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Stand Up and Show – Not Just Tell – the Benefits of Globalization
By Dr. Allen J. Morrison
Let’s think locally for a moment about how we act globally.
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Thunderbird’s main campus sits in the city of Glendale in one of the fastest growing counties in one of the fastest growing states in America. In Arizona, 747,837 jobs – one in five – depend on international trade. Nearly 5,000 Arizona businesses – the majority of them small businesses – depend on imports. These are just two of the quantitative benefits of globalization.
Yet globalization – NAFTA and beyond, in Arizona and beyond – is at risk. We have the opportunity, and the obligation, to stand up for it. But that will require leaders to really understand the sources of resistance to globalization. And we must not only tout the quantitative benefits but also share the stories of the people whose lives have been made better by globalization. TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE GIVES RISE TO UNCERTAINTY
Electricity was first introduced in 1873 but it wasn’t until 1919 – 46 years later – that even a quarter of the U.S. population had it. It took The turbulence caused by increasingly rapid technological change is giving rise to populism and nationalism around the world.
less time – 26 years – for TV to be adopted by a quarter of American households. PCs took 16 years. Mobile phones took 13. The Internet took 7. The rate of technological change is increasing exponentially. In fact, it has outpaced our ability to adapt.
The inability to adapt as fast as technology changes leaves us feeling disoriented and rudderless – and for good reason. Citizens are left wondering what has happened to their country. Employees are left worrying about their career futures.
UNCERTAINTY GIVES RISE TO NATIONALISM
The turbulence caused by increasingly rapid technological change is giving rise to populism and nationalism around the world. That is understandable, a natural consequence of uncertainty. When people feel confused and overwhelmed they naturally recoil inward. As my colleague Joshua Ault put it, “We are social creatures: when the going gets rough, we circle around our tribe with spears pointed outward.”
But the risk is that our natural propensity to turn inward during times of uncertainty gives way to a return to nationalism. ‘The enemy is at the gate.’ ‘Different is bad.’ ‘Protect what’s ours.’ One need not look past the nightly news to see such overgeneralizations and stereotypes aplenty. And it has already had real consequences, with Brexit in the UK, the American election, dynamics in the French and Dutch elections and most recently, in Spain.
Can we abate the rise of these sentiments and their political consequences? If we can’t, we could lose the global openness that we have embraced since the end of the last world war. This is the global openness that has pulled more than a billion people out of poverty and birthed the likes of Apple, Tesla, and Google. The global openness that supports 41 million U.S. jobs.
By Dr. Allen J. Morrison
Let’s think locally for a moment about how we act globally.
Thunderbird’s main campus sits in the city of Glendale in one of the fastest growing counties in one of the fastest growing states in America. In Arizona, 747,837 jobs – one in five – depend on international trade. Nearly 5,000 Arizona businesses – the majority of them small businesses – depend on imports. These are just two of the quantitative benefits of globalization.
Yet globalization – NAFTA and beyond, in Arizona and beyond – is at risk. We have the opportunity, and the obligation, to stand up for it. But that will require leaders to really understand the sources of resistance to globalization. And we must not only tout the quantitative benefits but also share the stories of the people whose lives have been made better by globalization.
TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE GIVES RISE TO UNCERTAINTY
Electricity was first introduced in 1873 but it wasn’t until 1919 – 46 years later – that even a quarter of the U.S. population had it. It took less time – 26 years – for TV to be adopted by a quarter of American households. PCs took 16 years. Mobile phones took 13. The Internet took 7. The rate of technological change is increasing exponentially. In fact, it has outpaced our ability to adapt.
The inability to adapt as fast as technology changes leaves us feeling disoriented and rudderless – and for good reason. Citizens are left wondering what has happened to their country. Employees are left worrying about their career futures.
UNCERTAINTY GIVES RISE TO NATIONALISM
The turbulence caused by increasingly rapid technological change is giving rise to populism and nationalism around the world. That is understandable, a natural consequence of uncertainty. When people feel confused and overwhelmed they naturally recoil inward. As my colleague Joshua Ault put it, “We are social creatures: when the going gets rough, we circle around our tribe with spears pointed outward.”
But the risk is that our natural propensity to turn inward during times of uncertainty gives way to a return to nationalism. ‘The enemy is at the gate.’ ‘Different is bad.’ ‘Protect what’s ours.’ One need not look past the nightly news to see such overgeneralizations and stereotypes aplenty. And it has already had real consequences, with Brexit in the UK, the American election, dynamics in the French and Dutch elections and most recently, in Spain.
Can we abate the rise of these sentiments and their political consequences? If we can’t, we could lose the global openness that we have embraced since the end of the last world war. This is the global openness that has pulled more than a billion people out of poverty and birthed the likes of Apple, Tesla, and Google. The global openness that supports 41 million U.S. jobs.
WE ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM – AND THE SOLUTION
For those of us who see these trends and worry, there is something we can do. But the first step is to be understanding of the fact that citizens and employees are more confused and anxious than they’ve ever been.
Leaders must step out of the ivory tower. Listen. Talk about why globalization has been so positively transformative. And how much a retreat from it would hurt everyone. Remind people that the phone in their pocket was the brainchild of the son of a Syrian immigrant, built of parts from ten different countries. Share the stories of the 41 million Americans employed in trade-dependent jobs.
Rather than proclaiming the virtues of globalization ‘because we know them to be true,’ we need to share stories like those of the 3,000 men and women in Ohio who work at the factory revived by a Chinese auto parts maker. Those of the Iowa corn farmer, and Colorado rancher, and California citrus grower whose livelihoods depend on exports of their crops to other countries, and imports of labor at harvest time.
We need to share stories like that of the late Saad Abdul-Latif, a T-bird who grew up in occupied East Jerusalem surrounded by poverty and
violence, attended college in Lebanon, Kuwait, and the U.S. and went on to run PepsiCo’s Asia, Middle East and Africa division – a $6 billion operation in a territory that includes about twothirds of the world’s population.
Saad’s journey – and countless others like it – are possible only because of globalization. I know because I see those stories every day in the faces of the students who come here, from nearly every continent, to study global business.
STANDING UP FOR GLOBALIZATION
Global leaders need to speak up and speak out, use our voices to defend and promote the social and economic benefits of globalization. We need to fight back against nationalism, which has many loud advocates. We are at risk of being drowned out by those very loud voices.
As the leader of a 71-year old educational institution founded on the principle that borders frequented by trade seldom need soldiers, I see it as both an institutional and a personal obligation to stand up for globalization. And I hope that you, whatever your role, will take up the banner as well.
Dr. Allen Morrison is CEO and Director General of Thunderbird School of Global Management. He may be reached at Allen.Morrison@thunderbird.asu.edu
