Join the Global Elite (2013)

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Managing Your Professional rowth hbr ora

Managers wit h a cross cultura l perspective are in high de ma nd.

by Gregory C Unruh and Ángel abrera

, g

ou ve read about and admired them ,

V maybe met some of them. You ve

I certainly benefited from their work:

the growing

elite

of

global

business-

people who are helping to define today s

international commerce. They are creating

immense value for their companies and

themselves—and, in many cases, making

the world a better place.

The group includes top business lead-

ers such

as Carlos Ghosn,

the Brazilian-

Lebanese-French CEO of Japanese

automaker Nissan; Medtronic CEO Omar

Ishrak, a UK-educated Bangladeshi who

has worked in the United States for nearly

2

years; and

Bob

Dudley, the first Ameri-

can CEO of the British energy com pany

BP.

It also extends to lesser-known yet

increasingly infiuential managers such

as

Saad Abdul-Latif

the

CEO

of PepsiCo s

Asia, Middle

East

and Africa division, and

Lalit Ahuja, who facilitated American

retailer Target s establishment of

a

second

headquarters in India.

May 3 13 Harvard Business Review 135



EXPERIENCE

Most of

these leaders have

extensive

intemational experience, speak m ultiple

languages, and

can tap into

w orldwide

professional networks. But wha t really de-

fines them is their ability to create value by

helping their organizations adopt a global

perspective.

And

thanks to the dramaüc

growth of international business

in

recent

years, they

are in

high

demand. During

the

past three decades, the value of exports

across the world has increased from 2 tril-

lion to 18 trillion, and half of them now

come from emerging economies. In tum ,

the num ber of people working outside

their company headquarte rs in foreign

subsidiaries

has

rocketed from

25

million

to more than 81 million, including notable

shifts in the

C-suite.

As a consequence,

76% of executives surveyed by the United

Nations Global Compact say that it's

importan t for companies to develop global

leaders.

Our decade-long study of hundreds of

these leaders shows that, despite its name,

the global elite

is

not an exclusive group.

Any businessperson

willing to make a

serious effort can join its ranks by learning

to interact with and understand cultur-

ally diverse groups and organizations. Our

own stories are indicative: We've both

built global

careers,

but nothing in our

upbringing suggested that

we would.

Our

parents weren't multilingual

or

multicul-

tural, and they didn't move us around the

world as children. We became global by

spending substantial professional tim e

abroad and by connecting with people

whose backgrounds and opinions differ

wildly

from our own.

You

can't rely on your company to

expand your global horizons, though .

Only a

third of companies responding to

an American Management Association

survey in 2011 reported having programs

in global leadership developm ent. We

know from our own experiences and

those of the executives we've studied

that

a

do-it-yourself mind-set

is

key.

You

need to push for assignments that

deepen your international knowledge,

and often you will have to migrate from

136 Harvard Business Review May 2 13

company to company to round o ut your

experience.

This

article

lays

out

a

three-step plan

of action for working your way into the

global elite—and for making the best

of your sta tus once you get there. First,

Despite its nam e, the

global eli te is not an

exclusive group.

acquire the knowledge, skills, and per-

spective you need

by

both

thinking

and

do-

in Second, make use of your new global

awareness by exploiting

divergence

con-

vergence and networks. Third, transcend

the

boundaries of commerce

to

become

a

global

citizen, ensuring that your work

serves the w orld in positive ways.

Acquiring a Global Outlook

Cross-national, cross-cultural contexts

are inherently complex, so developing the

competencies required to join the global

elite is

neither simple nor

quick.

Even

people

born into international, cosmo-

politan families and environments must

work at it.

Learn by thinking

Begin to develop

a broad outlook by teaching yourself to

think globally. This starts with acknowl-

edging that your existing fraimes of refer-

ence can lead you

to

misinterpret unfamil-

iar informarion. Specifically, you must:

Observe. Culrivate

a

curiosity about

how places operate. Ask questions repeat-

edly, and don't assume you know the

answers.

Study

Formal education—in world

history, economics, intemational affairs,

politics, and internationa l business—helps

you broaden your perspective. Those sub-

jects fascinate

global

leaders. But informal

study is vital, too: Read intemational

literature, take in foreign films and so on.

pen your mind

Understand the

importance of bringing out the best in

people, regardless of where they hail from

or what languages they speak. Respect and

explore other cultures, welcome new ex-

periences, and seize opportunities to work

with people of other nationalities.

Look at

situations from m ultiple angles.

pen your heart

Develop empa thy

by

learning about

the

issues that mat-

ter to people in other cultu res. Invite an

exchange studen t into your home or spend

a vacation volunteering

abroad.

Glob-

ally minded companies such as IBM use

intemational humanitarian assignments

in emerging countries

as

leadership-

development o pportunities.

Learn by doin g

Of course, leaming

through action

is

at least

as

important

as the global thinking you nurture. Take

these active steps:

Forge relationships

Cultivate contacts

and friends across national and cultural

boundaries. Foster trust by connecting

with those people emotionally and intel-

lectually. Don't start

by asking others

to

help you; instead, add value to folks in

your network by assisting them first. Your

new contacts will give you insight into

unfamiliar environments, paving the way

for global business development.

Events such as the World Economic

Fomm, the Boao Forum for Asia, the

Clinton

Global Initiative, TED

conferences,

the Aspen Institute's Ideas Festival, and

Google's

Zeitgeist

are places

where many

global-elite relationships are first formed.

You may not be receiving invitations to

such exclusive gatherings just

yet

bu t you

can seek out intemational conferences

in

your

own

industry

or in

markets that

interest you.

Start locally Tap into

your existing

networks, such

as

alumni groups and pro-

fessional associations. Social media has

opened up new opportunities to connect

and contribute from hom e. Linkedln's

network statistics function, for instance,

shows you the geographic reach of your

network and

where in the

world it

is grow-

ing

fastest.

Work with others

Seek opportunities

to collaborate with people from other

cultures. Join teams that include mem-

bers who hail from a variety of places and



HBR.ORG

have disparate views. Those contacts will

allow you

to c ontribute

to

existing global

initiatives in your organization and your

community.

Be the

center

Assess where you stand

within your networks. If you're at the

periphery,

move

toward the

middle by

introducing people who would not oth-

erwise be connected. Global leaders build

bridges and transcend boundaries. They

create value by connecting others—and

enrich themselves in the process.

Go. International travel

is

vitally

important, an d it's never too late to start.

Firsthand experiences in foreign contexts

will contribute the bulk of the knowledge

you need to be a global value creator.

While abroad, make sure you leave the

hotel—and stay an extra day or two to

explo re. Accept an invitation from a local

partner to attend

a

get-together with

friends or family. Even if your agenda

is fully

packed

squeeze in a visit to a

museum or attend a cu ltural event—it

could be the most productive investment

of your tim e.

Speak

Leam a foreign language and

practice it with native speakers. Read arti-

to consistently resist your natural biases

and your mental and emotional shortcuts.

Staying on course requires discipline,

awareness, and humility.

What au these steps amount to is a

willingness to

tzike risks.

Successful global

leaders put themselves in unfamiliar

Successful global leaders take risks

by

pu tt ing

themselves in unfam iliar situations and

challenging their mental models.

cles or works of literature in the language

you're studying, and then discuss them .

Don t

stop

It

can be

tough

to

stay on

the path tow ird global understanding.

The impulse to regress or succumb to

culture shock is very strong. You may need

an enormo us am ount of cognitive energy

situations and challenge their m ental

models. Consider Saad Abdul-Latif.

Before he joined th e global elite,

he

was

just a guy from the neighborhood —in

his

case.

East Jerusalem. Because of

curfews and travel bans, his exposure to

the outside world was extremely limited.

W hit EOs are reading

Fred has helped more organizations 'Reinvent'

themselves than anyone I have ever met.

—MARSHALL GOLDSMITH, Thinkers50

Helping leaders become their best.

—ALAN MULALLY, Ford

Full of good commonsense and

real world examples of leadership.

—ALEX GORSKY, Johnson & Johnson

There's nothing like learning from the master.

—DAVID NOVAK, YUM Brand Inc.

First-hand triumphant experience with the wisdom

from a first-class mind.

—JEFFREY SONNENFELD, Yale University

Available wherever books and e-books are sold.

Wiley is a registered trademark of John Wiley

Sons Inc.

WILEY



HBR.ORG

eled to the U.S. to study and learn about

America and its culture. Then he spent

yeiirs establishing the Indian ope rations

for

LG

and

News

Corporation, which were

expanding their global reach. Target hired

Ahuja to help it outsource its IT operations

to

India. Using his

understanding of

U.S.

and Indian business, Ahuja p ersuaded his

bosses to instead establish w hat Target s

executives consider to be an extension of

their Minneapolis headquarters

in

Ban-

galore. Target India now handles market-

ing and real estate development, as well

as routine, comm oditized work such as

customer service and payroll.

Ahuja tapp ed into divergences such

as lower wages and a time difference that

allows Target India to maintain all back-

office operations

24/7. He also

capitalized

on convergences between the U.S. and

India, such as knowledge ofthe English

language and the availability of well-

educated workers.

He

made use of Target s

culture—emblemized by its clean red logo

and customer-friendly attitude—to facili-

tate trust betw een Indian and American

colleagues.

We're all

the

Scime

shade

of

red,

Ahuja says. His vision was realized

with Target India s first major project: a

high-profile conceptual and architectural

redesign of

a

Target store

in

Arizona.

Global Citizenship

Becoming a member ofthe global elite

isn t entirely about the bottom line or

getting

the

comer office.

Leaders

who

are truly global citizens understand the

implications of their actions and take

responsibility for them. They recognize

that th e prosperity of one person, one firm,

or one nation depends on and influences

the prosperity of others. As a consequence,

they forge productive partnerships among

business, government, and civil society

tha t can have lasting effects in comm uni-

ties around the world.

In the past, leaders typically let na-

tional

laws

define

the

boundarie s of their

moral obligations. If their actions were

legal, they were probably doing the right

thing, or at least the right-enough hing.

Many of today s global leaders recognize

that each decision they make either

reinforces curren t practice or alters

it.

And

where practice undermines shared pros-

perity, they work to change the status quo.

After receiving an engineering degree

from the University of Arizona, Alan

Boeckmann joined th e Fluor construction

company in 1974. He eventually took man-

agement assignments in the U.S., South

Africa, and

Venezuela.

After

rising

o the

position of CEO in 2002, he was constantly

frustrated by the effects of corruption on

the com pany s international business, so

he sought out like-minded govemm ent

leaders who were interested in promoting

cleaner business practices. In one country

known for its corrupt customs agency,

Fluor worked with senior officials to

establish a second customs line staffed by

agents trained in antibribery techniques.

Boeckmann also cajoled his industry

col-

leagues to change their culture, spear-

heading the Partnering Against Corruption

Initiative a t the World Economic Fomm.

For

Boeckmann and others, being

a

part ofthe global elite is about creating the

world they weint to Uve in. These lead-

ers

are

inspired

less by

the numbers on

their companies income statements and

their own paychecks than they are by the

variety of stamps in their passports, the

cross-cultural experiences those stamps

represent, and the opportunities they

have to solve some ofthe world s most

vexing social problems. It s this attitude

that makes the mem bers of this du b a rare

and extremely influential

breed,

HBR Reprint R1305M

• B | Gregory C Unruh

is a professor at the

w Thunderbird School of Global Management.

Ángel Cabrera is the preside nt of George Mason

University. They are the coauthors of Being

lob l (Harvard Business Review Press, 2012).

And that, in a nutshell, is why I'm on the penny.

May 2013

Harvard Business Review

139

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