Business Lessons I Learned from My International Volunteer Experience

I recently gave a speech at one of the Fortune 100 companies. I would like to post my answers to the questions raised by the audience. I hope it will help you think about how to address the challenges in your life and work.

Q: What top three corporate lessons would you encourage us to take away from your experience that we could apply here at our company?

A:I know there are lots of changes in your organization. Sometimes you may feel that you are so small and invisible in a big corporation. More than ever, I believe in the power of one. Every single one of us could make an impact in the company or on the impact we work with. When things seem to get nowhere, think about how to change your approach to influence change (“If only" to "What if" to "Why not"). Believe in your ability to make a difference.

Don’t under-estimate the importance of your experience at work. Without previous corporate experience, I might not have been able to complete the projects in Africa and Mexico. Corporate experience is valuable so try to identify how your career can support your personal goals.

The other valuable lesson I learned was the power of an inspiring vision, which according to a research study on global leaders, is one of the most important qualities of a great leader. I used to try to influence change by talking and focusing so much on strategy and rationale. Through my experience in Africa and Mexico, I realized how much more powerful an inspiration could be in terms of its impact on influencing change. For both projects, I worked in challenging situations with limited resources and little connection to the communities at the beginning. By building an inspiring vision, I was able to influence people who barely knew me to help me with my projects. Some of them were powerful and influential people. That’s why employee engagement can be so powerful as we discussed during my last presentation “How to Bring Meaning to Work”. When we learn to inspire, engage and motivate people, we unleash their emotions and passions to achieve up and beyond what they normally could. Don’t just win their minds, win their hearts too.