Are you a beaver, dolphin, owl or fox?(credit column)

For attendees of FCIB's 18th Annual Global Conference at the Ritz Carlton in West Palm Beach, Florida from November 11-13, the answer to that question was outlined by keynote speakers Greg Hicks and Rick Foster. Over the decade that they have worked together, the two developed a personality archetype system based on animals, replacing more complicated and arcane classifications like those used by Meyers-Briggs and others.

"This, I guarantee you will remember. Because in doing this for years, we have found that this particular format is one that really works for people," explained Hicks. "The reason we do that is that the habits of the animal are also the habits of the people in that group." Foster added, "These are types that exist all over the world. And they are on all of your teams."

The purpose of the duo's keynote presentation was to help attendees who work in global teams that often communicate via Internet, teleconference and other mediums--but lack the face-to-face interaction that can cloud individual intentions--create more effective teams by better understanding the people they work with. "In the world in which you live, intentions are often obscured by the fact that, number one, you're often not even in the same location," stated Foster. "But there are also multicultural and cross-cultural expectations that are not immediately apparent. So, when we're dealing with global business teams, what we say to all of them is be sure to state your intentions clearly so that the entire team knows what's happening. All behavior comes from intention."

Hicks and Foster explained that the best practice is to figure out the personality archetype of co-workers, employees and clients, and then focus on how to best individualize an approach to keep those persons motivated. A true testament to the memorability of the animal-based system was that for the remainder of the conference, speakers and attendees often introduced themselves as the animal they evaluated themselves to be.

Overall, the event was the largest in the FCIB's history, and was highlighted by an exceptional group of speakers holding educational sessions on a myriad of topics vital to international business. Apart from the question, "Are you a Beaver or a Fox?" some of the most prominent and popular sessions of the conference were those dealing with doing business in the growing markets of Latin America.

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The session, "Effective Credit and Collection Techniques in Latin America," detailed common mistakes made by exporters, discussed how to ensure timely payments--particularly when dealing with CADIVI--and gave an overview, country by country, of the business environment in Latin America. With controversial President Hugo Chavez capturing headlines, there was little surprise that doing business in Venezuela and dealing with CADIVI garnered a lot of attention. Venezuela received the worst rating for overall business environment of the countries covered, though Argentina, which has its own possible political concerns with recently-elected president, Cristina Kirchner, was also recognized as "bad" but getting better.