Our guest in Episode 5 is an experienced cross-cultural leader, George Smith, Director of New Business Development for Orbis International. 

Orbis International is a pioneering global NGO with a game-changing mission: “We bring people together people together to fight avoidable blindness. We believe that no one should live a life of unnecessary blindness, simply because of where they were born.”  

13 years ago, George took the leap to move to Beijing with his family to take on the new challenge of building a world class Orbis program in China.

His success is considered best in class.

George shares his experience of changing a top-down team culture into one of empowered team participation, with insights such as

• The importance of local teams (in any culture) thinking globally if they want to succeed.
• The role of the leader in creating a safe space for expressing ideas, particularly ones that go against the grain.
• That leadership is both science and art. Trust you intuition rather than the Management 101 textbooks.
• The deeply-rooted positives of a Chinese team’s loyalty and excellence.
• That you have to enjoy the experience. If not, it’s time to move. 

More information on the great work of Orbis International, and how you can support it, can be found at: www.orbis.org

Thanks for listening.