, Including Samuel is a must see…for anyone who wants to develop a "Global Mindset" and wants and/or needs an in-depth look into the concept, current practice and real-life experience of inclusion and integration for those with disabilities. “Sometimes students with disabilities are the low-hanging fruit. They’re the ones that people pick on and say ‘they’re too expensive.” Some children are going to require more resources to learn than other children. And that is part of America. And that is where it becomes a civil rights issue. ” (Jan Nisbet, director of the UNH institute, cited in Business Week)

So readers, how do you feel about “inclusion”—is it the next civil rights issue and does it relate to having a "Global Mindset"?

Doing Business in Sao Paulo

2008-09-04T11:01:00.002-04:00

At Keogh & Associates we know that sometimes the success of an international deal depends just as much on how you manage your time as on the content of the contract. The Economist has rounded up practical etiquette tips to help managers headed to Sao Paulo (and other cities) make the right impression. Here is a sampling from the Economist blog:

"Despite its many woes, São Paulo remains the business hub of Latin America. Having prospered first with coffee and then with industrialisation, it is now reinventing itself in the services sector. Its huge market (nearly 20m people in greater São Paulo) is a magnet for multinationals. The city claims to attract more visitors (mostly, but no longer exclusively, on business) than Rio; bearing in mind the intense rivalry between the two cities, this must prove deeply satisfying. If you are one of those heading to São Paulo, here are some things to be aware of (part of a series).

• Local business-people tend to be fairly laid-back. There are few unexpected taboos that you should fear transgressing.

• One exception though: avoid putting your briefcase or handbag on the ground (local superstition holds that your money may run away). Restaurants sometimes provide hooks or clips to help.

• It is always best to arrive at a business meeting in a suit, but sometimes even investment bankers wear “smart casuals” in the office.

• In this workaholic city, don’t be surprised if meetings are scheduled after 6pm. Brazilians talk about “pontualidade britânica” (British punctuality), which means turning up on the dot. But you should neither give nor take great offence if you or others arrive a little late. Bad traffic is usually the excuse.

• Business contacts tend to speak English, often fluently. But locals will appreciate even clumsy attempts to chat in Portuguese. (Remember “Bom dia”, “Boa tarde” and “Boa noite” for “Good morning”, “Good afternoon” and “Good evening”.) Do not assume that people will speak Spanish.

• Poor plumbing originally led Brazilians to dispose of toilet paper (papel) in the bin (lixo) rather than the toilet bowl. Though pipes have improved in newer buildings, the habit persists. You may be asked to follow this practice".

McCain: using a "global perspective"?

2008-08-29T16:43:00.002-04:00

At 44, Sarah Louise Heath Palin is both the youngest and the first female governor in Alaska's relatively brief history as a state. She's also the most popular governor in America, with an approval rating that has bounced around 90 percent.

This is due partly to her personal qualities. When she was leading her underdog Wasilla high school basketball team to the state championship in 1982, her teammates called her "Sarah Barracuda" because of her fierce competitiveness. Two years later, when she won the "Miss Wasilla" beauty pageant, she was also voted "Miss Congeniality" by the other contestants.

Sarah Barracuda. Miss Congeniality. Fire and nice. A happily married mother of five who is still drop dead gorgeous. And smart to boot, a crackerjack governor, a strong fiscal conservative and a ferocious fighter of corruption, especially in her own party. Track, her eldest son, enlisted in the Army last Sept. 11. She's a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association who hunts, fishes and runs marathons. A regular churchgoer, she's staunchly pro-life. She believes in marriage between a man and a woman but was quick to offer benefits to same-sex couples in her native state.

"The landscape is littered with the bodies of those who have crossed Sarah," pollster Dave Dittman told the Weekly Standard's Fred Barnes. Her husband is a commercial fisherman and union member (steelworkers); she used to be a union member.

I know it's a broad interpretation of "global perspective" but I think the term is apt for McCain's approach to his choice for VP.

2008-08-28T10:08:00.002-04:00

Here is some useful insight from Frank Brown, the dean of INSEAD, a leading international business school with campuses in Europe and Asia that supports the need for a global perspective which is a core concept at Keogh & Associates Consulting, LLC:
"As our economy becomes more global, the need for corporations to develop leaders who can navigate risk, expand into new markets and operate with an international perspective has never been more apparent. Corner offices will increasingly be filled with leaders from all over the world, and the DNA of management will change to reflect the type of transcultural leadership that has proven to drive lasting results for corporations". Read more at Chief Executive Magazine.

An intuitive "sense of the world"?

2008-07-24T16:46:00.002-04:00

Political commentators speak of Barak Obama’s “intuitive sense of the world” and that his “personal identity” is more important than “experience and expertise”. This relates to his "global mindset": according to the Boston Globe his biography is extraordinary: “he is the biracial son of a father from Kenya and a mother who had him at 18; that he was raised in the dynamic, multi-ethnic cultures of Hawaii and Indonesia; that he went from being president of the Harvard Law Review to the gritty and often thankless work of community organizing in Chicago; that, at 46, he would be the first post-baby-boom president”. He has engaged in "a search for identity" and taken "a roots pilgrimage to Kenya,"These comments lead me to investigate the extent of Obama’s experience with foreign cultures. Obviously, orchestrated political visits do not always contribute much to knowledge of cultural differences. However, since 2005 Obama seems to have visited the following countries: Moscow, Kiev, Baku, Azerbaijan, Qatar, Kuwait, Iraq, Jordan, Israel, South Africa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Djibouti, and Chad.I am somewhat surprised to see that he has not been to Europe or to Latin America. It seems to me that in order to be a leader on today's world stage one would need the robust quality of "global effectiveness" which unfortunately, is so often lacking in our political leaders.

Global Mindset as New Managerial Paradigm

2008-07-22T12:12:00.003-04:00

As our Presidential candidates in the US undertake international travel to convince us of their global understanding, I came across a useful description of a global mindset at the William F. Glavin Center for Global Management at Babson College.

"the global mindset is defined as a state of mind able to understand a business, an industry sector, or a particular market on a global basis. The executive with a global mindset has the ability to see across multiple territories and focuses on commonalities across many markets rather than emphasizing the differences among countries. Companies which find themselves engulfed by extensive global pressures will need to acquire a large pool of executives who possess a global mindset and who are able to view business opportunities from a global perspective. Part of this global mindset is an entire set of new and different analytical tools that would not be needed by the previous domestic or multinational mindset. New strategies, resulting from responding to new market opportunities, are another part of this toolkit. This global perspective differs substantially from the more traditional single-country, or domestic, and multinational perspective so much more typical today".

The description is from: "Managing with a Global Mindset" by Jean-Pierre Jeannet.

Busiess Judgment

2008-02-26T12:13:00.003-05:00

One of the by-products of cultural awareness is an improvement in our ability to make sound judgements. When we become aware of the biases that sway us and realize that they are derived from our cultural background, our language and our nationality we are well on the way to being culturally aware. The best way to overcome our cultural biases is to travel, to stay for an extended period in another country and to learn another language. The more we are exposed to different points of view the more able we will be to :judge" right from wrong. Indeed, we may learn that culture presents us with more "dilemmas" than "problems." Dilemmas need to be reconciled, not resolved.
The ability to make good judgments yields high returns in global business. It is a vital ability which is not necessarily learned in business school. A good marketer needs to be able to consider things from the perspective of other people. So too, global managers need to be able to make judgements through the eyes of other people and their cultures.

Marketing in Asia

2008-01-10T10:30:00.000-05:00

Here is an insight on brand mindset gleaned from Knowledge@Wharton: Western companies looking to do business in Asia, especially in China, don't always confront a homogenous market, and the ways that consumers make decisions about what to buy aren't always predictable, according to a group of marketing experts who spoke at the 2007 Wharton Asia Business Forum. Like developed-world consumers, many urban Chinese people are technologically savvy and comfortable seeking product information on the web. But unlike them, they don't typically show brand loyalty and are often more motivated by price than perceptions of product quality or prestige.

Consumers in China and other fast-developing Asian countries tend to be less attracted to luxury brands than their Western counterparts. Partly, that's simply a matter of economics. Although many of them are experiencing a significant rise in their standard of living, they are still relatively poor compared with people in the developed world.

2008-01-03T15:25:00.000-05:00

Here is an interesting note on culture from Dvorak Uncensored:

As part of efforts to transform Abu Dhabi into the cultural lodestone of the Middle East and expand libraries there, the emirate’s Authority for Culture and Heritage has chosen the first 100 books to be translated into Arabic under a new program.

Among them are Alan Greenspan’s memoir, “The Age of Turbulence,” John Maynard Keynes’s “General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money,” and Milton Friedman’s “Capitalism and Freedom.” The goal is to translate 100 titles every year.

The authority, known as Adach, has formed a nonprofit organization called Kalima, which is Arabic for “word,” to undertake the translations and expand Arabic-language publishing in the United Arab Emirates…

The first 100 titles draw from history, science and fiction; Kalima is still securing the rights to most of them. More than half were originally written in English, and they include a Pulitzer Prize winner, “The Looming Tower” by Lawrence Wright, which examines the origins of Al Qaeda, as well as the best-seller, “The Kite Runner,” by Khaled Hosseini. Classics in the first group of books to be translated include Milton’s “Paradise Regained.” A number of works by Jewish writers are on the list, including “Collected Stories” by the Nobel Prize recipient Isaac Bashevis Singer…

“Good books are like penicillin,” said Jumaa Abdulla Alqubaisi. “They fight against hate, segregation and misunderstanding.”

2007-12-18T15:26:00.000-05:00

Here is an interesting quote from"The Corner Office":

"News that Vikram Pandit will be the new chief executive officer of Citigroup, joining other Indians such as Pepsi’s Indra Nooyi (a woman) at the top of major U.S. corporations, comes at the same time that we learn that Tata Motors may buy Jaguar from Ford Motor. The Indians are on the move in several important respects and they clearly are ahead of their Chinese, Brazilian, and Russian counterparts, all members of the so-called BRIC club (Brazil, Russia, India and China.)"

My perspective on a special advantage Indians may have in a global economy relates to Emotional Intelligence: I think many Indians have is a more highly developed emotional intelligence -- derived, perhaps, from the Hindu tradition that intelligence is the gift of the mother goddess. This tradition links to Emotional Intelligence qualities such as empathy, patience, compassion, and nurturing. These skills are vital to compete successfully in a global economy and very undervalued in much of our Western world. Antoine de Saint-Exupery says (in "The Little Prince") “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.” He could have been from India!

Do You Have Emotional Intelligence?

2007-12-17T16:52:00.000-05:00

I agree with Geoffery James that success in life is related to the ability to "sell" - and "selling" is related to cognitive and emotional intelligence. The challenge is this: do intelligence tests actually measure "contemporary" intelligence?

We can all learn to do better at test taking - but that does not mean we are "more" intelligent. The problem, it seems to me, relates to test design. Emotional Intelligence is an aspect that was not measured by standard intelligence tests - does that make it a "new" intelligence or simply one that we did not know how to measure? There is a strong school of thought that suggests we cannot "improve" our EQ (Mayers, Salovey). But that doesn't mean that we cannot improve our emotional abilities and function "better". I may have no sense of direction, but I can learn to use a GPS system and find my way around.. Geoffey quotes an excellent article from the New Yorker which makes the point that current thinking among IQ experts is that even IQ can change, often substantially, over time, The New Yorker magazine.

Human Capital and the Value of Institutions

2007-12-17T13:08:00.000-05:00

A comment by Peter Gordon at USC on "human capital" caught my eye because of the reference to Mexico. Gordon is quoting from a WSJ article by Ron Bailey commenting on a World Bank study entitled "Where is the Wealth of Nations?" Here is the quote:

"A Mexican migrant to the U.S. is five times more productive than one who stays home. Why is that?

The answer is not the obvious one: This country has more machinery or tools or natural resources. Instead, according to some remarkable but largely ignored research -- by the World Bank, of all places -- it is because the average American has access to over $418,000 in intangible wealth, while the stay-at-home Mexican's intangible wealth is just $34,000.

But what is intangible wealth, and how on earth is it measured? And what does it mean for the world's people -- poor and rich? That's where the story gets even more interesting.

Two years ago the World Bank's environmental economics department set out to assess the relative contributions of various kinds of capital to economic development. Its study, "Where is the Wealth of Nations?: measuring Capital for the 21st Century," began by defining natural capital as the sum of nonrenewable resources (including oil, natural gas, coal and mineral
resources), cropland, pasture land, forested areas and protected areas. Produced, or built, capital is what many of us think of when we think of capital: the sum of machinery, equipment, and structures (including infrastructure) and urban land.

But once the value of all these are added up, the economists found something big was still missing: the vast majority of world's wealth! If one simply adds up the current value of a country's natural resources and produced, or built, capital, there's no way that can account for that country's level of income.

The rest is the result of "intangible" factors -- such as the trust among people in a society, an efficient judicial system, clear property rights and effective government. All this intangible capital also boosts the productivity of labor and results in higher total wealth. In fact, the World
Bank finds, "Human capital and the value of institutions (as measured by rule of law) constitute the largest share of wealth in virtually all countries."

The world does not revolve around the United States

2007-12-17T12:21:00.000-05:00

Michael Milken, the junk bond billionaire turned philanthropist is quoted as saying:
"Today the strength of the world's economy is helping America and the United States, and I think that will soften the blow of our downturn in housing,'' Then he makes a comment relative to global mindset:``We have to realize, similar to the time of Galileo, that the whole world is not necessarily revolving around the United States and the amazing story of America.'' Milken, chairman of the Milken Institute, an independent economic think tank based in Santa Monica, California goes on to mention the importance of human capital: "The most important asset and the largest asset category in the United States or any country is human capital,'' . "The cure of cancer is worth $45 trillion to the U.S. economy. The elimination of heart disease as a cause of suffering and death is worth almost $50 trillion to the U.S. economy. The solution to those two problems far outweighs any other economic discussion which we could have today.''

International Customers

2007-12-11T10:21:00.000-05:00

I saw a BNET blog this morning written by Geoffery James. He quotes a list from sales guru Jerry Acuff called “13 fundamental facts about human beings (especially customers).” Geoffery suggests that his edited list pretty much contains everything that you need to know in order to be successful at sales, at least when it comes to customer relationships. I completely agree -and because personal relationships are so important with international customers I have edited the list somewhat and pass it on to you.

International Customers want to feel that they’re important.
International Customers want to feel and be appreciated.
International Customers are interested in you - in most of the world, some personal relationship is the basis for a sale.
International Customers want the same two things in life as you: success and happiness.
International Customers want you to truly listen.
International Customers want to know that you appreciate and respect their culture.
International Customers will only connect if they feel valued by you.
International Customers buy emotionally and defend both logically and emotionally.
International Customers’ attention span is very short, most especially when you are not on their cultural wavelength.
International Customers with common interests have natural rapport.
International Customers want to feel and be understood.
International Customers are drawn to those who show genuine interest in them as persons.
International Customers love to teach you things they know.
International Customers want to associate with others who can help.

Do you have a global mindset?

2007-12-10T18:56:00.000-05:00

Having a global mindset means the ability to scan the world from a broad perspective; always looking for unexpected trends and opportunities that may constitute a threat or an opportunity to achieve personal, professional or organizational objectives.

A global mindset is described by the Global Entrepreneurship Institute as a way of being rather than a set of skills. It is an orientation and a state of mind able to understand a product, a business, an industry sector, or a particular market, on a global basis. The executive with a global mindset has the ability to see across multiple territories, focusing on “commonalties across many markets.”

Over 63,000 or 77 percent of all the companies involved in exporting from the United States had fewer than 100 employees. A global entrepreneur seeks out and conducts new and innovative business activities across national borders. These activities may consist of exporting, licensing, opening a new sales office, or acquiring another venture.

Cultural differences more difficult to spot

2007-12-05T09:32:00.000-05:00

The phenomenon of globalization can lead us to minimize cultural differences or even to deny that they exist at all. Our ethnocentrism (focusing on our own culture) makes us see the world as we want to see and not as it truly is. As a result, we miss the plural, complex and varied dimensions of the world that we live and work in.
As a result, expatriates and their local associates at host destinations underestimate the need for cross-cultural training and expatriate coaching. Cultural differences in a global world are more difficult to detect. When we understand and appreciate the need to understand cultural differences we have already made a giant step on the road to cultural awareness. The challenge is to be willing to accept that training may be necessary when we don't even understand that there is a problem.

A "Global Perspective" to make you smile

2007-10-18T11:57:00.000-04:00

Having a global mindset and being willing to embrace cultures different to one's own go hand in hand. Take a look at this cockatoo's take on embracing a culture different to his own. Tell me if it doesn't make you smile!
My company does not train dancing cockatoos, but we do coach executives and teams on crossing cultures!

Innovation, characteristic of a global mindset

2007-10-16T10:29:00.000-04:00

As I write, I am waiting for the UPS man in his brown truck to show up soon. I am looking forward to receiving a package of new software that I ordered a few days ago. Using the UPS tracking site, I know everywhere my package has been on its long trip from California.

Sometimes we think of innovation in terms of breakthrough designs like Apple’s iPod and iPhone. But some of the best business innovations involve seeing new ways to serve customers with resources that are already there. While we need a global perspective to scout the world for new ideas, sometimes the best solutions may be right under our noses.

Consider the case of UPS. They used to rely on human engineering rather than employing extensive technology. In the old scheme of things, it cost $2 per call to track packages using an 800 number. In December 2006, they handled 130 million package tracking requests online at a cost of 1 cent each! UPS zeroed in on a basic capability of the Web - the ability to track packages from sender to receiver online. Their innovation allows them to provide better service at a much lower cost. The value added for the customer is that a scheduled delivery can be intercepted and re-routed if the customer so desires. Plus, the customer knows exactly where the package is during the delivery process.

Who exactly figured out the new system at UPS? I don’t know. But my guess is that it came from an individual or team that was thinking “outside of the box”, one of the characteristics of using a “global mindset”.

Keogh & Associates Consulting , LLC has many services to help your company compete by developing a global mindset.

2007-10-10T12:58:00.000-04:00

An interesting story in today's business news says Taco Bell is opening restaurants in Mexico. By changing the branding strategy – “Taco Bell is something else” – the company will attempt to distance itself from comparison to Mexico's taquerias. Taquerias sell traditional corn tortillas stuffed with an endless variety of fillings, from spicy beef to corn fungus and cow eyes. Taco Bell plans on selling the same menu items as in the United States. It's like bringing ice to the Arctic,” complained pop culture historian Carlos Monsivais.

But because Taco Bell's version of “Mexican food” is so unrecognizable to Mexicans, it is being promoted there as American fast food. That's a change, since Taco Bell uses Mexican themes in the US to sell how “authentically Mexican” it is.
One of the company’s many slogans will work in both countries — “Make a run for the border.”

“Taco Bell wants to take advantage of the perception that if something comes from the United States, it tastes better, that a country that has been Americanized is willing to Americanize food that is central to its cuisine,” Carlos Monsivais said. “It is an absurd idea, and given that it's so absurd, it may just be successful in upper-class areas.”

Carlos Monsiváis is Mexico's leading cultural critic, and Mexico City's greatest living chronicler. He has written extensively and in evocative journalistic detail about Mexican history, culture and politics. He was born May 4, 1938, in Mexico City, and studied philosophy, economics and literature at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.

While there is a multitude of Starbucks outlets in Mexico, they are mainly in wealthier neighborhoods. Taco Bell is aiming at a different demographic – opening in the solidly middle-class Monterrey suburb of Apodaca, an area where residents may not have traveled to the United States.

“We want to appeal to consumers who haven't tried Taco Bell, for whom this would be their first experience with Taco Bell,” said Javier Rancano, the company's director in Mexico.

While some "defenders" of Mexican culture see the chain's re-entry to Mexico as a crowning insult to a society already overrun by U.S. chains from Starbucks and Subway to Kentucky Fried Chicken, I applaud the initiative because is shows that Yum Brands Inc., the owner of the Taco Bell franchise is operating with a global mindset and is willing to cross cultures.

Manging ambiguity

2007-10-09T15:35:00.000-04:00

Growing multinationals, whether they are based in the United States, India or elsewhere, all face a common problem: developing leaders who can manage global enterprises and take advantage of strategic opportunities. But do global leaders require a set of skills entirely different from those needed by their domestic counterparts? Yes they do!

Global Leaders need to develop is a consistent set of attitudes. This set includes curiosity, flexibility, willing to take risks, tolerance for ambiguity, open-mindedness, non-judgmental, openness to change, integrity, and optimism.

The reason that a Global Leader needs special characteristics is because doing business globally is fraught with uncertainty. This sense of never being fully "certain", is amplified by cultural differences. Of the characteristics that I have just mentioned, I think that the ability to tolerate ambiguity is vital.

In order to be able to develop tolerance for ambiguity Global Leaders need to "learn how to learn" in new situations. This critical skill is less valued in a purely "domestic" environment. A Global Leader has to be able to function successfully in new and unfamiliar situations and must know how to integrate this new understanding with existing skills and knowledge.

The Global Leader knows that he or she does not have al the answers. But the Global Leader knows how to find the answers, leveraging the knowledge of his collaborators. Line managers are the ones who most especially need to be attuned to learning to learn across different cultual environments

Different skills are needed for CEOs and top managers vs. line managers. It comes down to a difference between corporate strategy and business strategy. The leadership at the top is more responsible for managing the portfolio and doing due diligence, and for weighing whether it is better to acquire a firm or develop a strategic alliance. The line managers in businesses or SBUs are concerned with how to compete, how to overcome cultural differences and respond to local tastes, and how to integrate key functions or processes within the business to achieve local success.

Keogh & Associates Consulting , LLC has many services to help your company compete by developing a global mindset.

A Global Mindset creates business opportunites

2007-10-04T09:32:00.000-04:00

A comment by Dr. Cindy Corritore at Creighton University , relative to "Global Mindset", suggests a link between having a global mindset with the ability to innovate as a global entrepreneur. In the United States, the manufacturing sector is hard put to compete with other international competition. It costs us too much. This means that in order to be competitive in global markets we have to figure out new areas to be creative and to innovate. Entrepreneurs in India have this well figured out and they profit by providing low cost manufacturing and service centers. In order to do this they had to be thinking “globally”, they were aware of what was going on in our world. Their mindset was that of a “global entrepreneur”

The Japanese had already showed us how to make money by fine-tuning and improving products that they did not invent. I recently read an idea on how to make lots of money, not by launching a brand-new product or service but rather by adapting and improving a service or process that already exists.

An example is a company in Utah called “reminderband.com” They jumped on the “livestrong” wristband craze started by Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong. Prior to their innovation, the silicone wristband industry was driven by bulk orders of 10,000 or more bands which took weeks to manufacture and ship. Reminderband saw a niche in the custom wristband market that they could exploit if they could develop a way to cost effectively produce low quantities of custom silicone wristbands. Thanks to their ability to think globally, through their contacts they located a factory in Hong Kong to produce custom bands at a much lower cost. The company has prospered and is now known for delivering an excellent custom-made product to the customer’s doorstep in just days. Customers can order as few as 10 bands and have them in a matter of days. This is a good example of how the ability to think globally produces profits and keeps American companies in business.

Keogh & Associates Consulting , LLC has many services to help your company compete by developing a global mindset.

A Global Mindset needs "Global" words

2007-10-01T12:57:00.000-04:00

My title may be a little misleading - but not by much. In order to convey our ideas in the global workplace, we need to be able to communicate in more than one language. Have you noticed the Google translation buttons to the right of the column on this blog, with my posts (just below my goofy photograph? If you cut and paste a few sentences from a post, the electronic translator will - most times - deliver an instantaneous and fairly acceptable translation! Of course you can use these translators to read and to publish your comments on foreign language web-sites and blogs.

If you are at all like me, you will often run in to technical business words that you may find difficult to translate to other languages because they are often not found in commercial dictionaries. The Human Resources profession uses many such technical terms. I've just discovered a pretty neat web site, the "first European Human Resources lexicon". It is hosted by ADP a leading provider of Human Resources outsourcing in Europe. I think you will find it very useful when you manage terms like "return on investment", "human resources policy" or "relocation allowance" . If you check my web-site on services and keynote presentations related to human capital, you'll see that I write in English and Spanish on topics related to cross-cultural training, multicultural teams and emotional intelligence. The human resources lexicon provided by ADP should make my task easier and hopefully do a better job of translating technical terms on the Spanish language version of our site.

Is Culture Limited to Humans?

2007-09-27T14:22:00.000-04:00


			Non-human culture? This orangutan mother is using a specially prepared stick to "fish out" food from a crevice. She learned this skill and is now teaching it to her child who is hanging on her shoulder and intently watching.

Here is an interesting perspective from Dr. Dennis O' Neill at the Behavioral sciences Department, Palomar College, San Marcos, California:
"There is a difference of opinion in the behavioral sciences about whether or not we are the only animal that creates and uses culture. The answer to this question depends on how narrow culture is defined. If it is used broadly to refer to a complex of learned behavior patterns, then it is clear that we are not alone in creating and using culture. Many other animal species teach their young what they themselves learned in order to survive. This is especially true of the chimpanzees and other relatively intelligent apes and monkeys. Wild chimpanzee mothers typically teach their children about several hundred food and medicinal plants. Their children also have to learn about the dominance hierarchy and the social rules within their communities. As males become teenagers, they acquire hunting skills from adults. Females have to learn how to nurse and care for their babies. Chimpanzees even have to learn such basic skills as how to perform sexual intercourse. This knowledge is not hardwired into their brains at birth. They are all learned patterns of behavior just as they are for humans".

There you have it! Meanwhile, check Keogh & Associates Consulting, LLC for more on culture related topics .

Definitions of Culture

2007-09-27T14:06:00.000-04:00

One definition, used by the CARLA project at the University of Minnesota states that, for the purposes of their Intercultural Studies Project, culture is defined as the shared patterns of behaviors and interactions, cognitive constructs, and affective understanding that are learned through a process of socialization. These shared patterns identify the members of a culture group while also distinguishing those of another group. Read more here to explore other definitions of culture.

At Keogh & Associates Consulting, LLC, we define culture as the "shared values, beliefs and assumptions of a group that result in a shared, characteristic behavior"

Empires of the Mind

2007-09-27T11:10:00.000-04:00

Winston Churchill once observed that “The empires of the future will be the empires of the mind.” I have been suggesting that we are already well into a new era in which traditional concerns over the balance of power are being supplemented by anxieties over the balance of brains.

Due to the growing knowledge-intensive and people-intensive nature of economic activity, the war for talent is heating up. As the battle for brainpower goes global, its repercussions will undoubtedly impact the balance of power between companies, workers, and governments as well as the nature of future market equilibriums. Read more on "global mindset" especially with regard to the Pacific Rim economies.

In the "empires of the future", the Culture Dividend will play a large role.

The Global Mindset as a New Managerial Paradigm

2007-09-27T10:42:00.000-04:00

Here is a good summary of why a global mindset is important for today's manager. It is from the Babson College website and refers to the book "Managing with a Global Mindset" by Jean-Pierre Jeannet.

Managers can be categorized into different type of mandates, ranging from domestic to international, regional, and multi-domestic. Each of these mindsets represents a particular point of view and is the result of different type of experiences. For the new emerging competition in the globalizing economy, the old mindsets will not suffice and a global mind will become necessary. But first, let us look at how managerial mindsets progressed over time.

The domestic mindset is characterized by a reliance on one market as the key reference and is the mindset most managers are born with. Domestic mindsets rely on a single reference point, their domestic markets, for judgments. For successful managers, who need to act in a globalizing economy, working with a domestic mindset tends to limit the point of view.

Representing the next level up is the international mindset characterized by one or few experiences in another country. The international mindset might come with different levels of international experience, ranging from casual international exposure through travel all the way to extensive foreign stay resulting in a capacity to integrate in a foreign country or environment. The international mindset, with a limited, but in-depth exposure, is, however, not identical to the more extensive global mindset.

A manager with extensive regional experience, such as throughout Latin America, or across Europe, may possess a regional mindset. The regional mindset is of interest because it includes experiences across a score of countries. Still further up the scale is the multinational mindset typical of executives who have been on successive international assignments in different countries. Although representing the backbone of the executive pool of many of our largest multinational firms today, executives with multinational mindsets are still not necessarily possessing true global mindsets.

The global mindset is defined, for the purpose of the book, as a state of mind able to understand a business, an industry sector, or a particular market on a global basis. The executive with a global mindset has the ability to see across multiple territories and focuses on commonalities across many markets rather than emphasizing the differences among countries. Companies which find themselves engulfed by extensive global pressures will need to acquire a large pool of executives who possess a global mindset and who are able to view business opportunities from a global perspective. Part of this global mindset is an entire set of new and different analytical tools that would not be needed by the previous domestic or multinational mindset. New strategies, resulting from responding to new market opportunities, are another part of this toolkit.

This global perspective differs substantially from the more traditional single-country, or domestic, and multinational perspective so much more typical today.

McArthur's Rant

2007-09-26T09:52:00.000-04:00

UK based Scott McArthur brings us an interesting point of view in his comment to yesterday's posting. He suggests that "we see with our brains not with our eyes". The filtering of what we see is "managed" by our brain and influenced as I described yesterday. Then Scott makes an intriguing connection with the law of attraction and the underlying principle. "If you look for something you might just find it!" Great point, thank you, Scott. http://mcarthursrant.blogspot.com

This brings to mind a case that I read about not too long ago which adds another twist; I believe that the location was Wales. A man lost his sight because of a fall. However, when this blind man was shown faces depicting strong emotions he was able to identify the correct emotion, displayed on the face, with an accuracy beyond statistical probability. The researchers suggest that even though his eyes do not transmit "pictures" to his brain - hence his blindness -, the path to his amygdala is still intact. The amygdala is a small, walnut shaped gland in the brain, that perceives emotions. The blind man is "seeing" emotions, with his brain. This relates to the topic of "emotional intelligence" which I believe is the "new" vital skill for thriving and surviving in our "global" environment. As I blog along, I'll get into the topic which, for me, is intrinsically related to having a global mindset.

Culture and "Mindset"

2007-09-25T10:41:00.000-04:00

“Global Mindset” is something that we sometimes hear about and sometimes talk about. It seems like the concept might be interesting and relevant for our work and interpersonal connections now that we live in an environment that is becoming more “global” by the minute. “Global” has pretty obvious connotations – but what do we mean by “Mindset”?

The term has come to refer to how people and organizations develop a “filter” which helps them make sense of the world with which they interact. Without a filter, we would be overwhelmed by the amount, the diversity, the complexity and the ambiguity of the vast amount of information which we have to deal with every day. So, a “mindset” is a “cognitive filter”. How is it developed?

Our “cognitive filters” are the result of our experience, our society, our history. These filters help us organize and interpret the information that comes to us. If the information fits nicely into our filter, it reinforces our mindset. If we lived in an isolated environment, with little access to new information we would have a fairly limited mindset which, over time, could become quite “rigid” in order to protect our comfort zone. What would happen if we were to be bombarded with new novel information and experiences which did not fit comfortably into our filter – mindset?

Our mindset influences whether we accept or reject the new information! If we are not aware of our mindset and how it developed in our subconscious we run the risk of having a very rigid mindset - and of not being open to change and growth. So, I believe that our "mindset" is both a product of our culture and, at the same time, it is shaping our openness to new experiences and ways of thinking. A big first step on the road to developing a truly "global mindset" is becoming aware of our current mindset, our "cognitive filtration system"

Culture and Hell

2007-09-24T16:56:00.001-04:00

Hell is where the Police are German,
The chefs, British,
The Mechanics, French,
The Lovers, Swiss,
And it's all organized by the Italians!

Heaven and Culture

2007-09-24T16:54:00.001-04:00

Heaven is where the Police are British
The Chefs are Italian,
The Mechanics are German,
The Lovers are French (I'd say Irish!),
And it's all organized by the Swiss

Everything we say is influenced by our culture

2007-09-21T17:31:00.000-04:00

Culture totally affects the way we communicate, even though, more often than not, as Edgar T Hall the noted anthropologist points out, it is hidden. We operate with a set of mostly invisible beliefs, values, and assumptions that become apparent to other people through our behavior. In the much used “iceberg model” of culture, “behavior” is what we see as the tip of the iceberg protruding above the water. Below the water, hidden, lie the “deep drivers” of our culture – what we believe value and take for granted as a group. These hidden drivers shape the behavior of a group which results in a “characteristic behavior”. To understand other cultures, we need to understand the values, beliefs and assumptions that drive our own “taken for granted” culture. If were ambassadors to a totally alien culture, how would we explain the values, beliefs and assumptions that shape our behavior as a group? More on culture and how it affects us....

One way to acquire a broader view of world events is to check out "World News" . A good place to start is the BBC, CNN International, International News and Newspapers online and etc. To jump start your quest, browse the up-to-date world news clips at the bottom of this blog!

Generational Differences

2007-09-20T15:32:00.000-04:00

Generational differences need to be added to the cultural mix. Each one has its own “hidden drivers” of deep culture.

The Baby Boomers and Generation Xers, got their experience in command and control type organizations. For them (me!), working hard, long hours and putting the business first is how they learned to succeed by creating value. The newer generations are different. For them, part of their “taken for granted” culture is technology. They also grew up with far more personal independence, in a more overtly global environment where they focus more on output than input. Just like the long summer vacations of the Europeans, the new Generations are actually living what my generation only dreamed of! They want to be measured on the quality of their work rather than the hours they put in or their prowess on the corporate ladder. They want to be mentored, not talked down to. When it comes to working, managing or selling across the generational divides, cross-cultural communication skills will pay big dividends. This is true, whether we run a small business, manage HR for a multinational or we are involved in direct sales in our local market.

According to the US Census Bureau, 2000, racial and ethnic diversity is increasing:

Baby boomers: White (74%), Hispanic (10%) African/American (11%)
Mature: White (81%), Hispanic (6%) African/American (9%)
Gen X: White (66%), Hispanic (14%) African/American (14%)

Sense of Self

2007-09-19T17:50:00.000-04:00

Sense of self Is a short, entertaining video. It certainly relates to Global Mindset! It's fun and well worth a look. I found it at Globalmindshift.org

The author of the video, Kenji Williams, is an award winning filmmaker, electronic music producer, theatrical show director, and classically trained violinist. Combining unique skills in film and music, Williams has earned international film awards from the CSC to Sundance. He is the composer and producer of 6 music albums, director of 15 films and music videos, 3 feature length projects, and 2 multimedia theatrical live shows. Williams is internationally respected for pushing the boundaries of audio visual art and performance.

Survival of the fittest

2007-09-19T10:31:00.000-04:00

The globalization of business through the advances in technology is parallel to a whole new world of personal interconnectedness. The new interpersonal connectedness has come about through cheap air travel, T.V., global media, the internet, Voip, Skype, Blogging, Instant Messaging, Podcasts, Wikis, and etc. Little by little it seems that our micro-cultures (family, education, work, church, fashion, nation, sense of “what is cool”) are being slowly absorbed into a more diffuse global macro-culture. The pace of change is accelerating; it’s difficult and, sometimes, unsettling, to constantly have to adjust and adapt. It’s useful to remind ourselves that ‘survival of the fittest’ is all about our ability to adapt. So we don’t have too much choice.
To remain – or become - a productive and successful contributor in the global environment in which we now live and breathe means that we need updated skills to be able to understand the global phenomenon in terms of how we communicate with those who at first blush seem so different. We get to make choices. And, of course, all choices have consequences for better or worse. Read more...

Specific challenges for international HR

2007-09-18T11:36:00.000-04:00

Global organizations are focused on human capital issues. There seems to be an almost global consensus that people issues are vital to company success. As the "war for talent" intensifies, the acceptance of the importance of human capital will continue to grow. Among the people challenges, there is a broad consensus, across international regions, on what the important challenges are. They include:

The development of "global" leaders
The creation of a high-performance global corporate culture & high-performing teams
Managing talent (recruitment, retention, training, compensation & incentives)

If HR professionals are to be seen to play a crucial role in strategy and operational results they need to pick up the gauntlet on these people issues and act as "functional leaders". This means more time spent focusing on the business drivers and less on HR "programs and services". Adopting the role of global, functional leadership is the great opportunity for HR professionals. They need to be perceived as being totally committed to improving the business - which they must understand as well as any other leader - by their expertise in "people issues". For many years now, I have believed that the globalization of business presents an incredible opportunity to the HR profession. To succeed they absolutely need a "global mindset". See "Strategic Opportunity for HR Professionals"

China, culture and the "war for talent"

2007-09-17T12:52:00.000-04:00

A comment to an earlier post suggests that “The small investment up front to embrace the dynamics of other societies is key to successful global operations”. I appreciate the use of the word “investment” in the context of training and global mindset development. So often “global” initiatives are canned because of the myopic way in which they are presented and perceived as “costs”. Not a bad example of the lack of a global mindset!

Another example comes to mind: the “war for talent”. Despite common misunderstandings, the war for talent is raging in China. How do I attract and retain the best and the brightest in a "group" oriented society which is quite contrary to the Western cultural focus on the "individual"? Will special benefits Western style benefits - like hiring bonuses or increased individual compensation - work in the Chinese cultural context? The generic answer is “no”, or, at least, not as well as in cultures that favor the individual as opposed to the group.

My experience in the China marketplace (mostly Shanghai) suggests the need for more innovative approaches. The Chinese are brought up to expect equal treatment in all aspects of their lives (a cultural expectation reinforced by their experience of Communism). This is less of a factor in hiring the younger generations. Their experience of capitalism, in the big cities, has encouraged them to be more open to career competition and individual rewards. However, because deep culture changes exceedingly slowly, a culturally savvy recruitment program must ensure that the reward systems must be clearly communicated and be perceived as being fair. Otherwise the program will be sabotaged by jealousy and feelings of being treated unjustly between the workforce and the new recruits.

To win the war for talent in China requires an educated global mindset in the corporate leadership. Otherwise, how do they design and promote a culturally effective hiring program? How do they communicate the program elements so that they won’t run in to cultural roadblocks? A relatively small investment in cross-cultural development will yield measurable results on ROI… saving untold avoidable “costs” caused by ethnocentric approaches. And the "war for talent" is just one example...

Leadership & Culture

2007-09-12T12:16:00.000-04:00

Most experts are agreed that a key component of leadership is “strategic thinking,” which, of course, needs to be complemented by the ability to carry out or implement the strategy. A second frequently cited skill is “vision,” which is considered to be a critical leadership capacity. So, we have two components; the first related to cognitive capacity, and the second related to what we now know to be “emotional intelligence”. We also need to consider an international variable: does our culture affect our leadership style?

By culture I mean the characteristic behavior, which defines a group of people and is the result of their sharing the same set of values, beliefs and assumptions. Of course, we must remember that our shared values, beliefs and assumptions are influenced by the history, religion and geography of where we grew up. I am from Ireland, a relatively small island with a damp climate and a long history where politics and religion have been intertwined. In contrast, a Mexican is from a region in the new world, bordered on the north by the most affluent country in the world and to the south by the countries of Central America. Mexican culture is shaped by a range of climates and by a long history including pre-Hispanic civilizations, Spanish domination and the resulting mixture that is contemporary Mexico.

Obviously what we each value - Irish and Mexican - shapes our respective behavior. The forces of history, religion and geography clearly play a large role in determining what our values and beliefs are as a people. Our educational systems serve to reinforce our basic values and resulting culture. “Deep” culture does not change quickly, and people who have not had the opportunity to live outside their national culture are very often unaware of the nature of cultural differences. So how exactly does culture affect leadership?

Culture influences our notion of leadership and helps determine whether the style is participative or autocratic. In countries like Japan, Holland and Scandinavia, leadership style involves consensus. Some Latin and Anglo Saxon countries tend to favor a more charismatic style of leader. Other countries – Russia and Saudi Arabia are good examples – tend to favor a style based on centralized decision making. Hence, perhaps the first attribute of a “global leader” (in addition to commonly accepted notions of what makes a leader) is a keen understanding and deep respect for cultural differences.

Global Leaders & Ethical Dilemmas

2007-09-10T08:50:00.000-04:00

In the practical world of international business, the ability to understand and respect differences is necessarily tied to the ability to reconcile the ethical dilemmas that can result from cultural differences. Business problems can be solved. Dilemmas, on the other hand, need to be reconciled. As long as we manufacture in low wage environments and sell the resulting products in high wage markets, we will be faced with culturally derived ethical dilemmas. So, can one be a global leader without knowing all the answers to cultural dilemmas?

A leader who truly understands and respects the dynamics of cultural differences will quickly become aware that a “global leader” knows – and accepts – that he or she does not have all the answers. This new breed of leader must know how to learn from this or her associates – and they must “learn to learn” in different cultural environments. Each day, the global leader has to ask: Where am I today? Who am I talking to? How can I be most effective here? Getting the right answers to these questions requires a well-honed ability to pick up on all the clues offered by the new international environment. Read more...

Being able to solve problems is not enough anymore

2007-09-09T16:07:00.000-04:00

Culture is not something that we think about analytically. As Americans, living in a multicultural society, we are particularly prone to this strategic error. In our business model, managers are expected to solve problems - there is usually a “right” way and a “wrong” way. In the international arena our managers, more often than not, will be required to solve “dilemmas”. “Dilemmas” result when the nuances of different cultural approaches may mean that what is “right” in my culture may not be appropriate in my host’s culture. Global managers need to be taught how to “reconcile” dilemmas - how to develop mutually agreeable solutions based, more often than not, on interpersonal trust and respect for cultural differences. When we reconcile dilemmas we come up with a new solution resulting from the synergy of divergent viewpoints. The power of the new approach may amaze us. Read more...

Strategic opportunity for HR professionals

2007-09-07T11:08:00.000-04:00

It is almost impossible for employees to cultivate a global mindset - or for the organization’s leaders to acquire global skills - unless the culture of the organization itself is imbued with global effectiveness thinking, skills and behaviors.

At a time when business process outsourcing should be liberating us to focus on strategic rather than tactical issues, it is good to remind ourselves that developing organizational global effectiveness may be one of the most important contributions that HR professionals can make, if we are to have, or retain, a “seat at the table” in shaping corporate strategy.

Organizations devoid of a global way of thinking will not fare well in the international arena. Because human capital is the defining competitive differentiator of most organizations, HR's commitment to the task of attracting, retaining and managing the best talent available is its major strategic challenge. Read more...

The "war for talent" and Global Mindset

2007-09-06T09:41:00.000-04:00

Will individuals who have developed global understanding and cultural competencies thrive in an organization that does not possess a "global mindset"? Will they stay with that organization? Will they help their organization win the "war for talent" or will they move on to greener pastures?
Read more...

To achieve sustainable results, effective cross-cultural training should include on-going coaching

2007-09-06T09:36:00.000-04:00

Acquiring the competencies to be an effective cross-cultural business communicator is a “process”, not an “event”. We become internationalists by learning from our mistakes, by learning to be more accepting and flexible by acquiring a profound respect for the differences that separate us. Cross-cultural management coaching, delivered periodically by phone and e-mail, one-on-one, during the first months of the assignment, is the factor that will help ensure enduring success. On-going coaching from an experienced, knowledgeable and caring professional will help ensure that the cultural understanding, acquired in the class-room training, will become a transformational reality in the daily work life of the person being coached. Having the opportunity to serve as a coach to clients engaged in cross-border business, is an extremely rewarding aspect of my new life as a coach/consultant. It helps transform the training "event" into a life-changing "process".

If you agree that human capital is vital to organizational success and you are committed to developing a global mindset in your workforce, I would like to suggest you consider providing cross-cultural training which would incorporate some of the ideas that I've mentioned.

Specifically:

Define measurable learning goals
Incorporate specific modules to teach the emotional skills needed for cross-cultural effectiveness
Seek behavioral modification, if necessary (it usually is!)
Envisage cross-cultural training as a process rather than an isolated event
Identify and assess candidates who would benefit from executive coaching

Cultural adaptation is a process

2007-09-05T10:38:00.000-04:00

Do we honestly think that a one or, at most, two day cultural training course is going to produce the behavioral changes that are necessary for genuine cross-cultural adaptation? Those going abroad will benefit from pre-departure training which will give them an overview of the new culture and help prepare them to deal with the challenging reality of “culture shock”. (“Culture shock”, by the way is something of a misnomer – a "shock", to my way of thinking, suggests an event which happens in a very reduced time-frame from which we recover quickly. What we mean by "culture shock" is a minor state of depression that can last up to 10 weeks, post arrival at the new location, and is prone to re-occurrence).

Post-arrival cultural training, when the brief “honeymoon” period is wearing down, is very necessary. To be truly relevant and useful, this cross-cultural training must deal with the aspects of emotional adjustment which are especially vital for the adaptation of the accompanying spouse. It is important to ensure that measurable outcomes are incorporated into the training curriculum and that the sojourners are given practical advice on setting up their “emotional” networks. I suggest that “emotional management” (in the “scientific” acceptance of the terms) is emerging as a major key to success in the global marketplace. Interestingly, we do not learn emotional intelligence from CD-ROMs or from books. We learn it from our mothers, from our teachers, coaches and (if we are very lucky) bosses. Cultural adjustment is more of a "process" than an "event". So, I think it is more cost efficient to offer pre-departure cultural training to candidates for expatriation and cross-cultural coaching once they have settled in at their new location. Read more...

Beyond cultural briefings

2007-09-04T17:52:00.000-04:00

Cultural briefings, consisting mostly of information “dumps” and pointers on etiquette, can be helpful for leisure travel but they are certainly not sufficient for cross-cultural business effectiveness. Having been privileged to live and work in six different countries, I am a firm believer that it is not enough to learn “facts” about other countries and cultures. We need to understand the “deeper” underlying culture.

Despite this, much of what goes by the name of cross-cultural training today is designed to provide cultural “information” to individuals who may be working with people from different cultures. In addition to the standard, factual information dump, training often includes a description of contrasting cultural “dimensions” (for instance: the US is described as an “individualistic” culture, where the individual reigns supreme vs. Mexico or Japan which are “group oriented” cultures). This can be a helpful and necessary way to acquire a cognitive understanding of the “other” culture but it can also lead to inaccurate and misleading stereotypes which do not help foster cultural acceptance.

Another important element is often overlooked in cultural training. Our ability to manage across cultures requires a substantial use of what we call “emotional intelligence”. We now have strong, empirical data which allows us to measure, describe and train emotional intelligence in ways that are meaningful for cross-cultural adaptation. Hence, in an economy as global as the one we live and work in, where we are constantly bombarded with factual and technical information, it is time to reevaluate how we prepare ourselves and our teams for vital cross-cultural business interaction. Read more...