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 […]
Latest Research: Effective Personality Traits of Expats
One of the traditional and still common purposes of expatriation is managing a foreign subsidiary, hence, traditional expatriate roles are to be found in senior executive levels and senior management teams. Given the responsibilities attached to these positions, and the costs of expatriation for the organization, the importance of success for such international assignments can […]
Cyber Security: A ‘Must Have’ for Global Businesses
In today’s volatile conditions business leaders need to account for many risks. For example, data from a recent survey by the World Economic Forum (WEF) shows that global leaders identify several economic, geopolitical, social and technological risks, with the first five priorities being: Unemployment or Underemployment (1st), Fiscal Crises (2nd), Failure of National Governance (3rd), […]
Gig Economy and Psychological Well-Being
It is quite difficult to have a clear and coherent picture of how the future of work will look like with all the driverless cars, automated jobs and new human-only careers. At the same time, it is equally difficult to imagine the future with traditional 9-to-5 jobs, isn’t it? Although there is quite some uncertainty […]
On Brexit, No-Deal Brexit and Their Consequences
On June 23rd, 2016, the UK voted to leave the European Union, and the departure is scheduled for 29th of March, 2019. Last month, UK Prime Minister Theresa May went to Florence to deliver her vision on a post-Brexit UK and its relationship with the EU. The speech was aimed to deliver the message that […]
Gender Gap: A Debate That Simply Doesn’t Age
Tolerance, diversity and equality are persistent topics in global business, which I occasionally write about. Specifically, I have repeatedly touched upon the topic of gender inequality, writing about the underrepresentation of women in management, the gender gap within the expat community, and lack of equality for women in the workplace overall. Recently I came across […]
‘Going from Hands to Heads to Hearts’
Thinking about our future can be tough at times. In this blog I write about trends, important developments and influential events at a global scale, which lately often translates into the keywords of volatility, protectionism, populism, globalization threats, and automation. So, what is the future of work on the global basis? Certainly unclear and, clearly, […]
Corporate Philanthropy in the Aftermath of Natural Disaster: The Latest Research
The past few months have been like an endless series of natural disasters. First, there were the devastating floods in South Asia during the summer. Then, starting at the end of August, the U.S. got hit by hurricanes: Hurricane Harvey in Houston and Hurricane Irma in Florida. Simultaneously, Hurricane Katia battered Mexico, which in early […]
Life of Expats: Latest Industry Survey
According to the Internations expat community there are an estimated 56 to 57 million expatriates worldwide. These are the people who decided to move abroad either permanently or temporarily, live outside of their home locations, adjust to a foreign environment, and balance between at least two cultures. Where do people relocate, why, and what are […]
The Global Gig Economy
The days of ‘life-long’ careers within the same organisation, long-term stability of a signed job contract, guaranteed relevance of the skills acquired in university, and predictable work routines are long gone. Today, a CV with no updates within a 5-7 year period signifies career stagnation, rather than progression; the majority of skills need to be […]
CEO Activism?
The global political landscape has recently been immersed in the aftermath of racial violence in Charlottesville, Virginia. Along with the horror of the event itself, what drew even more attention was the very controversial reaction to it from the one who is expected to speak up for the people, the country and its values. President […]
The Grass is Greener in Melbourne: Latest Livability Report Data
Although the well-known expression that “the grass is greener on the other side” refers to the way people tend to perceive something they do not have, sometimes we can take it quite literally, for example when comparing cities based on their livability ranking. According to the recent Economist Intelligence Unit report, the grass is “greenest” […]
Challenges of Global Mobility: The Latest Industry Report
We have recently come to a point where many declaim the end of globalization as we have known it. Yet, amid this anti-globalization rhetoric, global businesses are clearly taking a different stance, arguing that more, not less, globally proficient talent is needed. A recent AXA World of Work Report, which surveyed 250 firms in eight […]
Tempted by Escape
I believe all of us are familiar with the temptation to escape… Be it a from difficult conversation, an anxiety-provoking situation, or a tiring social environment, it is so tempting to just leave, to escape from it. Sometimes, though, leaving the room is just not enough and one is tempted to escape on a bigger […]
Biculturalism Revisited: The Confused Bicultural
It shouldn’t be of a much surprise to meet a bicultural today – the world is increasingly interconnected, people are more mobile, there is a lot of migration, many live abroad and form multi-cultural families, hence many are exposed to and hold at least two identities. It is also a commonly accepted notion that biculturalism […]
When We Need More Cooperation, We Should Look for More Hope
Any working relationship, be it romantic, friendship- or business-related, implies mutual trust, doesn’t it? Indeed, any successful cooperation requires trust as well. Usually, the more we know people, the more we trust them, which is probably why cooperating with familiar people is easier than with strangers. Consider the prisoner’s dilemma, one of the most famous […]
Latest Research: ‘Navigating between Home, Host, and Global Identities’
Business activities today regularly reach across cultural boundaries, and collaborative work with people of different cultural backgrounds becomes an everyday normality. Alongside the increasing exposure to culturally pluralistic settings, the question of cultural identities and the process of acculturation also receives more and more attention. In fact, we increasingly see cases of people holding multiple […]
