Everyone's Going Global

Everyone's doing it, and it's hitting home.

"Globalization" and "Going Global" are words we hear all the time and for good reason.  Not only are we a global economy, but the web we weave of relationships - both personal and professional - now transcends borders and barriers.  We no longer need to "phone home" to hear (or see) what's going on with those who matter to us.  Landline conference calls are passé.  With the internet and other technology, information exchange transpires in mere seconds!

Hello, World Financial Crisis.

We are a global community with a globalized economy.  It seems so obviously, doesn't it?  Yet, everyday, we are reminded just how intimately our worlds collide!

For example, last week, I read an editorial written by Thomas Friedman, the same author as our beloved Lexus and Olive Tree text from MBA 8000.  And guess where I found this column...  Not the Wall Street Journal, nor the New York Times nor The Economist.  (well, it might be there, too, but that's not where I read it.)  It was in the AJC!

Can you believe it?  I couldn't.  Who knew the local paper would feature someone who is not only a world-renowned economist, but someone I could recognize... (It's a miracle, you have no idea! I can barely recognize some celebrities, let alone world leaders in politics or academia.  Rest assured, I am terribly embarrassed as I write this.)

Well, after reading Mr. Friedman's editorial, it occurred to me... This globalization thing is not just in large American cities, or hubs for big businesses or even in emerging markets or even a theory in a Business School classroom.  Its everywhere.

Then and there, I realized I need to be more familiar with what's going on in the world - both my world and the real world.

So, after a little more reading and a few detours on Wikipedia and Google, I discovered I have a little bit of a passion for this Globalization In My Own Backyard project I took on.  For instance, I am fascinated by the financial plague that has hit two countries with life styles and cultures I've romanticized for years (hint: Opa & vino), and I am intrigued by both the positive and negative impacts of Westernization on the health and well-being of developing nations.  Now, obviously, I have not yet grasped the whole shebang of side effects regarding foreign bankruptcy and currency fluctuations, nor have I developed an air-tight argument against the exports of GMO's because of their contribution to disease in Africa... but I did realize that I actually cared about these things.

Here's the deal:  You may not give two hoots about Italy's financial future and its impact on France or about Ethiopian healthcare.  That's ok.  But you should give a hoot (or two) about what is going on outside of your day-to-day life and in your Glocalized world.  So, I gently urge you to find the topics, the countries, or the companies that impassion you, and then feed that hunger for knowledge.

Who knows, it could make you a star-student in your International Marketing class, or help you decide on your next career move or inspire you to roll up your sleeves and run for President.  You never know!

The thing is, we are the next leaders, and the world is constantly changing, and, no, we can't know everything.  But, it's the stuff that we care to know, the stuff that enlivens us to keep learning and impassions us to keep going that will help us be the change we want to see in the world when we finally get out there.


*If you want a jumping off point for your own Globalization In My Own Backyard, visit GlobalAtlanta.com to see how globalization rocks our world here at home.