Guest contributor, Jeff DeMarrais, is a Communications Director at GE.
Late last year I was honored to learn that I had been selected to attend GE’s Business Management Course (BMC), a leadership training class traditionally taught from an Ossining, N.Y. “Crotonville” campus. When I learned in September that I would be spending nearly three weeks in Africa with fifty-one of my peers, I could barely contain my excitement. Twelve years in GE had taken me all over the globe but never to Africa!
Fast-forward to the second week of November…after several days of traditional classroom learning and field study briefings we were finally leaving our base camp in Johannesburg and sixteen of us were headed to Mozambique.
Mozambique once held the distinction as the poorest economy in the world – but following more than a dozen years of political and financial stability, it has emerged as one of the fastest-growing, non-oil economies in sub-Saharan Africa. We had plenty of research to tell us why this was the case – hydropower, rich natural resources and 3000 km of coastline – but I believe the real answer was the passion and spirit of the people in this remarkable country.
We met with dozens of business leaders who represented nearly every industry imaginable as well as government and non-governmental agencies. The obstacles before them appeared insurmountable… but there was a positive undercurrent of irrepressible will in every discussion, a deep-rooted desire to improve the Mozambiquan way of life.
I find myself reading the news about Africa a little more carefully these days and rooting for Mozambique. For me, the irony of returning to the United States on Thanksgiving week was not, “gosh, we have so much here for which to give thanks.” Rather, I was struck at how grateful the people I met were for how far they’d come.
In his letter to attendees, GE’s head of HR, John Lynch, calls BMC, “one of the highest senior management development experiences offered by the company.” I would take that a step further – it was, without a doubt, one of the most significant personal development experiences of my life.
* Our class’ trip to Africa just went live on GE.com yesterday. Check it out to see photos and learn more about leadership at GE
* Follow Jeff on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/GETech_Infra
