“The Fund Raiser’s Guide to fund Raising”
By Mayan G. Quebral
Venture for Fund Raising, 2002
Have you received news from the mail lately that Unicef cards are being readied for the Christmas Season and asking you to firm up your orders now?
You open a bulky envelope one morning, and you find a handcrafted card from children of Tuloy sa Don Bosco. You recall that Tuloy is a highly successful center for streetchildren.
You get two tickets to play golf in the Aoki Golf Course in the Eagle Ridge, with the added request that you please be a “hole sponsor,” so you can support mission work.
If you still have those cards or tickets – outdated they may be – hold on to them, as we tell you about fundraising – and about this book that has expressed the “soul” behind philanthropy..
Question: Is philanthropic giving alive and well in this country of 7,600 islands, mired in poverty, shaken by pockets of violence and marked by a lackluster economy?
Aren’t donor funds being re-channeled to new independent states freed from the Soviet monolith, to Latin America and to most of Africa. Earlier on, non-profit organizations – global, regional or national – knew what this meant: They must now rely more and more on local philanthropy.
Is the future for non-profits, starved for funds, bleak? Or is there a sunny side to this seeming darkness?
The book, “The Fundraiser’s Guide to Fund Raising,” is just the shaft of sunlight non-profits need – not only to brighten hope once again, but to light their way to labyrinthine ways leading to the donor’s heart.
Don’t expect just a quick reading of a “nuts-and-bolts” manual on fundraising in this book. While it has tips in abundance in every chapter, you may miss the soul of such a worthy human enterprise. Striking just the right note for the book, author Mayan Quebral speaks in the imperative: “Realize that fundraising is NOT about money.”
She adds: “ Fundraising is about a human need that has to be met. It is about the ability of your organization to make a contribution to the alleviation of that need.” She is actually saying that, if you are just interested in money, this book is not for you. She wants to address those non-profit organizations which have latched on their efforts to higher goals “money cannot buy.”
She volunteers “seven success seeds for growing your non-profit organization” – beginning with the very first seed: “Believe.” She says: “Believing establishes the credibility of your cause … Now tell us, would you buy insurance from a salesman who is not insured, a Ford car dealer who drives a Honda, or a lung cancer foundation fundraiser who smokes?” Touche, Mayan!
The next six “success seeds” guide the reader through concepts, principles, success stories, tables and, yes, generous quotes from the Scriptures and renowned thinkers. Heartwarming stories abound in this book – which gives you the feeling you are in the midst of a seminar listening to every motivation speaker whose “cup runneth over” narrating one successful campaign after the other.
Is this book comprehensive? Reading from first page to the last, one gets the impression that the author and contributors did not hold back any “trade secrets”. Isn’t this self-defeating? If they have given their all, no one would approach them anymore. Their desire to share a “good thing” seems to be greater than the anxiety over outliving their usefulness. They are what they stand for: generous. Look, at the end every chapter is a treasure trove of website addresses for current and would-be fundraisers.
A parallel thought builds up while one moves on to more complex subjects on targeting small and big donors, planning for myriad events, creating an efficient organization, selecting a working board, building a data base – and it is this: The book is telling the organization leader to revisit his reason for existence.
The last chapter asks the reader/leader to “face the mirror.” While the author intends it to remind the fundraiser to evaluate his/her fundraising plan, the sense to this reader is for the NGO leader to go back to the fundamentals: What moves your organization?
The book overflows with quotes, but the one used by the book captures the central message of the book telling organizations to have, first and foremost, a vision. The statement comes from a famous blind person, Helen Keller: “The only thing worse than having no sight is to have sight but no vision.” That, dear readers, is the soul of fundraising. And that keeps this worthwhile effort aflame in the hearts of donors – big and small.
Sunday, October 20, 2002
Sunday, October 06, 2002
21st Century e-Leadership: new wineskins for new wine
“E-Leader”
By Robert Hargrove
Perseus Publishing, 2001
You hear contradictory phrases these days. For example, you have “chaordic organization,” meaning a combination of “chaos and order,” an oxymoron at first glance: Isn’t an organization supposed to install order? This was coined by Dee Hock, founder and CEO emeritus of Visa International, the same firm that grew phenomenally. Of course, he was antedated by Alfred North Whitehead who defined progress as “the art of creating chaos in the midst of order, and preserving order in the midst of chaos.”
“Lateral leadership” is another phrase that assaults our time-tested concept of leaders who preside from the top over everyone else below him. This phrase talks about a leader who steps down from his elevated position and deals with his people as his “equals.” The latter, in turn, leave a slight concession to their leader by accepting him as primus inter pares (first among equals).
Another phrase, “spontaneous CEO,” unsettles our widely held view that a CEO is steeped in strategic planning and thus hardly acts on impulse at the spur of the moment.
The above three are only part of a wide range of new vocabulary that now punctuates third millenium leadership books. It delivers an earthshaking message: We have really such a deeply altered world that the old leadership formula longer works, and leaders, if they have to thrive -- if not merely survive --must change.
This is the startling message of the book “E-Leader: Reinventing Leadership in a Connected Economy.” It is rightly called a “brilliant flash of light on the new emerging leadership paradigm of the 21st century.”
Author Robert Hargrove, leadership coach of many CEOs, declared at the outset that CEOs in this century must move quickly from being stewards “conserving what has been built” to being revolutionaries engaged in a balancing act of “maintaining equilibrium and creative destruction.”
Is this the domain of young emergent leaders, ruling out retirable fiftyish and sixtyish CEOs? Not necessarily. Mr. Hargrove was generously quoting Dee Hock of Visa, Jack Welch of GE, Lou Gerstner of IBM, Carly Fiorina, all of whom preached – then practiced – re-branding their companies thus propelled them to new growth platforms and unheard of efficiency and profitability.
“People’s horizon of possibilities,” he points out, “is limited.” What he is saying is that the connected economy presents possibilities that are so infinite but traditional leaders’ visions are so finite. The profoundly transformed environment demands a deeplly-altered CEO mindset.
This truth is actually both timely and timeless. One ever timeless advice actually came from “Jesus the CEO” who said: “For new wine, you need new wineskins.” New ideas require new strategies and structures.
The book thus recommends Triple-Loop Learning” which asks three fundamental questions dealing with three verbs: to be, think, and do.
First question: How do I need to be different? (Begin seeing yourself differently.) Second: How do I need to think differently? (Start to question what you take for granted.) The third question: What do I need to do differently? (Jump into action – the eEconomy waits for no one.) The book templates on exercises that involve the transition from … to, with the useful insight that these have worked in many coaching tasks by the author.
Does this mean that the old reliable leadership and management concepts are passe? Not really. The author still quotes Peter Drucker’s “classic question” (his words): “What is our business and what should it be?” You still have to ask the question: What is the logic of our business? But logic, according to Asian Institute of Management Associate Dean Sonny Coloma, has given way to the fashionable question: “What is your business model?”
Actually, the book offers four steps by which CEOs can build a super-successful “business Internet model”. First, start with some customer reconnaissance and intelligence gathering. Second, create a strategy of pre-eminence, assuming the mantle of leadership. Third, choose partners wisely so as to leverage your strategy. Fourth, enable your business design with relationship technology.
One message stands out in this book: Even in the midst of rapid changes in technology requiring leadership style transformation, some things remain constant – that the logic of business – listening to and reaching the customer (improved version: anticipating the customer) remains the most important function of business.
The difference is technology. The book cites the “clickable corporation,” a phrase popularized in a book of that title, which enumerates in a table eight success strategies to successful customer relationship. Get the book and click away.
The book is not only one’s road map to look yourself and your company over for needed transformation. It is wondrously keyed to liberating the CEO from the strictures of the past. The leadership coach concludes with, perhaps, his favorite theme – which could be the conclusion of the reader when he is through with the book: “Release the human spirit.”
By Robert Hargrove
Perseus Publishing, 2001
You hear contradictory phrases these days. For example, you have “chaordic organization,” meaning a combination of “chaos and order,” an oxymoron at first glance: Isn’t an organization supposed to install order? This was coined by Dee Hock, founder and CEO emeritus of Visa International, the same firm that grew phenomenally. Of course, he was antedated by Alfred North Whitehead who defined progress as “the art of creating chaos in the midst of order, and preserving order in the midst of chaos.”
“Lateral leadership” is another phrase that assaults our time-tested concept of leaders who preside from the top over everyone else below him. This phrase talks about a leader who steps down from his elevated position and deals with his people as his “equals.” The latter, in turn, leave a slight concession to their leader by accepting him as primus inter pares (first among equals).
Another phrase, “spontaneous CEO,” unsettles our widely held view that a CEO is steeped in strategic planning and thus hardly acts on impulse at the spur of the moment.
The above three are only part of a wide range of new vocabulary that now punctuates third millenium leadership books. It delivers an earthshaking message: We have really such a deeply altered world that the old leadership formula longer works, and leaders, if they have to thrive -- if not merely survive --must change.
This is the startling message of the book “E-Leader: Reinventing Leadership in a Connected Economy.” It is rightly called a “brilliant flash of light on the new emerging leadership paradigm of the 21st century.”
Author Robert Hargrove, leadership coach of many CEOs, declared at the outset that CEOs in this century must move quickly from being stewards “conserving what has been built” to being revolutionaries engaged in a balancing act of “maintaining equilibrium and creative destruction.”
Is this the domain of young emergent leaders, ruling out retirable fiftyish and sixtyish CEOs? Not necessarily. Mr. Hargrove was generously quoting Dee Hock of Visa, Jack Welch of GE, Lou Gerstner of IBM, Carly Fiorina, all of whom preached – then practiced – re-branding their companies thus propelled them to new growth platforms and unheard of efficiency and profitability.
“People’s horizon of possibilities,” he points out, “is limited.” What he is saying is that the connected economy presents possibilities that are so infinite but traditional leaders’ visions are so finite. The profoundly transformed environment demands a deeplly-altered CEO mindset.
This truth is actually both timely and timeless. One ever timeless advice actually came from “Jesus the CEO” who said: “For new wine, you need new wineskins.” New ideas require new strategies and structures.
The book thus recommends Triple-Loop Learning” which asks three fundamental questions dealing with three verbs: to be, think, and do.
First question: How do I need to be different? (Begin seeing yourself differently.) Second: How do I need to think differently? (Start to question what you take for granted.) The third question: What do I need to do differently? (Jump into action – the eEconomy waits for no one.) The book templates on exercises that involve the transition from … to, with the useful insight that these have worked in many coaching tasks by the author.
Does this mean that the old reliable leadership and management concepts are passe? Not really. The author still quotes Peter Drucker’s “classic question” (his words): “What is our business and what should it be?” You still have to ask the question: What is the logic of our business? But logic, according to Asian Institute of Management Associate Dean Sonny Coloma, has given way to the fashionable question: “What is your business model?”
Actually, the book offers four steps by which CEOs can build a super-successful “business Internet model”. First, start with some customer reconnaissance and intelligence gathering. Second, create a strategy of pre-eminence, assuming the mantle of leadership. Third, choose partners wisely so as to leverage your strategy. Fourth, enable your business design with relationship technology.
One message stands out in this book: Even in the midst of rapid changes in technology requiring leadership style transformation, some things remain constant – that the logic of business – listening to and reaching the customer (improved version: anticipating the customer) remains the most important function of business.
The difference is technology. The book cites the “clickable corporation,” a phrase popularized in a book of that title, which enumerates in a table eight success strategies to successful customer relationship. Get the book and click away.
The book is not only one’s road map to look yourself and your company over for needed transformation. It is wondrously keyed to liberating the CEO from the strictures of the past. The leadership coach concludes with, perhaps, his favorite theme – which could be the conclusion of the reader when he is through with the book: “Release the human spirit.”
Sunday, September 22, 2002
Balancing life and work well is an everyday hero’s journey
“Downshifting”
By John D. Drakes
Berrett-Koehler Publishers Inc., 2000
For the past two weeks, conversations with friends and associates began with work and ended with something loftier and longer than work: Life.
You say, it may be the company I keep. But, no. One was born before World War II, and the other when it just began. Two of them are “baby boomers” (born after the war). The last is a Martial Law baby, born in 1972 when the country was placed under martial rule.
The pre-WW II baby just retired — and he is producing a book containing speeches delivered over a ten-year period, if he is not busy at the golf course in Malarayat or fishing near a vacation house facing the Batangas Bay.
The WW II baby is concluding a dizzying — and very rewarding career in the corporate world as CEO of a number of firms — who began with three private planes and decided to retain just one, as part of his “downshifting” strategies. (Mortals like us settle for earthbound and land-based vehicles, while the rich and famous simply downscale their options for airborne “toys”.)
A baby boomer has limited his consultancy jobs to a few favorite clients and decided to lay the foundation for becoming an “arm chair” professor and, possibly, an author – after earning a doctoral degree in a year or two.
The youngish manager, armed with an MBA, decided to put up an outlet for a specialty coffee shop with his bride-to-be, and relishes the prospects of a slowed down life over coffee and cookie.
That’s the theme of “Downshifting,” a book whose sub-title says it all — almost: “How to work less and enjoy life more.” The author is John D. Drake, who was himself a workaholic CEO who, one day, decided to drop everything — and start a simpler and satisfying life.
Mr. Drake says the decision to “downshift” has become more attractive to some – but at the same much more difficult — because of the demands of the internet age. He quotes a consultant from McKinsey & Company:
“The fast pace and pressure to be plugged-in at all times, made by the omnipresent cell phones, voicemail, e-mail, laptops and faxes, fueled the expectation that employees quite literally be available to deal with work issues 24 hours a day —wherever they are whatever they are doing.”
He tells of a boast from a co-employee on time spent in the office: I work half-days —12 hours!”
The book -- written in an easy, warm style — leads the executive through the process of considering shorter hours at work for the bosses and longer hours for life at home with loved ones and friends — from staring the “work trap” in the eye to egging you to act with the question: “What’s stopping you?”
From considering “low-risk downshifting options” to strategizing how to persuade your boss or your organization to buy your idea of a less stressful job, reduced hours, or working at home half of the time. Finally, the book gives you insights on how to deal with your “newfound free time” as semi-retired. Locally, others call this “retire-ded” (derisively taking off from “retarded).
The author opens up a long discussion on “work that consumes our lives” — even the justification that it is only in the workplace where you get fulfillment, recognition and the means to buy the finer things in life. That’s quite true, the author admits. An interesting chapter is his juxtaposition of what “one would miss” with options that begin with the phrase, “on the other hand.”
For example on the issue: “Will I have enough money?” the author adds: “On the other hand, you may not need as much.” Read happy stories of lives enhanced with altered work habits. The author, who once was CEO of the world’s largest human resources consulting firm, shares insights on the liberating effect of a decision to downshift. By no means is he advising that the executive bid goodbye to work; only changing his work mindset.
His discussion on Type A personalities — the driven, perfectionist ones — is enlightening, and we see ourselves. “We make our own crises,” he declares, and we can only agree — because we make such high demands on ourselves.
He advises: “Avoid business travel on weekends,” and we know he is pointing his finger at you and me. He gives a quote: “Control your destiny or someone else will.” It’s from Jack Welch, celebrated CEO of General Electric, now enjoying his retirement.
His parting shot could be our shot in the arm as humans first, workers second: “Your quest for success defined by simplicity, love, and meaningfulness, in a world that defines success as material gain, is truly a hero’s journey. Go for it!
By John D. Drakes
Berrett-Koehler Publishers Inc., 2000
For the past two weeks, conversations with friends and associates began with work and ended with something loftier and longer than work: Life.
You say, it may be the company I keep. But, no. One was born before World War II, and the other when it just began. Two of them are “baby boomers” (born after the war). The last is a Martial Law baby, born in 1972 when the country was placed under martial rule.
The pre-WW II baby just retired — and he is producing a book containing speeches delivered over a ten-year period, if he is not busy at the golf course in Malarayat or fishing near a vacation house facing the Batangas Bay.
The WW II baby is concluding a dizzying — and very rewarding career in the corporate world as CEO of a number of firms — who began with three private planes and decided to retain just one, as part of his “downshifting” strategies. (Mortals like us settle for earthbound and land-based vehicles, while the rich and famous simply downscale their options for airborne “toys”.)
A baby boomer has limited his consultancy jobs to a few favorite clients and decided to lay the foundation for becoming an “arm chair” professor and, possibly, an author – after earning a doctoral degree in a year or two.
The youngish manager, armed with an MBA, decided to put up an outlet for a specialty coffee shop with his bride-to-be, and relishes the prospects of a slowed down life over coffee and cookie.
That’s the theme of “Downshifting,” a book whose sub-title says it all — almost: “How to work less and enjoy life more.” The author is John D. Drake, who was himself a workaholic CEO who, one day, decided to drop everything — and start a simpler and satisfying life.
Mr. Drake says the decision to “downshift” has become more attractive to some – but at the same much more difficult — because of the demands of the internet age. He quotes a consultant from McKinsey & Company:
“The fast pace and pressure to be plugged-in at all times, made by the omnipresent cell phones, voicemail, e-mail, laptops and faxes, fueled the expectation that employees quite literally be available to deal with work issues 24 hours a day —wherever they are whatever they are doing.”
He tells of a boast from a co-employee on time spent in the office: I work half-days —12 hours!”
The book -- written in an easy, warm style — leads the executive through the process of considering shorter hours at work for the bosses and longer hours for life at home with loved ones and friends — from staring the “work trap” in the eye to egging you to act with the question: “What’s stopping you?”
From considering “low-risk downshifting options” to strategizing how to persuade your boss or your organization to buy your idea of a less stressful job, reduced hours, or working at home half of the time. Finally, the book gives you insights on how to deal with your “newfound free time” as semi-retired. Locally, others call this “retire-ded” (derisively taking off from “retarded).
The author opens up a long discussion on “work that consumes our lives” — even the justification that it is only in the workplace where you get fulfillment, recognition and the means to buy the finer things in life. That’s quite true, the author admits. An interesting chapter is his juxtaposition of what “one would miss” with options that begin with the phrase, “on the other hand.”
For example on the issue: “Will I have enough money?” the author adds: “On the other hand, you may not need as much.” Read happy stories of lives enhanced with altered work habits. The author, who once was CEO of the world’s largest human resources consulting firm, shares insights on the liberating effect of a decision to downshift. By no means is he advising that the executive bid goodbye to work; only changing his work mindset.
His discussion on Type A personalities — the driven, perfectionist ones — is enlightening, and we see ourselves. “We make our own crises,” he declares, and we can only agree — because we make such high demands on ourselves.
He advises: “Avoid business travel on weekends,” and we know he is pointing his finger at you and me. He gives a quote: “Control your destiny or someone else will.” It’s from Jack Welch, celebrated CEO of General Electric, now enjoying his retirement.
His parting shot could be our shot in the arm as humans first, workers second: “Your quest for success defined by simplicity, love, and meaningfulness, in a world that defines success as material gain, is truly a hero’s journey. Go for it!
Sunday, September 08, 2002
Learn to see the world thru other people’s eyes
“Developing Global Executives”
By Morgan W. McCall Jr. and George P. Hollenbeck
Harvard Business School Press, 2002
You have bumped into some of them on several occasions — at work, cocktail parties, meetings of chambers of commerce and, yes, at the golf course.
They come in different stereotypes — multinational or transnational executives, officials of international organizations like the United Nations or USAID, overseas mission managers, country directors of funding agencies and executives of global enterprises.
In fact, dear reader, you may be one — an expatriate — or about to be one: You are about to leave the Philippines for Singapore, Thailand or Indonesia — and be an expat there with an expat’s compensation package.
Actually, this is no longer new to many local executives. Since some businesses here are run by expats, we know many of them, some of whom have become friends. We also are aware that, somehow, they have been acculturized (a shortcut to saying they have adapted to our culture).
Many of these expats here not only survive; they thrive. But, some of them fail, too. You hear one global executive saying he replaced someone who “bungled the job.”
What about Filipinos being global executives? That’s nothing new too. Multinationals (more in to say “global firms,” taking off from the concept of a “borderless world”) operating here have, in fact, sent outstanding Filipino managers to run refineries, begin a distribution network, complete a project or lead an audit team in many parts of the world.
Yes, Filipinos are not only OFWs; they are expats. It’s not a case of brain-drain. Our brains are a gift to the world. Viewed from another country’s standpoint, it would be similarly proud of its “contribution” to businesses around the globe.
Whether you are a global executive, if not sending or even receiving one, you will find the book “Developing Global Executives” an insightful road map to understanding a globe-trotting manager.
“What’s happening out there,” we ask — and this book tells us. The authors sent 300,000 questionnaires and made an in-depth study of 101 global leaders. The book also answers the question, “What’s happening in there” — meaning, within the mind of the expat himself — from developing a “global mindset” to finally internalizing it like second nature.
After 259 pages and many interviews plus tables, the book concludes: “The whats remain the same, but the hows are different.” It means that the logic of business is true anywhere around the world from Sarawak to Paris, but the cultures are different.
Many executives interviewed concluded: “Business is business wherever you are.” So, if the executive is already well-equipped with the right mix of business strategies, all he needs is to adapt to the host country’s culture.
One of the key conclusions made by the book is this: “The executives learned to focus on the similarities offered by business purpose, and, when possible, to exploit the cultural differences to create business advantages.”
The authors have also identified universal factors in any business. They point out:
“Strategic consistency across cultures, they learned, could be achieved if they focused on the customer, leveraged scope and scale, tapped shared business values, benchmarked against world class processes, and thought about how to make money on a global (rather than local) basis.”
One chapter is devoted to the “dynamics of derailment” — unhappy cases of global executives who didn’t make the grade. The reasons for failure were varied — from someone who was arrogant to another who focused on the wrong thing, from someone who was made a scapegoat to another who was the unwitting victim of an altered global strategy.
Speaking of risks, this chapter amply prepares global executives for some factored-in uncertainties. Simply titled, “When Things Go Wrong,” this chapter is just one of 10 chapters. It’s the book’s reassurance that things normally go well, and thus devote nine chapters to such cases.
You will better understand the expats running our companies here or helping us with a new technology, with this book detailing to us how these global executives really struggle with language. When you are the expat, back here in furlough or preparing for a great adventure away from home, this book is a great companion.
It’s like listening to 101 global leaders telling you how they soared with success and how some fell crashing down. Invariably, they leave one valuable advice:
“You must learn to see the world through other people’s eyes.”
By Morgan W. McCall Jr. and George P. Hollenbeck
Harvard Business School Press, 2002
You have bumped into some of them on several occasions — at work, cocktail parties, meetings of chambers of commerce and, yes, at the golf course.
They come in different stereotypes — multinational or transnational executives, officials of international organizations like the United Nations or USAID, overseas mission managers, country directors of funding agencies and executives of global enterprises.
In fact, dear reader, you may be one — an expatriate — or about to be one: You are about to leave the Philippines for Singapore, Thailand or Indonesia — and be an expat there with an expat’s compensation package.
Actually, this is no longer new to many local executives. Since some businesses here are run by expats, we know many of them, some of whom have become friends. We also are aware that, somehow, they have been acculturized (a shortcut to saying they have adapted to our culture).
Many of these expats here not only survive; they thrive. But, some of them fail, too. You hear one global executive saying he replaced someone who “bungled the job.”
What about Filipinos being global executives? That’s nothing new too. Multinationals (more in to say “global firms,” taking off from the concept of a “borderless world”) operating here have, in fact, sent outstanding Filipino managers to run refineries, begin a distribution network, complete a project or lead an audit team in many parts of the world.
Yes, Filipinos are not only OFWs; they are expats. It’s not a case of brain-drain. Our brains are a gift to the world. Viewed from another country’s standpoint, it would be similarly proud of its “contribution” to businesses around the globe.
Whether you are a global executive, if not sending or even receiving one, you will find the book “Developing Global Executives” an insightful road map to understanding a globe-trotting manager.
“What’s happening out there,” we ask — and this book tells us. The authors sent 300,000 questionnaires and made an in-depth study of 101 global leaders. The book also answers the question, “What’s happening in there” — meaning, within the mind of the expat himself — from developing a “global mindset” to finally internalizing it like second nature.
After 259 pages and many interviews plus tables, the book concludes: “The whats remain the same, but the hows are different.” It means that the logic of business is true anywhere around the world from Sarawak to Paris, but the cultures are different.
Many executives interviewed concluded: “Business is business wherever you are.” So, if the executive is already well-equipped with the right mix of business strategies, all he needs is to adapt to the host country’s culture.
One of the key conclusions made by the book is this: “The executives learned to focus on the similarities offered by business purpose, and, when possible, to exploit the cultural differences to create business advantages.”
The authors have also identified universal factors in any business. They point out:
“Strategic consistency across cultures, they learned, could be achieved if they focused on the customer, leveraged scope and scale, tapped shared business values, benchmarked against world class processes, and thought about how to make money on a global (rather than local) basis.”
One chapter is devoted to the “dynamics of derailment” — unhappy cases of global executives who didn’t make the grade. The reasons for failure were varied — from someone who was arrogant to another who focused on the wrong thing, from someone who was made a scapegoat to another who was the unwitting victim of an altered global strategy.
Speaking of risks, this chapter amply prepares global executives for some factored-in uncertainties. Simply titled, “When Things Go Wrong,” this chapter is just one of 10 chapters. It’s the book’s reassurance that things normally go well, and thus devote nine chapters to such cases.
You will better understand the expats running our companies here or helping us with a new technology, with this book detailing to us how these global executives really struggle with language. When you are the expat, back here in furlough or preparing for a great adventure away from home, this book is a great companion.
It’s like listening to 101 global leaders telling you how they soared with success and how some fell crashing down. Invariably, they leave one valuable advice:
“You must learn to see the world through other people’s eyes.”
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