Thought for the week: You are Global

A few weeks ago, I was told by an entrepreneur on the West Coast of the US that he preferred to work with local consultants. This struck me as odd because:

1. His product is sold to a global set of companies, including a few on the East Coast.

2. The project we were discussing did not have a local component.

3. I have worked with clients and companies all over the world.

4. A ticket from NYC to SFO is ~$200. I could fly out for a one hour meeting, if he really wanted to. We had budgeted for travel and regular meetings. The travel would have been very minor component of the project budget. Videoconferencing? No problem. I would have bought a camera for my laptop.

I was reminded of this today based on my communications today. So far, ~5 hours into my work day, I have spoken, chatted (Skype), or exchanged email with folks in:

New York City (multiple emails)
Chicago (email)
Hartford (email and POTS)
San Francisco (multiple)
London (Skype chat)
Dusseldorf (Skype chat and voice)
Sydney, Australia (email)

Now I'm a one-person company working from home, yet I find it both necessary and fascinating that I can participate in our flat, global world. My question is this. Why are there still people who resist or do not acknowledge the need to think globally? I'm not talking about your neighborhood podiatrist here. But executives from companies large and small who should be thinking globally from a collaborative, competitive threat, and or market expansion/opportunity perspective?

Why?

Lack of understanding? I don't understand it all either, but I'm trying.

Lack of trust? It's becoming more necessary to trust relative strangers, and to have iron clad agreements to protect each other from each other.

I don't have a good answer. I do know this. You, who ever and where ever you are, whether a CEO or a cubicle jockey, are global.

Aside: I've just been Skyped by a contact in London, who is traveling to India next week... See what I mean?!

Wait. I have to call Seattle this afternoon. Add one more to the list.

Comments

[Darren]

Hi Carlos,

I've been reading your blog lately and enjoying the content. I can relate to your post today about being global. I too work from home and while most of my clients are global (and all of their products are), I bump into the "I prefer to work with local consultants" attitude frequently. I've also run into the reverse problem in my local environment, where people sometimes only believe there is value if it comes from somewhere else. I guess there is just no pleasing some people.