When travelling internationally, particularly to a new country, there’s a key decision to make before you even land: who will you call to meet you? This choice goes beyond just arranging logistics; it sets the tone for your trip and reflects your intent in engaging with the world.
Sophie Krantz, Global Strategist, presents two options.
One option is the standard, Safe Call to your country’s government representatives like embassy staff. This typically leads to formal meetings with validated institutions and vetted partners. It’s professional and predictable, often resulting in polished presentations and good photo opportunities, perfect for showing engagement but likely presenting information that’s already widely known. It’s often focused on appearances and ticking the box of international engagement.
The alternative is the Strategic Call. This means reaching out to someone embedded in the local ecosystem, someone closer to the edge who knows the entrepreneurs, researchers, artists, and operators building what’s next. Instead of a grand tour, you seek curated conversations behind the scenes with people shaping their sector or society.
Choosing the strategic path produces vastly different outcomes. You gain deep insight rather than just information, build meaningful relationships, and discover commercial intelligence and stories before they make the headlines. You see what’s truly possible because you’re invited into the room early, not just presented with finished products. It’s less about public optics and more about planting seeds and finding new directions for your own strategy.
Ultimately, your call determines if you show up as a (business) tourist or a builder. While both approaches are valid, one keeps you maintaining the status quo, while the other can shift your strategy and help you see what’s ahead. Where you go matters, but who you meet matters even more. This decision is the quiet difference between being global in optics and being global in action.
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