Being at GM has been more of an international experience than I imagined. While I expected to work with lots of Thai coworkers, I didn't realize that the executives of GM would be international as well. For an American firm, General Motors does a very good job of using international talent.
For instance, the other day I was at a Southeast Asia all day conference. I was surprised at the mixed heritage: CEO is from Canada, CFO is from New Zealand, the product manager is from South Africa, the HR lady is from Australia, the Malaysia Country manger is from Thailand as is the one for Singapore, and the Phillipines country manager is from England. I thought it amazing that in the top level meeting for this American mulitnational corporation (MNC) I was one of three Americans in the room.
Not only does the variety make the meeting sound more interesting (there are quite a number of accents!) but the jokes can very as well. When discussing whether or not to outsource the gigantic number of powerpoint slides for the upcoming visit, the products officer suggested we outsource so "we don't lay the rod against our own backs." "oh," he said as he looked around the room and saw a few blank stares, "I guess that is more of a Southern Hemisphere saying."
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