How to launch a successful career at a multinational corporation

#1 Understand what is the company history

Be aware of the origins of the company and what kind of values drive the organization. For example, tech companies are quicker to respond to market changes than more traditional segments, like healthcare.

Understand the relevance of having your behaviors aligned to current & future DNA of the company.

#2 Onboarding

Connect to to as many people as possible. Do not expect every single collaborator to promptly understand your role, your challenges and your goals.

Schedule face to face conversations, whenever possible, use visual aid such as power point, charts, models to engage your interlocutor´s listening and sight. Capturing the attention of two senses is always better than just one.

Understand what sort of benefits the company offers beyond compensation, such as second language training, education hubs, self-education platforms. All of them are very helpful to keep you resume and academic hard skills always up to date.

#3 Plan & know to be adaptive

The only certainty we bear when making a plan is that the real world would will pose many roadblocks and opportunities not previously contemplated. Nevertheless, a plan is the assurance that the direction for the journey is accurate. A boat can be blown by the wind, but if the direction is kept, the endeavor will succeed.

Know towards where you want to head. It always better than overthinking where you are now.

#4 Widen potential / available tactics

Be flexible on tactics, explore what kind of best practices other countries or business units adopt. Explore what category of actions or methods you can deploy to reach your team / corporate aspirations.

Remember, sometimes, someone, somewhere, has already thought through about a topic you might encounter as a hurdle. There are times you have to recur to an innovative solution, but often they are already put in place somewhere out there. Do not be afraind to explore!

#4 Time is a scarce resource

One of the things I learned with Europeans is how to treat time well. Time is the only irrecoverable and irrevocable resource in your life, so treat it with great care.

Do not forget to treat all your colleagues´ time likewise.

#5 Better together

In the beginning of my career, my greatest learning was how and what areas should I involve in a project. A matrix-like organization requires a good amount of time to fully comprehend. It is key to have a "room-reading skill" for deciding how & when to put ideas on the table and make them gain momentum.

Be wary of the structure of organization. It communicates how the organization sees & values each role/function.

#6 Communication is never too much

As a physician and having worked for 10 years in intensive care units (assistance), as a government official, at universities (medical education) and at corporations I cannot stress enough how communication is key for developing yourself and making valuables statements.

Before a presentation think what kind of memories or key-messages someone should take home.

Another tip is always prepare your presentation as if you could have 1/10, then 1/5, then 1/2 of the time granted for your.

If the topic is a speech, remember: every unique speech has obligatory three elements: reason (logos), emotion (pathos) & authority / character (ethos).

#7 Look the chessboard from above

Reserve 10% of your agenda to think as if you were your leader. Reflect upon which priorities he has and how your role can contribute to the entire team performance.

Having a "helicopter view" is absolute a game changer for your career and can accelerate your growing along the way.

Remember, nothing happens randomly. Everything has a raison d´être, a reason to be.

#8 If you do not know, then ask. If you ask, then listen

Asking never hurt, right? You can use questions to recognize a presenter´s attention,, to demonstrate the topic he or she explained is relevant and the attendance was valuable.

Additionally, questions can be a great way to challenge ideas you might not agree upon right away, and therefore, they are a powerful tool for keeping a diplomatic approach on the quest for consent.

Compliance and legal are areas that could help you a lot on taking responsible risks whenever a decision is conceived or taken.

#9 Simplicity is sophistication

Once upon a time, there was a project I overengineered.

Yes, some bulky challenges cannot be solved with a simple wishful thinking, although being pragmatic and customer-oriented can actually be a fuel to excellent results and generate critical contributions to society.

Factor in all stakeholders´ interests to your plan and how they shape the whole market environment.

#10 Be (pro)positive

Understanding an issue or making a diagnose is relevant and a great skill. However, orbiting around how to solve it aggregates much more value to your role.

Most of the times a smile can help a nice & smooth conversation and it boosts empathy.

Any idea, suggestions or questions? Let me know on the comments below.

Thanks for the reading.