By Mr. KV Rao
(Synopsis of Talk @ Indian Institute of Foreign Trade Delhi, on 26th Nov 2018)
Many of you will be graduating soon, and start your careers – with a degree in international business.
You are entering the world of international business in greatly troubled times. A fractured and divided world, a shift from openness to insularity, from internationalism to protectionism, a world order that is still hanging on to a frail hook – with the re-emergence, of nationalism, bilateralism in place of multilateralism, and clawing back some ways to the distant past. The diminishing role of world institutions such as WTO, and self-assertion of large states, seem the new order.
On the other hand, you are inheriting, a difficult real world from our generation. Despite all the development – 70% of a 7.3 Billion people are still poor, and still worse 40% of the world live on less than $ 2 a day, and diametrically opposite about 200+ individuals own more than 40% of the world’s wealth. It is leaving in your young hands, a fragile, unequal world, that is angry, and the root cause of political upheavals.
On the positive side, you are also inheriting unprecedented breakthroughs. Technologies, and discoveries have made tremendous strides - improved life spans, discoveries in biology, agronomy, life sciences, and digitalization have the potential to make this world a better place, and offer a better quality of life. The young today the world over, have in them the potential and grain to make the change the world needs. The young are still open minded, and willing to take risks, and experiment and create a brave new world.
International Careers
In our times, going abroad to visit was in itself a great opportunity, for we lived in a world where there were no easy windows and doors to the world like internet. Foreign travel was a luxury, and a standard question asked to astrologers was, if one would ever go abroad once, let alone live and work !. Today, out of the global population of 7.3 billion people, over a 1 Billion people live, work and have naturalized themselves in countries other than their own birth. Migration has happened big time, and will continue. It also causes a social disorder, while every 1 in 7 individuals is a naturalized citizen on an average, in some concentrated regions like US West Coast, Hong Kong, or Singapore and London financial districts the ratio could well be reversed, where the foreigner naturalized persons present in a concentric area outnumber the locals, trigger another inequity of sorts and problems.
For my young friends in India, it is important particularly as students of international trade / business to develop an international outlook. The politics in India, just as in many other countries are turning more insular – more nationalistic. Nothing wrong with patriotism, but nationalism in the economic sense also spells insularity. We must have the ability to learn from the best practices, no matter where they come from. I see the lack of an appreciative enquiry. Take the case of China – which has made tremendous technological, economic and developmental strides. They have their dark spots and soft underbelly, but rather than being dismissive and being fed on insular press, one needs to develop a greater openness and learn from the best. We don’t have to live with a negative mindset. An objective mindset is not necessarily a dismissive or negative one. Therefore, the first need is to have an open mindset – an international mindset, that is willing to learn from the best in the world no matter where it comes from.
Acculturation
The second is about ACCULTURATION. With India being such a vast cultural tapestry of various cultures, it poses a challenge to go beyond the shores to learn about other cultures. It is somewhat unfortunate that not enough of history of the world or a country is taught, which holds the key to learning about how cultures have emerged and why people from a country / region behave in a certain way. A conscious enrichment of historical, and cultural learning is needed. The more you learn about people and their cultures – from Latin Americans, to Mongolians, from Chinese to Sub Saharan Africans – it’s a very colorful, distinct and different world out there. For a student who wishes to pursue an international career, the first tenet in my view is the intellectual curiosity for cultural learning and adaptation. In today’s world of internet, the world in your very palm! … if only you were curious enough to know about other cultures – their food, their music, their politics, their passions, their fashions, their companies and so on. Be a wanderer, in space if you want to be international.
Connection & Networking
The third is connecting and networking. We all end up having too much of the same. It is good to actively develop friends overseas, and interact with them. In in the good old days we had pen friends who wrote long hand letters to unknown friends overseas and hoped to meet them one day in person in life. Today it is easy with all the social media tools and platforms. Join common interest groups on subjects and get to know other young people all over the world and learn from their insights, beliefs, anxieties, and motivations.
The fourth is stepping out – travel. Travel makes a man wise, and there is nothing like experiencing cultures and countries. Make every effort to go to less known places and with the spirit of discovery and adventure learn as much as you can. I see a good trend, youngsters back packing and taking off to unknown lands, to simply discover. It also gives you the opportunity to meet new people, and make friends. You can indeed make a global network of friends over time. You just need to remain curious to know about others and willing to share and learn. It is not about money or cost, and more about the wanderlust to be international.
Pacing It
Don’t Rush ! … We grew up in times where, challenged by middle class backgrounds in India we were in a terrible rush to find jobs earliest, start earning and then grow. Albeit all of which you too would need to do, but do pace it, and do plan it. The greater risk you are willing to take in terms of location and difference in terms of job, the better are the chances of your multi-cultural immersion. We see young people, working in strange underdeveloped places for a year to two on a social project or internship, taking a break from regular employment or giving oneself a gap-year. Many companies today encourage that too.
Risk Taking
Be willing to take risks, take on work partners in projects who are dissimilar – learn to work with a Taiwanese, a Chinese, a Brazilian and South African and you will turn international sooner than you think. Entrepreneurship, is exciting – and it is also unnerving. So, do go for it if it is your calling not, on a rebound as many entrepreneurship choices are dictated by circumstances.
Have a mission, have a dream. Careers often are simply a series of unplanned accidents, still do have an aim and a mission. Accidents in terms of opportunities, and failures are bound to happen and shape your course, but if your aim to be international – remain steadfast on that theme, and count the experience and not the $$ and titles. Enjoy the journey as much as the destination you aim for. Last but not the least, have a goal or mission to make this world a better place, in whichever and whatever way you can.
Wishing you all, great careers. Good luck !
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