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LHP International Trip to Europe - Spring 2015
Itinerary
March
11: Depart from Cincinnati 12-17: London, England 18-22: Brussels, Belgium 23-28: Munich, Germany 29-30: Venice, Italy 31: Agordo, Italy April 1-2: Milan, Italy 3-7: Riga, Latvia 8-14: Geneva, Switzerland 15-17: Cinque Terre, Italy 18-20: Rome, Italy 21-22: Barcelona, Spain 23-24: Paris, France 25: Arrive back in Cincinnati |
Companies and Organizations
Interbrand, LPK London, Credit Suisse, Unilever, Macquarie Bank, Bloomberg, Ernst & Young, Eisvogel, European Commission, European Economic and Social Committee, US Mission to the EU, European Parliament, Technical University of Munich, Anheuser-Busch InBev, Munich City Council, Audi HQ, Luxottica Packaging Sedico, Luxottica Manufacturing Agordo, Luxottica HQ Milan, Bosch, Assocarta, Brembo, Liepkalni Bakery, McDonald's Corp, Omnium Properties, Central Bank of Latvia, Lithuanian Free Market Institute, US Army in Latvia, World Trade Organization (WTO), Honeywell, Nestle HQ, Givaudan, LPK Geneva, and Procter and Gamble
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Final Reflection
Around The World In 46 Days
The international trip to Europe was truly an experience of a lifetime. I cannot imagine another experience as rich and insightful as this one, and I am eternally grateful that the university enables experiential learning to this magnitude for us. This trip opened up my eyes to the world, teaching me things I had never dreamed existed, and exposing me to completely different kinds of business and social cultures. Through the company visits, traveling and sight-seeing, and interactions with European citizens, I took away invaluable lessons and understandings that will benefit me for the rest of my life. From my experiences, I have developed a stronger global understanding of world business, a more keen and educated perception and perspective on the United States and its role in business and the economy, and a better foundation to form my career path decisions down the road.
A Global and European Business and Economics Understanding
First and foremost, the international trip instilled in me a better understanding of how global businesses operate across borders. I learned of the importance of speaking multiple languages, managing time zones, appealing to different cultures, and the list goes on. These global struggles are felt by international companies especially, but local companies are also affected by worldwide changes, too, in areas such as technology and economics. As globalization has hit the ground running over the past twenty years, businesses across the world have had to adapt, adjust, and learn quickly in order to compete and win in such a competitive and transparent marketplace.
From a broad perspective, certain operational functions affect all international companies, such as learning different languages, managing different time zones, maintaining consistent standards across continents, and finding diversity in talent recruiting. At Macquarie Bank in London, while listening to the Company Secretary speak about corporate governance, I learned how difficult it can be to communicate with offices on the other side of the world. As a global company that needs to communicate with international professionals to conduct day-to-day business, Macquarie’s management (or mismanagement) of time zones can quickly become the greatest challenge for their organization and sometimes lead to bad decision-making. Learning how to find balance between working late hours and tabling certain responsibilities for another day is a skill that is necessary to succeed in a company like that. Furthermore, the need to know multiple languages is often a skill set that is vital to a job and leads certain companies to hire based upon it. Bloomberg in London, for example, heavily emphasized how important knowing multiple languages is, for their business is truly global and reaches all branches of different customers. Bloomberg will use foreign language as a hiring factor during their recruitment process as well. This has taught me the significance of knowing another language if I ever want to be a successful contributor and leader in a global industry. Given my limited proficiency in only one other language, I have a long way to go before I can successfully contribute to a globally-focused team at a company such as Bloomberg.
Visiting the EU and the WTO were both eye-opening experiences for me because they taught me about how world operations are essentially executed. Managing languages alone is one struggle that could not be underplayed enough. The European Union illustrated this beautifully when explaining the economic costs of translating and managing twenty-four official languages. Even though they incur such a terrible cost for it, managing these languages is necessary for the respect and success of all nations. The EU seems like one of the most stressful and frustrating places to work in the world, given that they have to balance the needs, values, cultures, and economies of 28 unique member states. In contrast to the US, the EU is managing 28 separate countries, not just simple states that are all unified under one country. At the European Economic and Social Committee, I learned that almost every employee of the organization knows more than three languages, and the most proficient employees know up to nine or ten. This skill is needed, or else the group could fail or become less efficient than it already seems to be. Similarly, the complications of managing trade negotiations across countries around the world was equally complex and frustrating. The World Trade Organization faces similar challenges to the EU, but is often pushed a step further when dealing with other powerhouses around the world such as China and Russia. These kinds of organizations shed light on how European and global politics and negotiations are conducted. I learned that the process from beginning to completion for even the smallest matter can be hugely complex with many moving pieces.
Finally, this trip taught me a vast amount about how the European economy works, especially with regards to improving energy efficient solutions and sustainability efforts. As the trip began, I wondered why Europe seemed so much more conscious and aware of their energy usage. Lights were all motion-detected, escalators only moved when people were on them, garbage canisters were all divided between plastics and papers, and solar panels could be seen on roofs everywhere. After visiting companies such as Assocarta, Bosch, Brembo, and Luxottica, I soon realized that Europe has developed such a focus on sustainability because they have essentially been forced to do it by the nature of their economy, and their natural landscape. Energy is not created in Western Europe, as it is in other parts of the world and the United States. It is expensive to import energy to the continent, and this has left the continent with a struggle to supply its companies, products, infrastructure, and citizens with sustainable energy solutions. Thus, companies like Bosch develop e-car systems in Milan, to eliminate car usage and increase sharing efforts. Assocarta develops sustainable foresting systems to eliminate the need to use more energy for deforestation and capital investments. Europe is a great example of how energy efficiency can be implemented more successfully than what we see in countries like the US, who do not incur as high costs for using too much energy.
Connecting A Global Understanding With A New Perspective On The US
In addition to obtaining a more global understanding on business, the trip helped teach me about the international perception of the United States, and gave me a fresh perspective on what the US is capable of accomplishing and how it interacts with Europe and other countries and organizations. I learned about the United States by talking with professionals at company visits, by asking local citizens about their views and opinions, and by observing differences and nuances unique to Europe and to the US. Living in the US for my entire life, I realized that I have taken many privileges and gifts for granted, and have sometimes fallen into a bubble mentality. However, this trip has opened by eyes to seeing things differently, and re-thinking my pre-established beliefs on world politics and cultural rights and wrongs.
Speaking of politics, I learned quite a bit on how the US impacts the rest of the world in terms of economics, politics, and world power. Visits at places such as the US Mission to the EU, the WTO, and Credit Suisse shed light on how the US is viewed by other world powers, and how our decisions affect everyone else. While in Brussels, we listened to professionals from the US Mission to the EU explain how critically important the US is to the success of European nations. Without the United States support and advice, the EU would not be able to accomplish near as much as it has. I learned how close the relationship seems to be, despite what media sources try to portray to the public. As a citizen of the US who is constantly shown different stories and headlines in the media, it was gratifying to hear from the inside source about the real relationship between the US and EU, which is one of mutual support and cooperation. In reality, the US is almost just as involved in crises such as the Greece catastrophe, the Syria and Iran battles, and global terrorism as the EU. Issuing sanctions on other countries is a large collaboration between the US and EU, and the US often takes the lead on solving some of the EU’s largest problems that they have not been faced with before. Two years ago, I read in the news about the Edward Snowden NSA report leaks, but did not really comprehend what this meant from a global trust standpoint until listening to the professionals at the US Mission speak about its effect. This example goes to show how even the strongest of relationships (like the US and EU) have weak spots and gray areas that need improvement.
In addition to understanding European and US relations better, I also felt like this trip instilled in me a more thorough knowledge of the United States’ position in the world as a political and economic powerhouse. Growing up, I have always been told that the United States is the most powerful nation in the world, with the strongest military, economy, and political systems that exist today. However, putting these statements into context can be difficult when you have never experienced any economy or political system outside of the US. At the World Trade Organization, one of my most important take-away’s may be summarized as the following: In theory, all members of the WTO have the ability to use all of the rules and processes of the WTO, but the reality is that economic and political power greatly affect countries' ability to win or lose unfair trade agreements. For example, even though a small powerless country like Cuba is able to file complaints against the US for unfair trade agreements every year, the country has no political or economic leverage to force the US to meet its demands, unlike a more powerful and economically mighty nation, like China or Russia, may be able to do. The United States, as a result of its robust economy and military strength, is able to take advantage of countries that are not able to defend themselves. Whether this is right or wrong does not matter, because even an organization like the WTO is not able to do anything about it. It’s also important to note that any country with substantive power over another country can engage in this kind of activity, not just the US. This conclusion, based off of the WTO’s retaliation process, was a bit disheartening for me, but also important to recognize as a US citizen. At Credit Suisse, David Mathers acknowledged that while Great Britain ruled the world for the past two centuries, the US will rule the world for the next two centuries. While he said this remark rather comically, he alluded to a major point in that the US, while it does not have unlimited power, certainly has enough economic influence to win trade negotiations and economic agreements in most circumstances. Mathers also noted that the US is surprisingly successful given so much political partisanship. From this statement, I concluded that the US has this major influence even with a struggling political system, making its large economy second to none in terms of strength (especially today, as Europe’s economy continues to struggle and currency loses value). I can now see more easily why certain countries, such as Germany, can get so frustrated with countries like the US over trade agreements like TTIP, in which one powerful country is trying to persuade another on a certain “way of doing things” that contradicts what the less powerful nation desires.
During the Munich, Germany portion of the trip, I talked to several German college students and gained insight as to some of the major differences between living in Europe versus living in the United States. Some of these differences have shown me that I take many things for granted as a US citizen that students in other areas around the world would thoroughly enjoy. Rather than detailing all of the small nuances that make German and American culture different, I have learned that most of them can be summarized in a more broad level of thinking: In Europe, and especially in Germany, the path from kindergarten all the way to your final graduation and career choice is very vocational and structured. Students are layered in education and placed where their scores seem to fit best. Students are told where they succeed and where they need to improve, and choose one area to focus on when looking at career options. The company visit at Honeywell reinforced this point with the college major example. If a student in Europe majors in History and Philosophy, they will likely never be in a business or engineering career field because they have not been educated on these areas. Whereas, if you are brought up somewhere else such as the United States or Great Britain, your college major is not necessarily indicative of your future career. To me, the latter way of thinking and measuring students seems much more beneficial from both a student and employer perspective, because it enables students to find what they love to do and develop skills that make them a stronger contributor to an organization. Another enormous difference between European student life and the United States is the organization and structure of university institutions. In Europe, universities do not have athletic programs, student engagement and involvement, or teeming campuses as they do in the US. All of these different areas exist, but they are separate entities, run through individual professional organizations that are most often not, in any way, affiliated with the university itself. Obviously as a student at the University of Cincinnati, where all of these areas thrive, I cannot imagine how drastically different everything about my academic, social, and personal college life would be if I lived abroad.
Lastly, I gained some more knowledge as to the general perception of American people through talking with local European citizens in London, Munich, and Riga. Surprisingly, when asked if they considered Americans loud, fat, and uneducated, many of the locals answered negatively. While not all of them answered in this way, the majority of locals got excited when they heard we were Americans, and proceeded to talk about how they hoped to visit the US someday. Remarks of envy and admiration were more common that I had imagined they would be. Most of the locals I talked to were young adults that seemed to have fairly educated backgrounds. These conversations provided me with some feelings of warmth and comfort that Americans are not always perceived as we think we are sometimes.
Carving Out My Career Choice
Finally and perhaps most importantly, traveling around the world and listening to the speakers at the company visits established a great foundation for me when I will need to decide where to take my career in the future. Throughout the trip, I had a constant battle in my head of trying to determine how to find both motivation and fulfillment in one’s profession. In today’s society, “going to work” is almost always painted as a negative experience because employees do not feel fulfilled in their job roles. They would rather be working on a fun project or hobby, playing sports or engaging in recreational activities, or reading a book on the beach. While much of this is normal and to be expected, it seems truly rare to find professionals that genuinely care about the work they do and find motivation to keep getting better. The speakers on this trip however, quite often, challenged this mentality and told us the truth when it comes to finding fulfillment in your job. Two company visits in particular stood out to me more than any others: Honeywell and Procter and Gamble.
During the Honeywell visit, the most important lesson I learned is that your career field needs to be important, not only to you, but to the world or community you’re living in. The two professionals at this company found their job super motivating and meaningful because advances in aerospace technology are critically important. It is an industry that quite literally pushes the world forward. The solutions and projects that they get to work on improve other peoples’ lives, and sometimes, even save lives. They have been able to achieve career success and personal fulfillment because they truly believe in their end product. They care enough about aerospace technology and the aviation industry to put their best foot forward for the interests of the end users.
At Procter and Gamble, rather than focusing on why their end products are important, the two senior executives spoke on the critical importance of building leadership skills and finding balance in your career, two skills which are equally important for leading a fulfilled life. The secret to happiness is balancing the desire to always want to do more and the recognition of everything you have accomplished already. In other words, at companies that become so competitive and powerful, it is sometimes easy to fall in to the trap of always wanting to do more and be better, that we sometimes forget what we have already accomplished. Knowing what we do well and having the maturity to recognize what we are thankful for is just as important in attaining a successful career as believing in your end product. Leading a fulfilling career is just as dependent on your personal life and whether or not you feel it is balanced. I learned that one way to achieve this balance is to choose a place to work that caters to your strengths and allows your strengths to boom. If being able to achieve fulfillment comes through believing in your end product and creating a balancing act between your work and your personal life, then that is what I hope to achieve in my own career.
These learnings and insights leave me at a critical point in my life where I will soon have to decide how I want to begin my career. Going in to the trip, I felt very nervous about my return to co-op at Procter and Gamble because I have not always believed in the end goal of the projects I worked on. I felt myself doubting the initial career choice I had planned, which was to graduate with a full-time job at Procter and Gamble and get a few years of great experience before being pulled in a different direction. While this mentality was somewhat maintained throughout the trip, the visit to Procter and Gamble in Geneva changed the way I was thinking about it. What I have neglected to think about in my thought process was this entire discussion on finding balance in one’s life. I am not sure what my career will turn in to five years from now, much less ten years from now. I don’t expect to change the world on my own, but joining a group of people working towards amazing products and goals could be very fulfilling (and smart if I want to raise a family). Despite what I choose for my career, I know that my job needs to lead to an impact that is positive, important, and more than anything, fulfilling. For me, fulfillment comes through working on projects that are fast-paced and engaging, but more than anything, have an end goal that benefits other people and improves lives. This was a main reason I found Honeywell and Procter and Gamble such interesting visits, and feel like many of the other visits have also supported these conclusions.
In summary, I have reflected on my renewed understanding of global business, a strengthened and rewarding perception towards the United States, and a stronger groundwork on how to decide my career path. This journey around the world in 46 days has changed so many of my beliefs and understandings on life, and I can only imagine how valuable they will be for me in discussions, decision-making, and certain situations going forward.
The international trip to Europe was truly an experience of a lifetime. I cannot imagine another experience as rich and insightful as this one, and I am eternally grateful that the university enables experiential learning to this magnitude for us. This trip opened up my eyes to the world, teaching me things I had never dreamed existed, and exposing me to completely different kinds of business and social cultures. Through the company visits, traveling and sight-seeing, and interactions with European citizens, I took away invaluable lessons and understandings that will benefit me for the rest of my life. From my experiences, I have developed a stronger global understanding of world business, a more keen and educated perception and perspective on the United States and its role in business and the economy, and a better foundation to form my career path decisions down the road.
A Global and European Business and Economics Understanding
First and foremost, the international trip instilled in me a better understanding of how global businesses operate across borders. I learned of the importance of speaking multiple languages, managing time zones, appealing to different cultures, and the list goes on. These global struggles are felt by international companies especially, but local companies are also affected by worldwide changes, too, in areas such as technology and economics. As globalization has hit the ground running over the past twenty years, businesses across the world have had to adapt, adjust, and learn quickly in order to compete and win in such a competitive and transparent marketplace.
From a broad perspective, certain operational functions affect all international companies, such as learning different languages, managing different time zones, maintaining consistent standards across continents, and finding diversity in talent recruiting. At Macquarie Bank in London, while listening to the Company Secretary speak about corporate governance, I learned how difficult it can be to communicate with offices on the other side of the world. As a global company that needs to communicate with international professionals to conduct day-to-day business, Macquarie’s management (or mismanagement) of time zones can quickly become the greatest challenge for their organization and sometimes lead to bad decision-making. Learning how to find balance between working late hours and tabling certain responsibilities for another day is a skill that is necessary to succeed in a company like that. Furthermore, the need to know multiple languages is often a skill set that is vital to a job and leads certain companies to hire based upon it. Bloomberg in London, for example, heavily emphasized how important knowing multiple languages is, for their business is truly global and reaches all branches of different customers. Bloomberg will use foreign language as a hiring factor during their recruitment process as well. This has taught me the significance of knowing another language if I ever want to be a successful contributor and leader in a global industry. Given my limited proficiency in only one other language, I have a long way to go before I can successfully contribute to a globally-focused team at a company such as Bloomberg.
Visiting the EU and the WTO were both eye-opening experiences for me because they taught me about how world operations are essentially executed. Managing languages alone is one struggle that could not be underplayed enough. The European Union illustrated this beautifully when explaining the economic costs of translating and managing twenty-four official languages. Even though they incur such a terrible cost for it, managing these languages is necessary for the respect and success of all nations. The EU seems like one of the most stressful and frustrating places to work in the world, given that they have to balance the needs, values, cultures, and economies of 28 unique member states. In contrast to the US, the EU is managing 28 separate countries, not just simple states that are all unified under one country. At the European Economic and Social Committee, I learned that almost every employee of the organization knows more than three languages, and the most proficient employees know up to nine or ten. This skill is needed, or else the group could fail or become less efficient than it already seems to be. Similarly, the complications of managing trade negotiations across countries around the world was equally complex and frustrating. The World Trade Organization faces similar challenges to the EU, but is often pushed a step further when dealing with other powerhouses around the world such as China and Russia. These kinds of organizations shed light on how European and global politics and negotiations are conducted. I learned that the process from beginning to completion for even the smallest matter can be hugely complex with many moving pieces.
Finally, this trip taught me a vast amount about how the European economy works, especially with regards to improving energy efficient solutions and sustainability efforts. As the trip began, I wondered why Europe seemed so much more conscious and aware of their energy usage. Lights were all motion-detected, escalators only moved when people were on them, garbage canisters were all divided between plastics and papers, and solar panels could be seen on roofs everywhere. After visiting companies such as Assocarta, Bosch, Brembo, and Luxottica, I soon realized that Europe has developed such a focus on sustainability because they have essentially been forced to do it by the nature of their economy, and their natural landscape. Energy is not created in Western Europe, as it is in other parts of the world and the United States. It is expensive to import energy to the continent, and this has left the continent with a struggle to supply its companies, products, infrastructure, and citizens with sustainable energy solutions. Thus, companies like Bosch develop e-car systems in Milan, to eliminate car usage and increase sharing efforts. Assocarta develops sustainable foresting systems to eliminate the need to use more energy for deforestation and capital investments. Europe is a great example of how energy efficiency can be implemented more successfully than what we see in countries like the US, who do not incur as high costs for using too much energy.
Connecting A Global Understanding With A New Perspective On The US
In addition to obtaining a more global understanding on business, the trip helped teach me about the international perception of the United States, and gave me a fresh perspective on what the US is capable of accomplishing and how it interacts with Europe and other countries and organizations. I learned about the United States by talking with professionals at company visits, by asking local citizens about their views and opinions, and by observing differences and nuances unique to Europe and to the US. Living in the US for my entire life, I realized that I have taken many privileges and gifts for granted, and have sometimes fallen into a bubble mentality. However, this trip has opened by eyes to seeing things differently, and re-thinking my pre-established beliefs on world politics and cultural rights and wrongs.
Speaking of politics, I learned quite a bit on how the US impacts the rest of the world in terms of economics, politics, and world power. Visits at places such as the US Mission to the EU, the WTO, and Credit Suisse shed light on how the US is viewed by other world powers, and how our decisions affect everyone else. While in Brussels, we listened to professionals from the US Mission to the EU explain how critically important the US is to the success of European nations. Without the United States support and advice, the EU would not be able to accomplish near as much as it has. I learned how close the relationship seems to be, despite what media sources try to portray to the public. As a citizen of the US who is constantly shown different stories and headlines in the media, it was gratifying to hear from the inside source about the real relationship between the US and EU, which is one of mutual support and cooperation. In reality, the US is almost just as involved in crises such as the Greece catastrophe, the Syria and Iran battles, and global terrorism as the EU. Issuing sanctions on other countries is a large collaboration between the US and EU, and the US often takes the lead on solving some of the EU’s largest problems that they have not been faced with before. Two years ago, I read in the news about the Edward Snowden NSA report leaks, but did not really comprehend what this meant from a global trust standpoint until listening to the professionals at the US Mission speak about its effect. This example goes to show how even the strongest of relationships (like the US and EU) have weak spots and gray areas that need improvement.
In addition to understanding European and US relations better, I also felt like this trip instilled in me a more thorough knowledge of the United States’ position in the world as a political and economic powerhouse. Growing up, I have always been told that the United States is the most powerful nation in the world, with the strongest military, economy, and political systems that exist today. However, putting these statements into context can be difficult when you have never experienced any economy or political system outside of the US. At the World Trade Organization, one of my most important take-away’s may be summarized as the following: In theory, all members of the WTO have the ability to use all of the rules and processes of the WTO, but the reality is that economic and political power greatly affect countries' ability to win or lose unfair trade agreements. For example, even though a small powerless country like Cuba is able to file complaints against the US for unfair trade agreements every year, the country has no political or economic leverage to force the US to meet its demands, unlike a more powerful and economically mighty nation, like China or Russia, may be able to do. The United States, as a result of its robust economy and military strength, is able to take advantage of countries that are not able to defend themselves. Whether this is right or wrong does not matter, because even an organization like the WTO is not able to do anything about it. It’s also important to note that any country with substantive power over another country can engage in this kind of activity, not just the US. This conclusion, based off of the WTO’s retaliation process, was a bit disheartening for me, but also important to recognize as a US citizen. At Credit Suisse, David Mathers acknowledged that while Great Britain ruled the world for the past two centuries, the US will rule the world for the next two centuries. While he said this remark rather comically, he alluded to a major point in that the US, while it does not have unlimited power, certainly has enough economic influence to win trade negotiations and economic agreements in most circumstances. Mathers also noted that the US is surprisingly successful given so much political partisanship. From this statement, I concluded that the US has this major influence even with a struggling political system, making its large economy second to none in terms of strength (especially today, as Europe’s economy continues to struggle and currency loses value). I can now see more easily why certain countries, such as Germany, can get so frustrated with countries like the US over trade agreements like TTIP, in which one powerful country is trying to persuade another on a certain “way of doing things” that contradicts what the less powerful nation desires.
During the Munich, Germany portion of the trip, I talked to several German college students and gained insight as to some of the major differences between living in Europe versus living in the United States. Some of these differences have shown me that I take many things for granted as a US citizen that students in other areas around the world would thoroughly enjoy. Rather than detailing all of the small nuances that make German and American culture different, I have learned that most of them can be summarized in a more broad level of thinking: In Europe, and especially in Germany, the path from kindergarten all the way to your final graduation and career choice is very vocational and structured. Students are layered in education and placed where their scores seem to fit best. Students are told where they succeed and where they need to improve, and choose one area to focus on when looking at career options. The company visit at Honeywell reinforced this point with the college major example. If a student in Europe majors in History and Philosophy, they will likely never be in a business or engineering career field because they have not been educated on these areas. Whereas, if you are brought up somewhere else such as the United States or Great Britain, your college major is not necessarily indicative of your future career. To me, the latter way of thinking and measuring students seems much more beneficial from both a student and employer perspective, because it enables students to find what they love to do and develop skills that make them a stronger contributor to an organization. Another enormous difference between European student life and the United States is the organization and structure of university institutions. In Europe, universities do not have athletic programs, student engagement and involvement, or teeming campuses as they do in the US. All of these different areas exist, but they are separate entities, run through individual professional organizations that are most often not, in any way, affiliated with the university itself. Obviously as a student at the University of Cincinnati, where all of these areas thrive, I cannot imagine how drastically different everything about my academic, social, and personal college life would be if I lived abroad.
Lastly, I gained some more knowledge as to the general perception of American people through talking with local European citizens in London, Munich, and Riga. Surprisingly, when asked if they considered Americans loud, fat, and uneducated, many of the locals answered negatively. While not all of them answered in this way, the majority of locals got excited when they heard we were Americans, and proceeded to talk about how they hoped to visit the US someday. Remarks of envy and admiration were more common that I had imagined they would be. Most of the locals I talked to were young adults that seemed to have fairly educated backgrounds. These conversations provided me with some feelings of warmth and comfort that Americans are not always perceived as we think we are sometimes.
Carving Out My Career Choice
Finally and perhaps most importantly, traveling around the world and listening to the speakers at the company visits established a great foundation for me when I will need to decide where to take my career in the future. Throughout the trip, I had a constant battle in my head of trying to determine how to find both motivation and fulfillment in one’s profession. In today’s society, “going to work” is almost always painted as a negative experience because employees do not feel fulfilled in their job roles. They would rather be working on a fun project or hobby, playing sports or engaging in recreational activities, or reading a book on the beach. While much of this is normal and to be expected, it seems truly rare to find professionals that genuinely care about the work they do and find motivation to keep getting better. The speakers on this trip however, quite often, challenged this mentality and told us the truth when it comes to finding fulfillment in your job. Two company visits in particular stood out to me more than any others: Honeywell and Procter and Gamble.
During the Honeywell visit, the most important lesson I learned is that your career field needs to be important, not only to you, but to the world or community you’re living in. The two professionals at this company found their job super motivating and meaningful because advances in aerospace technology are critically important. It is an industry that quite literally pushes the world forward. The solutions and projects that they get to work on improve other peoples’ lives, and sometimes, even save lives. They have been able to achieve career success and personal fulfillment because they truly believe in their end product. They care enough about aerospace technology and the aviation industry to put their best foot forward for the interests of the end users.
At Procter and Gamble, rather than focusing on why their end products are important, the two senior executives spoke on the critical importance of building leadership skills and finding balance in your career, two skills which are equally important for leading a fulfilled life. The secret to happiness is balancing the desire to always want to do more and the recognition of everything you have accomplished already. In other words, at companies that become so competitive and powerful, it is sometimes easy to fall in to the trap of always wanting to do more and be better, that we sometimes forget what we have already accomplished. Knowing what we do well and having the maturity to recognize what we are thankful for is just as important in attaining a successful career as believing in your end product. Leading a fulfilling career is just as dependent on your personal life and whether or not you feel it is balanced. I learned that one way to achieve this balance is to choose a place to work that caters to your strengths and allows your strengths to boom. If being able to achieve fulfillment comes through believing in your end product and creating a balancing act between your work and your personal life, then that is what I hope to achieve in my own career.
These learnings and insights leave me at a critical point in my life where I will soon have to decide how I want to begin my career. Going in to the trip, I felt very nervous about my return to co-op at Procter and Gamble because I have not always believed in the end goal of the projects I worked on. I felt myself doubting the initial career choice I had planned, which was to graduate with a full-time job at Procter and Gamble and get a few years of great experience before being pulled in a different direction. While this mentality was somewhat maintained throughout the trip, the visit to Procter and Gamble in Geneva changed the way I was thinking about it. What I have neglected to think about in my thought process was this entire discussion on finding balance in one’s life. I am not sure what my career will turn in to five years from now, much less ten years from now. I don’t expect to change the world on my own, but joining a group of people working towards amazing products and goals could be very fulfilling (and smart if I want to raise a family). Despite what I choose for my career, I know that my job needs to lead to an impact that is positive, important, and more than anything, fulfilling. For me, fulfillment comes through working on projects that are fast-paced and engaging, but more than anything, have an end goal that benefits other people and improves lives. This was a main reason I found Honeywell and Procter and Gamble such interesting visits, and feel like many of the other visits have also supported these conclusions.
In summary, I have reflected on my renewed understanding of global business, a strengthened and rewarding perception towards the United States, and a stronger groundwork on how to decide my career path. This journey around the world in 46 days has changed so many of my beliefs and understandings on life, and I can only imagine how valuable they will be for me in discussions, decision-making, and certain situations going forward.
MEmorable Quotes from the Trip
"Branding isn't about being present, but it's more important to be strategically relevant." - Interbrand
"The United States is surprisingly successful given so much partisanship." - Credit Suisse
"Agility is the key enabler for all companies." - Unilever
“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” – EY
“If you’re not your authentic self, you can’t be your best, because you spend energy trying to act like something else.” – EY
"Your career is a marathon, not a sprint." - EY
"Over six million people attend Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany every year." - Munich City Tour Guide
"Data of the 21st century is the new oil of the 20th century in terms of economic growth." - US Mission to the EU
"In theory, all members of the WTO have the ability to use all of the rules and processes of the WTO, but the reality is that economic and political power greatly affect countries' ability to win or lose unfair trade agreements." - WTO
"Our company is fascinating because it is literally pushing the world forward." - Honeywell
"You cannot lead unless you know what you're talking about." - P&G
"Make few choices, stick with them, and drive them through no matter what." - P&G
"Confidence is the most difficult thing to achieve and the most important quality for leadership." - P&G
"The secret to happiness is balancing the desire to always want to do more and the recognition of everything you have accomplished already." - P&G
"Great leaders make others better than what they think they can be." - P&G
"Focus on your strengths more than anything else, and join a place that allows your strengths to boom." - P&G
"Be serious, but don't take yourself seriously." - P&G
"The United States is surprisingly successful given so much partisanship." - Credit Suisse
"Agility is the key enabler for all companies." - Unilever
“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” – EY
“If you’re not your authentic self, you can’t be your best, because you spend energy trying to act like something else.” – EY
"Your career is a marathon, not a sprint." - EY
"Over six million people attend Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany every year." - Munich City Tour Guide
"Data of the 21st century is the new oil of the 20th century in terms of economic growth." - US Mission to the EU
"In theory, all members of the WTO have the ability to use all of the rules and processes of the WTO, but the reality is that economic and political power greatly affect countries' ability to win or lose unfair trade agreements." - WTO
"Our company is fascinating because it is literally pushing the world forward." - Honeywell
"You cannot lead unless you know what you're talking about." - P&G
"Make few choices, stick with them, and drive them through no matter what." - P&G
"Confidence is the most difficult thing to achieve and the most important quality for leadership." - P&G
"The secret to happiness is balancing the desire to always want to do more and the recognition of everything you have accomplished already." - P&G
"Great leaders make others better than what they think they can be." - P&G
"Focus on your strengths more than anything else, and join a place that allows your strengths to boom." - P&G
"Be serious, but don't take yourself seriously." - P&G