Post by slh1234 on Dec 26, 2011 18:30:49 GMT
Just an item for thought:
I think large, international corporations are one of the biggest forces for peace in the world today. When I say this, I'm guessing that most people are going to think I'm referring to such corporations needing consumerism for profit, but I think there is a bigger reason than this one. Just listening to the press and back-porch talk that I hear, I don't think that many people have thought of it from the angle I'm going to put forward. This is just intended for thought and discussion.
International corporations by nature have international work forces, and international clientelle. I work for one of the largest such corporations and have first hand observation of the work and customer dynamic that develops in this environment. Let's take my team and job as an example:
How many countries are represented on my team depends on how you divide it. If I go to the smallest group that I can call my team, we have 5 people with 5 different countries of origin. Those countries are: South Africa, Italy, Cuba, US, and China. The person of Cuban origin did not come directly to the US, but still, I'm the only one with US citizenship. When you widen out the team, I have representation from Egypt, India, Iran via Austraila, Russia, Denmark, Canada, Mexico, the Philipines, Pakistan, etc. etc. This is really typical of the teams that I've been part of while working my current company.
I've developed working relationships with companies in France, Korea (maybe you say this one doesn't count since Korea is my wife's country of origin, and a place where I lived for 4 1/2 years - that's part of why I have the Korea engagements), Serbia, New Zealand, and Canada besides the US. These are the countries I can think of off the top of my head, and actually, since I work with Global ISVs, I'm only talking about location of headquarters even when I give these countries. If I think a little harder, I can probably think of a few other countries of HQ for for companies I have worked with.
So what happens in this environment: I develop not just working relationships, but also friendships with the people I work with. There is not much doubt that our relationsips with countries like Pakistan, Egypt, and China are viewed rather dubiously by many within these countries. But when I was just getting started, the fellow from Pakistan took an active interest in me, and mentored me in a way that really helped me get my footing and become successful before he moved on to anther team. I was in his house with him on more than one occasion and had meaningful discussions with him and his wife. I bought gifts for his daughter.
The teammates from China and South Africa have become two of my closest friends. Much like the friend from Pakistan, I have them over to my house for celebrations, and have met their familes. Unlike the friend from Pakistan, we have wine or beer as we talk, but in all cases, we talk about a wide range of things. We can't really have a get together without talking sometimes about the family still in our origins, or talking about life when we were growing up.
No surprise that mostly the impressions we had of each other before coming to work in such an international community were in error. Just as our news media and other sources of information gives a very skewed and inaccurate view of them, their sources of information have given them inaccurate views of us. (No surprise, right? For that matter, people on the coasts in the US are very ignorant about the people and culture where I came from.) Of course, we also hear other perspectives on historical events and put these things together as we're together. During these times are when we really begin to develop understandings of each other, and begin to develop an identity and a sense of wanting wellbeing for the families of our friends.
When things become tense between Pakistan and India, I don't find our teammates ready to attack each other. I find that all of us have concern for the families of our teammates as well as for our own families. I find myself concerned for the families of my teammates in China, Egypt, Japan, etc. when events of the last few years have warranted. I also find myself much more motivated to want to offer help as I can and as events warrant. These things are accepted as graciously as you would expect, and they are not forgotten.
All of us want a better world, and you see in the work of every one of my teammates a special pride when what they are doing really impacts the world in a positive way. I have that in the work with the smart grid companies. I've seen that in my teammates working on systems designed to combat child exploitation, or even by a teammate working with a team on a security project where he was able to weave in his passion for pet adoption into the security work. All of us are human, and we all want to have a positive impact on our world.
Now, when nations start sabre rattling, we tend to look at things a little differently. We probably have friends in the countries on both sides. We're going to be very motivated to find peaceful solutions that allow our friends to continue to live in peace. We find that our friends do the same thing. I will say that one person on each side cannot dispel the negative stereotypes or combat the bad propoganda, or stop wars by themselves. But when we have more such international corporations, more and more people have work environments like what I have, develop relationships like I have had the opportunity to develop, and more people have a voice in these things. The hope is that enough people develop these relationships so that we become a larger and larger voice for peace within our countries.
No other organization I can think of offers the opportunity to develop the working relationships and friendships the same way that the large international corporations do. We all work on common goals, recognize talents, discover the real people, and make lasting friendships. Some of my friends will go back to their countries of origins, or may move on to another community - I've done some of that myself in my life. Our friendships and voice for peace on behalf of our friends will continue.
I'd like to hear the discussion on it.
I think large, international corporations are one of the biggest forces for peace in the world today. When I say this, I'm guessing that most people are going to think I'm referring to such corporations needing consumerism for profit, but I think there is a bigger reason than this one. Just listening to the press and back-porch talk that I hear, I don't think that many people have thought of it from the angle I'm going to put forward. This is just intended for thought and discussion.
International corporations by nature have international work forces, and international clientelle. I work for one of the largest such corporations and have first hand observation of the work and customer dynamic that develops in this environment. Let's take my team and job as an example:
How many countries are represented on my team depends on how you divide it. If I go to the smallest group that I can call my team, we have 5 people with 5 different countries of origin. Those countries are: South Africa, Italy, Cuba, US, and China. The person of Cuban origin did not come directly to the US, but still, I'm the only one with US citizenship. When you widen out the team, I have representation from Egypt, India, Iran via Austraila, Russia, Denmark, Canada, Mexico, the Philipines, Pakistan, etc. etc. This is really typical of the teams that I've been part of while working my current company.
I've developed working relationships with companies in France, Korea (maybe you say this one doesn't count since Korea is my wife's country of origin, and a place where I lived for 4 1/2 years - that's part of why I have the Korea engagements), Serbia, New Zealand, and Canada besides the US. These are the countries I can think of off the top of my head, and actually, since I work with Global ISVs, I'm only talking about location of headquarters even when I give these countries. If I think a little harder, I can probably think of a few other countries of HQ for for companies I have worked with.
So what happens in this environment: I develop not just working relationships, but also friendships with the people I work with. There is not much doubt that our relationsips with countries like Pakistan, Egypt, and China are viewed rather dubiously by many within these countries. But when I was just getting started, the fellow from Pakistan took an active interest in me, and mentored me in a way that really helped me get my footing and become successful before he moved on to anther team. I was in his house with him on more than one occasion and had meaningful discussions with him and his wife. I bought gifts for his daughter.
The teammates from China and South Africa have become two of my closest friends. Much like the friend from Pakistan, I have them over to my house for celebrations, and have met their familes. Unlike the friend from Pakistan, we have wine or beer as we talk, but in all cases, we talk about a wide range of things. We can't really have a get together without talking sometimes about the family still in our origins, or talking about life when we were growing up.
No surprise that mostly the impressions we had of each other before coming to work in such an international community were in error. Just as our news media and other sources of information gives a very skewed and inaccurate view of them, their sources of information have given them inaccurate views of us. (No surprise, right? For that matter, people on the coasts in the US are very ignorant about the people and culture where I came from.) Of course, we also hear other perspectives on historical events and put these things together as we're together. During these times are when we really begin to develop understandings of each other, and begin to develop an identity and a sense of wanting wellbeing for the families of our friends.
When things become tense between Pakistan and India, I don't find our teammates ready to attack each other. I find that all of us have concern for the families of our teammates as well as for our own families. I find myself concerned for the families of my teammates in China, Egypt, Japan, etc. when events of the last few years have warranted. I also find myself much more motivated to want to offer help as I can and as events warrant. These things are accepted as graciously as you would expect, and they are not forgotten.
All of us want a better world, and you see in the work of every one of my teammates a special pride when what they are doing really impacts the world in a positive way. I have that in the work with the smart grid companies. I've seen that in my teammates working on systems designed to combat child exploitation, or even by a teammate working with a team on a security project where he was able to weave in his passion for pet adoption into the security work. All of us are human, and we all want to have a positive impact on our world.
Now, when nations start sabre rattling, we tend to look at things a little differently. We probably have friends in the countries on both sides. We're going to be very motivated to find peaceful solutions that allow our friends to continue to live in peace. We find that our friends do the same thing. I will say that one person on each side cannot dispel the negative stereotypes or combat the bad propoganda, or stop wars by themselves. But when we have more such international corporations, more and more people have work environments like what I have, develop relationships like I have had the opportunity to develop, and more people have a voice in these things. The hope is that enough people develop these relationships so that we become a larger and larger voice for peace within our countries.
No other organization I can think of offers the opportunity to develop the working relationships and friendships the same way that the large international corporations do. We all work on common goals, recognize talents, discover the real people, and make lasting friendships. Some of my friends will go back to their countries of origins, or may move on to another community - I've done some of that myself in my life. Our friendships and voice for peace on behalf of our friends will continue.
I'd like to hear the discussion on it.
