Young Global Leaders and Global Careers at Global Chamber

What a year it's been expanding our Young Global Leaders Initiative, and we're planning a next level increase in 2023. One of the most amazing conversations we had was a few months back with Alina Morse - extraordinary young global entrepreneur who came up with sugar free lollipops at age 7... and with a little help from her family and friends, turned it into a multi-million dollar business. Young global leaders should stay open and impatient, AND realize that life unfolds every day with infinite opportunities, and no dead-ends... only opportunities.

More and more we look to connect young global leaders who have big dreams with the resources they need to accelerate their global impact and success. The US SBA claims that 90% of startups fail. For young people... is the rate any different? We can do better.

And global opportunities should be more in the forefront of the most talented young leaders. It bothers me that as global as I am now, I came about global business largely by accident... having little or no exposure to global business in college, and little or now exposure at work at a multinational (DuPont Company)... until a job in Asia opened up and no one else wanted it.

Seriously, is that what it takes to get involved in global business? There's gotta be a better way to prioritize and train.

I also remember in those days that the 'fast track' did not include global business because most leaders in the company didn't understand global business, and appreciate what it takes to do it well. AND to do global business you were far from the headquarters, and so proximity bias works against anyone who wishes to excel globally. The deck is stacked against global... and so we need to keep doing something about that.

In my case besides getting a global job accidentally, I also got an accidental expat assignment - when another Dupont employee created an expat assignment for himself... and I was chosen for it. Amazing! This mirrors the 'accidental exporter' syndrome which is common in business... the first exports happen accidentally, and the global plan gets developed after those accidents happen.

Back to me, I ultimately found my passion doing global business with Dupont - which honestly was obvious from my very first trip to South Korea in January, 1987... a few years ago! I labored away with pure bliss for years, and then I reached a pinnacle of sorts in my DuPont career as I wrapped up my EMBA at Michigan State University - Eli Broad College of Business, finishing at the top of the class, working with then Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer on a class donation to The Rainbow Connection/Detroit... captured below... and headed to Singapore for my second expat assignment.

That second expat assignment followed the EMBA and an earlier great expat assignment in Japan. All of it by the way was somewhat counter to the 'fast track'. It's easy to get lost in an expat assignment, and during my EMBA I was asked to take on a business role back at HQ... drop everything... stop my degree and take that on... here was my chance, I was told. Really? This is what it takes, to give up my dreams?

That second expat assignment didn't work out because of a family issue, and the return to the US was turbulent, though it exposed me to a leadership role in an SAP implementation that got me thinking of consulting, and the rest as they say, is history... onward, upward and out... early retirement... leading to the idea of founding Global Chamber. Behind every change and challenge is an opportunity!

With any career it's never easy... stay the course and be resilient. And also don't give up your overall plan.

What's your journey? I'll bet it wasn't a straight line either, and it probably had some accidental detours and epiphanies.

Hopefully we can find ways to bring global business to a higher priority and visibility through our programming in 2023, and extend this thinking not only to multi-nationals, but more broadly to all companies.

Watch for more Young Global Leader programs at Global Chamber® in 2023. And along the way, check out this important conversation by IE Business School that we captured on our Youtube channel discussing the 100-year life career, HERE.

Doug Bruhnke - founder/CEO at Global Chamber®

Global Chamber® is a growing and collaborating community of CEOs, executives and leaders in 525 metro regions around the world... connecting member businesses to new opportunities and advancing growth and success. It's the only chamber of commerce in the world operating in hundreds of locations that helps exporting, importing and investing members to connect through warm introductions to clients, partners, projects and resources.

Global Chamber® is a registered trademark of Global Chamber LLC since 2014.

Below... "Young Global Leader" Doug Bruhnke with Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer.