While reading the innovation article that inspired the majority of my posts last week, I started to think about the connection between travel and growth in business. It seems inevitable especially in our ever globalized business market. Based on the findings in the innovator study, managers who have been on assignment abroad show about 7% higher market performance when they become CEOs, compared to the CEOs without the international experience.
One of the most powerful experiments innovators can engage in is living and working overseas. Our research revealed that the more countries a person lived in, the more likely he or she is to leverage that experience to deliver innovative products, processes, or business.
I am not a CEO of a major company and I cannot personally recount the truth of these statistics; however I do feel that they are reflective of the benefits of travel. There are plenty of people who tell how travel has affected their lives. There are thousands more people who, despite short vacation time in the US, are dreaming about their next vacation. To some, travel is merely an escape from the rat race, but maybe it can be much more.
Rick Steves argues in his book Travel as a Political Act that travel can help us form our political opinion. By experiencing the way other countries are run firsthand, we can eliminate past prejudices, assumptions, and fears. We can even start to reshape opinions about our own countries. In regards to business, this awareness can reshape the views of a company, as well as the assumptions of the way companies should be run.
Travel can help your professional career in many ways. There is a reason many reporters and researchers go ‘in the field.’ There is invaluable information outside of your cubicle. In this age, where the consumer has loads of products to choose from and thousands of outlets in which they get their information, it is much harder to get your customers to listen. Marketers need to find innovative and unconventional ways to run successful campaigns. Of course traditional advertising can be clever and effective (think of Geico’s ‘Somebody’s Watching Me’) but just because people remember that Maxwell’s is ‘good to the last drop’ or the McDonald’s catchphrase ‘I’m lovin it,’ doesn’t mean that they will drink Maxwell coffee or eat McDonald burgers.
Not everyone can live by gallivanting outside of the office forever, but when you get the chance it will create lots of opportunities that can spark new ideas and revitalize your career.
Image via: antwerpenR
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Do What You Want Now
by Elena on December 11, 2009
He knew that there were a lot of aspiring writers, producers, directors, and creatives in the lecture hall, currently vying for intern positions at big media companies throughout New York City. He also knew we were all anxious to work long hours, mostly for free, performing menial tasks just to get our foot in the door. He told us of the importance of gaining personal experience by ‘being in the game’ but he also told us how easy it was to get stuck and lose focus on what we really wanted.
“If you want to be a film maker, make a movie.” He said. “Stop getting all those people their coffee and pick up a camera.”
Getting someone their coffee most certainly won’t make you a director, accomplished producer, or whatever else you set your heart on. The key is to distinguish between what pays your bills and what helps accomplish your goals. If making that coffee gets you in contact with the right people that’s great, but don’t wait to start doing what you love until after your big break. You might be waiting a long time.
The fact of the matter is, bills need to be paid and food needs to be put on the table, which is why so many artists and entrepreneurs pursue their true passions on the side, until they can do it for a living. In my past post about Carr’s NY Times article, I discussed the ways people in publishing are taking matters into their own hands. Laryssa at Comma ‘N Sentence recently wrote about the ways she is handling the new media landscape by creating her own endeavors along the way. The message is to simply do what you want now and not to wait for anyone. If you want to direct movies, pick up a camera and start filming your own. Start writing, taking pictures, making clothes, creating a business, cooking, or teaching, Whatever it is you want, start doing it now.
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