????加德納表示：“咨詢業(yè)務(wù)中會花很多時間對企業(yè)高層領(lǐng)導(dǎo)進(jìn)行面對面的指導(dǎo),。而在這里，我們可以直接觀察到這些人的工作方式,，以及他們的溝通技巧,。”
????發(fā)展中國家的經(jīng)歷蘊含著豐富的管理知識,，它們同樣適用于成熟經(jīng)濟(jì)體,。因此，來自發(fā)達(dá)國家的人們通常熱衷于奔赴發(fā)展中國家,，磨練他們在美國機(jī)構(gòu)中就能學(xué)到的技能,。
????大學(xué)畢業(yè)后，奈達(dá)?納瓦布在麥肯錫公司擔(dān)任管理咨詢師,。兩年后,，她休假去了一家盧旺達(dá)的非營利機(jī)構(gòu)，在那里工作了半年,。她與當(dāng)?shù)仄髽I(yè)家們一起工作,，幫助他們起草商業(yè)計劃和市場實戰(zhàn)戰(zhàn)略,。
????她說：“并不是說這段經(jīng)歷為我打開了一扇通向世界的窗口，但它拓寬了我的眼界,，重塑了我對世界的認(rèn)知,。直到我去盧旺達(dá)，我才知道自己對于世界的理解是多么的不足,?！?/p>
????投資銀行和咨詢公司都極力宣揚自己的多樣性。納瓦布也承認(rèn),，她在麥肯錫能夠與來自不同種族和信仰的人共事,，但所有人都擁有類似的一點，那就是優(yōu)異的教育背景,。然而在盧旺達(dá),，情況并非如此。
????納瓦布正著手開創(chuàng)一項針對女性的商業(yè)培訓(xùn)項目,，但僅靠宣傳免費課程是不夠的。她還需要研究在這個93%的人口用不上電的國家,，女性都需要哪些技能,。隨后，她開始招生,，學(xué)生們大多來自農(nóng)業(yè)合作社,。納瓦布努力說服她們，希望讓她們認(rèn)識到,，基本的商業(yè)技能可以幫助她們提高商業(yè)運作能力,。
????她說：“我們需要向她們解釋，為何她們要犧牲時間來參加課程學(xué)習(xí),。在課堂上所學(xué)的東西能夠用于課堂之外,，她們之前并沒有意識到這一點?！?/p>
????納瓦布和她的團(tuán)隊獲得了成功,。他們已經(jīng)幫助200多名婦女參與了項目，并提高了營銷,、談判和會計技能,。
????她說：“讓我感到驚喜的是她們對學(xué)習(xí)的極度渴望以及她們?yōu)榱藢W(xué)習(xí)愿意做出的犧牲?！彼f,，這也正是吸引納瓦布和其他同齡人遠(yuǎn)赴盧旺達(dá)這些地方的一部分原因。
????她說：“我們掌握了知識和技能,。我們希望它們能夠發(fā)揮更大的作用,。我們在優(yōu)秀的學(xué)校里學(xué)到了這些寶貴的東西,，隨后進(jìn)入投資銀行和咨詢公司工作。然而,，我們卻發(fā)現(xiàn)少了點什么,。”
????他們本可以選擇在倫敦拓展他們的人際社交網(wǎng)絡(luò),，也可以在巴黎學(xué)習(xí)一門新的語言,，但在第三世界國家，他們覺得自己能夠真正將所學(xué)用于實踐,，親眼見證它們生根發(fā)芽,。
????納瓦布稱：“我們掌握了非常強大的知識和技能，我們可以用它們做一些真正有影響的事情,。我的知識和技能在發(fā)展中國家能夠更充分地發(fā)揮作用,。”
????譯者：李玫曉/汪皓 |
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????"In consulting, you are doing a lot of face time advising senior leaders," Gardner says. "Here, we got to see directly how these people operate, what their communications skills are."
????While experiences in developing nations are ripe with management lessons that can be applied to situations in established economies, the people of these countries are often looking to hone the kind of skills that are taught at U.S. institutions.
????After graduating from college, Neda Navab spent two years as a management consultant at McKinsey and Co. before taking six months off to work for a non-profit in Rwanda. There, she worked with entrepreneurs, helping them develop business plans and go-to-market strategies.
????"It didn't open my eyes to the world," she says. "It expanded and redefined what I know about the world. I didn't know how little I understood about the world until I went to Rwanda."
????Whereas investment banks and consulting firms tout their diversity, Navab found that she was working with people of different races and religions at McKinsey, but all of them had similarly privileged educational experiences.
????In Rwanda, that was not the case.
????Navab set out to create a business training program for women, but just advertising free classes was not nearly enough. She needed to identify the skills women would need in a country where 93% of the people lack access to electricity. Then she had to recruit students and convince them that basic business skills would help them improve how they run their businesses, which were mostly farming cooperatives.
????"We needed to explain to them why they should make these sacrifices," she says. "They didn't realize that what they learned can be used outside the classroom."
????Navab and her team were successful, helping more than 200 women develop their marketing, negotiation, and accounting skills.
????"It amazed me how badly they wanted to learn, the sacrifices they were willing to make for their education," she says.
????And that is part of what is luring Navab and others of her generation to places like Rwanda, she says.
????"We're looking to do something more with the tools that we have been given," she says. "These values are instilled in us at good schools, then we go to investment banks and consulting firms and find something missing."
????While they may be able to expand their network in London or pick up a new language in Paris, in third-world countries, they feel that they can put what they have learned to use and watch it grow.
????"We have these really powerful toolkits that we can use for something impactful," Navab says. "I can get so much more mileage out of my skills being in a developing country." |
