In today’s world, doing global work is getting harder. The geopolitical landscape—fractured alliances, renewed nationalism, sanctions, airspace restrictions, and unpredictable regulation—combined with macro-economic headwinds like inflation, energy costs, and supply chain stress, have made everything from travel to deployment of talent more expensive and time-consuming. For anyone working across borders, these changes are no longer abstract: you see them every time someone complains about a delayed connecting flight, or a visa that takes months instead of weeks, or a cost estimate that doubles versus just a few years ago.
Take travel, for instance. Japanese executives I teach in Europe regularly tell me their trips now take longer because flights must avoid Russian airspace. A back-of-the-envelope calculation illustrates the magnitude: rerouting can easily add 2 hours per flight. While specific data are hard to come by, a quick back-of-the-envelope calculation can show the scale of the issue. Given that Japanese will do approx. 14.1 million outbound trips in 2025 and that business trips typically comprise between 5-20% of outbound travel, assuming that 20% of these trips have Europe as a destination will mean a total of over 280,000 Japanese business trips per year from Japan to Europe. This is the equivalent of more than 60 years of continuous working time lost.
And this is only one dimension. A few other data points highlight how the economics of global work have shifted:
- Rising Costs of Global Mobility
Business travel costs are up by nearly 20–30% compared to pre-pandemic levels due to fuel prices, labor shortages in aviation, and inflation in accommodation. For multinational companies sending thousands of employees abroad each year, these incremental costs add up to millions in additional expenses. - Visa, Immigration and Regulatory Frictions
In many countries, visa wait times for business travelers or short-term work/visitor visas are stretching out dramatically. For example, the U.S. State Department’s Global Visa Wait Times” report shows that in some embassies/consulates, the waiting period for non-immigrant (business/tourist) visas from fee payment to interview can already exceed 3–6 months in certain places. These delays mean that planning must happen much earlier, reducing agility. If someone needs to attend a meeting or set up operations abroad on short notice, the delay can render the opportunity moot or force costly last-minute solutions (e.g. emergency visa, chartered travel, etc.). - Geopolitical Supply Chain Shifts
The World Bank’s Global Supply Chain Stress Index (GSCSI) continues to show elevated levels of disruptions in container shipping, delays, and unreliability. “Friendshoring” and regionalization are adding 5% to supply chain costs, as firms restructure operations to reduce geopolitical risk. This makes global coordination more complex and costly, especially for leaders managing cross-border teams and production networks.
These added costs aren’t marginal; they affect several relevant factors of cross-border activity. First, companies may hesitate before acting, which in fast-moving markets is itself costly. Second, it is more difficult to move people quickly and more friction deters both individuals and firms from deploying talent globally. Third, firms must weigh geopolitical risk and regulatory uncertainty, which may involve avoiding certain markets or suppliers even when those might offer competitive advantage. And fourth, while large multinationals might be able to absorb these frictions, mid-sized firms will suffer more, which can reduce global competition and innovation.
The Leadership Imperative
These numbers paint a clear picture: global work is not as frictionless as it once was. Every additional hour in transit, every extra euro spent on compliance, and every dollar added to supply chain costs represents a drag on efficiency.
So how can we counterbalance these rising costs? In my opinion, there is only one sustainable lever: we need to become better global leaders. Here are a few thoughts on what to do:
- Cultivate agility: anticipate delays, regulatory issues, travel disruptions in planning, and build in buffer.
- Deep cross-cultural and geopolitical literacy: understand not only the business culture, but emerging norms, regulatory shifts, airspace, sanctions, visa regimes.
- Strong stakeholder connection: build ties with relevant constituents, including governments, consulates, local partners, and supply chain nodes. Relationships matter more when formal rules are in flux.
- Invest in communication: clarity, trust, transparency are key in teams spread across different jurisdictions.
- Think strategically about trade-offs: Carefully deliberate when to push, when to pull back, when the cost of global expansion or travel outweighs incremental benefit.
In a world where travel takes longer, regulation bites harder, and supply chains wobble, a global leader who can connect people, resources, and strategy across diverse constituents—from local teams to partner governments and regulatory bodies—will reap the benefits of continued work across borders. Global work is more expensive now—and the price of poor leadership has never been higher.