I just watched this short video clip and was totally inspired. Had to share it!
Jacqueline Novogratz, CEO of Acumen Fund, shares lessons in leadership from her work in venture philanthropy.
This interview was conducted by Bill Javetski, an editor with the McKinsey Quarterly, in February 2009. It was recorded in the New York office of Acumen Fund. A wonderful video clip that you will not want to miss! Truly!
http://tinyurl.com/cqxj8l
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4 comments:
This was certainly an interesting piece. However, the aspect I found a little troubling was the perspective of having a worldview of women from the Western context. That is the thing that gets so many Westerners in trouble in overseas locations. In a broader sense, looking at leading and managing people and organizations through the same cultural lens will bring about the same type of negative experience Jacqueline Novogratz initially encountered. Geert Hofstede in his groundbreaking 1980 study discovered that American (Read western) management theory doesn’t work the same in other cultural environments. He spoke of the five dimensions of power distance, uncertainty, individualism, masculinity, and long-term orientation (see http://www.geert-hofstede.com/) that must be taken into account.
The late wife of the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Gordon B. Hinckley, remarked that the thing she appreciated and loved about her husband was that he allowed her to fly. In that perspective, coming into an organization with a “listening ear and understanding heart” will enable a leader have the humility to not try to “change the world” to fit their perspective but to allow a man or woman to maximize their potential and make positive changes in their lives and organizations based upon their own cultural context and perspective, not fit into some perceived notion of how they should behave based upon a cultural context where they have no perspective. This is why I would recommend that organizations coming into an overseas environment adopt a hybrid organizational culture that takes into account the national or regional culture they have established operations in. This approach, in my view, would work for a multi-national corporation or someone trying to help establish a micro enterprise in a Third World environment.
Cindy,
Again, thanks for posting this message and others. I found her optimism and sense of adventure and her willingness to get doing very refreshing and inspiring. I'll have to defer to my learned friend Terry Fobbs on the finer points of cultural alignment. (Hi Terry! Rob Lange, Fidello...how do you and Cindy know each other??)
Tchau,
Rob
Hi Rob,
I know Cindy through LinkedIn. I have an invite to you by the way to join my network.
Best Regards,
Terry
Thanks for the thought provoking comments that provide some deeper dialogue. Good points, all. Keep them coming!
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