Great Talent Knows No Nationality

If you’ve got great talent sooner or later people will take notice. One thing about talent is it is not a monopoly of one nationality. There are many business leaders who come from different nationalities.  Companies who know they have a great talent will seldom look at the person’s nationality but more on his competence and performance.

An example of this is United Technologies Corporation (UTC). This is a U.S. company whose subsidiaries include Otis (elevators), Pratt & Whitney (aircraft engines), Sikorsky (helicopters), and UTC Power (fuel cells). It had net sales of $58.2 billion in 2011 and had 199,900 employees.  Now America has an enormous pool of talent especially in business, but this U.S. company chose instead an individual from neighboring country Canada to head the firm.

This man is Louis R. Chênevert who became the president and CEO on April 2008. Less than two years later on January 2010 he was also elected Chairman. Chênevert began his career at General Motors in Canada working there for 14 years. He reached the position of general production manager. In 1993 he moved to Pratt & Whitney Canada as vice president for operations. His skills and talent eventually promoted him to president, a position he held until 2006.

His performance led him to become the president and COO of UTC in 2006. Two years later he became the CEO. His rise shows that talent can get you to the highest position where one can further influence change and direction.