Global Mindsets: Women in Leadership Leveraging Cross-Border Perspectives

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Great business minds do think alike when it comes to the global market.

In “Global Mindsets: Women in Leadership Leveraging Cross-Border Perspectives,” presented as part of the University of Miami Global Business Forum Jan. 15 – 16, 2009, the panelists — despite their varied business and cultural backgrounds — agreed that flexible thinking, continual education and cultural respect are keys to success in a worldwide market.

“An open mind can open so many doors,” Maria Eugenia Brizuela de Avila told the crowd, which was notably populated by young women. Brizuela de Avila, the regional head for corporate sustainability at HSBC Latin America, joined Iberia Tiles Chairman and Founder Rosa Sugranes, Duramed FUTURES Tours CEO Zayra Calderon, and moderator Teresa A. Scandura, dean of the University of Miami Graduate School, as they covered everything from global business expansion to balancing home and family.

One point the speakers continually impressed upon their audience was the need to become comfortable in a global society, a task they saw as starting with language.

“When I was growing up [in Spain] my parents would tell me that if I was not bilingual I would be illiterate in the world I have to live in. Now, I tell my children that if they don’t speak three languages they will be illiterate,” said Sugranes. “If you are as comfortable in Kansas City as in Buenos Aires, as in Mumbai, as in Shanghai, then you can do whatever you want.”

All of the panelists saw language skills as the first step in a new way of thinking about the business world. According to Brizuela de Avila, “modern, open, and flexible” are the hallmarks of an emerging style of leadership, in which relationships are built not only on cross-cultural learning, but on cross-generational learning as well.

“I’m listening a lot to young people and how their minds work. It’s really different. The way they connect to each other and the way they think, it’s amazing,” said Sugranes, citing as an example the ease with which younger generations acquire and relay on-the-spot information via BlackBerrys, cell phones, and other digital devices.

Continual adaptation was another theme for the speakers, who advised those working in global markets to tailor everything — eating habits, reading materials — to the specific markets in which they work or desire to work. By educating themselves about local customs, cultures, and habits, executives not only prepare themselves to do business but show an openness and respect for new cultures, while gaining an understanding of how to create business models that work on a global level.

“The attitude is so important,” Brizuela de Avila told the crowd.

Calderon spoke specifically of her time at health care insurer CIGNA, explaining the difficulties she had in trying to convince management that they needed to travel to emerging markets — first, to learn how to introduce the CIGNA paradigm, and second, to better understand how to integrate it with what was already there, with the goal of creating new ideas. In a global culture, she said, executives who travel and take an interest in other cultures and business strategies are the ones who will ultimately succeed.

The women’s personal stories revealed a surprising similarity in motivation. While Sugranes took her family business into a new market in the U.S., Brizuela de Avila worked her way through a male-centric business world in El Salvador, and Costa Rica native Calderon described herself as an entrepreneur from birth, all three spoke of the desire for independence as a key factor in their rise to the top.

“My need for independence and freedom was much greater than my need for financial security,” recalled Sugranes. Echoed Calderon, “I never worried about whether I was going to be rich or a millionaire, but I knew that if I succeeded that would happen, that I would be okay financially as well.”

Fielding audience questions on everything from work/life balance to networking, the women easily shifted to offering business advice. Where Brizuela de Avila credited the support of her husband and children, as well as a large network of peers, in her climb to the top, Sugranes spoke of her efforts to be accepted by male business leaders. That feat, she said, was achieved only after she became involved in civic and philanthropic organizations, where her board memberships and committee titles impressed colleagues and drew new business. Calderon, for her part, had one principal suggestion — learn to play golf.

“I made more deals and bigger deals on the golf course than I have anywhere else, in any of the boardrooms,” she said. But in truth, she continued, for women in executive roles it comes back to one word. “Credibility. We have to establish credibility. If you are credible, then they will listen to what you have to say.”

Calderon’s comments led the audience to inquire about the panelists’ own experiences with discrimination. Whether stemming from gender, culture, or accent, it turned out that the panelists all handled their situations in the same way—with humor.

“I think to put humor into it is very important. And to be sure of yourself,” said Sugranes. “Don’t let anyone take the power from you.”

By Andrea Carneiros