1. Our big challenge is to empathize
and collaborate with people from all
over the planet
Bridge Global IT Staffing Hugo Messer 1

2. Index
About me
Empathy & Collaboration
• Why?
• What?
• How?
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3. Hugo Messer
• Founder and CEO of Bridge Global IT Staffing
in 2005
• Started with feet in the mud
• Now knows how to work across
cultures, borders and timezones
• Offices in India, Ukraine, Moldova
• Customers in Sweden, Germany, Holland
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4. Why?
The role of IT in the world keeps growing
We need talented people to produce and
innovate
But we don’t have enough people locally
• Shortage of +/- 10.000 in Holland, 40.000 in
Germany
• Greying population
• Beta studies are unpopular
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5. This is what we do
We fish in the same pond for the 2.000 people that become IT graduates each year
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6. This is what some may think
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7. This is what we can do
Involve talent from around the planet to create value
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8. This is what we can do
• Get the right people in every position
• If we manage to change our mindset
(empathy) and organization
(collaboration), almost anything can be done
remotely.
• We can lower our costs at the same time
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9. The size of the global labor pool
 India: 200.000 new IT graduates per year
 India 2025: the proportion of young people going to
university will grow from 12% at present to 30%
 And then when have China, Ukraine, Vietnam and
the rest of the world…
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10. How?
Cultural differences
• By empathizing, we can accept the differences
• From there we can organize around the
differences: collaboration
• If we do not accept the
differences, cooperating can lead to
frustration
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11. Indians can not say ‘no’
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12. How? Mindset
• The economic pie keeps growing
• Seth Godin (Linchpin): ‘ If we
enlarged the pie by bringing in
the best programmers
from around the world, it’s
inevitable that tons of jobs
would be created for local talent
as well. It seems to me that your
outlook is completely due to
your worldview.’
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13. How? Mindset
Mindset that is not favorable
• Each job created in India means one job less in
Holland
• Fear of job loss among employees
Important for managers to acknowledge
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14. How? Relations
• ‘Us’ versus ‘Them’
• It is easier to blame someone we don’t see
• Experienced nearshore manager quote
‘I forbid myself to think/say ‘Those Romanians’’
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15. How? Tactics
• Make them an integral part of your team
• Use management instruments you also use
locally: 360 feedback, team outings, weekly
meetings, personal development plans
 Accenture case:
Dutch manager can send profiles, picks his team
members and invests in relationships
Accenture's’ client has a voice in the personal
development of each team member and gives ratings
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16. How? Tactics
• Stimulate empathizing:
among team members: invest in trips
with your company culture:
mission, vision, values
with your products: Who uses them? Why?
How do we earn money?
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17. Conclusion
We need to empathize and collaborate with people all over
the planet
 Why?
Because we don’t have enough IT people
Because the central ingredient of global success is empathy
 What?
We can tap into the global labor pool and get the right people
in the right seat
We can lower our costs
 How?
By being aware of our mindset, accepting cultural differences
and building a team of colleagues around the planet
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18. Thanks
• Hugo Messer
• H.messer@bridge-outsourcing.nl
• +31654230708
• http://www.linkedin.com/in/hugomesser
• http://www.facebook.com/hugomesser
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