In the News
Demands of a Global Economy
Seeking employment in today's globalized business world requires some special new skills, with surprisingly ancient origins.
Managing workers in different time zones requires thinking ahead. If your support staff is in India, you'll be working at very different times of the day. Independent thinking is required at lower management levels, as is creativity and clear communication—especially if that requires communicating with workers from a different background. What is common knowledge in American business culture isn't the same for workers in other countries.
Learning a foreign language like Chinese, among others, is an increasingly critical ability (Dan Tynan, "Five Technology Skills for the Global Economy," InfoWorld, May 22).
The ancient biblical concept of treating other people as you would want to be treated encompasses most of this skill set. Treating fellow workers with respect, especially across international borders, requires ingenuity, but it reaps excellent rewards.