What does a Country Manager do? [Tales of a Country Manager]
It was Thanksgiving Day and I’m reflecting on my career. Being on a short sabbatical brought me this reflection, I guess. Doing a retrospective is as important as planning ahead. One of the things I’m most proud of in my career is for being the founder (aka Country Manager) of GoDaddy and Shopify in Brazil. That’s the reason I decided to write a series of articles (not sure how many) with some interesting tales from those experiences.
First things first: What does a Country Manager do?
I use to say that the Country Manager is a one-man-band type of job.
You have to play all roles in the beginning. Be the strategic thinker while at the same time looking for short-term growth levers. Hiring the first team members, setting up the operating structure, meeting with customers and partners, finding the right vendors… it is like being a founder of a startup backed up by a VC. You’re not starting from zero, the product is typically there (but product-market-fit might not), there’s a playbook of successful things done in other markets, there’s a team in HQ to support you, but at the of the day, it’s on you to know how and when to use all these resources.
Make no mistake, it’s one of the most entrepreneurial roles you can have while being an employee. It’s an amazing experience, worth much more than an MBA from a top-tier global business school.
But it’s also about a lot of hard work. You may have to do very operational things too, that sucks, but it’s part of the job. Roll up the sleeves and getting the things done is not just a figure of speech if you are a Country Manager.
Up next, how I got the CM role at GoDaddy.
#leadership #career #countrymanagers #internationalexpansion #growth
