The theme of the 17th annual Arthur W. Page Society Spring Seminar was "Globalization: Stop or Go?" but it was mostly a green light as far as the presenters were concerned. And the large number of Page members who filled the ballroom at the New York Palace hotel on both April 4 and 5 seemed to agree.

A record number of 156 members and guests signed up for the Seminar which featured a lineup of speakers with special insights and experiences about the complexities of communicating around a world that has been changed by terrorism, shifting foreign policy and economic uncertainty.

Leading off the Seminar was Jeffrey Garten, dean of the Yale School of Management, whose experiences in government and international finance make him uniquely qualified to talk about globalization. Because of 911 and the continuing war on terrorism, Garten said the rules of the global economy have changed. "Globalization won't stop," he said, "but it has been slowed dramatically."

Garten believes that deep down, CEOs are more insecure than they admit about their global strategies. This is the result of having to deal with the uncertainty of foreign policy, the different cultures that are in play and the fact that there are gaps in the infrastructure of globalization including not having global accounting standards and a framework for mergers and acquisitions.

Another featured speaker, internationally known expert in Archetype Discoveries and Creativity G. Clotaire Rapaille expanded on some of the complexities of dealing with the rest of the world. "You have to know the codes of the different cultures," he said, "and understand the differences that affect communications."

This thought was underscored by a panel on the second day entitled "Yankee, Go Home!: Managing Corporate Reputation in a Hostile World." Kirk Stewart described how Nike had to change its approach when the company became the target of highly organized campaigns to attack Nike policies around the world. "We learned that we had to admit our shortcomings, become engaged with our critics and become accountable for what was happening in our contract factories," Stewart said.

Another panelist, Steve Harris, said General Motors was able to escape some of the anti-globalization fervor because, among other things, they have a long history of being global. "GM principles have always been to develop, design and build where you sell with engineering, design and test facilities virtually on all continents," Harris said. "And where we aren't, our alliance partners are."

While the two half-day sessions of the Seminar were focused on globalization, the Thursday dinner session offered a chance to honor two Page Society members. The Distinguished Service Award was presented posthumously to Pat Jackson and Kurt Stocker was inducted into the Page Society Hall of Fame. The text of his lecture, "A Good Story, Well Told," can be accessed here.

Further information about the Spring Seminar will be available in the Spring issue of the Arthur W. Page Newsletter which will be published shortly.