#157 | Running Global Operations Across EMEA & APAC: What Actually Breaks and How to Fix It

In this episode, Wendy MacKenzie Pease interviews Marta Grutka, a global operator with 30+ years of experience leading cross-border initiatives in highly complex environments.

A U.S. citizen by birth and career expat by choice, Marta has lived in major international media and government centers across APAC, EMEA, and the U.S. In 2025, she was recognized as one of the World’s 50 Most Influential Business Women Making a Difference for her impact on more than 100 communities – from the Mannequin Pis to the Merlion.

Marta shares firsthand lessons from managing multilingual teams in emerging markets, running daily operations with real-time interpretation, and navigating high-stakes environments where infrastructure, language barriers, and compliance requirements collide. She walks through how miscommunication impacts execution, why global strategies fail at the operational level, and how to implement simple but effective frameworks to maintain clarity across teams.

The episode also dives into intellectual property protection and anti-piracy efforts across Asia, showing how enforcement, education, and localization strategies must work together to shift behavior in complex markets. From COVID-era crisis management to building systems for accountability across languages, Marta provides a grounded look at what it takes to operate globally without losing control of compliance, quality, or brand integrity.

What You’ll Learn

• Where global regulatory execution breaks down: How language gaps, unclear ownership, and cultural misalignment create risk across submissions, labeling, and documentation.
• How to operationalize multilingual teams: Real examples of running daily standups with live interpretation, structured reporting (announcements, agreements, actions), and maintaining accountability.
• How to reduce compliance risk across markets: Why miscommunication—not strategy—is often the root cause of regulatory delays and errors.
• What anti-piracy and IP protection teach us about global enforcement: How shifting messaging, local engagement, and education can change behavior in complex markets.

How to build resilient systems during crises: Lessons from managing teams and operations during COVID in low-infrastructure environments.