Having just returned from our annual family skiing trip I have been reminded of how important it is to conserve and restore your energy resources. A few consecutive, full days of skiing can easily sap your physical energy. But we all know that our mental energy is a finite resource as well. And sometimes it […]
AI: Robots against Humans, or For Humans?
Automation of jobs is an unfolding phenomenon at the moment. As discussed in one of my previous blog posts, there is some sense of worry and anxiety concerning this. There are industry reports, statistical estimates and numerous media articles, which all suggest the possibility of robots replacing humans across many jobs, of robots ‘taking over’… For example, drivers […]
What does contemporary human resource management stand for?
Foremost, I believe, it is the notion of recognizing employees not only as resources but as human beings, which is becoming more central in the contemporary approach to managing people. Compared to the first industrial revolution, when in the factories skills were standardized and employees were perceived as a commodity, today continuous automation shifts us […]
Growth Mindset in Global Work: The Impact of the Belief of Malleability
In my last blog post I discussed Dweck’s mindsets theory and its implications in organizational settings, namely in relation to employees’ interests and inter-disciplinary problem solving skills. Today I would like to follow-up on the topic by looking more specifically into mindsets theory in the context of global work and expatriation. Indeed, the possible impact of a growth […]
Employees with Broader Interests: Benefits and Prerequisites
In my school years, I truly enjoyed learning languages and believed that I am good at it, that this was my talent. On the other hand, I had trouble with chemistry, which was also obvious to me – I just had no talent for chemistry, and there didn’t seem much I could do about it. […]
Health risks of migrant workers
Discussions about migration usually revolve around its impact on host locations. Are migrants stealing locals’ jobs or supporting the local economy? What kind of migration thresholds and migration policies should be in place? What should migrants do to integrate better into local communities? All these questions are naturally important, yet, there are very important considerations on the other side as […]
Expatriate Gig Workers: Opportunities and Considerations
The gig economy is on the rise – we can experience it while downloading yet another on-demand service app, meeting yet another freelancer, or seeing an increasing amount of temporary project-based job openings. The gig economy is also a highly discussed trend in different media outlets and industry reports. Some time ago I discussed the gig economy in […]
French Victory: Another Socio-political Statement?
The World Cup is over and this time France claimed mastery of the game. Naturally though, the big event and this big victory are not isolated from important social and political issues. As discussed in my previous blog post, in general, this World Cup has been Russia’s political statement and branding campaign. France’s World Cup win […]
Latest Global Mobility Trends
Over recent years I have talked about several megatrends and globally impactful changes in this blog: Brexit and Trump are shaking the geopolitical landscape and spreading protectionist tendencies; automation changes the world of work; the migration crisis and climate change stand as ongoing global issues; Europe foresees challenges of an aging population, while Chinese citizens […]
The World Cup: Soccer or Geopolitical Statement?
It is the second week of the soccer World Cup in Russia, which has already offered its surprising goals and disappointing misses to billions of soccer fans around the world, and there are still several weeks of excitement to come. Apart from exciting emotions though, such major sporting events do present opportunities far beyond sports. […]
Chinese Travelers: The More Outbound Movement, the More Tensions?
I guess we have all seen, heard or experienced the notorious Chinese tourists – the flag-following groups with impressive photographic equipment, who seem to be everywhere. Although the first part of the description can be easily seen as stereotypical, the notion about them being ubiquitous seems to become more and more supported by actual numbers. […]
Cosmopolitan Imaginary: Insights from the Latest Research
How do we understand the idea of cosmopolitanism? As an ideology and notion of self that doesn’t belong to any culture or country? As belonging to the world as a whole with no narrower cultural identifications? According to Gianpiero Petriglieri of INSEAD, cosmopolitanism is the aspiration to become a citizen of the world, it is […]
Another One of Trump’s Decisions
On Tuesday, U.S. president Donald Trumpwithdrew from the Iran nuclear deal. This is probably the second biggest decision, after him pulling out from the Paris climate accord, which reflects his ‘America first’ philosophy on a global scale through his foreign policies. The decision means that Trumpquits the multilateral deal that was meant to hold back […]
The Outdated Question of ‘Where Do You Work’?
Where do you work? A simple and common question we all know, right?! When asking such a question we are naturally interested in the position and organization one is working for… at the same time, the question also implies some indication of location, doesn’t it? In the past, this probably made perfect sense, and people […]
Human Diversity: Benefits for CEOs and Their Companies?
Embracing human diversityis not the strongest side of human nature. Plenty of social psychology concepts and research indicate how we tend to prefer people who are like us, form relationships with people who are alike rather than different, and categorize people similar to us into an ‘in-group’ and dissimilar people into an ‘out-group’. Evolutionary psychologists […]
Dear CEOs, Whose Side Are You on?!
Plato argued that everyone has an obligation to participate in politics… and although the share of the population that actively engages in elections is a challenging issue for many governments, the current reality is possibly closest to Plato’s vision than ever before. If before people would discuss political and social issues around the dining table […]
Global Mobility Functions: So Much to Do, so Little Time
A couple of years ago I wrote a blog post about the changing focus of the global mobility function, which was encouraged to move from a rather administrative to a more strategic role. It seems that today the trend is still relevant and the call for change is even more urgent than before. The recent […]