The United States is undergoing great change -- and at an ever-accelerating pace -- during these tough post-2008 economic times, with upheavals in the political, social, and economic spheres all at once. The political mood is bitter, the social fabric is ripped in many places, and the economy continues to deliver bad news in terms of foreclosures, business failures, and high unemployment.
How to survive in this tough, fast-changing terrain? When my Cuban parents came to the United States in the wake of Castro's revolution, the most precious possession they brought with them was their perspective. It was that perspective - their immigrant values - that enabled them to adapt, reinvent themselves and ultimately thrive in a new country, a new culture, and a new set of challenges. That's what we need today. The following represent the six (6) characteristics that define the immigrant perspective on business leadership that will be essential for business leaders to embrace in 2012:
1. Keep Your Immigrant Perspective:
Like an immigrant who comes to a new country with nothing but faith, hope and love, all employees must not have myopia where opportunities are concerned. We need to see that opportunities are everywhere, every day, and we must make the most of those that cross our path. We need to see the opportunities that others don't see.
2. Employ Your Circular Vision:
My family - like most immigrant families - experienced crisis and change in our mother country - strengthening in us a sort of essential sixth sense, an ability to anticipate false promises and unexpected outcomes. Because our immigrant perspective allows us to see opportunities others cannot, we have wide angle vision and are proficient at anticipating crisis and managing change before circumstances force our hand. All leaders in 2012 will need to develop this ability to see around the corners up ahead.
3. Unleash Your Passion:
Our ability to inject intense passion into everything we do makes us potent pioneers. We not only blaze paths few would go down, we see them through to the end. Our passion opens new doors of possibilities that we aim to share with others. When the terrain is difficult, only passion for the quest will see you through.
4. Live With an Entrepreneurial Spirit:
In America, you might be an entrepreneur. In Latin America and other developing countries, you must be one, just to survive. The ability to see and seize opportunities to build relationships, advance commerce, and better humanity is an inborn survival mechanism for immigrants - and must become one for all business leaders in 2012.
5. Work With a Generous Purpose:
It is our nature to give. We are raised to consider others' needs as much as our own. This begins with giving inside our family when we are young, and then, when we are older, we are taught that we are a part of a larger family all around us. Our propensity to give to others from our harvest ensures us a perpetual harvest. Business leaders who adopt this abundant, glass-half-full attitude will find 2012 a year of surprising opportunities.
6. Embrace Your Cultural Promise:
Our familial style of relating brings potentially everyone within the circle. The strongest bonds in business, across the entire value chain, occur when employees, partners and distributors alike are treated like family. The treatment is reciprocated and opportunities continue to arise. Our cultural promise is that success comes most to those who are surrounded by people who want their success to continue. Business leaders - and their companies - that embrace this attitude, and practice this skill, will thrive in 2012.
2012 - the year of the immigrant perspective. Because the times demand it, and all business leaders need to embrace the opportunities this perspective provides.