Are You A Global Manager?

You have attended global conferences. That basically means that you have snored through Executive Development Programs in every country. You have seen the Seven Wonders and notched up more frequent flyer miles than your nearest rival down the hallway. You have developed a taste for exotic spirits and by that I do not mean people who pursue Extreme Sports. But are you a global manager?

In 1992, Christopher Bartlett and Sumantra Ghoshal had stated in this HBR Classic that was called "What is a Global Manager?" I once had a boss who used to ask each of his subordinates to summarize such articles and books in no more than a sentence. He was a big one for precision. In case you had not read that article, let me tell you that their conclusion was that there is no such thing as a "universal global manager".

Being a global manager means being able to manage and bring about change in settings that challenge your own world view. When you next ask someone about their experience in "change management", ask them what significant behavior, skills and attitude of themselves have they changed and in what time frame. How did they identify what needed to be changed and then how did they go about doing it. That will often give you a better insight about change management skills and approach of this person than probing for leading widespread change in others. If you have not been able to change yourself, then you will never know what it takes to change others.

Part of the requirement of being a global manager is to be able to expand your worldview or Weltanschauung. Welt is the German word for "world", and Anschauung is the German word for "view" or "outlook". It refers to the framework of ideas and beliefs through which an individual interprets the world and interacts in it. A global manager is one who is equally comfortable in a world that he or she is not familiar with. That comfort arises from the ability to interpret the world whose cues are unfamiliar. So learning to make sense of data in unfamiliar settings is the key. If you are a global manager then you ought to be pretty skilled at making sense of unfamiliar settings and cultures. The ability to discover trends in a world of chaos helps when you are operating in a new business environment where all the old rules have been rewritten.

In a world where "talent is the new oil and like oil demand far exceeds supply" navigating the talent landscape helps the global manager to be competitive. We are all used to learning to read cues that will help us choose great talent. Being truly global means leveraging diversity to go beyond the familiar. Global managers learn to look beyond nationality, race, ethnic, function, education, working style and gender when they build their talent pool. The manager who wants to operate on a global canvas will need to build teams often with diverse people who all need different ways and approaches to be managed, coached and coached. To be able to run businesses in diverse business environments and succeed is never easy.

Being a global manager means being comfortable holding almost two opposing thoughts and not allowing either one to overwhelm. Being able to flex one's style to address different business and people needs means that such individuals are a rare breed. They learn to manage change. Not in others or in other corporations but starting first of all within themselves.