Diversity breeds success, BT CEO says
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Korea Herlad
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2007-03-10 00:00
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Diversity breeds success, BT CEO says
When Ben Verwaayen was appointed to chief executive of BT Group PLC, the largest telecommunications company in Britain, in 2002, 99 percent of its employees were British. Now, employees working for the global company come from 17 different countries and 40 percent of them women.
"We need all different DNA to get the best ideas from all around the world. It was very uncomfortable but very rewarding," Verwaayen said at a forum on the digital network economy and global firms' strategies at Lotte Hotel in central Seoul yesterday. The forum was organized by the Institute for Global Economics based in Seoul.
Heading the BT Group, Verwaayen turned Britain's former telecom monopoly, once saddled with debt, into a competitive global company, which reported a 2.2 billion pound ($4.3 billion) profit in 2006, according to the company's website.
Citing recent fundamental changes in how global firms can organize seamless processes without forcing workers to move, he said global firms should respect the culture in individual markets and organize the firm to be close to customers.
"We have intellectual, R&D and technology capabilities in distributed networks but we need to translate them into real economic values because the audience - who can be applauding but also be booing and confused - will take full advantage of products coming from all over the world," he said.
The Dutch-born CEO said the best way to deal with the "uncomfortable" aspects of globalization is to be honest with employees that there is no way to escape from reality.
"Change is happening in every life. Of course we need to take action to cope with people's problems but the fact is we're in this boat together," Verwaayen said.
The BT Group head said his company changed into a success thanks to its crisis and radical ideas, and advised Korean business leaders to imagine they also feel the pain.
"The comfort of today will be discomfort tomorrow. The change should first happen at the top," he said.
(yoonmi@heraldm.com)
By Kim Yoon-mi
When Ben Verwaayen was appointed to chief executive of BT Group PLC, the largest telecommunications company in Britain, in 2002, 99 percent of its employees were British. Now, employees working for the global company come from 17 different countries and 40 percent of them women.
"We need all different DNA to get the best ideas from all around the world. It was very uncomfortable but very rewarding," Verwaayen said at a forum on the digital network economy and global firms' strategies at Lotte Hotel in central Seoul yesterday. The forum was organized by the Institute for Global Economics based in Seoul.
Heading the BT Group, Verwaayen turned Britain's former telecom monopoly, once saddled with debt, into a competitive global company, which reported a 2.2 billion pound ($4.3 billion) profit in 2006, according to the company's website.
Citing recent fundamental changes in how global firms can organize seamless processes without forcing workers to move, he said global firms should respect the culture in individual markets and organize the firm to be close to customers.
"We have intellectual, R&D and technology capabilities in distributed networks but we need to translate them into real economic values because the audience - who can be applauding but also be booing and confused - will take full advantage of products coming from all over the world," he said.
The Dutch-born CEO said the best way to deal with the "uncomfortable" aspects of globalization is to be honest with employees that there is no way to escape from reality.
"Change is happening in every life. Of course we need to take action to cope with people's problems but the fact is we're in this boat together," Verwaayen said.
The BT Group head said his company changed into a success thanks to its crisis and radical ideas, and advised Korean business leaders to imagine they also feel the pain.
"The comfort of today will be discomfort tomorrow. The change should first happen at the top," he said.
(yoonmi@heraldm.com)
By Kim Yoon-mi
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