Embrace Globalism

"We all have to expand our capabilities to encompass the changing world, its growing diversity and,indeed, its complexity."

Lachlan Murdoch, Businessman


Corporations today are citizens of the world. Companies draw on employees, suppliers, manufacturers, raw materials, and capital from around the globe to sell products and services to consumers and customers virtually anywhere on earth. In today’s global marketplace, what happens in Indonesia can have a direct effect on a company’s home base in Indiana.

Embracing globalism is a necessity in today’s business environment. Business leadership requires you to view things through a much wider prism than “working at headquarters” or “staffing the Tulsa field office”. It requires a company-wide appreciation of the global dimensions of business.

Today’s business leader must seize every opportunity to communicate the global realities and a global vision with employees and managers—in written communications, in speeches, in policies and practices, and in the intangible ways that CEOs provide leadership.

Globalism also requires that you become intimately involved in the communities where you are located. Sponsoring local soccer teams, dance troupes, and art galleries easily qualifies, but more importantly, companies must seek deep roots in these communities. As the slogan goes: “think globally—act locally.”

(c) Adonis E. Hoffman, 2008