My father-in-law recently shared Peter Godwin’s memoir “Exit Wounds: A Story of Love, Loss, and Occasional Wars” with me. Like my father-in-law, who grew up in Zimbabwe before migrating to Australia, Godwin is intimately familiar with the peculiar grief of belonging to multiple places and none fully. Born and raised in Zimbabwe, educated in England, […]
Why I Would Want You to Trust Me
Dear manager, could you ever imagine trusting your employees that much as to hire them without any need to fire them again? Dear employee, what would it feel like having that amount of trust and safety in your workplace? In his very exciting Ted Talk leadership expert Simon Sinek suggests considering these questions, as he […]
The Many Benefits of a Shared Language in Multinationals
Knowledge sharing is a critical activity when it comes to multinational enterprises (MNEs) and doing business across borders. In my previous blog posts I have already touched upon the importance of global employees as ‘linking pins’ between headquarters (HQ) and subsidiaries, discussed the required input of both, knowledge transmitters and receivers, and brought up the […]
Global Markets: Prospects for 2015
The most recent PWC Global CEO survey asked over 1,300 global leaders about their prospects for 2015. Given the currently intensified geopolitical uncertainty, CEOs are generally less confident in global economic growth this year compared to last year. Yet, the PWC survey results indicate that they remain confident of their own business prospects, as today […]
Unite to Make Diversity Work!
“Opposites attract” is an expression that has been popular for ages. I am sure we have all heard it in relation to romantic relationships, and reflected on whether the differences between people and the diversity in their personalities, interests, and backgrounds complement or challenge a relationship. A quick browse in the Internet reveals that there […]
‘Up in the Air’: Exploring the Philosophy
Once in a while it is good to revisit older movies – as is the case with Jason Reitman’s 2009 film ‘Up in the Air’. Naturally, as the film title already suggests, it has spurred both my personal and professional interests. The story has several facets to it, as the movie touches on the difficulties […]
Expat Work and Life Domains: Conflicting, Balancing, or Enriching?
Work is one of the central tenets in human life. We ask our kids what do they want to do when they grow up; we start conversations by inquiring about each other’s jobs; we study extensively in order to secure future employment; we belong, as adults, to a well-defined working age population; we differentiate between […]
How about some New Year’s resolutions?
We all make resolutions, don’t we? Some of us in a more structured way, others very informally, but I guess the majority of us mark the change of year by reviewing what happened and, more importantly, making new goals, promises and resolutions for the year ahead. For example, the scientific journal Nature shared the New […]
‘I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas… Just Like the Ones I Used to Know’
It is this time of winter holidays again – the time when everyone goes back home in one way or the other. I am sure this sounds very familiar to many expatriates, it sounds like an expat Christmas dream. Being an expat myself, I look forward to my home family visit for the holidays too. […]
Hardship Allowances in Expatriation: A Default Practice?
Be it for the purposes of business expatriation or self-initiated expatriation, when moving abroad one of the main factors that matters is the expat’s destination, namely the host location. According to the Economic Intelligence Unit (EIU) 2014 Global Livability Rankings, the top ten choices for relocation would be (ordered from highest to lowest rank) Melbourne, […]
Are We Really Living in a Globalized World?
I am an expatriate, with experience of living and working in six different countries. I am currently residing in Spain, working for a globally oriented institution, and frequently travelling abroad for business. When at work, I interact a lot with international students, foreign colleagues, and expatriate managers. On my way home from work I feel […]
Expat Health: When Illness is a Matter of Social Integration
It is fairly common knowledge that the more stress one experiences, the higher one’s susceptibility to illness. While the link is not that straightforward and many possible stress mechanisms continue to be under debate the relationship between stress and health is established by now. What I find even more interesting in light of this blog […]
International Experience: Value with Limited Practicality?
If I would be asked for advice on writing an attractive resume of a young professional, I would suggest highlighting teamwork and international experience. Indeed, I believe that these are two current buzzwords in the global talent market given that potential employees are required to be able to cooperate with others, and increasingly do so […]
Global Virtual Teams – a Challenge or an Opportunity?
Today’s globally dispersed business landscape and technological progress have created a nurturing environment for global virtual teams. On one hand, globally dispersed businesses are in dire need of such forms of work, to save on travel and expatriation costs while still keeping international teams connected and working on common projects. On the other hand, modern […]
The Rise of ‘Bleisure’ Travel
Are people working more today than they did in the past? Without providing any statistics here, my gut feeling would say ‘Yes’. I believe that a couple of decades ago people had more work-life balance than today: most worked a fixed 9-to-5 schedule, and there was less overtime. Indeed, ‘taking work home’ back then would […]
Global Mobility in a Day
Today I would like to share with you one peculiar insight I recently became aware of when planning the forthcoming weeks in my calendar. Specifically, I was invited to attend an event hosted by the Barcelona city council, which is meant specifically for expats in the area. The event is part of a campaign for […]
Business Travelers: Benefiting the Business while Risking Family Life?
International travel is a natural part of today’s borderless and interlinked business environment. As noted in my previous post on this topic, global business travel is accessible and, even more importantly, brings benefits to multinational companies. Yet, as usual, possible benefits come with possible risks. Foremost, business travel is accompanied by travel stress. For example, […]
