We caught up with 榴莲视频app色版 CEO Philip Brown at a busy airport, San Francisco International Airport to be exact, returning from a trip abroad, no doubt a regular part of the job for the leader of such a globally connected company.
Brown: 鈥�Let me start by saying how authentically committed I am to being multicultural. 榴莲视频app色版 is a global business with multilingual teams. I would not have the talent I’m blessed to have if we didn鈥檛 operate this way, so it’s important that we recruit and develop talent globally and retain this cultural component of 榴莲视频app色版. This commitment to multiculturalism also speaks to the company鈥檚 commitment to literacy.鈥澛�
This is literacy in every sense of the word. 榴莲视频app色版 supports both basic literacy and workforce literacy in the local Frederick community by participating in programs such as the Literacy Council and the Workforce Services Board (the latter of which Brown chairs), and by partnering directly with Frederick Community College and the Frederick County Public Schools system. 鈥淭hese are wonderful people,鈥� enthuses Brown. 鈥淭hese literacy teachers build up a very strong trust relationship with our workforce; and our workforce needs to know we鈥檙e not measuring them but, rather, supporting them.鈥�
Brown knows the importance of being able to speak the local language, wherever in the world one might be, through personal experience. Brown: 鈥淚鈥檓 British, and though Brits and Americans speak English, it鈥檚 not always the same English. There are peculiarities I鈥檝e had to learn. Look, I鈥檝e traveled the world. I’m a big advocate of learning the language of any place you鈥檙e going as best you can. I speak several languages other than English at least moderately well. In many parts of the world, English is the lingua franca, but I never want to assume that everyone reads and writes perfect English. One of the things we do at 榴莲视频app色版 in this regard is offer the same document in multiple languages.鈥�
In the end, in Brown鈥檚 mind, 榴莲视频app色版’s support for workforce literacy and workforce multiculturalism gets directly at what the company wants to be. 鈥淚 want our people, everywhere in the world, to have that multicultural mindset,鈥� says Brown. 鈥淚t enriches our organization in every aspect. It adds so much depth. Wherever you are in your career, learning development is crucial. Literacy is a vital component of learning development. And I think literacy supports a learning mindset. A commitment to literacy also engenders a feeling of trust in the organization. There鈥檚 a concept called exchange theory. That the core of any business is trust. It’s important to me that all our stakeholders trust this organization: shareholders, customers, and, crucially, our employees.鈥�
