Medical Diagnostic Laboratories Might Provide Executive Search Services

As there are many ways to skin a cat there are many ways to classify personalities. By now it is hard to find an executive who has not heard of MBTI, or DISC or so many others.  But the fact is that despite the differences pointed out by all those tests, it does not seem to be enough to understand what makes us click with one another. Sad, because clicking is work-effective and we should know more about it.

This is why research into what makes people fall in love with each other may provide leads, if not answers. Helen Fischer has been an expert on the subject for over three decades, just the type the CEOs of Match.com, the dating site, would put the questions to:  “Why do you fall in love with one person and not the other?”

The question is particularly important at the Brazilian executive-level  workplace, for if socioeconomic background were determining, one would not find in Brazil as much diversity as in America, and still, people fall in love with some rather than any other. Of course the kind of empathy one needs to work effectively together is not the same as required in a fulfilling love relationship, but still, think more freely and figure out what is out there.

As it turns out, Prof. Helen Fisher, at Rutgers,  is what is called a biological anthropologist (new to me too) and she figures out that in biological terms there are only four systems linked with personality traits: dopamine, serotonin, testosterone and estrogen. Hired by Match.com she had access to its affiliate: Chemistry.com and worked on a sample of almost 180 thousand people form about 30 countries  and she found correlation between the chemicals above and personality traits which she named: Explorers, Directors, Negotiators, Builders.

Those higher on the expression of the dopamine system tend to be curious and spontaneous, creative and open-minded, and inclined to abstract thought and big ideas. These were named the Explorer types.

Those whose system is more testosterone driven tend to be focused, analytical, action oriented, rather impervious. These were named the Directors’ group.

Those higher in the oestrogen system tend to be more intuitive, more perceptive of underlying connections, and nurturing. These she called the Negotiators.

Those high on serotonin tend to be more conventional, rule-abiding, and specific. These are the Builders.

You wouldn’t be very wrong if you found all of this is not much off MBTI or even Patricia Pitcher’s classification into Artists, Craftsmen and Technocrats, which I happen to find good enough. In any case, if Fisher’s (not Pitcher’s) classification were to stick, it might not be long until we find headhunters superseded by blood laboratories who would receive CEO staffing  requests like: give me one with a 50% dopamine + 30% Testosterone + 15% oestrogen +5% serotonin. If the request were for a compliance officer you would do well in spiking the serotonin share.

Find more at:

http://sloanreview.mit.edu/improvisations/2013/01/28/love-analytics-and-the-biology-of-you-at-work/#.UQubfqW7PSQ

Alfredo Behrens

Professor, Cross-cultural Leadership

FIA Business School

February, 2013

Americas MBA

The FIA Business School International MBA is a graduate program in business management specially designed for a multicultural group of students from Europe, Latin America and Asia. Entirely in English, the program offers a unique perspective with an immersion in a business-oriented environment in Sao Paulo, Brazil’s most dynamic city.

The Full-time and the Part-time International MBA are conducted in Brazil giving you the opportunity to study up to date business concepts and cases, exchange experiences for one full year with other students and executives from diverse nationalities and enhance your qualifications for a successful international career. International MBA students may enroll additionally in the Executive MBA international study trips to the USA, China and India, subject to availability.

The Americas MBA focuses on the challenges of leading business organizations in the Americas region, where the majority of multinational companies have headquarters and important operations. During the first year you will study modern concepts and cases of the core MBA subjects, with classes on Friday-Saturday every 15 days. During the second year, you will study advanced topics together with Executive and part-time MBA participants in Canada, Brazil, Mexico and the USA, in four intensive one week modules, one every 3 months. The second year is jointly conducted by top ranked universities in the four largest economies in the region, and a cross cultural project will also be conducted across borders over the final year. Each school will admit a select group of up to 15 students only to take part in this program.

The FIA International MBA program, based on the successful experience of the FIA Business School International Executive MBA created in 1992 for senior executives, is offered in three formats:

* The one-year Full-time International MBA
* The Part-time International MBA, meeting Fri-Sat every 15 days over 20 months in Brazil
* The Americas MBA, in 2 years part-time, with one year of Fri-Sat classes every 15 days in Brazil, and one year with four intensive study modules in Canada, Mexico, Brazil and the USA.

Objectives:

On concluding the program the participants should:

* Have a clear understanding of how companies compete in an globalized economic environment.
* Develop the fundamental managerial skills required in the core areas of marketing, strategy, finance, human resources, organizational behavior and operations management.
* Develop the ability to create a strategic vision and lead your team in implementing the strategy to fulfill it.
* Gain a broad view of management in diverse industries through an intense exchange of experiences among participants.
* Understand the contemporary challenges and opportunities for doing business in emerging countries and in the Americas.
* Create a plan for self development and be prepared to embark on an international management career.
* By preparing high potential students to take increasing responsibilities in the decision-making process, the courses promote continuous self-development and leadership so that innovative concepts and strategies are implemented efficiently and successfully in the your organization.


Download the brochure Americas MBA

Global leadership in a new era of competition

In the new, multipolar world a new type of leadership is requires.

The USA is a great country; big, democratic, entrepreneurial, successful, innovative and offering opportunities and an excellent standard of living for all. It has, like most countries, several defects; materialism, arrogance, too many guns, violence and many others. However, its institutions, capital markets and innovative companies have ensured its position as a center of excellence in management and business and a stalwart of democracy for the last sixty or more years.

China has caught the world’s imagination by its rapid growth during the last three decades, focusing on becoming the global centre for basic manufacturing, and last year became the second largest economy in the world, surpassing Japan, which shows low growth because of an aging population, but still has a high standard of living.

China has another long march ahead of it; it still must provide decent living standards for the majority of its population, who will not long accept much lower incomes than that of the prosperous coastal cities like Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Shanghai and Beijing.

India has a huge potential which must be put to work in a coherent manner. It will soon have a population greater than China’s, with a huge internal market, and it has advantages in its English speaking educational institutions and a competitive approach to many services and industries. It faces enormous challenges in integrating its many distinct internal cultures, languages and beliefs, and in bringing its huge rural population into a high growth modern economy. Both India and China have a focus on improving education at all levels which will be a fundamental advantage in the long run.

Brazil has recently risen in the global public’s awareness; a recent BBC poll conducted by the University of Maryland, answered by over 28 thousand people worldwide, placed Brazil ahead of the USA, China and India in regards to a positive opinion on our country. Brazil has great potential for sustained growth, with global leadership in biofuels and 45% of renewable energy in it’s energy matrix, the deepest and largest offshore oil production systems in the world, huge expanses of arable land available for food production (without having to encroach on the Amazon), abundant water, sunlight and top level agricultural technology. Democratic and institutionally stable for over 30 years, Brazil is a multiethnic country, but with one common language and relatively small minority and racial issues. Challenges and problems abound; corruption and crime rates, although falling, are still too high, basic education is inadequate, infrastructure investments are required, and bureaucracy is endemic. But all of these challenges are also opportunities, and Brazil has a long tradition of domestic and international entrepreneurism and creativity, and the upcoming FIFA Football(soccer) World Cup and Olympic games provide a showcase for that. Brazilian companies have grown and conquered international markets , and new leadership is emerging.

FIA Business School provides international programs to create the leaders required for global competitiveness. The International Executive MBA for senior executives focuses on global strategy, with study trips to the USA, China, Europe or India giving a local awareness and sensitivity that is essential to the modern corporate leader.

The International MBA , taught entirely in English, brings in managers from four continents together to study full time or part time, in a multicultural setting within Brazil, with over 10 different nationalities represented, obtaining international awareness and knowledge of the challenges and opportunities in Brazil and other emerging markets .

The new Americas MBA brings together a select group of students from part time and executive programs in the USA, Mexico, Canada and Brazil, who study part time in their home countries for one year, and then come together in intensive one week programs at top universities in the four largest economies of the Americas. This program gives you an in-depth view of management in the Americas, the largest business region in the world, and a chance to study together and network with working professionals in all four countries.

We strongly believe that investing in top level education, creating a global mindset and preparing managers to lead businesses all over the world FIA Business School is making a significant contribution to Brazil and to global understanding and prosperity in our region.

James Wright
Dean International MBA
5511-3732-3519/20