3 IN 1

I will start from rather far away. Each year I set an objective for myself to visit three countries I have not been to before. In this way I slowly, but steadily move towards the goal to see and experience all countries of our beautiful and amazing World.

In 2011 the International Baltic Summer School (IBSS) represented a wonderful opportunity to achieve the above-mentioned yearly objective, because it takes place in three Baltic countries: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. And I had not been there previously. In addition, there was some strange feeling that I should go for this opportunity, because I might learn something important. So, in spite of rather high costs, my decision-making on this topic resulted in the submitted application for IBSS and further taking part in this Summer School.

However, this article named “3 IN 1” is not about the interesting company visits to Skype and ICT Demo Center in Tallinn, swimming and sunbathing at the beaches in Parnu and Jurmala, adventures of being homeless in Riga, playing in the “fun room” of Swedbank high above Vilnius, admiring the treasures of the Trakai Castle, and in general enjoying the 3 countries in 1 Summer School.

No, the post is about what I have learned and experienced concerning business: Knowledge, Skills, and Ethics – the 3 components that an entrepreneur should possess in order to create and run a modern and successful international business.

1) Knowledge:

This is the most obvious and frequently used “compound” in the formula of entrepreneurship. No wonder there is a saying “Who possesses the information, rules the World”. During IBSS we were taught the peculiarities of doing business in the Baltics, entrepreneurial environment and developments there, as well as shown examples of successful companies on the Baltic market. This knowledge will surely be valuable in the process of establishing business in the region, but it will also surely be outdated by the time the decision on doing it is made. So, the task of an entrepreneur here is to ensure the constant receiving of the relevant and updated knowledge through multiple channels, both physical and virtual.

2) Skills:

Raw knowledge is not enough without the necessary “tools” to process and use it for the entrepreneur’s advantage. These “tools” are specific skills and abilities, both innate and developed through personal and professional experience. Skills to think “out of the box” and come up with the unique idea, skills to identify the business potential in this idea and to make it real, skills to establish and benefit from a large international network, skills to convince other people in your idea and business and thus obtain the customer base, skills to manage yourself and the pressure upon you, and many more. Some of them we have already had, some we have discovered and developed during IBSS, and some will come with experience further on.

3) Ethics:

This component is often omitted from the entrepreneurship formula. Some even say that there is no such thing as “business ethics”. I do not intend to argue with them, because my opinion is that common human ethics is enough to make person respected, business deals trustworthy, and business itself successful. If to wrap it up in a philosophical veil, as it is usually done, I would say that while knowledge is the key to the door of success and skills are the hands that are able to turn this key, ethics is that “inner voice”, which suggested you to choose exactly this door and to obtain exactly this key. But it is quite hard to learn to listen to this “voice”, and many people choose even not to try it. Why bother, when there are so many temptations around?! Nevertheless, the environment, including the business one, constantly tests every one of us on following the ethical way. At the Summer School I was somehow put into conditions that allowed me to check my ethical principles, values, goals, and dedication to them. I suppose I have passed this trial. At least it made me think about all this stuff.

All in all, my key learning point from the International Baltic Summer School (IBSS) was that in order to achieve victory on the “business battleground” an entrepreneur should have all 3 components – Knowledge, Skills, and Ethics – armed and ready. And not only HAVE them, but also USE them every day and in every step towards own business. The 3 components – the “key”, the “hands”, and the “voice” – for one door to success.

GLOBALLY RESPONSIBLE LEADERSHIP

Recently I have been asked to state my opinion on what is globally responsible leadership. Below is a brief summary of my understanding of this modern and important concept.

Evolution. The World and each of its elements is constantly in the process of evolution. This goes also for new knowledge, experience, and opportunities, as well as for problems and challenges. The more we know about the World, the more we find out about its complexity and interdependence and the more we realize how fragile these interdependences are. Take greenhouse gases (GHGs) for instance: only relatively recently we have discovered how their emissions from factories, automobiles, etc. are harmful to the environment and human health and how they can alter the global climatic balance. And we do not know even the half of the story!

In order to keep up with this “evolution” and consider the above-mentioned interrelations in our decision-making, strategies, and actions, we have no choice, but to push forward the evolution of such important “change-making tools”, as leadership. Nowadays it is no longer enough to lead your organization to success on the market, for example. Now the leader should consider and take the responsibility for what consequences on economy, society, and the environment his/her decisions and actions will have. This responsibility will make the leader strive for finding and implementing solutions to such global issues and externalities as climate change and integrate them into his/her business and way of living.

However, the majority, if not all global issues, or “bads” are public by their nature (that is, non-excludable and non-rival). This indicates the efforts of a single organization, even very large and international, are not enough to solve these issues in an effective and efficient way. Cooperation is necessary. But such unpleasant things as free-riding by other economic agents pose obstacles to this cooperation and motivation to strive for positive change. Thus, globally responsible leadership means not only acting as an agent of positive change, but also assuming the role of a drive force of bringing together other players on the global arena and leading them to common goals, in spite of all the challenges and obstacles.

So, to make it brief, in my understanding, globally responsible leadership is the way of making decisions and acting on their basis with taking responsibility for their consequences on economy, society, and the environment and contributing to reducing / eliminating negative and increasing positive impacts on the global level through driving forward the cooperation of all necessary agents.

But did you know that the best time to learn about and practice globally responsible leadership is when you are young and full of energy and desire to change the World?

Did you know that there exists a global student organization that is focused on “creating” globally responsible leaders?

Did you know…

Note 1: If you want to learn more about the concept of the globally responsible leadership, a recommendation is to see Quinn L., D’Amato A. (2008): Globally Responsible Leadership: A Leading Edge Conversation, Center for Creative Leadership.

Note 2: Discussion about the globally responsible leadership was inspired by the application to the Daimler World Dialogue 2011.