“What kills me makes me stronger.”
This is how Nassim Nicholas Taleb, trader turned philosopher
and professor of risk engineering, likes to describe his concept of
antifragility. He notes that a system or
institution becomes fragile when the harms of risk increase in a non-linear
manner.
They are antifragile when those shocks actually make the
system more resilient or resistant to risk.
An organization can become more robust—if not completely antifragile—by
becoming more global. A global organization, as opposed to an international
organization has a close connection to the place it is working. It builds off
the needs of the national or regional community it is serving, rather than
simply applying cookie-cutter services to a new geographical location.
But becoming global takes dedication to the place you are serving
and a desire to structure the organization to succeed in the international
sector and the country where you work.
Representation on the
Ground
A company or organization needs to react quickly to changes in
the market and the society. Representation on the ground is the best way to do
this. A representative office or an individual who can run your local or
regional activities will have the information much earlier than those in the
head office. If your organization has a more decentralized structure and the
representative has been empowered to make decisions, he or she can react more
quickly and position your organization to mitigate risks or capitalize on
developments.
Make Your
Headquarters Everywhere
Having all of your decision-makers in one room is a great
thing. They can interact directly and hash out plans and ideas in real time. I
can’t argue with this statement at all, but the need to have a centralized
headquarters might just be a thing of the past. A globalized organization can
have its leaders anywhere in the world and bring them all together in real-time
via a broad range of communication technologies through which a globally savvy
and diverse team will be completely at ease interacting.
Moreover, the lack of a centralized headquarters and a
globally diverse management team might also produce some of those out-of-the-box
ideas your company needs to stay ahead of the curve.
A Little Redundancy
is Good Thing
Taleb’s biggest criticism of globalization is that the
interconnectedness of a globalized system increases fragility by causing a localized
shock to ripple across the rest of the system. A global organization can
overcome this criticism by admitting that efficiency might not be the solution
to every problem. It is often a good idea to have some redundancies. Multiple
representatives competing to provide similar services to the organization or in
the market and community can help the organization weather localized shocks.
Imagine an earthquake in California that shuts down a
factory for a week or a month. The company relying solely on that factory for
its product would lose those days and profit. A company with multiple factories
in various regions of the world with the same product can make up for the loss
by increasing production in other factories.
Groups competing within a company or organization can also
increase productivity and help increase the speed of innovation. Although
competition can have its downsides, healthy competition can bring people to
develop in ways they never thought possible. And this can have infinite
benefits for your company or organization.
Many Eggs, Many
Baskets
Companies and organizations excel at providing certain
things. And it makes sense to expand the reach of these products and services
as far as we can. But the markets may be closely interconnected. Mortgage
backed securities had consumers worldwide, but once the demand fell, so did the
business. Providing products and services on a national or regional level that
might not have a worldwide appeal can help diffuse the risks of an
interconnected product market.
On the ground representation can help an organization or
company find these niche markets and capitalize on them.
Live in the
Post-American Era
With the fall of the Soviet Union, everyone wanted what America
had. The US shined as the global leader and influencer. We were the symbol of
globalization. What we sold and how we did things were to be emulated. But over
the past 24 years as other countries have developed and expanded their
influence around the globe, people have begun to question the preeminence of
the how America conducts business. Recognize this and attempt to adapt to where
you are, rather than expecting them to move closer to you and your way of doing
things.
Know that Culture Can’t
be Reduced to Simple Phrases
When we talk of culture, often we think of an
all-encompassing thing, a fishbowl of sorts in which only certain actions or
beliefs can survive. There are many business specialists who talk about the
individualism of the West and the communitarianism of the East. Representatives
on the ground are going to have a keen sense of what culture and society is in
the countries and regions where you work. They can challenge any ideas that
reduce a culture to a simple phrase and understand that they are much more like
a deeply ornate tapestry. Within a country, society or culture, people have competing
belief systems, values and institutions. A global structure will help you gain
this more textured view of the places and peoples you serve.
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