Local Input, Global Impact
FountainBlue's October 13 When She Speaks program was on the topic of 'Local Input, Global Impact'. Please join me in thanking our esteemed panelists.
Facilitator Linda Holroyd, CEO, FountainBlue
Panelist Christina Lewis, Senior Director, Global Finance, Visa
Panelist Adriane McFetridge, former Director of Engineering, Board Member, Netflix
Panelist Krista Pavlakos, Vice President, Digital and Communications, Renesas
Panelist Andrea Uribe, Deal Desk Specialist, Coupa Software
Our panelists represented a wide range of backgrounds and perspectives. Below is a compilation of their best practices for acting locally and delivering impact globally.
Be Leaderly
Be passionate leaders and managers who work tirelessly to deliver measurable outcomes, both locally and globally.
Be creative and strategic, listening deeply and openly to the voice and the needs of the local people, while ensuring the global impact of the decisions made, the projects undertaken.
Take a global view of the world, for all companies and leaders need to do so to remain relevant and competitive.
Deliver to Local Interests and Needs
Respect the local customs and cultures and deliver products and solutions to their tastes and interests.
Meet people where they are, rather than expecting them to accommodate your style of communication, your personal taste or style.
Practice less bureaucracy and red tape, while also conforming to requirements and obligations.
Introduce engineers to customers so that they better understand the preferences of individual customers.
Leverage technology to customize solutions which suit local preferences.
Maintain Structure and Support for Global Organization
Take a systemic view, delegating ownership, providing options which are fully supported by the organization overall.
Provide guidelines and guardrails so that local entities remain in compliance with requirements, laws, protocols, rules, etc.,
Adopt the best of both worlds: a corporate platform with segments and sections for different locations.
Act in Community
Support employee groups and help them represent local interests, local preferences.
Provide mentorship and sponsorship opportunities and welcome input from a wide range of people.
We next talked about how getting more women in to tech might be one action and strategy to have more global impact. Whether or not that's true, we did believe that having more women in technology *would* make a difference for themselves and those they touch. Therefore, we brainstormed how to get more women in to technology jobs:
Act as Role Models
Frame roles in tech that are *not* about engineering/ technology
Praise young girls for being math-letes
Tell stories focusing on the impact and the experience
Share the many options and opportunities within and around tech
Make technology jobs and tasks seem more interesting, creative, sexy and fun
Encourage and support strong male advocates
Reduce conscious and unconscious bias
We ended by stating that it doesn't get more 'local' than each of us as individuals. So we challenge everyone to live with intentionality for a principle, a value, a cause you believe in, and work to make those principles contagious, spreading for global impact.