MEXICAN TALENT

Recently I had breakfast with a foreign investor, we discussed the great opportunities his organization found in the local market and how they have grown even in tough times investing in Mexico:  Affordable manufacturing, good infrastructure to export everywhere in the world, and qualified talent.

Our conversation diverged in to the challenges foreign investors face when starting a company in Mexico. The great cultural differences seem to be amongst the top 3 for companies hiring local managers.

A few examples:

·      The way people communicate in Mexico, polite and diplomatic

·      The real vs literal meaning of certain words that can be crucial in business

·      The capability of standing your ground and defending your thoughts against your boss’s ideas

·      Or simply why we never say NO

These are things that can drive mad someone who has not yet adapted or understands the country’s cultural heritage.

But not all is bad news. For decades Mexico has host many of the most important multinational corporations with extraordinary results and continuous investment in the country. These companies today have a long success story and most of them agree that their Human Capital is an important reason for it. How have they done it? Well they made a great effort in recruiting, training and co-investing with universities to develop educational programs.

Fortunately enough many things have change since foreign investment started flowing into Mexico. Today there is a large population with experience working in multinational corporations, long term experience reporting abroad, participating in decisions that affect markets outside their country or region, or even leading worldwide organizations.

You can find managers with MBA who are fluent in English, and of course Spanish, who have studied abroad, received training and worked in a foreign country for a certain amount of time or projects. 

There is more than one generation of world-class talent available in the market. However, these people are scarce and, like in any other developed country, receive good salaries. A big mistake of many foreign investors in Mexico is to believe that talented well-prepared executives are cheap.  If you go for the cheaper, chances are you will end up with the least qualified.

I believe the organizations that are most successful in starting up operations in Mexico are those who are willing to understand the market in every sense, especially when it comes to building a professional team you most search professionally for the ideal candidates, provide a good on-boarding process, and continue developing that talent.

A few recommendations:

All big international Executive Search firms are established in Mexico and can help you build a team. Must likely your organization has experience working with one of them in your country of origin, expect the same conditions and service.

Trust your business partners. If you have local investors in a Joint Venture they are likely to have a clear understanding of the labor market and help you build a team. Stay away from friends and family in your team. You can expect and ask more from an institutional team of leaders who are working on building a career in your organization, and are the best qualified executives for the position.

Send some trusted executives from your head quarters as expats to the new venture in order to assure consistency in your business culture. CFOs are often the chosen expat. They will only need to be in Mexico for a year or so, until they have developed a professional team.

Do invest in Mexico! Must multinational organizations have their Mexican operation among the top 5 performers worldwide. This is done in part due to the great talent they have found, developed, and retained in Mexico. Besides the great weather and excellent food, all those companies can’t be wrong about being here.