M’s the Word: Down and out in Sao Paulo

There’s nothing like a field visit to give you a little perspective



My world tour progresses through Dallas and on to Sao Paulo. This is my first visit to the city. After more than 24 hours travelling, I am feeling like a hamster. I probably need to shower and change, because I do not make good company even for myself at the moment. But there is no time.

I am met at the airport by a driver with a security pass, someone whose identity has already been transmitted to me before I left from Dallas. I have not encountered this before. So my attitude swings wildly between excitement and fear that this might be more dangerous than I anticipated. After Karachi, Cairo, Nairobi, Baghdad, Washington, this is a novelty.

The ride is long but uneventful. The driver calls ahead to alert the security guards on the gate that we are arriving, and I am waved into the offices. Somehow, this is a letdown. I expected sand bags and machine gun nests. Instead, I am greeted by the happy, smiling face of a member of my staff.

We enter a training program with a group of product managers from eight different Latin American countries, who listen avidly to a presentation from another of my team who arrived two hours earlier than I did, from Berlin, and walked out of her un-marked Land Cruiser and straight into the session. She manages to look rested and enthusiastic. I bask in a glow of pride, as I watch both of my team engaging, laughing, testing and teaching.

It is always going to be a challenge, to balance the cost of sending people on an 11-hour flight to train a group. But this is a vindication for the decision. Within a couple of hours, we are a team and we can address issues, make plans, challenge each other in ways that simply do not happen when you meet over a video conference.

 Even the best international warrior will miss the angles and the inflections that are telltales for confused messages. Over three days, we debate the particular circumstances behind slow uptake, we share information about success, and we drink a few local poisons.

There does not seem to be much risk at the moment, but still it leaves me thinking about the difficulties faced in market. The past five years has seen a swing from Colombia to Mexico and Venezuela as the places of particular risk in this area of the world. Sitting at the office, peering at an Excel sheet, it is easy to forget the pressure at a local level, to meet targets. Eating a warm croissant, with a cappuccino, reading the local version of The Sun on the way to work is not quite as testing as being driven a different route to work each day in a non-descript 4X4 with toughened windows.

A field visit helps you get a little perspective. It is definitely something I will recommend. And the next time I sulk because there are no nougat croissants, I hope I will reflect on this.

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