Manager at the Corners of the World

UMBRAGROUP is pleased to share an article from the magazine People and Connections titled “Managers in the World” by Alessia Albertin. This article highlights the experiences of Managers who have been able to take on international challenges with courage and determination, including those of Beatrice Baldaccini, Executive Vice President Thomson^® Aerospace & Defense* (Michigan - US).

In an increasingly global world, Beatrice Baldaccini’s experience draws attention to the Company’s approach: to encourage its employees to put themselves in new cultural and innovative processes, and to embrace new opportunities and new experiences. Opportunities will often be international due to the growth of the Group worldwide. UMBRAGROUP focuses on future managers who will be able to connect, integrate, and above all, openly model service leadership with continuous dialogue with different cultures.

Flexibility, entrepreneurial spirit, and knowledge of foreign cultures are increasingly important requirements in the workplace.
When UMBRAGROUP acquired their competitor Thomson^® Aerospace & Defense in Michigan in March 2018, Manager Beatrice Baldaccini says “I made a personal evaluation of my career and I felt the I lacked work experience abroad. Therefore, I was willing to move to the United States for three or four years to support the integration process with the rest of the Group. Going to work and live in another country for a long time also involves managing aspects of one’s daily life such as the family, which is normally taken for granted. Our spirit in facing these obstacles and difficulties makes a difference in this delicate phase of the transition.”

Beatrice Baldaccini continues “We faced it with a spirit of adventure. My son adapted very well to school, and even helped us build new friendships in meeting the parents of other children. As a family, we have grown even closer. We had to find a new balance as a family. A strong spirit of adaptation is also required at work. A difficulty encountered as a professional is being recognized in your role. on the one hand I had business goals to achieve, on the other hand I had to find the right way to do it. As a manager, I first had to be able to listen to my colleagues regarding the problems they saw and possible solutions, and then to try to explore a third way with them that would include the UMBRAGROUP experience I brought with me. The first thing I had to learn was that in the USA business is business. In Italy, we take work feedback very personally. In the United States, you can give professional evaluations in a very direct way without fear that your colleagues will feel judged as people: they know that it is only an evaluation of the work at a professional level.”

Weighing sacrifices and benefits, Beatrice Baldaccini confesses that the benefits received strongly outweigh the sacrifices: it is an experience that I recommend to anyone who has this opportunity because it forces you to open up and look at things with different eyes. Especially for young professionals who want to work for companies at the international level, I would advise them to be afraid of the differences. Let curiosity conquer your far, because doing so opens up really powerful experiences.

Thanks to Beatrice Baldaccini, whose account will contribute greatly to those who, in the face of such a crossroads, should not doubt themselves.

*Thomson^® is a registered trademark of Thomson Industries, Inc.