Beyond A Strategy Marketing
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Global Mindset?
To succeed in the global competitive marketplace, one has to possess a wide array of skills, which may be different from the skills you may need in order to succeed nationally. In many cases, the work done in the US, a diverse workplace, may prepare many business people to succeed in the global arena.

Do You Have A Global Mindset?


  • People with global mindsets tend to have a much broader perception of the world.
  • They mirror the globe in a macro rather n a micro way or view, and concentrate on the broader picture.
  • They accept and embrace the changes in and see them as an opportunity rather than an obstacle.
  • Global minds trust process rather than structure to deal and make the best out of the unexpected in life.
  • They thrive on diversity and teamwork as a tool to accomplish objectives d goals.
  • People with global mindsets always rethink and evaluate steps and barriers by finding new meanings as changes require, and accordingly, changing their direction and behavior. Rules are not carved in stone, and are adaptable the changing global environment and the challenges it poses.
  • Global managers are doers, yet they are willing to occasionally step back and go with the flow.
  • They trust process and accept paradoxes, but they also work to understand complexity in a way that has purpose and direction.
  • These are people who live life on many levels and for whom the world heir playground and their school.
  • Global minds don't resist life, but embrace the changes and challenges life may offer.

Any training, to be effective, must be centered on the individuals, what they need to know and how to best present the knowledge and skills development to be learned. What sets global training apart from other programs of corporate training is an increased focus on the background and culture of the individuals.

Global training can be divided into three steps:

  • Developing and refining an awareness of existing cultural differences;
  • Increasing specific knowledge and understanding of the individual's culture and how their values may influence the training process;
  • Assessing, re-designing and customizing the current training's content based on the previous two steps.

Global training for top management must incorporate a body of cultural knowledge, openness to other cultures, and cultural empathy. Such training must also focus on adaptive, problem-solving skills for both managers and employees. These skills encompass a flexibility that will enable them to redefine strategies and reinvent structure within the global organization. One must be committed to investing time and money in their own development and in the company's global training effort.

A common company language is necessary when discussing global business opportunities. Global awareness is not the exclusive domain of those managers on expatriate assignments. Also, the need is to train not just top-level or international marketing personnel in cross-cultural training, but also those who design and manufacture products sold abroad.

Global training should help develop skills and increase ability to lead and execute global strategies. Gathered from personal experience and field research, the training and/or briefings should i:

  • Changing thinking patterns and strategies from a domestic focus to a global mindset;
  • Managing uncertainty and fear while constantly adapting to change and accepting it as part of a process;
  • Combining the various cultures and values of the corporate workforce into a unique global organization culture;
  • Developing the interest to learn from a culturally diverse workforce to appreciate and embrace the differences;
  • Developing the ability to work with people of other cultures as equals and accept the differences;
  • Learning how to cooperate with partners worldwide by successfully managing global teams and alliances.

So how can proper training help one practice these skills?

Webster defines the word 'mindset' as a 'fixed mental attitude formed by experience, education, or prejudice'. And that is exactly the dimension of the international relations process that ought to concern global managers. Those who work in or who closely follow international affairs need to develop competence in anticipating the way that persistent structures of the mind, i.e., mindsets, affect their international interactions. As many international managers will not have prepared for such involvement before starting their careers, they may find that they now have to add something new to their arsenal of intellectual skills if they are to pursue their specialties and interests effectively across international boundaries.

In terms of culture, then, we define a mindset as a predisposition to see the world in a particular way that sets boundaries and provides explanations for why things are the way they are, while at the same time establishing guidance for ways in which we should behave.

In other words, a mindset is a filter, and often a cultural filter, through which we look at the world. Then, a mindset becomes a way of being rather than a set of skills. It is an orientation to the world that allows one to see certain things that others do not see. A global mindset means that we scan the world from a broad perspective, always looking for unexpected trends and opportunities that may constitute a threat or an opportunity to achieve our personal, professional, or organizational objectives.

A world teeming with businesspersons of many cultures requires a particular sensitivity on the part of managers and business people seeking to be successful overseas. An applied program of education, training, and personal development enables one to learn and master the nuances of other cultures, leading to understanding and successfully dealing with prospective business partners in many lands.