David Goldsmith - Enhancing Global Awareness: Paid to Think

What you should know about your Paid to THINK Single

Here are a couple of tips you should know now about the Paid to THINK Single. The Paid to THINK Single is being offered to decision makers as an educational tool, designed from a long history of people seeking to use portions of content in their quests to do their jobs better. Over the years, countless leaders have received and utilized single chapters from Paid to THINK effectively to solve certain challenges and create opportunities, and now they are available to you, too.

Although each Paid to THINK Single stands on its own as a proven educational resource, be aware that within the content of certain Paid to THINK Single books, you may come across references to other Paid to THINK Singles or to the full edition of Paid to THINK. In these instances, you may want a full edition of Paid to THINK on hand to clarify terminology and concepts not fully described in this particular Paid to THINK Single.

Regardless, leaders and managers have used Paid to THINK Singles as cost-effective means of sharing information with other leaders and/or stakeholders. For instance, if you want to get six managers and 34 group members up to speed on a particular topic rapidly, you dont have to purchase 40 copies of Paid to THINK and ask everyone to read only one chapter within the larger book. Instead, you can economically teach your people by simply securing six copies of Paid to THINK for your leadership team and 34 copies of a Paid to THINK Single and achieve the same outcome!

Paid to THINK Singles offer additional value to people working in NGOs (non-governmental organizations), NPOs (non-profit organizations), and in emerging markets where the need for leadership information is great but where budgets may not be ample enough to cover pricey educational tools and methods. Luckily, Paid to THINK Single gives more people the opportunity to learn and develop..

Paid to THINK Singles make great gifts, and theyre convenient for those who dont want a full book. Whatever your purpose in choosing a Paid to THINK Single, youll find it to be an economical and easy way to learn.

This book is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information about business and leadership. Neither the author nor the publisher is engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services, by publishing this book. If any such assistance is required, the services of a qualified financial professional should be sought. The author and publisher will not be responsible for any liability, loss, or risk incurred as a result of the use and application of any information contained in this book.

This book contained single-subject material from the book Paid to THINK. Content within this Paid to THINK Single, therefore, does not necessarily cover all the terminology or descriptive material referenced within that pertains to the comprehensive resource Paid to THINK.

Copyright 2012 by David Goldsmith

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

BenBella Books, Inc.

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Dallas, TX 75231

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Printed in the United States of America

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available for this title.

978-1-937856-50-2

Editing by Lorrie Goldsmith

Copyediting by Shannon Kelly

Proofreading by Cape Cod Compositors, Inc. and Rainbow Graphics

Indexing by Barbara Holloway, WordCo Indexing Services, Inc.

Cover design by Jelena Mirkovic

Text design and composition by Maria E. Mendez, Neuwirth & Associates, Inc.

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THE MOMENT YOU TURNED TO this page, you formed an opinion of this chapter that quite possibly doesnt have a whole lot to do with what youre about to read. Your life experiences up to this point determined whether you thought, This should be interesting, I dont think I need this, or, What does this even mean? Realizing that every reader would bring his or her own impressions to the chapter, I knew when I wrote it that I would have to quickly convince you of the importance that global awareness plays in your life, because contrary to the misconceptions out there, being globally aware isnt an option reserved for executives at worldwide companies; enhancing global awareness is an essential activity that every decision maker must perform to keep pace in todays world.

Whether youre an entrepreneur who works alone or a franchisee who juggles a chain of restaurants, your level of awareness regarding how people, places, and things globally interconnect with you and your organization will impact the decisions you make. Take, for instance, Oscar, the small-business owner who has spent most of his life in a rural New England community. In the 1960s, he served in the U.S. Army, and in the 1970s bought a roofing business. Like many Americans of his generation, he threw his support behind American manufacturing whenever possible, buying American-made products like vehicles and supplies for his business.

To be certain, Oscar has always known that he has choices. As a lover of history and politics, he is equally informed about current events affecting his community, country, and the world at large, even holding a position in local government. However intelligent and well-informed he has been, Oscar, like many organizational leaders, was in business for several years before he experienced an aha moment about the connection between global awareness and its impact on his decision making.

The connection has increasingly grown from aha moments, like the time he told a customer that he offered only American-produced shingles when she expressed an interest in some Canadian shingles she had seen. Moments later, when he opened the door of his truck to get an item from its cab, the customer inquired if he always bought American-made trucks. When he said yes, she pointed to a sticker on the door that read, Assembled in Canada. After Oscar and his customer had a little laugh at his expense, he told her that she could have her pick of any Canadian-manufactured shingle she wanted. When this particular job was completed, he realized that the Canadian shingles were of higher quality at the time, and he used them on future jobs. Over the years, he has ordered other high-quality, lower-cost items like sheet metal from within and outside the United States to keep his business competitive and his customers happy. Global factors creep into every organization; they always have, and they always will.

Notice that when you read about the business owners gradual connection of the world to his business that at no time did you see that he was interested in going global or expanding his business in any way beyond the community where he lived. Yet his degree of global awareness affected how he led his organization. This point highlights the confusion about global awareness that exists among leaders everywhere. Being globally aware is not about your organizations reachwhether your Desired Outcome is to have local, regional, domestic, international, multinational, or a global presenceits about expanding and enriching your thinking with real and current information about opportunities, solutions, and challenges that exist or that can be created.