Multinationals vs. local company Part II - IMPACT

In this Part II article, I am going to talk about IMPACT, a topic I have already touched upon in previous articles but today I will talk about impact in the context of - as the title suggests - multinationals vs. smaller local companies.

"How real was my impact?" I asked myself

In the period between having left Microsoft and BEFORE realising that I wanted to work for a Greek company, I engaged in a few discussions around the topic of IMPACT. In particular, I was discussing with other colleagues also made redundant from Microsoft and we had an honest conversation, asking ourselves 'did we drive IMPACT'? And by impact, I mean REAL IMPACT. Impact that you can feel, see, touch. Direct impact. You decide, you act, you deliver. Boom. Impact. Immediate. The honest answer we gave ourselves was…hmm…no…not really.

OK yeah! Surely all of us deliver some impact in large corporations but honestly, it's only really on a very small scale. We are in fact a very small piece of a huge MF puzzle.? Let me unveil the arithmetic. At Microsoft, just after Covid we totaled 220,000 employees and here is little, tiny, incy wincy Margarita sitting in itsy bitsy little Greece doing what exactly?

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Those still working in MNs will come back at me with a vengeance and tell me that what I am saying is complete and utter bullshit. "Of course we deliver impact".? Inarguably, direct sales roles and LT members, yes, I agree that their impact is more visible and tangible. Direct sales have direct customer engagement and drive tangible monetary results while top management make decisions that impact the organisation they are leading (although ALWAYS within the given & constrained framework that is dictated from 'above').? But for most other roles, if one where to split up his/her working month and think how and where most of his/her time was spent, one will find that it is dominated by Death by PowerPoint | Death by endless (and perhaps pointless) business reviews | Death by back2back calls | Death by meetings.? And you know what!? It's only now that I am out, that I came to doubt my level of impact…now that I am outside of this MN universe.

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Of course I am exaggerating slightly and yes I am a bit too extreme, but I am doing so intentionally in order to trigger deeper feelings & thoughts and make one think? 'what does impact look like for me in my role and company and what can I do to boost my impact'.

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In the SMB Sales Lead role (which was made redundant globally…which sort of proves my point altogether ????) I often asked my SMB teammates "if we were to all disappear tomorrow, the SMB machine will continue to work wouldn't it? It would continue to bring in the revenues wouldn't it, it might even achieve the FY targets!!" This concept that in fact we, the people in the SMB team working for Microsoft, don't ACTUALLY deliver the SMB results (because it's a 95% through-Partner driven sales segment) was NEVER much appreciated when I said this internally (for obvious reasons). I wasn't trying to demotivate the team or dismiss everyone's efforts (mine included). I was in fact trying to make a much deeper point. I was trying to get the team to think about how we can find the gaps i.e. the opportunities in this very well-oiled machine called SMB, to make our own mark, to find innovative ways to truly add value and drive true impact. In other words, what can we do to make a difference. That's what I was trying to get out of them. There's no use just adding more oil to an already well-oiled machine just to make it go smoother, but to find ways to evolve the machine, create new additional parts to make it go faster, to make it produce different outputs.

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[ In writing this, I need to add one more thought….Impact and the feeling of satisfaction around delivering impact is perhaps not for all. Not top of mind, not even on one's radar. Perhaps there are those who don't actively seek to deliver true impact because there is no motivation (personal inner motivation, monetary motivation or whatever type of motivation for that matter). Perhaps for many it's 'just a job', an operational job and there's no need / drive to deliver impact. Feeling the need to deliver true impact is not a game everyone desires to play. No more deep thoughts here, just needed to add this element to the conversation. ]

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While working for a MN you think you are doing great things. Actually, the company convinces that you are doing great things for a great cause. They make you feel important.? I think it is intrinsically difficult to drive wide impact in a huge MN machine BUT having said that, I do believe impact can be delivered in the microcosmos in which you manoeuvre in the form of great working relationships.

Impact is multi-faceted. It should not just be measured only in $$

(Btw I have written an article about this, which you can find here - Delivering Impact - Beyond the numbers).?

I will quickly refer to a question that really caught my attention and got me thinking: What do you want to be remembered for?? Is it the big deal you brought in and achieved your 2019 revenue targets or is it the personal impact you had on the people around you, your colleagues, customers and partners and the value, support, fun moments, good times, good conversations that you offered them?

TODAY

Now...fast forward to today. Two months into my new role, in a 60+ people company, I feel the weight of impact is much greater. And not just because of my leadership position. The challenge is bigger, the responsibility greater and the feeling of achievement, of reward when impact is indeed delivered…priceless.

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And this applies to every of the 60+ people.

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Since I love football, I will use a football analogy. Working for a MN is like being on a football team but being a substitute, sitting on the bench, watching the main team of 11 do their thing and win the trophy. Yes, I participated in trainings, the physical workouts, all the prep, but at the end of day, I? was on the bench. I didn't directly contribute to the win. But hey, I got my medal just like all the other players who were on the field and I celebrated feeling big and grand for alas…we won the trophy. But it was the others who drove the real impact. I was sitting on the bench.

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In a small company, everyone is on the pitch.

Everyone is part of the team of 11. Everyone is important, everyone has their fair share of impact. But 'fair share' now has a different perspective. It's like cutting a cake between 8 people vs. between 108 people. In both cases, you'll get your 'fair share' but in which case will you get a bigger piece of the pie?

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As someone who wants and needs to deliver impact, I have now found a new home for this inner desire. A home where impact can become real.