Multinationals vs. local company Part I - INTRO

Today I embark on a new mini series of articles that will cover my thoughts and personal experiences regarding THE BIG SHIFT => working for many years in a multinational environment and then choosing to work for a smaller local company.?

I think there is a lot to discuss on this topic so I will break my thoughts into numerous smaller articles (and I would love for everyone to share their thoughts).

The elephant in the room

I will start by talking about what I am sure no one dares to articulate => When someone is made redundant from a multinational, maybe some months pass without any LinkedIn announcement and then after a while the new profile update lands. No grand multinational company logo, no big names, just a company not many have heard of.? And the first thought that crosses one's mind is "Aww….he/she didn't? manage to land a good job. And awww….he/she 'ended up' in a Greek company' in a disdainful and pitiful tone that really, when reading between the lines, actually insinuates failure.

Moving a CV filled with Brand A logos to adding a small local company not internationally acclaimed, is perceived by many as a downgrade. And I will be the first to admit that ME TOO!? If I too were still at Microsoft and I was reviewing someone else's professional trajectory with an update in their profile announcing a role at a local company, I too would have probably felt that gratitude, that feeling of being slightly superior because 'we' at Multinationals are bigger and therefore better and anything 'below' that is not as good.

Somehow we've anchored into our head the perception that moving from a MN to a smaller-scale local company is in fact a click down not a click up. And I must now shout this out loud -> this so-very-wrong perception is just such an incorrect and unfair conclusion. In my case, I think my articles about my job searching journey leading to the announcement that I landed my dream job in a Greek company helped overcome this perception because I explained my story and my intent in detail. But for many others who don't share their stories/journey, the 'downgrade' perception is unjust and unfounded.

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(I needed to get this out there in the open. It's always liberating to address the elephant in the room.)

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It's all about timing

In discussing this topic of the 'Big Shift' with others who have made similar career shifts - moving away from MN to a local company - I realized that my very conscious decision to move away from the MN world and specifically target Greek companies, did not come at a random time (chronologically speaking I mean) in my professional career. Let me explain. My first 'company shift' came in 2014 when I left Vodafone having worked there for 14 years. In thinking what's next, I never (and I mean never) considered a move to a Greek company. The scenario wasn't even on my radar. It never crossed my mind. Having started my career with a Brand A logo (Vodafone), there was only one way forward -> for me to continue going for the big names. It was a no brainer. My objective was clear: build a strong CV and the only way I thought that this was possible (back then) was through the big Brand A names.

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Now fast forward 10 years on and 25+ years of MN work experience, my situation and mindset was very different. Having learnt and absorbed SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much during my MN years, for me personally, I realised it was time to go apply all those amazing learnings to a local company. My personal 'window of learning' would have been short-lived had I moved to yet another MN. I think at 50, after a year into my new role in yet another MN, I would have very quickly reached a level similar to where I was at Microsoft, that of a finite window of learning. Yet by moving to a smaller local company, I felt that every experience, every learning would be SO new, SO different that my learnings would be endless. Through such a move I could not only increase my 'window of learning' but I could finally help drive true impact (next article will be focused on this topic of true personal impact).

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From recipient to implementor

Big business trends and concepts, typically get born within the big global MNs and then cascade downwards and outwards until new business concepts become mass consumption hypes. Take the more recent 'wellbeing in the workplace' trend as an example, that is only now being introduced (if at all) into smaller local companies. It's only natural that people working in smaller local companies (excluding perhaps start-ups) don't have the same level of exposure to such modern, state-of-the-art business trends. Perhaps they know of them as concepts but don't experience them directly in their company. So having the privilege of being exposed and having personally lived the trends first-hand, I felt that it was more valuable for me to stop being a recipient but to become an implementor. I felt that it was time to pass on and contribute towards implementing these trends in a local company so that they can benefit faster and get up to speed sooner. In yet another MN, it would all have been ready and set up for me.

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Big gains from big companies

The gains of working for big companies such as Vodafone and Microsoft for me personally were HUGE, immense. The opportunity, unique. The learnings, priceless. Better than ANY university degree. These were the best-in-class schools.

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I worked with super intelligent people, top-class professionals, was exposed to top quality content, from the presentations we were exposed to, the trainings we were offered to our day-to-day discussions and meetings.

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To conclude, my final and perhaps most important realisation is that I could not have reached my goal of becoming a CTOO had I not passed through these top schools (especially Microsoft which underwent its own transformation in the years that I was part of the organisation).

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I am grateful for where I came from (MN) and excited and proud of where I am going (small local company).