When David Cornejo Chinguel, founder and chairman of Juan Mejia Baca, decided to start a new system of schools in Chiclayo, Peru, he knew he wanted them to be different. David had traveled outside of Peru before to Europe and other South American countries. He wanted to bring the best ideas from these places back with him and implement the good bits all in one place:
What we are helping form here in our schools is a new generation of children that are tech savvy and part of the digital age. This is the product of globalization.
About a month ago I decided to leave my comfortable job and home in the U.S. and move to Chiclayo, Peru, to work for the summer. This is where I met David, in the 4th largest city in Peru, creating a school that serves the two lowest economic classes in the city. In the month that I have been here, I’ve already learned so much about working internationally, the clashing of cultures and how globalization is real.
As a journalist and as someone who has worked with small businesses previously, I’ve seen how important it is to keep a global perspective, and David gets it too:
Above all, there is a huge movement in entrepreneurship in Peru. There is strength and immensity found in the entrepreneurial attitude.
Working internationally, whether in another country or from the US, can be a challenge. There are cultural differences as well as different systems and ways of doing things that we are often not aware of. If we want our businesses to grow, we need to understand that going into new markets will require patience and the understanding that we will have to adapt.
A global perspective means being open to new ideas, issues and solutions. Often times, it even means being open to changing the way you do things if you find a new system that works better. It means being culturally sensitive and willing to learn from others.
By having a global perspective you will be able to learn from others and you will open your business up for new opportunities. You will be able to grow in ways that others cannot because they don’t understand this concept and you will enter new markets.
David Cornejo Chinguel has a global perspective. His forward thinking ideas and openness is allowing him to form partnerships with people and other universities in Chile, Germany and just recently the U.S. This is a huge success for a university that has only been around for 5 years in a developing country.
This corporation started with zero soles (Peruvian currency), with nothing. But with a tremendous spiritual force and with the strong desire to learn each day we have grown.
Business schools in the U.S. are also recognizing the importance of teaching their MBA students about the global perspective. Sunil Chopra, interim dean and IBM Professor of Operations Management and Information Systems at the Kellogg School of Management said:
Whether you like it or not, businesses are running globally. What you cannot do is sit in a corner and say, ‘I’m going to build a wall and what happens elsewhere is not going to affect me.’ Global is where the opportunities are.
A global perspective will help you learn from others and find new ideas to grow your business. Globalization is bringing the world together and it’s happening quickly. Be open, be adaptable – and you will see new opportunities knocking on your door.
Global Business Photo via Shutterstock