I am a convinced fan of diversity, by heart but also by experience, as I put together many taskforces and have observed that teams mixing gender, nationalities, cultures, competencies, character profiles are just more performing. And yet I wrote that you should pick a woman for your International BusDev!
Here is why… 😉
One of the most inspiring women of the century is Christine Lagarde, whose incredible career continues to impress me: among others she chaired Baker MacKenzie law firm, the International Monetary Fund and currently the European Central Bank. She said in an interview last year: ‘When situations are desperate, women are called in”. It is not an opinion she was sharing, it was her observation throughout her long and impressive career.
So why is that?
She did not mean it as a sort of fatalistic “desperate situation, desperate solution” nor an evil plan to have women bear the responsibility of the ultimate disaster. What Christine Lagarde means is that some situations where all the usual solutions have failed are just complex ones.
In such cases she observed that women were able to bring in their common sense, to leave any ego aside and work together in team to build collective intelligence, instead of applying force or thinking in terms of rational data.
The value of considering the situation holistically with a nuanced approach, taking the human factor into account and adding a gentle touch in the implementation phase can certainly make a difference.
So how does this relate to International Business Development?
Well simply because this activity is one of very high complexity. It is not just about understanding well a product, its features, its applications… it is not just about knowing who your customers and your competitors are… It is about screening all potential needs and markets your product could satisfy, about gathering intelligence on each of these and capturing precisely which adaptation is required for every market, about quantifying, prioritizing, putting together a perfect GoToMarket plan, challenging it again and again…
So is that all? No, it is only a start! 😊
Then you start approaching Key Accounts, potential Partners, Distributors and it is a complex mix of prep work, instinct, curiosity, listening, genuine interest for people, absence of ego, teamwork, patience, persistence… that make a difference.
Again Christine Lagarde, when asked how she made it to become Chairman of World N°1 law firm, says that it was chance, luck and the outcome of meeting the right persons.
I think that meeting people is an art and making the right connections to deliver success in international business development is key.
So if you want me to do this for your business, contact me: cdurand@aroma-project-booster.com – cell + 33 6 33 89 75 83. And guess what… I am a woman 😁
Aroma Project Booster proposes Business Development Services to Natural Ingredients producers and is their flexible resource for International Business Development. Our services: 🔸 International Strategy Elaboration, 🔸 Market studies, 🔸 Customer Prospection and Sales Development, 🔸 Organization configuration for International Business and 🔸 Custom projects. Our value proposition: 🍀 Create growth, 🍀 Bring market insight, 🍀 Build the right B to B relationships and partnerships, 🍀 Diversify your customer base and reduce your portfolio risk.