Not all the people in one country, or even region, are the same.
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Alexander the Great may be largely seen as one of the world’s greatest-ever military commanders, but he should also be widely remembered for other reasons.
What I note and admire most about him is not necessarily his military skills but his policy of “fusion,” blending the diverse cultures he encountered as he built his sprawling empire while respecting local traditions and religions.
The modern world can learn much from his example in business and global politics. It is only by embracing such local traditions and influences that Western businesses, for example, can truly thrive when they are marketing their products on a global scale. Similarly, if we look at some of today’s global political spark points, we can see how strictly Western thinking and approaches can be very limiting and often fragmenting.
For example, the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) bloc makes up close to half of the world’s population. These countries want to be seen on par with the more traditional Western powers, but the policy of referring to them and treating them as “emerging markets” instead of fully fledged economic powerhouses is not helpful and undermines their influence and capabilities.
We have already seen how Canadian and Indian relations have broken down over the killing of a prominent Sikh activist in Canada. Perhaps with a more global approach to thinking and attitudes over many years, this violent climax could perhaps have been avoided.
We may need to pay a lot more attention to what political author Fareed Zakaria, himself an Indian who studied and now lives in the US, refers to in his 2008 book “The Post-American World. “In it, he lays out how China and India, for example, were beginning to compete with the US even over 20 years ago.
Over several years, the West seems to have not been paying enough attention to or giving such countries the respect they deserve and desire. The opposite needs to be the case. As my book states, “I have also witnessed how countries that embrace global thought, as opposed to Western thought, are setting themselves up to survive and thrive in unpredictable ways.”
No More Arrogance, Only Learning
I would similarly encourage Western companies who want to succeed in the global marketplace, be it in countries outside their base or with immigrant communities within their country, to adopt the EIA approach. Embed, Interpret, Act.
Embedding means living and working in the culture your business seeks to reach. Once you do that, you can learn how to understand and integrate local cultures into your business practices, the interpreting stage. Only then can you act on all this data to successfully offer your goods and services in the manner befitting the local culture you are embedded in.
Western businesses can no longer maintain to adopt just a uniquely Western-centric viewpoint. Instead, they must embrace a far more global mindset that genuinely recognizes the value of diverse thought to be able to thrive.
“The key to sustainable growth and harmonious global relationships is to resist the impulse to dominate and instead to engage in global thinking, just as the great historical empires did through collaboration and connection,” I say in the book.
The adoption of positive and enlightened behavior like this is what we can refer to as glocalization. Such glocalization combines the concepts of globalization and localization. Products and services can be globally distributed (globalization), but they must be tailored to meet the cultural needs and desires of local consumers (localization).
I write, “This approach recognizes the coexistence and interdependence of global and local influences.”
Real Differences and the Real Embrace of Them
This work is not easy. Thinking on a local scale as an outsider, we must embrace several sometimes challenging issues.
Firstly, not all the people in one country or even region are the same, let alone non-Western, for example. Western businesses must recognize this if they are to begin to understand the potential market.
The data can be used efficiently and productively if such observations are solidly interpreted. Businesses must ultimately recognize that the global economy is also an interconnected series of local economies.
Once such insights and subsequent appropriate behaviors are adopted, business leaders can invite greater innovation and growth in their organizations. Combine that with the necessary optimism and commitment to honoring the diversity of your customer base, and you may be onto something.
It isn’t that Western thought is wrong, just as is neither Eastern thought. We must bring those together to make the global village the “vibrant, thriving place we all want to live in.”