Dr Aysen Broadfield, European HR director for Mattel, explains how her
mentor Alan Kaye gave her the ability to progress within a multinational
Aysen Broadfield first met Alan Kaye in 1999 when she became Mattel’s HR
director for Northern Europe. As senior vice president for human resources and
administration, Global HR, he was able to provide her with an invaluable
insight into the runnings of a sprawling multinational company.
To achieve this Kaye simply explained how Broadfield could get the most out
of Mattel’s multinational structure.
Broadfield says: "He explained the complexity of interactions among the
functions and business units in a multinational. But more importantly, he
showed me how decisions are made. He also explained things take a lot of time
to do and often disappear altogether if you don’t understand how the final
decision-making process works and who you have to involve,
Following this approach has enabled Broadfield to become European HR
director at the age of 37. She even claims this it is "largely down to the
fact that I can issue results quickly".
She also feels explaining the complexity of management is the most important
thing for people working in multinationals.
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The best advice Kaye gave her was focus on the small details. She says:
"I always felt he was behind me, supporting me and explaining the details
that you don’t understand unless you’ve worked behind the scenes.
"These things really matter in terms of organisational development and
which only experience can teach you."
