
As I write the Blog this week, I am located about a hundred miles off the coast of western Africa cruising towards Las Palmas, Canary Islands. Jo and I are making a transatlantic cruise from Rome back to New York. I have had (and made) the opportunity to travel a reasonable amount, traveling to all continents except Antarctica (yes, it is on my “bucket list”).
I truly feel travel is an essential element of remaining relevant in the new world market.
Outlined below are my 10 Reasons American Businessmen Should Travel Internationally:
10 – See How Much Work You Can Do in the Week Before You Leave.
Have you ever noticed that during the week that you are preparing to take an extended trip you are able to get an amazing amount of work completed? The amount is impressive, but the hidden gem is not the amount, it is the what. I submit to you that the type of work that you choose to do immediately before a big trip is “important” work. We can all stay busy, but too much of our time is spent on busy work and not important work. Use the unintentional qualifier of the “push to the finish” of preparing for your international trip to sort out what is busy and what is important.
9 – Take a Time Out.
Go away. Take some time off from your routine. Do something different. The new surroundings will force you to do things differently. Embrace the changes. When we are at home doing a million things, both important and menial, seeing things can be like looking through a frosty windshield. When you experience new surroundings it is like taking a scraper to the frost on a windshield. You can see things more clearly.
8 – Experience New Approaches.
If E-Mail had been invented before the telephone, think about how extraordinary the telephone would be. You not only can communicate ideas, but you can actually hear the other person’s voice and be able to detect nuances of joy, anger, irritation, and sarcasm as though you were right in front of them. There are many different approaches for doing things around the world and some of them are better than the way you are currently doing them. After an experience abroad, you may return home with a completely new paradigm that will allow you to implement something into your business you would not otherwise have uncovered.
For example, the cruise lines have created a virtual economy at sea by staffing with people from developing countries. They receive wages that are far higher than they could receive in the home countries, but the wages are far less than those paid in developed countries. This allows working people from America and from other developed countries to have luxurious vacations at affordable prices. This is a true win/win; better wages for the staff than they could get at home and affordable vacations for working people.
Is there an alternate approach, similar to this, you can adapt for your business?
7 – Learn from History.
While in Rome, one of our excellent tour guides told us about what a Roman citizen’s day was like. Their day was centered on leisure and gluttony of food, wine, and debauchery on many levels. It reached a point where there were not many citizens who were “producers” and eventually the mighty Roman Empire fell into disarray and was overrun by what they had perceived to be an inferior and less sophisticated group of people.
While we all were taught these facts about ancient Rome in high school and college, the weight of the decline and the potential parallels to our own society is much more dramatic while hearing the story in the Roman Coliseum. Truly those that do not learn from history are condemned to repeat the same mistakes.
6 – Talk with New People.
Most of us have about three or four close friends, associates or acquaintances with which we discuss topics on a continuing basis. Have you ever considered how insular this can become and how much this situation leads to “group think”?
When you are traveling internationally you have the opportunity to talk with people who are very much outside your normal “group”. This can help you to see things within your personal life, business and political view with a new and refreshed perspective.
I continually promote to the managers in our company to get out of the office and visit with other people by reminding them that the odds of all new and great ideas coming from 7948 Second Flag Drive, Austell, GA is very low. When you travel internationally, you increase your chances of a refreshing new perspective exponentially.
5 – Appreciate the Joy of Work.
It seems counterintuitive to expect to attain an increased appreciation of work while you are on vacation, but I have experienced this while traveling. When you travel internationally you can see people who really seem to enjoy their work.
It may be because they are immigrants making more money than they could ever dream of in their homeland doing domestic labor, or it may be because their trade has been passed down from generation to generation. Watching people perform high level metalwork or masonry in the same manner their father and grandfather did is awe inspiring. Whatever the reason for their enjoyment, it seems you have more time to observe people doing work when you are traveling. The joy that some people bring to their jobs is invigorating and could lead to a way to help replenish this in your company.
4 – To Learn What is Old and Tired.
You will see approaches when traveling internationally that may be relatively new “at home”, but have been utilized for some time in the country that you are visiting. However, they just do not seem to work well. The newness of the approach at home “masks” the futility of the approach, while the “business as usual” of the approach highlights the futility in the foreign country.
3 – To Learn What is Up and Coming.
Conversely, you may be fortunate to see an approach at its infancy that is not only new to you, but is actually innovative and refreshing. I have an associate in Mexico that has centered his business on the concept of finding new products and services at international trade shows before they are available in Mexico, and then being the first company to offer the item at home. You may find the next “new thing” and find a way to exploit this for your company’s advantage.
2 – To Learn What is Timeless.
When you travel to cities that have been in existence for millenniums, you can experience things that work well. These cities are timeless because they work. For example, well designed, tree lined streets provide the backdrop for selling upscale fashions and other consumer products in urban environments because they produce a pleasant experience for a pedestrian.
Be on the lookout for similar “timeless” solutions that you can adapt for your business.
1 – To Appreciate What You Have.
As you can tell from the earlier potions of this Blog, I am a fan of visiting other parts of the world. The experiences you gain from travel make you a better person and businessman. But the number one benefit is that it will make you extremely grateful for winning the birthplace lottery of being born in America or your good fortune of becoming a naturalized American Citizen. Our country certainly has its faults and challenges, but there are very few people in the world that would not like to have a chance at being an American businessman.
First of all, our rule of law and justice system is not available in many parts of the world. Tyrants, both politically and otherwise, can operate with impunity in many parts of the world and no one’s assets are secure as a result. Also, the American market is the most valuable in the world. Every business person in the world would like to have a shot at the American marketplace. The combined wealth of our prosperous middle class dwarfs every other marketplace in the world.
We are also free to voice our irritation at how any of our institutions are being operated. That is not the case in many parts of the world. Our creature comforts are superior to most parts of the world. Most of the world can only dream about the relative ease with which an American pet lives daily.
We are a blessed people. But remember the old saying; to those to which much is given, much is expected.
So that is it for this week. Add to the discussion with your comments.
Tool of the week: Please give me a pass on this for the week since I am traveling across the Atlantic. I promise a good one for next week.
Thanks,
Ted S. Miller