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The Differences Between Business Culture And The British Aircraft Corporation, Marconi Space And Ferranti

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Following a relatively calm, sheltered 12 year period, working in various technical roles for three major corporations (British Aircraft Corporation, Marconi Space and Ferranti) in the UK, I moved to Canada in 1982 working for a relatively small company, COM DEV in Cambridge, Ontario. After approximately six months, I was exposed to my first lesson on the differences of Business culture.
While having been spoilt, working within an integrated management support system environment, staffed by thousands of very capable people, COM DEV, required that I wear many different hats with skill sets far beyond the safe haven and comfort zone enjoyed during my early career years in the UK. Within 3 intense months, I was summoned to a conference room …show more content…

Past leadership experience should have taught me to build and develop a robust infrastructure, a platform that would provide a solid foundation for an aggressive growing business, approved by the global space market. Typical with most startups, the problems weighed- in one after another testing our organization. My naïve philosophy at that time: being a leader, I should lead by example, demonstrate that I “walk the talk,” resolve every issue and spend every hour committed to getting results. Needless to say, spending eighteen hours a day, burn-out ensued, leaving senior management the only option to replace me. The company looked after me, protecting me and my family’s future. Not fully appreciating that they were looking after my interests, I allowed myself to stumble to the state of being a victim, a failure, clouding my judgment and ability to perform. Digging deep and developing resolve, I was able to rise up, dust myself off and never be in the situation of being a failure again. This whole experience motivated me to study Lee Iacocca, the current hero and icon, the savior of Chrysler. Understanding that it took more than a team of people, made me look at the principles of combined strategies, researching for additional examples of strong leadership. Turning to my family, my keen interest focused towards developing my kids who were very much keen on soccer. With an

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