Jose Ruiz

For many years I wondered what the real difference was between being good and being great. How do you clearly define it? What is it that puts a person or an organization at a different level than the rest? And I did read Jim Collins’ book which addresses the subject but I got my simple answer in a Homer Simpson DUH! moment watching  TV. (How else to you come to a Homer Simpson DUH! moment?) Ironically it was a General Motors commercial that quoted: “Amateurs work until they get it right. Professionals work until they can’t get it wrong” Too bad it was just a commercial and far from being reflective of their company culture. GM would have benefited by putting into practice. It’s just a simple quote that can be considered inspiring but it defines the current competitive environment that all organizations face.

Business is getting tough. Customer are more and more demanding and it’s a simple fact: If you try to get into something that is not your core competence there is a good chance you will fail and it will cost you. You just can’t get it wrong and to achieve that level you need to become an expert in your field, a specialist with great depth and experience that can anticipate challenges and foresee problems.

These days it’s not enough to be smart, quick on your feet or a hard worker. That makes for a great fire fighter and problem solver and if you’re doing that today you are one step behind. It’s the era of the problem avoider not the problem solver.

And with that ladies and gentlemen the generalist is dead. Learning curves are unbearable and the current competitive environment is here to change the way we manage our careers and what is required to be a successful executive.

Let’s start with the root. Let’s start with the companies that hire these executives and how they are being forced to transform. It’s where it starts. Innovative, highly competitive companies need focus but focus has a price. Most of the time focus comes with a smaller sized market and that can mess up volumes and consequently profit margins. As a consequence most companies are seeking product and industry focus while expanding their regional reach to achieve their volume and profit requirements. Enter the global factor and the need for executives with international experience and a high level of expertise within niche products and industries.

This get’s very tricky from a talent and career management perspective. Lady experience makes it complicated because she is high maintenance and requires time. Ask anybody who is on top of their game. It does not happen by chance and it does not happen quickly.

Defining a career path and making career decisions is getting more and more complicated. You can’t iterate as much and a mistake can cost you precious time. Every position, every project, every international assignment (it’s almost a must now) is a building block that creates your personal product offering. Each element defines the depth of your expertise and your value as an executive. If you are thinking about your next position you must be clear on how it fits in the big picture as one of those building blocks.

A great career is no longer defined by getting some steps right you simply can’t afford to get them wrong.

Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc., (Nasdaq:HSII) is the leadership advisory firm providing senior-level executive search and leadership consulting services, including succession planning, executive assessment and development, talent retention management, transition consulting for newly appointed executives, and M&A human capital integration consulting. For almost 60 years, we have focused on quality service and built strong leadership teams through our relationships with clients and individuals worldwide. Today, Heidrick & Struggles’ leadership experts operate from principal business centers in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia Pacific. For more information about Heidrick & Struggles, please visit www.heidrick.com

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The internal market remains sluggish due to high unemployment and uncertainty but that can change as industrial production continues to rise on surging demand in the U.S. which accounts to about 80 percent of Mexico’s total exports.

Industrial production in March rose the most in almost four years as output climbed to almost 8 percent from a year ago according the most recent report of the national statistics institute. The number is an unexpected but positive surprise over the 5.9 percent that had been predicted by the median of 17 forecasts compiled by Bloomberg.

The increase is directly linked to an 85 percent jump in automotive industry production as the sector in Mexico continues to recover.

This will most likely have a cascading effect boosting internal demand in the second half of the year as manufacturing drives employment, brings back purchasing power and consumer confidence.

  Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc., (Nasdaq:HSII) is the leadership advisory firm providing senior-level executive search and leadership consulting services, including succession planning, executive assessment and development, talent retention management, transition consulting for newly appointed executives, and M&A human capital integration consulting. For almost 60 years, we have focused on quality service and built strong leadership teams through our relationships with clients and individuals worldwide. Today, Heidrick & Struggles’ leadership experts operate from principal business centers in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia Pacific. For more information about Heidrick & Struggles, please visit www.heidrick.com

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At least once a week I get a call from a soon to be MBA graduate that is waiting for the diploma to get a management job: “I’m looking for a manager or director position because I’m about to finish my MBA”.  

It’s only a tool to perfect skills.  Achievements and leadership competencies coupled with knowing your way around a P&L statement as well as understanding how your and your team’s actions impact overall business performance is what will take you to the next level.

Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc., (Nasdaq:HSII) is the leadership advisory firm providing senior-level executive search and leadership consulting services, including succession planning, executive assessment and development, talent retention management, transition consulting for newly appointed executives, and M&A human capital integration consulting. For almost 60 years, we have focused on quality service and built strong leadership teams through our relationships with clients and individuals worldwide. Today, Heidrick & Struggles’ leadership experts operate from principal business centers in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia Pacific. For more information about Heidrick & Struggles, please visit www.heidrick.com

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By Jose J. Ruiz

In 1996, Dr Elisabeth Marx conducted a study, analyzing the backgrounds of the CEOs of the FTSE 100 Companies. In 2007, Dr Marx also explored the CEO profiles of the Fortune 100 Index, allowing for the first time a transatlantic comparison of top business leaders. This study provides a compelling snapshot of the top CEO’s in Mexico and compares the results to those obtained by Dr Marx.

These Chief Executives populate the financial and social pages of newspapers and magazines in the country. They make decisions that routinely affect millions of people, influencing economic, social and environmental outcomes. So who are they today and who will they be tomorrow? What are their common characteristics and how are those characteristics changing?

As the country continues to change rapidly, what is already defining the new breed of CEO’s in Mexico?

Two numbers are presented for Mexico’s CEO’s in order to identify current trends. We show the totals and have also isolated the numbers for the newest CEO’s: A group of 47 with 5 years or less on the job.

Broad Market and Industry Trends

In the past few years we have seen dramatic market and economic driven changes in the strategic direction of many organizations. The great recession and the intense competition have forced many companies to focus on vertical industries in order increase their level of innovation as well as product and market expertise. This

has brought consolidation in many industries and a need toincrease global reach in order to achieve the volumes required to provide competitive prices. These changes have shifted the focus from regions to industries demanding executive talent with specific industry and product expertise that can perform across borders. There are already instances o foreign companies in the Expansion 500 that no longer have a country managing director and instead have leaders for specific business units reporting directly into regional or global heads.

Talent Trends

Let’s look at how these broad trends are reflected in the results of the study and how they translate into current and future talent and leadership requirements for executives in Mexico.

Global executives

The term globalization has been thrown around for decades but it has never applied as much as it has in recent years as organizations become more focused and specialized within a specific industry or product and reach beyond their traditional regions of business. Just looking at the numbers can be a bit misleading. One can assume that the increase in foreign nationals running the Expansion 100 companies is a sign of Mexican nationals losing control. However it is clear that the new breed of CEO’s and executives in Mexico are better prepared and better educated in a global environment than ever before. 54% of the newest CEOs have performed assignments outside of Mexico and 53% hold Master’s degrees from institutions outside of Mexico.

Executives who have been successful in international assignments have usually excelled in understanding the environment, leading visionary change, leading results and mastering complex business problems. Competencies that coupled with already acquired industry expertise translate into a small learning curve and quick results.

Senior executives are a more diverse group than ever before and the impact goes beyond the leadership teams. Middle managers and staff members are being exposed to global management techniques, metric driven environments and matrix organizations that are preparing them to be the next generation of leaders in or outside of Mexico.

Increased focus on key industry and market expertise

One of the most surprising trends is an increase of CEOs in Mexico that are being promoted from within the company with great importance given to company culture,  industry specific experience and the leadership skills that are acquired while working abroad. It is important to note that internal promotions don’t necessarily mean internal to Mexico or the region.

The study performed in 2007 by Dr Elisabeth Marx suggests that:

”… the FTSE 100 Companies in the UK and Fortune 100 Companies in the US take a very different approach to CEO selection. Whereas Fortune 100 Companies seem to value wisdom, develop better internal grooming and succession planning and have higher educated CEOs, FTSE 100 Companies put greater focus on international experience, welcome foreign talent and give ‘young guns’ a chance”

Our results suggest that the Expansion 100 companies share a bit of both with a high value on wisdom as evidenced by an average tenure higher than both the Fortune 100 and the FTSE 100 and strong internal grooming and succession planning that begins early and includes elite foreign education and opportunities to gain international experience.

The Expansion 100 companies have more Super CEOs (45 and younger) than both the Fortune 100 and the FTSE 100 put together but they have been well groomed and prepared for succession.

Elite education playing a big role

There is no denying that advanced degrees from foreign institutions play a big role in the development of the new breed of CEO’s. 60% of the newest CEOs hold Master’s degrees or PhDs from foreign universities. The surprising trend is the rise of the PhD educated CEO. All of the CEOs with a PhD are part of the newest CEOs group.

Women on the rise

Perhaps the common trait between the US, England and Mexico is the one that we can brag the least about. A very small number of Women occupy the top job.

In Mexico only Nicole Reich (Scotiabank Inverlat), Carmina Abad (Metlife) and Grace D. Lieblein (General Motors) make the distinguished list in the Expansion 100 but Paula Santilli (PepsiCo Beverages) is not too far behind. Women are on the rise and while the numbers remain very low the trend is positive. All four were internally promoted and all four have extensive international experience with strong ties to Latin America.

Preparing for the future

The motivation behind the research presented in this article is part of our role as a leadership advisory firm providing senior-level executive search and leadership consulting services, including succession planning, executive assessment and development, talent retention management, transition consulting for newly appointed executives, and M&A human capital integration consulting. For almost 60 years, we have focused on quality service and built strong leadership teams through our relationships with clients and individuals worldwide.

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For the first time in three year Bill Gates is not the richest man in the world. The top spot in Forbes list is occupied by Carlos Slim and not surprisingly the sentiment in Mexico is negative. People are mad. Why? What is wrong with us?

I know the arguments. The way Telmex was acquired and the fact that it’s a virtual monopoly that has been benefited by the state could be valid. But consider this: Telmex had revenues of 9 billion while America Movil (Telcel) was at 26 billion and Telcel was a late comer in the mobile phone market in Mexico. Yes, Telmex propelled him. But Telmex is not what is keeping him at the top of the Forbes list.

There is great merit to what the guy has done and I’m not defending him. There is probably a valid argument for everyone to be questioned. Nobody’s road to the top of the list is clean. Bill Gates is certainly not exempt. The Walton’s have their share of controversy. Walmart is not considered an icon of social responsibility. Yet we all want to read about them and probe into the details of their business success. Slim? No. Corrupt capitalist pig?

Why the animosity? The anger?

There is a tale told in Mexico of an old man who was walking on the beach with two buckets, one open and the other covered. A young boy approached him as he was walking, looked at his wares and asked, “What’s in the bucket?” The man smiled and responded, “Crabs,” to which the boy said, “I can see that, but what’s in the bucket that’s covered?” The man smiled again and said, “I told you, crabs! Both buckets have live crabs!” The baffled boy wondered why one would be covered while the other one would be open if both carried live crabs, so he asked. The old man’s voice cracked as he let out a deep laugh and replied, “Boy, the crabs in the covered bucket are Japanese crabs. They start climbing on top of each other and help each other out of the bucket. The open bucket, on the other hand, has Mexican crabs. They don’t need the cover. Once one starts climbing trying to escape, the others just pull him back in.”

 I know it rubs some people the wrong way but we really don’t show otherwise.  Don’t kill the messenger.

 About Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc.

 The world’s premier provider of senior-level executive search and leadership consulting services. The firm’s executive recruiters and leadership experts operate from principal business centers in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia Pacific. In Mexico, Heidrick & Struggles operates offices in Mexico City and Monterrey. For more information about Heidrick & Struggles please visit www.heidrick.com

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A few years ago I had a conversation about change with Mike Osterling. My lean manufacturing mentor and consultant. The topic revolved around change management and how it became easier as an organization embraced constant change as part of its culture. My theory was that at some point there would be no need for change management if change became part of the culture and the operating environment. Mike respectfully disagreed.

At that point our discussion was focused on organizations that struggled with change and struggled adapting to a changing environment. A place in time where leaders had to nudged the members of their organization to rethink the way things were being done. Leaders pushed to reinvent the business and innovate. This was the period in time that made reengineering popular. The challenge of leadership was to make sure the team kept up with a changing environment.

Times are changing. Leaders beware: your challenge when it comes to change management is about to shift.

The generation that entered the workforce with the mindset of building a life long career with a steady hand in a corporation is at retirement age. Leadership positions are now being filled by the generation that challenged the status quo. A generation of leaders that learned to manage change and developed executive skills to push the previous generation towards innovation is gradually facing the challenge of managing a generation that does not know status quo. The dream of a culture of change has been realized. These coming generations are built on a higher rate of change.

Consider that everything we do is based on intervals. Everything we do is a cycle. From communication to our strategic planning. Those intervals are getting shorter.  Our main form of communication has gone from letters to emails to txt msgs. Our planning horizons are shorter. We are iterating faster. We correct faster.  Which is good right?  The next generation of executives is built on speed, multitasking and bursts. A generation that feels a phone call is restrictive because you can only carry one conversation at a time.

We are at the inflection where the challenge of change managment is going to shift from helping teams transition to keeping teams focused and helping them stay on track.

Am I getting old?

About Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc.

 The world’s premier provider of senior-level executive search and leadership consulting services. The firm’s executive recruiters and leadership experts operate from principal business centers in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia Pacific. In Mexico, Heidrick & Struggles operates offices in Mexico City and Monterrey. For more information about Heidrick & Struggles please visit www.heidrick.com

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The manufacturing sector in Mexico is slowly getting stronger. Industrial production increased by 1.6% in December for the first time since 2008 fueled in great part by an increase in demand led by the U.S. which accounts for approximately 80% of manufacturing exports.

It is no surprise that the increase coincides with an improvement in the automotive industry that accounts for approximately 21% of Mexico’s total exports. In an interview with Bloomberg Ana Ruth Solano, the Economy Ministry official who oversees the automotive industry is predicting a 20% rise this year as local and U.S. demand rebounds after the great recession.

A big part of that increase might be coming from small cars. There is an increased appetite for smaller cars in the U.S and many of the car manufacturers are banking on the segment to help them through the next few years.  Mexico has been strong in the segment for many years and is well positioned to bank on the trend.  A large part of existing capacity is already focused on small cars and auto companies such as Fiat continue to invest.  Fiat Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne recently announced a 550M investment to produce up to 130,000 Fiat 500’s a year out of the Chrysler’s Toluca plant.

Solano also mentioned that Nissan is planning an investment to produce small cars, and may choose Mexico, but no announcement on the location has been made.

About Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc.

The world’s premier provider of senior-level executive search and leadership consulting services. The firm’s executive recruiters and leadership experts operate from principal business centers in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia Pacific. In Mexico, Heidrick & Struggles operates offices in Mexico City and Monterrey. For more information about Heidrick & Struggles please visit www.heidrick.com

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“You now have to decide what ‘image’ you want for your brand. Image means personality. Products, like people, have personalities, and they can make or break them in the market place.” – David Ogilvy

A lot has been said in the past few years about personal branding. A term introduced in the early 80´s by Al Ries and Jack Trout in their book: “Positioning: The Battle for your Mind”. In chapter 23 Ries and Trout point that you can benefit by using positioning strategy to advance your own career.  Key principle: “Don’t try to do everything yourself. Find a horse to ride”. And so the personal branding band wagon began to roll.

It’s a great concept and it’s a very valid concept: Build your career with focus. Define yourself. But somewhere along the way, as the bandwagon kept rolling, personal branding began to be defined as personal marketing and brand identity.  Somewhere along the way the focus was taken off building a career with focus and put on self promotion.

A great tool if you’ve planned your career, or even if you have hit a few bumps along the road but understand how you want to position yourself.

A very bad idea if you have not done the homework to define your personal offering. Social media has made this a very dangerous proposition for those with a bad or undefined ‘product’ and just following the trend of self promotion on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIN.

Some of the personal branding efforts I’ve seen remind me of not following one of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever gotten in my career.  It came on my first sales call shadowing my boss.  Before stepping into a meeting he leaned over and told me “Just remember: It’s better to stay quiet and let them think that you are clueless, than opening your mouth and confirming it”. Not that I’ve always followed it. But I’m sure you get the point.

Your brand identity is about what you want to communicate about yourself. It’s tricky because the bulk of it is not explicit.

Personal branding is about how everything you do: every job, every social and personal endeavor will define who you are and what you can offer in the next step of your career. You can’t go wrong if you focus on that.

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Scott Shane supports a startup visa program. But he urges fellow proponents to rethink the arguments they’re using to justify it

By Scott Shane – Businessweek.com

Myth: Immigrants need to be better entrepreneurs than native-born entrepreneurs to justify a startup visa program.

Reality: Recently several influential people advocated a program to grant visas to foreign-born entrepreneurs interested in starting high potential businesses in the U.S. Last week Paul Kedrosky of the Kauffman Foundation and Brad Feld of the Foundry Group wrote an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal, and entrepreneur turned academic Vivek Wadhwa also wrote a Bloomberg BusinessWeek opinion column to support such a program…

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Por Jose Ruiz (CNNExpansion.com)

Una relación de negocios sana y de respeto nace con independencia de las partes, afirma José Ruiz; el director de Heidrick & Struggles dice que el empleado debe pensar en su trabajo como un proyecto.

CIUDAD DE MÉXICO — La lealtad no es lo que era antes… ni tiene por que serlo.
Hace unas semanas, mi abuelo, quien fue un alto ejecutivo en el sector bancario en la década de 1980, me preguntó lo que pensaba sobre la falta de lealtad en los empleados de la actualidad.

Él estaba sorprendido de ver que, actualmente, el tiempo promedio que un empleado pasa laborando para una compañía es de alrededor de 5 años.

Ante esto, un tío empresario se apresuró a responder con sarcasmo: “¿Y qué opinas de la falta de lealtad que se percibe hoy en las compañías? Ellas piensan a corto plazo y despiden a la gente cuando ya no la necesita este mes.”

Touché. Hey, al final, no es nada personal, se trata sólo de negocios.

Podría sonar frío y cruel, pero no lo es. Sólo tenemos que pensar y analizar algunos paradigmas que se han redefinido durante las últimas décadas.

Para muchos, especialmente en medio de estos tiempos económicos difíciles, la lealtad es algo que se ha descartado en el trabajo, pero lo cierto es que la lealtad sólo ha evolucionado.

Estoy seguro de que concuerdan conmigo cuando digo que es ilógico asumir que una organización puede comprometerse con un empleado de por vida. Igual de ilógico que un empleado lo haga con la empresa.

Podría darse bajo las condiciones adecuadas, pero no se puede asumir o garantizar que sucederá. Las cosas cambian y lo hacen rápido. Las organizaciones y los empleados deben alcanzar su independencia. Ahora, esto podría evocar la idea de egoísmo, pero es todo lo contrario.

Las relaciones de negocios existen para un beneficio mutuo. El empleo no es la excepción.

La lealtad asume que la relación llega a un fin. Considera lo que podría pasarle a la otra parte cuando esto pasa y toma las medidas necesarias en cada etapa para garantizar que ninguna de las partes en la relación se vuelva dependiente.

Una relación de negocios dependiente no es sana. El entorno económico actual ha evidenciado muchos de estas relaciones poco saludables.

Profundicemos más en el concepto de dependencia usando un ejemplo: Bill, un empleado de ACME, Inc. es amigo cercano de su director. Lo ha ayudado cuando eventos imprevistos lo han requerido para hacer algo extra. Bill es un hombre con iniciativa en ACME y se le ha recompensado durante años con generosos aumentos de sueldo.

La economía ha golpeado fuerte a ACME y la ha obligado a cerrar. Bill está ahora desempleado y batallando para llegar a fin de mes. Él era aparentemente leal e hizo todo lo que se le pidió, incluyendo saltar de un puesto a otro. Ahora Bill está disponible en el mercado. Su cambio de cargos no le permitió definir su propia especialidad o nicho dentro de una disciplina -no tiene marca- su CV es un desorden y sus expectativas salariales están muy por encima de lo que el mercado pagaría por sus capacidades.

Bill se hizo dependiente de ACME y ésta nunca consideró lo que podría pasarle a Bill en un mercado laboral abierto. Al no ayudarle a definir un rumbo en su carrera, (tanto interna como externamente) y al pagarle de más, dejaron a Bill en una muy mala posición.

ACME lo hizo dependiente y Bill nunca se dio cuenta que lo era.

Ahora, pensemos en un escenario donde un inversionista aparece, ACME re-abre sus puertas y re-contrata a Bill. Bill sabe que su estilo de vida depende de su actual empleo con ACME.

La relación corre un alto riesgo de volverse tóxica debido a que la dependencia de Bill muy probablemente tenga un impacto en las decisiones que él tome en ACME. El sabe que necesita proteger su empleo. En el mejor de los casos, tomará decisiones con un mayor grado de temor.

Una relación de negocios sana y un respeto real proviene de la independencia de ambas partes y de la confianza que se deriva de esto.

La verdadera lealtad en una relación de trabajo toma en consideración lo que le pasará a la otra parte cuando la relación se termine.

A.J. Smith, Director General del equipo de los Cargadores de San Diego pregona: “Todos somos Cargadores una temporada a la vez”.

Como empleado, uno debe considerar todas las posibilidades, incluyendo que nuestro trabajo puede terminar en un momento dado. ¿Estamos listos para ello?, ¿sabemos cuál es nuestro valor en el mercado?, ¿quien puede necesitar de nuestros servicios? Haz estas preguntas constantemente.

Si estás empezando con un nuevo nombramiento, pregunta cómo esto podrá impactar tu marca personal y currículum. Sin importar qué hagas, o cuál sea tu trabajo, considérate un empleado freelance y a tu empleo como un proyecto.

Condúcete como si cada proyecto fuera una prueba para el siguiente. Sobre todo, nunca olvides que una relación sana se basa en un beneficio mutuo.

Nunca limites las opciones de alguien y ten cuidado con quienes no las tienen.

Si garantizas tu independencia, sin duda te convertirá en un mejor empleado. Garantiza la independencia de aquellos que trabajan para ti y tendrás empleados más leales.

Tienes que ser independiente y leal. Con una nueva clase de lealtad.

| Articulo en CNNExpansion.com

*El autor es Director de la oficina de Heidrick & Struggles en Monterrey, Nuevo León y es miembro de la práctica Industrial global.  Su experiencia profesional incluye más de 13 años en las áreas de ingeniería y administración de operaciones trabajando para organizaciones de manufactura en los Estados Unidos y México.

Es miembro de la Sociedad de Ingenieros Automotrices (SAE) y la Sociedad de Ingenieros de Manufactura (SME).

Es Ingeniero Mecánico Electricista egresado del Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey.

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