“That’s a very American point of view”

I knew when I took my current gig in London working with our EMEA offices, that I had a dangerously American perspective on life and business. I’m frequently reminded of this in meetings when I say something overly optimistic, entrepreneurial or centered around the power of the individual (or just something incredibly ignorant). I’m not so arrogant to think that I’m always right or that my view point is the only one but I’m not overly apologetic about it either. My point of view is based on my experiences and are always open to interpretation and will most likely change as my experience changes. In fact, that’s one of the reasons I took this job. I knew that if I wanted to understand how business and social media work around the globe, I needed to gain a global perspective.

@Bryce Roberts has a post that stirred up some thoughts on the global nature of business today and how everything is shrinking. Not only is social technology bringing us together in ways never imagined before but people seem more mobile and willing to get out and fly across the country or to a different country for a meeting. I have made countless friends through social media all across the globe who I have never and may never meet. But on top of that I’ve had the opportunity to get out and meet new friends and explore new areas I never thought I would.

Over the last seven years I’ve worked really hard to gain the kind of business experience and social media experience I’d need to get ahead in my field. It’s for that same reason that I embarked on this adventure because I wanted first hand experience for what “global” meant. I don’t know that I still have the answer to that but I have a lot better idea and I also know that “global” today won’t be what “global” is tomorrow.

I realize that not everyone can live or work abroad so what should you do instead?

First off I’d say jump at a chance to work overseas if you get it. It’s worth it.

Get out and travel. You need to at least visit other countries. Ideally try and do some of this through work. Both because they’ll pay for it but because working and vacationing in another country are two different things.

Work with teams in other countries. My first global experience actually came when I was at HP and I had the opportunity to work with a remote marketing team in India and the UK. Try and get some projects where you have to collaborate with people from different countries. You’ll learn a lot just with this.

Then I’d recommend the basics. Read a lot. It’s not perfect but it give you some good knowledge to work from. Here’s some recommendations:

Books: Winning in Emerging Markets: A Road Map for Strategy and Execution & The New Age of Innovation: Driving Cocreated Value Through Global Networks are both really good books that focus on emerging markets. I haven’t read any that deal with global business in general. Let me know if you have any recommendations.

Blogs: Silicon Allee | German Tech News in English, memeburn | tech, social media & startup news for emerging markets, MobileYouth — Youth marketing mobile culture, and TechCrunch EU are my current favorites, but I’m always looking for more. Let me know if you have any good suggestions.

Your job, on some level, is to understand your customer, partners, employees or competition. There are very few businesses that aren’t either selling to, or competing with customers or businesses in other countries. If I were you, I’d make it a goal in 2012 to learn more about your global markets.

BTW this all goes for my international readers who haven’t explored much beyond your region.Similar Posts: