?? Workday's Global Future, Investment Risk by Country, and Being a Starry-Eyed Skeptic

Q: What could be better for a public company than an earnings call delivering successful financial results to shareholders?

A: One that has international as a headline story. Because, to me, that typically signals future growth ahead!

Workday execs recently shared some important updates about their international growth plans in their investors call. Here are some of the more salient ones.

"Today, international represents over half of our addressable opportunity, yet is a quarter of our revenues. We're working to change that, and we're seeing early signs of progress."

Love it when a company understands that the majority of their growth is likely to come from outside of their home market. For American tech companies, the US market is very large, which can make it tempting to divest in international growth in favor of domestic. Unfortunately, because it's the home of Silicon Valley, the American market can also mature faster than other geos, which means a higher concentration of competitors.

Companies need to look at not just "where is the opportunity?" but also "where is the opportunity that can deliver quick ROI?" The answer to that question is dictated by the complexity of finding what I refer to as "go-to-market fit" in a new geography. The easier to break into a market, the faster the ROI appears. It's that simple!

"I spent a couple of weeks visiting our teams in Europe this past quarter, and I have to tell you I am fired up by the momentum we're building. In Q4, our teams once again delivered healthy new ACV growth across key markets such as the UK, Spain, and France."

What I love about this is the exec sponsorship angle. Getting execs on the ground with local teams is incredibly important, especially when you're scaling your international presence. All too often, local teams feel forgotten and don't get nearly enough face time from executives. This is important! So important that I used to share an executive "travel tracker" at HubSpot, to showcase which execs were doing the most to show up in person for our international teams, and help our international business grow!

"In the Asia-Pacific region, Australia delivered once again, and I'm pleased to share that Japan, which is a key investment priority, drove strong new ACV growth in Q4. While it's still early days for us in this market, we're focused on growing it."

It's so important that executives shout out not only a region, but specific countries that are driving growth. This shows that they care about the country, know that it's a different and specific market, and helps all of the employees aligned to that country really understand what they're achieving there. When you lump countries too broadly into regions, the opposite happens.

"To help lead the way, I'm delighted to welcome Chikara Furuichi as our new leader of the Japanese market to help us win in one of the world's largest economies. Chikara brings over 25 years of experience in both SaaS, security, and cloud services from across Japan and APAC."

This might seem to the average person like a mundane hiring update, but in Asia, and in Japan in particular, who you hire is everything. Relationships are truly important in Japan, and the number of years of experience a leader has speaks volumes about how likely they are to be respected by future employees as a leader, but also, how many relationships they have that are strong and enduring. In a market like Japan, many Western companies fumble because they fail to understand local market nuances like this one.

Lead with Local Customer Proof

I took a look at Workday's websites in different languages (of course I did) to see how they're doing. I was really happy to see their localized websites included plenty of local case studies and logos that were different from the ones they feature on their English (US) site. Marketers refer to this kind of content as "customer proof," and getting local customer proof in front of your website visitors is hugely important to convince them you understand their market!

This is such a boss move when localizing a website! It's one of the most important things customers look for, but you'd be amazed at how many companies don't prioritize this. Local customer proof is everything! Great job, Workday team!

I am not surprised, because the one and only Loy Searle is at the helm of localization and content for Workday, and she is one of the best of the best (of the best). With her steering their localization efforts, Workday is bound to continue to achieve great things in their highly international future.

Read more about Loy and her impact at Workday.

Investment Risk by Country

I recently came across this Country Risk Map. It's from last year, but still a helpful way to think about "extra risk" in a given market due to political, economic, and legal risk. These elements are common ones countries need to consider when thinking about which countries to invest in and expand into.

The question, really, is always one of goals and timing. Do you want early entrenchment in a market, before competitors grab market share, even if it means taking calculated risks? Or, are you OK with lower growth rates for lower risk? What's useful about this type of mapping is that it enables you to think about countries not just through the lens of their opportunities, but also the risk profiles. These are factors I bucket under "customer addressability" (CA) in the MARACA framework. (Learn more about this in my latest book.)

Make the business goal clear, and it's far easier to align your choices for international expansion!

Being a Starry-Eyed Skeptic

We all know the type. The person who pokes holes in every business discussion. The one who likes to point out why things could fail. The colleague who likes to question the why behind the assumptions. That person who always spots the math error, because they tend to always believe there will inevitably be an error somewhere!

Ugh. That person, the skeptic, is so annoying.

And I should know, because I usually am that person!

For most of my life, I've been pretty skeptical. I rarely assume things are true just because someone says they are or thinks they are.

Skepticism is a combo of nature and nurture. Many people are simply more skeptical due to personality. But some of this is influenced by past jobs. After spending many years looking at large data sets, I tend to catch discrepancies quickly.

Having seen companies lean into things sometimes with too much enthusiasm before properly vetting ideas, I'm also a firm believer in pressure testing ideas before devoting a ton of resources to them.

That said, I'm also a dreamer. I believe in possibilities. There is nothing I love more than a big vision to run after, a huge mission impossible to try to shoot for.

You can be both starry-eyed and skeptical.

The problem is, often the skeptics are misunderstood as being singularly skeptical. That's a tiny slice of the full picture.

How to Deal with Skeptical People at Work

So the next time you come across a person who seems overly skeptical at work, do the following:

• Get them to talk about the positive outcome potential too. Ask if they see the same possibilities of success as you do.
• Be curious as to why they are skeptical. They'll love to explain why, and usually it's for the common good of a business, and founded in logic.
• Align around doing a small test. Skeptics are often huge fans of doing small, low-risk experiments, as they naturally want to guard against business failure. Think of them like a scientist. They love to test an idea, get some data, and quickly either prove or disprove a theory to determine if it's worth continuing.
• Assume good intentions. Sometimes, skeptics can be viewed as people who want to block progress. It's the opposite. Their mindset is one of increasing the chances of success. You need skeptics in your tribe! Know they mean well.

How to Stop Annoying Folks If You're the Skeptic

• Make your intentions clear. You might come across as anti-collaborative, even when you think your actions show the opposite. Tell people, more often than you think you need to, that you "get" the big picture and also are on board.
• Be a cheerleader. This is really hard for us skeptics. Logic won't allow us to be inauthentic and cheer things on that we don't believe have any real chance of success. Sure, the idea hasn't been proven yet. But a few kind words of encouragement go a long way. Don't be seen as a blocker!
• Suggest experiments. If you see people ready to leap before they look, and your "warning signal" is getting triggered, instead of pointing out why this project is doomed to fail, lean into your natural inclination to prove things out and get more data by proposing a small test.
• Understand how most people think. If you're a true skeptic, you probably welcome others poking holes in your ideas to make them better. Not everyone thinks this way. The majority of people can be very attached to their ideas and might not welcome critical feedback. While this is obvious to most folks, to skeptics, it's not! Ironically, the most skeptical people tend to assume that arguments and debate are healthy and normal. Many people don't think the same way, so be aware of it!

I hope this advice helps those of you dealing with skeptics, as well as those of you who are skeptics too! Remember, many of the world's biggest skeptics are simultaneously among the most starry-eyed in our world.

I'm one of them, and still learning more every day about how to make my positive intentions crystal clear!

Grace Notes

We are already halfway through Month One of Q2. This is how I tend to mark my time, looking at progress toward goals and shifting the actions I need to take, in work and in life, to move things toward where I want them to go.

Adapting to changing realities is so vital to stay on track and hit your targets. After all when I planned out my year, I didn't know I'd be in one of the most exciting jobs of my life at Zappi !

Our marketing team is on fire here. I am so proud to lead it.

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See you next week,

Nataly