About four years ago my first blog post of the year 2017 was about Trump’s inauguration. Back then I wrote about the feelings of uncertainty and anticipation of an era of protectionism and populism. Four years forward, we are all quite familiar with how his ‘America first’ philosophy turned out, and each of us can hold their own […]
Gender Bias in Academia: Latest Study Results
I have touched upon the topic of gender equality in my blog on several occasions, be it about gender diversity in the workplace, the gender pay gap, or gender imbalances in expatriation. As such, the topic is far from being new, yet it cannot be dismissed, as the challenge of gender equality continues to persist. […]
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 […]
The Culturally Humble Expat
International assignments are costly, which is why both researchers and practitioners are in constant search for the right formula of successful expatriation. Given that international assignments are meant to be ‘bridging the gaps’, be it in terms of knowledge sharing or the transfer of other resources, good relationships and cooperation between expats and locals seem […]
Latest Research: Expats and Ethnic Identity Congruence
Let’s say you are a multinational corporation with headquarters in Canada and plan to send an expatriate to your subsidiary in China. Who would you most likely send, a French Canadian manager, or an ethnic Chinese manager? I suspect you would pick the latter as we quite naturally assume that expatriates, who share similarities with […]
Expat-preneurs: A New Type of Global Employees
Within the global workforce exist a whole range of international work experiences. When referring to expatriation, we are speaking about traditional company-initiated expats, who are sent abroad for either shorter or longer periods of time. That is a very simplistic distinction though, as the landscape of company-initiated assignments is constantly changing, producing an increasing variety […]
Expatriate Reentry Training: Insights from Recent Research
Several years ago in one of my blog posts I posed a question whether starting an expatriate assignment requires more company support than repatriation. Despite the common logic that going abroad to a new and unfamiliar place should be more challenging than returning home to a familiar place, this notion couldn’t be further from reality. […]
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 […]