What does it really take to become a trusted and valuable professional on a global team? In today's workplace, having strong technical skills isn't always enough. If you work remotely for an international company, especially a U.S.-based organization, your ability to communicate proactively, take ownership, solve problems, build trust, and adapt to AI can have a major impact on your professional success. In this episode of the Real English Conversations Podcast, Curtis talks with Marc Snegg, founder and CEO of Ground Game, about what it really takes to succeed as an international professional on a high-performing global team. Marc has more than 25 years of experience building businesses and organizations and has participated in more than $200 million in commercial real estate transactions. His work with Ground Game focuses on helping U.S. companies build high-performing global teams across sales, revenue operations, marketing, operations, HR, IT, and customer success. But Marc's approach isn't simply about outsourcing work to people in other countries. He believes companies can build fully integrated global teams by combining exceptional talent with strong management, clear systems, shared culture, and meaningful opportunities for professional growth. In this conversation, Marc shares practical advice about communication across cultures, building trust with managers, being proactive at work, using AI to become more valuable, developing a service mindset, and finding ways to improve the organization around you. And for international professionals who sometimes hesitate to speak up in meetings or worry about making mistakes, Marc gives a very practical set of actions you can begin using tomorrow. This is an especially valuable episode for anyone who wants to improve their Business English, workplace communication, confidence, leadership skills, and career opportunities in an international environment. 🌎 What Does It Take to Succeed on a Global Team? Many international professionals have excellent technical skills, but working successfully with an international company requires more than simply completing your assigned tasks. Marc explains that communication, ownership, and responsibility are what begin to separate a good employee from someone who becomes highly valuable to an organization. That includes communicating proactively, asking questions when you're stuck, raising problems early, offering thoughtful recommendations, and trying to understand the bigger context of the organization. Trust is also built through small, repeated actions: doing what you say you're going to do, consistently showing up and keeping your commitments. 💬 The Communication Mistakes International Professionals Can Make One of the most valuable sections of this episode focuses on cross-cultural communication. Marc explains that some professionals may come from cultures where communication with managers is more hierarchical or where people are more reserved about raising problems or asking questions. In a U.S. workplace, however, Marc says proactive communication can be highly valued. Instead of waiting until the last minute to tell your manager there's a problem, he recommends communicating early and explaining: What happened → What you've tried → What the problem is → What you recommend → What you need This demonstrates that you've already thought about the problem rather than simply handing it to your manager to solve. 💡 An important Business English lesson: Instead of saying: "I don't know how to do this. What should I do?" You can communicate more professionally by saying something like: "I've been working on this, and I've run into a problem. Here's what I've tried, here's what I think we could do next, and here's what I need to move forward." That difference can dramatically change how your communication is perceived. 🤝 How Do You Become a Trusted Professional? Marc explains that trust isn't usually created through one huge achievement. It's built through small, repetitive actions. Do what you say you'll do. Show up. Communicate. Raise problems early. Ask for feedback. Be coachable. And don't wait for someone else to tell you how you can improve. Marc encourages professionals to proactively ask: "Tell me something I can improve." That willingness to receive feedback and put it into practice can help build stronger relationships with managers, colleagues, and the organization. 🤖 How AI Can Make You More Valuable at Work AI is one of the most important themes in this conversation. Marc's advice isn't simply to be afraid of AI replacing your job. Instead, he encourages professionals to learn how to work with AI and build with it. He describes tools such as ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini as potential thought partners and intelligent tutors that can help professionals think through problems, learn new information, explore solutions, and improve the way they work. But Marc takes this one step further. He believes professionals should not only learn how to use AI — they should learn how to build with AI. For example, if you're repeatedly doing a manual task at work, you can use AI to explore whether a tool or workflow could automate or simplify part of that process. The more capable you become at interacting with and building with AI, Marc argues, the more value you can potentially bring to your organization. 🧠 AI + Human Coaching Ground Game is already using AI as part of its coaching and development systems. Marc describes a sales coaching system that listens to calls and provides feedback on what someone did well and what they could improve. That feedback can then become a starting point for live coaching conversations. Marc explains that combining AI feedback with human coaching has helped people develop their skills more quickly. This creates an interesting model for the future of professional development: AI can provide information, analysis, and feedback — while humans provide context, judgment, relationships, and coaching. 💎 The Four Ground Game Core Values Marc also explains the four principles that guide Ground Game: Dignity Every person has inherent value regardless of their country, position or title. For Marc, dignity means treating people with respect while also being honest and willing to provide direct feedback when something needs to improve. Service Leadership is about serving others. Marc describes service as looking for ways to solve problems, share information, document what you learn, take on new challenges, and make the organization stronger. Creativity Don't simply accept: "That's the way we've always done it." Creativity means looking for better ways to solve problems, testing new ideas, experimenting with new tools and empowering the people closest to the work to improve it. Client Focus The purpose of a business is to solve problems for its clients. That means listening carefully, understanding the client's needs, communicating clearly, and taking responsibility when something goes wrong. For Marc, it's not simply about being busy or completing activities — it's about delivering results and creating value. 📈 The Power of Definiteness of Purpose Ground Game's leadership and mindset curriculum is inspired by the 13 principles from Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich. Marc focuses particularly on the idea of having a definite purpose. He explains that rather than having a vague desire for something, you can become much more focused by defining exactly what you want, when you want it, what you're willing to give in exchange for it, and what your plan of action will be. He also describes the practice of repeatedly reading your goal and visualizing what achieving it would look and feel like. For Marc, this isn't simply a historical business philosophy — it's something he incorporates into Ground Game's culture and revisits with his team. 🚀 Marc's 3 Practical Actions for International Professionals Near the end of the conversation, Marc gives listeners a very practical challenge. If you're an international professional who has strong skills and good English but still hesitates in meetings or doesn't feel completely confident on a global team, Marc recommends several simple actions. 1️⃣ Turn Your Camera On When you're working remotely, make your presence visible. Marc believes keeping your camera on demonstrates engagement and helps recreate some of the connection that naturally happens when people work together in person. 2️⃣ Speak at Least Once in Every Meeting You don't need to dominate the meeting. Ask a thoughtful question. Offer an observation. Summarize something you've heard. Volunteer for a next step. Or simply share an idea. The important thing is to participate. 3️⃣ Send Proactive Updates & Bring One Improvement Idea Keep your manager informed about: What you've completed What you're working on What's blocking you What you recommend doing next And then look for one small thing you can improve. Maybe the team is losing time, repeating manual work, or making the same mistake. Use AI to explore a possible solution and bring the idea forward. You don't need to reinvent the entire company. Just demonstrate that you're engaged, proactive, and thinking about how to make things better. 🎯 What You'll Learn in This Episode By listening to this conversation, you'll learn: ✅ What separates a task-completing employee from a highly trusted global professional ✅ Why proactive communication is so important when working remotely ✅ How to communicate problems to your manager without simply handing them the problem ✅ How cultural differences can influence workplace communication ✅ Why honesty and transparency can build professional trust ✅ How to become more coachable and actively seek feedback ✅ How to use ChatGPT, C
