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The ‘Global Mindset’ of managers

Article  in  Organizational Dynamics · April 2013

DOI: 10.1016/j.orgdyn.2013.03.008

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Organizational Dynamics (2013) 42, 145—155

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The ‘Global Mindset’ of managers:

What it is, why it matters, and how to develop it
Mansour Javidan a,*, David Bowen b,1

a
Najafi Global Mindset Institute, Thunderbird School of Global Management, 1 Global Place, Glendale, AZ 85306, United States
b
G. Robert & Katherine Herberger Chair in Global Management, Thunderbird School of Global Management, 1 Global Place,
Glendale, AZ 85306, United States

‘Global Mindset’’ is an individual’s capability to influence
others unlike themselves. This definition of what it is
emerged from our lengthy and ongoing research program,
which we will describe. We present two approaches for how
to develop Global Mindset. One is to ‘‘find’’ it in individuals
with attributes associated with it, e.g. certain demographics
and educational backgrounds, as well as in companies and
industries with attributes likely to foster it, e.g. differing
sizes and sectors. Another approach is to ‘‘grow’’ it, e.g.
leadership development programs and coaching. We will
further elaborate what and how, but we begin by under-
scoring why the Global Mindset of managers matters.
WHY IT MATTERS: GLOBALIZING
CORPORATIONS VERSUS GLOBALIZING
PEOPLE
Much is known about how to globalize corporations via
technology, logistics management and the like; much less
is rigorously known in either research or practice about how
to globalize people for their global roles. Between 1990 and
2003, the number of multinational corporations throughout
the world increased from 3000 to 63,000. Today, in 2012,
there are more than 100,000 MNC’s (multinational compa-
nies) and 900,000 affiliates, with assets valued at $57 trillion
(10 times more than 1990). Furthermore, in a recent survey
of almost 500 senior executives at 100 corporations, the
Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) reported that 75% of the
corporations were planning to compete in foreign markets.
Although this overall globalization is obvious, less appar-
ent are the nuances in the differing forms of that globaliza-
tion. Not every sector, business or industry is globalizing, nor
are they globalizing at the same pace. The nature of globa-
lization among them is also different. Some companies, like
Wal-Mart Stores and Gap, have huge global supply chains but
have much more limited global markets. Others, like Johnson
and Johnson and HSBC Bank, have extensive global supply
chains and also sell their products in many countries.
It is also possible that different business units in the same
company may be following different paths to globalization.
This is often driven by the nature of their business. Some
business units may be domestically oriented, while others
may be quite globalized. Owens Corning is an example of this.
The company has two major business units: building materi-
als and composites. The building materials business is almost
totally domestically oriented, focused on the U.S. market.
The composites business, however, is quite global, producing
and selling the products in many countries. So when discuss-
ing globalization, we need to examine three issues: the
extent, pace, and nature of globalization.
Assessing Your Own Globalizing Situation

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 602 978 7013.

E-mail addresses: mansour.javidan@thunderbird.edu
(M. Javidan), david.bowen@thunderbird.edu (D. Bowen).
1
Tel.: +1 602 978 7037.
In our work with many managers to help them better under-
stand how globalized their company or business unit is, i.e.
the extent, pace, and nature of its globalization, we use a
series of simple reflective questions. We have included six of

0090-2616/$ — see front matter # 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.orgdyn.2013.03.008
 Author's personal copy
146
Table 1 How Globalized (or Globalizing) is a Company?
1. Over the next five years, the corporation’s
opportunities, in terms of markets and supplies,
are mostly outside of its home country
Yes No
2. Over the next five years, the firm will be hiring more
people outside its home country
Yes No
3. Over the next five years, managers at the firm will
increasingly need to work with people from other parts
of the world
Yes No
4. Over the next five years, managers at the firm will
increasingly need to work with direct reports who are
located in different parts of the world
Yes No
5. The top management and middle management in the
company are not very experienced in leveraging global
opportunities
Yes No
6. A key to the company’s competitive advantage resides
in its capability to manage cross cultural complexity in
its value chain of suppliers, managers, employees,
distributors, and customers better than its
competitors
Yes No
these questions in Table 1. The first question relates to the
globalization of the firm’s markets and supplies. Questions
2—5 refer to the globalization and geographic dispersion of
the company’s talent pool, while the last question relates to
the strategic implications of globalized business.
The higher an organization’s score on this type of assess-
ment, the more true will be the observation of Sam Palmi-
sano, the former chief executive officer (CEO) of IBM, that a
new source of competitive advantage for global firms is their
ability, in the face of cross cultural complexity, to integrate
their global operations more effectively, faster, and at lower
cost than their competitors. This is a particularly important
issue for the Big 4 accounting firms, which need to globalize
their operations to be able to serve a growing number of
global clients. In fact, Ernst andYoung has made globalization
such a strong priority that it promises to provide more
seamless global tax and accounting services than its compe-
titors. That is an ambitious promise, but one that can gen-
erate a major competitive advantage for them. This kind of
promise, however, requires attention to developing a greater
number of managers who can work effectively in global roles.
Globalizing Managers for the Challenges of Global
Roles
While there is a growing need for global leaders, a recent
survey of senior HR (human resource) executives revealed
that a shortage of global executive talent was the primary
concern for their firms’ global expansion plans. That is why in
a Bloomberg Businessweek interview, Mike Duke, the CEO of
M. Javidan, D. Bowen
Wal-Mart, noted that ‘‘the thing that is probably the most
challenging for a company like ours is continuing to grow the
talent for a company that’s growing around the world. . . We
will add thousands of customers. We can add sales to our top
line. But it will require leadership.’’
What, then, are the global leadership competencies man-
agers in middle and higher ranks must possess in order to
leverage global opportunities? And in what way are they
different from general leadership competencies? In our view,
the core element of any form of leadership is the ability to
influence others to get something done. Leadership is a
process of influencing others. What distinguishes global lea-
dership is that the target of the influence, individuals, groups
or organizations, come from a different part of the world
from the leader. Leaders in global roles need to influence
others who are different from them. That is why in a recent
survey of CEOs, they identified the two most important
leadership competencies in their companies to be: mobilizing
teams and working across cultures.
Our notion of global leadership is not limited to expatri-
ates. While expats are clearly performing global roles, they
are not the only ones. In our view, a global role is not just
about geographic distance. A manager may be based in his
hometown, but may be interacting on a regular basis with
clients and supply chain partners in different parts of the
world, and some of his colleagues and direct reports may be
based in other countries.
Working with stakeholders located in different parts of the
world can be quite challenging. This is because they repre-
sent different cultural, political, and institutional back-
grounds, which lead them to see the world differently,
interpret it differently, and react to it differently. They have
different worldviews. Additionally, the political and institu-
tional frameworks where each of these stakeholders works
shape the broader macro environment where the business is
embedded. For example, the relationship between the gov-
ernment and business sectors looks quite different in differ-
ent regions. Case in point, Facebook, along with other social
media, has become en vogue in business to create and
maintain customer and employee engagement. But it is
not available in China, because it does not meet the Chinese
government’s regulatory requirements. There are Chinese
equivalents of Facebook, and they have very large censorship
departments to ensure the content on their sites meets
government requirements.
A country’s cultural values and practices help shape how
people in the society interact with each other and their
views toward business and leadership. Our work in the
GLOBE (Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior
Effectiveness) research program with managers in 62 coun-
tries has shown that countries do indeed have diverse ways of
doing things. They also have diverse values and ideals. The
GLOBE research has also shown that managers have differing
expectations from their supervisors and leaders. While
American managers expect their leaders to be performance
oriented, those in the Arab world expect their leaders to be
quite paternalistic toward their employees. A highly perfor-
mance oriented American executive might find his style
viewed negatively by his direct reports in the Middle East
or in many parts of Asia. He may find that to build trusting
relationships with his colleagues, he needs to spend a large
amount of his personal time after work socializing with
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The ‘Global Mindset’ of managers
them, for example drinking alcohol in Korea and tea or
coffee in Saudi Arabia.
Working through complex levels of diversity of thought
and action is not a capability that is developed naturally in
most societies. We saw evidence of this when on November
10, 2011, some 900 executives from over 45 countries attend-
ing a conference were asked, ‘‘How many of you can recall
from elementary school or high school, reading in textbooks
or hearing from teachers about how to work with others
different from yourself?’’ Approximately 15 hands went up in
the audience. In sum, while many corporations are in search
of global opportunities, their managers often feel unpre-
pared for the new success requirements in their global roles.
WHAT IT IS: THE GLOBAL MINDSET PROJECT
AT THUNDERBIRD
The field of global leadership is relatively new. The large
majority of the extant scholarly work has been completed
over the past two decades, and it has been mostly anecdotal
and case based. Relatively few large-scale, rigorous studies
exist. The global leadership literature, even now but parti-
cularly when this research project started in 2004, seemed to
mostly focus on the attributes and competencies of success-
ful global executives and includes over 100 key qualities like
energy, ability to build global teams, global change agent
skills, envisioning, environmental sense making, empower-
ing, cognitive complexity, business acumen, personal effec-
tiveness, relationship management and many others.
Given the ongoing challenge and complexity of working
across borders, as well as the paucity of rigorous large-scale
empirical studies on global leadership rigorously defined, a
group of eight professors at Thunderbird embarked on a
research project to identify a core, limited number of indi-
vidual qualities and attributes that would help a manager
accomplish a key requirement of global leadership — working
effectively with others who are unlike them. We reviewed
the relevant literature and conducted interviews with
Figure 1 The Structure of Global Mindset.
147
another 26 Thunderbird professors who are all experts in
various aspects of global business. We then interviewed 217
senior global executives in 23 cities in U.S., Europe, and Asia.
We asked many open-ended questions about successful and
unsuccessful cases of global leadership. We also asked them
to define the concept of Global Mindset, discuss its rele-
vance, and share their expertise on whether it can be devel-
oped. The answers were revealing, e.g. ‘‘Global Mindset to
me means that the individual has a global passport, but in his
head;’’ ‘‘I think it is a natural curiosity to learn more about
other cultures;’’ ‘‘being comfortable with being uncomfor-
table in uncomfortable environments’. . . and ‘‘Marco Polo
had a Global Mindset!’’
We also hosted an invitation-only conference of more than
40 distinguished academic experts in global management
from around the world to brainstorm and debate the nature
of global leadership and the meaning of Global Mindset. Our
series of interviews and our discussions with distinguished
scholars resulted in our definition of Global Mindset:
The set of individual qualities and attributes that help a
manager influence individuals, groups and organizations
who are from other parts of the world.
Managers who have a high level of these attributes find it
easier to work effectively with dissimilar others. They are
also more likely to succeed in such roles. On the other hand,
those managers who have a low level of these attributes find
global roles stressful and frustrating and are less likely to
succeed in global roles. In short, Global Mindset is the cap-
ability to influence others unlike oneself and is critical to
global leadership effectiveness.
Defining and Measuring Global Mindset
The next step in our research was to empirically define and
measure the construct of Global Mindset. We worked with the
Dunnette Group, one of the world’s most highly regarded
instrument design firms. The research team first drafted
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148
survey items to sample the domains confirmed in the litera-
ture and in our interviews. The process of refining the survey
instrument included a series of pilot tests with over 1000
global managers in large global corporations. An initial pool
of over 700 items was reduced, in a series of statistical
exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, to 76 final
items (50 Global Mindset questions and 26 demographics).
This step yielded the empirically verified construct of
Global Mindset displayed in Fig. 1. It also resulted in the
creation of the Global Mindset Inventory (GMI), which mea-
sures a manager’s profile of Global Mindset in terms of the
three capitals (Global Intellectual, Global Psychological, and
Global Social) and nine associated dimensions, as both a self-
assessment and 360-degree tool. The 360 tool allows assess-
ment of whether an individual’s self-assessment is shared, or
not, by others with whom s/he works. Reliabilities for the
scales measuring the nine dimensions and the categories in
which they belong were found to be very strong. The nine
scales are distinct but correlated factors. Additionally, cri-
terion-related validity tests were conducted in a Fortune 10
company, to determine the ability of the GMI to predict
manager performance, as assessed by non-self-report data.
The results were significant in verifying the criterion-related
validity of the GMI. (The GMI is described in detail in a
technical report available on our website, www.globalmind-
set.com.) At this time, over 17,000 individuals from more
than 200 organizations around the world have completed the
survey. We are in the midst of analyzing the data to help
identify the correlates of Global Mindset; some of these
results are presented later in the paper.
Global Mindset as Three Core Capitals
Fig. 1 developed from our research, shows the three core
‘‘capitals,’’ and nine underlying building blocks of a Global
Mindset that enable managers to influence others unlike
themselves in achieving their organizations’ global ambi-
tions. Here is a closer look at each, and why they matter.
Global Intellectual Capital: The cognitive side of Global
Mindset. It refers to how much and what the manager knows
about the global business in her industry and its broader
macro environment, and how easy it is for her to analyze,
digest, and interpret this information. The CEO of a company
we work with has developed a visual way to communicate this
with his senior management team. He presents a slide show-
ing the flags of the six countries that the company has done
successful business in during the past three decades, includ-
ing the U.S., Canada, and South Korea. While these countries
have generated much business for the company in the past,
their future growth is expected to be around 3% annually,
below what the CEO and the board is aspiring to. The slide
also shows the flags of the seven countries that have been
identified to represent the future growth for the company,
including Brazil, India, and Saudi Arabia. The CEO then
explains that each one of the seven flags represents a dif-
ferent cultural system, a different political system, and a
different regulatory system. Furthermore, the consumers in
these countries have different interests and expectations.
The CEO concludes that for this company to succeed, its
managers and executives need to learn about the consumers
in several new and different countries and need to put that
M. Javidan, D. Bowen
information to use in identifying and developing new pro-
ducts and new ways of marketing them. In short, they need
much higher levels of Global Intellectual Capital, which
consists of three major dimensions:
Global business savvy: Knowledge of the way business is
conducted in different parts of the world:
 Knowledge of global industry
 Knowledge of global competitive business and marketing
strategies
 Knowledge of how to transact business and manage risk in
other countries
 Knowledge of supplier options in other parts of the world
Cosmopolitan outlook: Understanding that things can be
done very differently in different parts of the world.
 Knowledge of cultures in different parts of the world
 Knowledge of geography, history, and important persons of
several countries
 Knowledge of economic and political issues, concerns, hot
topics, etc. of major regions of the world
 Up-to-date knowledge of important world events
Cognitive complexity: The manager’s ability to digest,
interpret, and leverage the large amount of information
embedded in global business savvy and cosmopolitan out-
look.
 Ability to grasp complex concepts quickly
 Strong analytical and problem solving skills
 Ability to understand abstract ideas
 Ability to take complex issues and explain the main points
simply and understandably
Global Intellectual Capital is a critical part of Global
Mindset and a major requirement for success in global roles
because of the great diversity in how things are done by
corporations in different societies. The starting point in
successfully dealing with such diversity of thought and action
is knowing about it and understanding its underlying reasons.
Thomas Friedman, in his recent bestselling book, argued that
the world is flat in the sense that it is interconnected in
unprecedented ways due to advances in information tech-
nology, transportation and distribution. But he failed to
discuss the complexities that arise out of such interconnec-
tivity. As Douglas Ivester, former CEO of Coca-Cola summa-
rized, ‘‘As economic boundaries come down, cross cultural
barriers go up, presenting new challenges and opportunities
in business.’’
Our work in the GLOBE project has identified a number of
substantial cross cultural differences that show, for example,
American managers expect their supervisors to be much more
enthusiastic than do French managers. A typical American
manager may find it difficult to make the necessary adjust-
ments in working with his French team. Also, the United
States’ culture is much less autocratic and top down than
that of Spain. So a typical U.S. manager working with her
Spanish colleagues and direct reports may find that her
empowering and consultative decision-making style is viewed
with confusion or disbelief by her Spanish team. Or a typical
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The ‘Global Mindset’ of managers
Table 2 A few Items from a Jet Airways Ad for hiring Flight
Attendants.
‘‘Be Part of the Best Hospitality Offered in the Skies’’
We are hiring cabin Crew with the following attributes:
Age: Between 18 and 27
Height: Male: min. 170 cm. Female, min. 157 cm
Weight: in proportion to height
Marital status: Unmarried
Physical features: unblemished complexion with pleasing
personality
Spanish executive may find his leadership style to be rebuffed
by his American team as too autocratic and domineering to be
acceptable.
These cross border challenges are why, in a recent survey
of global executives, ‘‘decision-making in complex environ-
ments and ability to read cultural nuances and to adapt
leadership style accordingly’’ was reported to be the key
to successful global leadership. But cross-cultural intelli-
gence is not enough. While the differences in national cul-
tures, e.g. performance orientation and power distance, are
indeed critical, the global leader’s targets of influence may
come from institutional systems, legal frameworks, and
social structures that are different from those in the global
leader’s home context. Table 2 summarizes the information
in a recent magazine advertisement by Jet Airways, an Indian
airline that is looking to hire flight attendants. It shows that
the company specifies age, height, weight, and marital status
as requirements for prospective candidates, a practice that is
illegal or unacceptable in countries like the U.S. and Canada.
A global leader will likely face such diverse regulatory frame-
works in many aspects of her decision-making and needs to
manage this diversity and complexity in such a way that
balances her corporation’s values and principles, her home
country’s regulations, and the host country’s norms. In other
words, a major task for any manager in a global role is to find
ways of balancing conflicting forces, expectations, and
requirements in different parts of the world. Jet Airways’
ad is in compliance with the rules and regulations in India. But
an American or Canadian carrier hiring flight attendants in
India needs to take other requirements, like their home
country rules and their corporate values and principles, into
consideration before adopting Indian regulations. So just
being aware of other countries’ regulatory frameworks is
not sufficient. The global leader needs to make judgment
calls as to how to deal with them.
Global Psychological Capital: The Affective Aspect of
Global Mindset. It helps a manager leverage her Global
Intellectual Capital. A manager may be knowledgeable
about other cultures and may be relatively up to date about
world events. But without a strong Global Psychological
Capital, she may be uninterested in working with people
from other parts of the world and may find global roles
stressful and frustrating. Global Psychological Capital refers
to the manager’s emotional energy and her willingness to
engage in a global environment. It reflects a positive and
constructive attitude toward diversity of thought and action
and consists of:
Passion for diversity: Curiosity about people in different
parts of the world and how they do things differently. Joy in
149
learning about and dealing with people from other countries
and regions.
 Interest in exploring other parts of the world
 Interest in getting to know people from other parts of the
world
 Interest in living in another country
 Interest in variety
Quest for adventure: Engaging in a global role repre-
sents new and unfamiliar things. Quest for adventure
reflects the manager’s willingness to deal with risks of
unfamiliarity.
 Interest in dealing with challenging situations
 Willingness to take risk
 Willingness to test one’s abilities
 Interest in dealing with unpredictable situations
Self-assurance: Having the energy and confidence to take
on global roles and responsibilities.
 Energetic
 Self-confident
 Comfortable in uncomfortable situations
 Witty in tough situations
The most rigorous test of an executive’s Global Psycho-
logical Capital is in expat situations. Most companies assign
their expat posts based almost exclusively on technical
merit. They choose a manager mostly based on whether
he has the required functional capability to perform the
task in another country without paying much attention to
his Global Psychological Capital. This is a risky approach. An
expatriate executive who is low in Global Psychological
Capital may have a successful track record at home, but
may find his new global role full of frustration and confu-
sion. His lack of curiosity and interest in the home culture
and people impedes his ability to build trust with his direct
reports and other colleagues. He will find himself gravitat-
ing toward other expats and clubs and restaurants in his city
that cater to expats to find the relief of a familiar envi-
ronment. He will likely spend more of his time with other
expats who are also suffering, avoiding those who enjoy
their experiences, further aggravating his isolation. In sum,
the lack of Global Psychological Capital and emotional
resilience necessary to make sense of and enjoy cultural
and national differences will sap the energy and confidence
to engage in a global environment and will lead to further
isolation resulting in broken relationships, lack of trust, and
likely failure.
Global Social Capital: The Behavioral Aspect of Global
Mindset. It reflects the individual’s ability to act in a way that
would help build trusting relationships with people from
other parts of the world, and also consists of three building
blocks:
Intercultural empathy: The ability to connect, commu-
nicate, and collaborate with people from other countries
 Ability to work well with people from other parts of the
world
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150
 Ability to understand nonverbal expressions of people
from other cultures
 Ability to emotionally connect to people from other cul-
tures
 Ability to engage people from other parts of the world to
work together
Interpersonal impact: The ability to negotiate across
borders and to build personal and professional networks
of influence
 Experience in negotiating contracts in other cultures
 Strong networks with people from other cultures and with
influential people
 Reputation as a leader
 Credibility
Diplomacy: The ability to make a positive impression on
people from other parts of the world by acting in such a way
that builds a lasting impression
 Ease of starting a conversation with a stranger
 Ability to integrate diverse perspectives
 Ability to listen to what others have to say
 Willingness to collaborate
Global Social Capital includes the trust-building and net-
working behaviors that allow managers to knit together their
increasingly cross cultural, complex, global network of rela-
tionships. To again borrow from Sam Palmisano:
Today’s global corporations are shifting their focus from
products to production — from what things companies
choose to make to how they choose to make them, from
what services they offer to how they choose to deliver
them. Simply put, the emerging globally integrated en-
terprise is a company that fashions its strategy, its man-
agement, and its operations in pursuit of a new goal: the
integration of production and value delivery worldwide.
State borders define less and less the boundaries of cor-
porate thinking or practice.
A high stock of Global Social Capital, together with Global
Intellectual and Global Psychological Capitals, equips com-
panies to pursue a new source of sustainable competitive
advantage — superiority in managing the cross border com-
plexity of their global supply chain. Former President Bill
Clinton is the epitome of someone with a high level of Global
Social Capital. He continues to be well known and well
received in many parts of the world. Since leaving office,
he has built and deployed an impressive and unique network
of influential corporate executives, NGO (non-governmental
organization) officers, and senior government officials all
over the world to focus on critical global issues. His success
reflects his negotiation skills, his personal credibility, his
ability to find and connect to the most influential individuals
all over the world, and his diplomatic skills.
To sum up, Global Intellectual Capital ensures that the
manager is aware of the many dimensions of global complex-
ity. Global Psychological Capital generates the enthusiasm,
energy, and self-confidence to deal with such level of com-
plexity. And Global Social Capital helps the manager behave
M. Javidan, D. Bowen
in ways that are likely to build trust and help achieve her
objectives. Finally, it is worth mentioning that these three
Capitals of Global Mindset, which we offer as key to effective
global leadership, are broader in scope than the related
construct of cross cultural intelligence and cross cultural
leadership. Global Mindset includes competencies such as
business savvy, for example, whereas cross cultural intelli-
gence focuses exclusively on cultural differences.
REVISITING WHY IT MATTERS: LINKING
GLOBAL MINDSET TO PERFORMANCE
The extant literature on Global Mindset and related topics
shows that it leads to higher performance for individuals and
firms. Some authors have found that it is a key parameter of
international success and superior long terms performance,
while others have shown that it leads to more expansive
global strategies and higher levels of employee commitment.
We conducted a study with over 300 managers at a large
multibillion-dollar Fortune 10 corporation. The participants
had an average age of 45. The company uses a 360-degree
feedback methodology as part of its performance manage-
ment system, with data provided for individual managers by
supervisors, peers, and direct reports. Hence, this organiza-
tion had archival performance-related data on managers who
had completed the Global Mindset Inventory. The company
measures performance in terms of Thought Leadership
(which consisted of measures of judgment, strategic think-
ing, financial and analytical skills, and broad global perspec-
tive), Results Leadership (including drive for results, ability
to lead courageously, customer focus, and execution), People
Leadership (including the ability to influence and motivate,
foster open communication, build relationships, and build
talent), and Personal Leadership (including the ability to earn
trust, adapt, and learn). For the purposes of our study, we
were particularly interested in the correlation between indi-
viduals’ self-assessed Global Mindset scores and aggregate
performance scores (i.e. average scores for the four con-
structs listed above), as well as correlations between Global
Mindset and People Leadership, and Global Mindset and
Personal Leadership. We found all correlations to be positive,
significant, and strong, leading to the conclusion that having
a high Global Mindset is a predictor of how the corporation
evaluates a manager’s performance. Managers who have a
higher profile of Global Mindset are regarded by their firms as
more effective managers in general. They are also viewed as
more effective in influencing and motivating others and
building relationships. Furthermore, they are believed to
be better able to build trust and show a more open and
adaptive approach.
HOW TO DEVELOP IT: FINDING AND GROWING
GLOBAL MINDSET
Developing Global Mindset can rely upon both ‘‘finding’’ it in
the characteristics of managers and their organizational and
industry context and ‘‘growing’’ it via leadership develop-
ment, coaching and so on. As to finding it, we can offer some
clues based on our initial analyses of the correlates of Global
Mindset. As pointed out earlier, our database consists of
over 17,000 participants. The database contains detailed
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The ‘Global Mindset’ of managers
demographic information about each participant, so we are
able to examine a variety of correlates of Global Mindset,
which would be helpful to corporations in their search for
individuals who can succeed in global roles. In the following
pages, we provide several relevant results, but two points
should be clarified: how the sample was used for statistical
analysis and how the different groups within the sample were
compared.
Having a very large database of over 17,000 cases offers
many opportunities for statistical analysis, but simply using
the large sample is not productive, because the smallest
difference among variables will be statistically significant
due to the large sample size. To remedy this issue, we need to
take a random sample of participants that is large enough to
produce generalizable results, but not so large to influence
the results. To this end, we selected a complete random
sample of 1187 managers from the large database, consisting
of 656 men and 531 women.
The second issue to address is the proper procedure for
comparing different groups. The simple method would be to
do a means test of the groups. For example, if we want to
compare the average score of male versus female managers
on Global Mindset, we could simply run a t-test to decide if
there are any statistically significant differences. The pro-
blem with this approach is that the difference between men
and women may actually be caused by another variable, such
as level of education. Women may have a higher score not
because of their gender but because the women in the
sample may have higher degrees of education. In other
words, we need to eliminate the confounding effect of other
potential variables. We used the MANCOVA program in SPSS to
control for the potential effect of confounding variables. The
results presented below show how different groups compare,
controlling for other variables.
 Size of the corporation does not matter — Corporation size
does not seem to have any effect. Despite much bigger
resources and potential global opportunities, managers
working for larger corporations do not seem to have much
of an advantage over those working in smaller companies.
There are no significant differences among the managers
working in different sizes of companies in terms of their
scores on overall Global Mindset, the three capitals, and
eight of the nine elements. The only area where bigger
companies seem to have a higher score is on Global
Business Savvy. Managers working at larger companies
tend to be more knowledgeable about their global indus-
try. Assuming that larger companies offer their managers
greater variety of global opportunities and more extensive
training and development, this is not a surprising finding.
 Industry matters — Many industries are represented in our
database. We compared the average scores on Global
Mindset across our top 12 industries and found that there
is indeed an industry effect. Those in the telecommunica-
tions industry have the highest average score on Global
Mindset, and those in the manufacturing industry have the
lowest average scores. Managers in the manufacturing
industry also showed the lowest average score on Global
Intellectual, Psychological, and Social Capitals.
 Organizational function matters — we grouped the
respondents into 14 functional groups. Our findings show
151
that managers in different functions have significant dif-
ferences in their scores on the overall Global Mindset
score, the three capitals, and eight of the nine elements
(except self-assurance). Managers in the communications,
finance, and marketing groups had the top three scores
while those in administrative, IT, and manufacturing had
the lowest scores.
 Organizational level matters — managers in higher levels
in the corporation have higher average overall scores as
well as in Global Psychological and Social Capital, but not
in Global Intellectual Capital. Related to Global Intellec-
tual Capital, while they have higher average scores on
global business savvy and cognitive complexity, their score
on cosmopolitan outlook is not different from those at
lower levels. Three possible explanations for the correla-
tion between organizational level and Global Mindset
score: (1) Corporations recognize and reward those with
higher levels of Global Mindset. (2) Those in higher levels
have greater global opportunities and higher levels of
development and support. (3) Those in higher levels are
more confident in their own abilities.
 Strong proficiency in more than one language is a strong
predictor of Global Mindset. Managers who speak other
languages tend to have higher overall scores, as well as
scores in Global Intellectual Capital, Global Psychological
Capital, and Global Social Capital. They also have higher
scores on six of the nine elements. The three exceptions
are: self-assurance, diplomacy, and cognitive complexity.
The latter is counter-intuitive and in contradiction to
some of the extant literature that suggest proficiency in
several languages results in higher cognitive complexity.
To emphasize again, only high levels of proficiency in other
languages is related to higher scores. Minimal, low, or
moderate levels of proficiency have no significant effect.
 The number of countries one has lived in is also important.
In general, the more countries a manager has lived in, the
higher the average Global Mindset score as well as the
scores for the three capitals and most of the nine ele-
ments. Longer lengths of stay result in even higher levels
of Global Mindset but even living in other countries for 1—6
months will result in higher scores.
 An international graduate degree matters. Those with a
graduate degree in international management, interna-
tional business, or international affairs have a higher
average score on Global Mindset as well as the three
capitals. Having a master’s degree in international man-
agement obviously enhances the manager’s Global Intel-
lectual Capital. It is also indicative of her interest in
international matters (Global Psychological Capital),
and provides opportunities to enhance the individual’s
Global Social Capital.
 Age matters! We grouped the participants in the sample
into five different age groups: 20—29, 30—39, 40—49, 50—
59, and over 60 years. We found managers in different age
groups have significantly different scores on Global Mind-
set and the three capitals. In general, the higher the age,
the higher the average overall scores as well as the scores
for Global Intellectual and Social Capital. However, the
relationship between age and Global Psychological Capital
is more complicated. Managers in the 30—50 year age
group have the lowest score on this capital. They have
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152
the lowest average score on passion for diversity, quest for
adventure, and self-assurance. Those in the 20—29 year
age group have the highest score on quest for adventure
but the lowest average score on global business savvy,
cosmopolitan outlook, and cognitive complexity.
 Men and women are different — there is no significant
difference among men and women in terms of the overall
Global Mindset score. However, women have higher aver-
age scores on Global Psychological Capital, passion for
diversity, intercultural empathy, and self-assurance. Men,
on the other hand, have higher average scores on Global
Intellectual Capital as well as global business savvy. In
short, men seem to have a higher cognitive profile while
women have a higher psychological profile.
The importance of ‘‘finding’’ versus ‘‘growing’’ the
three capitals. It would be ideal if we could find individuals
with high levels in all three capitals, but we do not live in an
ideal world. However, in our imperfect world, which of the
three capitals should you look for when hiring managers? Our
work with hundreds of mangers shows that Global Psycholog-
ical Capital has some unique features compared to the other
two capitals. You can teach people about global business and
cross cultural issues, and you can help them improve their
Global Social Capital through a variety of experiential experi-
ences. But enhancing someone’s Global Psychological Capital
is much harder and takes much more time. For example, it is
not that easy to improve someone’s low passion for diversity.
Therefore, at a minimum, companies need to make sure the
people they hire or promote have a reasonably high level of
Global Psychological Capital.
‘‘Growing’’ Global Mindset
Within the above perspective, what techniques are available
to grow Global Mindset? Our research over the past few years
has produced a series of useful methods for enhancing all
three capitals, nine dimensions and separate elements of a
leader’s Global Mindset. We worked with many managers and
senior international executive coaches to generate these
suggestions. We also reviewed both the academic and busi-
ness performance literature for additional insights, tips, and
resources.
The complete list of suggestions is available in our forth-
coming book, Developing Your Global Mindset. While the
detailed findings are more extensive than we can provide in
this article, we discuss several of the central findings for
growing each of the three ‘‘capitals’’ of Global Mindset
here.
Building dynamic Global Intellectual Capital. Global
Intellectual Capital is largely built by acquiring knowledge
about global business practices and different cultures. How-
ever, it also requires advanced cognitive skills to mentally
process, understand, and explain many pieces of complex
and often contradictory information at a time. This is why
simple knowledge acquisition is not sufficient. Self-directed
or instructor-led learning may be a starting point, but global
leaders need to be challenged to think about multiple vari-
ables at the same time and to critically examine how they are
complimentary, contradictory, and how to navigate them in a
business context. Additionally, leaders must be able to
M. Javidan, D. Bowen
synthesize and explain the variables and issues to stake-
holders, direct reports, and business partners.
Consider the example of a regional manager who is pro-
moted to global responsibilities. Now that manager not only
needs to know about the business practices and cultures in a
region; he or she must now simultaneously think about these
variables in multiple regions. This requires building knowl-
edge for each region and then understanding the dynamics of
business operations and issues across those regions. An
important finding in our research of Global Intellectual Capi-
tal was that many human resources development profes-
sionals are adept at recommending and coaching leaders
on how to acquire knowledge, but many times stop there.
Our senior executive coaches were in agreement that knowl-
edge alone does not produce results. Global leaders must
have hands-on experience and coaching about how to criti-
cally think about and use that knowledge. It is a more
sophisticated development step that involves a dedication
of adequate time and expertise in how to design these kinds
of development activities.
The Global Leader Assessment Center at Najafi Global
Mindset Institute is an example of this kind of dynamic
design. Leaders have to work through a series of real-life
global business scenarios with complex and interrelated
global issues while juggling multiple responsibilities. The
assessment center challenges participants to critically think
through and manage issues while being evaluated on their
application of Global Mindset knowledge and skills. They also
receive a very detailed assessment report and a set of action
oriented suggestions for improvement.
Enhancing Global Psychological Capital through first-
hand experiences and coaching. Global Psychological Capi-
tal refers to a leader’s motivation to enter into new or
challenging global experiences and to get to know and work
with diverse new people. Both of these require a strong sense
of self-assurance, because self-assurance allows a leader to
be able to embrace unfamiliar people, practices, and envir-
onments rather than being fearful of or irritated by their
differences. Our research revealed that human resources
development professionals recognize that building these
capabilities requires first-hand experiences. For example,
‘‘experiential learning’’ has been en vogue in corporate
training for some time. Common development methods
include travel to international offices, the formation of
global project teams, business simulations, and global assign-
ments. The missing link, however, is often coaching.
A typical example of the importance of pairing coaching
with experiential learning can be seen in a global team
meeting. Global team meetings are a wonderful way for
dispersed members of a functional team to meet and interact
with one another. The experience can be quite valuable for
developing and strengthening relationships. When the
experience of a global team meeting is well designed, it
can make working relationships more fluid and productive.
The problem is that, according to our senior international
executive coaches, the design of global team meetings
usually centers on the agenda to accomplish tasks (e.g. goal
setting, project plans). There are often some local cultural
events sprinkled into the agenda in the name of teambuild-
ing, as well. So by the end of the trip, team members have
likely had some fun, gained some knowledge of the local
culture through experiences, and may have accomplished
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The ‘Global Mindset’ of managers
many of the agenda items. That does not sound too bad, but
what happens when the team members returned to their own
regions? Did the agreements made during the meeting move
to action? Did the team members enhance their abilities to
work with diverse others, or did they simply muddle through?
Did those working relationships continue to develop, or did
they revert back to that of colleagues who rarely interact?
Did the participants use the experience to reflect on their
own capabilities and areas of development?
Remember that Global Psychological Capital boils down to
a global leader’s motivation and self-assurance with diver-
sity. Both motivation and self-assurance are affective in
nature, and strongly influenced by attitudes about and reac-
tions to experiences. Just because a leader participated in a
global team meeting — she traveled there, she went to all the
cultural events, she contributed to the tasks accomplished —
does not mean that she was comfortable or excited to do so in
the first place. It does not mean that she developed a passion
for diversity, or sees the value in continuing to deepen
working relationships with dispersed and culturally diverse
colleagues. And it does not mean that she improved her
ability to work well with diverse others. Compliance can
produce participation, but does not necessarily inspire learn-
ing and development.
Skilled coaching is the key to unlock the lessons of these
kinds of experiences. Prior to any developmental experience,
coaching is essential. It helps leaders understand the devel-
opmental objectives of the experience so they can mentally
and emotionally prepare. Individuals should discuss their
motivations and confidence level for interacting with diverse
team members in a new environment. This discussion will
surface issues that need to be addressed prior to the meeting
and will help pinpoint any pre-learning that needs to happen
beforehand. They should receive training and coaching on
how to understand and navigate cultural, political, regula-
tory or organizational differences that may arise. This pre-
paration should also include coaching on how to frame the
experience. It is not just a meeting to accomplish tasks; the
focus should be on building cross-cultural leadership skills,
namely using Global Mindset capabilities to see organiza-
tional issues and challenges from the points-of-view of cul-
turally diverse team members and to integrate diverse
viewpoints to reach agreements.
Periodic coaching during the experience allows leaders
to press the ‘‘pause button’’ on their development. With
some expert guidance and good coaching questions, they
can reflect on the objectives of the development and
discuss successes and challenges. This discussion is vital
to help participants course-correct when necessary and to
keep their eyes on the objectives. While it may be chal-
lenging to find the time and resources to schedule periodic
coaching, consider the consequences of not doing so.
Leaders who are not focused on the development objec-
tives or are frustrated by their experiences, are not neces-
sarily learning. Without some support along the way, any
investment in the development opportunity is potentially
lost. Periodic coaching throughout developmental experi-
ences is an insurance plan for keeping development on
track.
Finally, development experiences should be debriefed
after they occur. Our senior international executive coaching
partners suggest giving leaders some questions to reflect on
153
in the short term following the trip. Then a coach should
spend some time with the leaders to discuss their reactions to
the experience. The continued motivation and self-assurance
of the leaders should be discussed and at least informally
assessed to determine additional follow-up coaching and
development activities. Combining coaching with develop-
ment experiences produces a powerful formula for develop-
ing deep Global Psychological Capital.
Expanding and deepening networks to fortify Global
Social Capital. Networking is a ubiquitous term in organiza-
tions. Any leader with global responsibilities already knows
the importance of networking across his or her organization,
especially if that leader works in a matrix organization. Our
research on how to develop Global Social Capital reaffirms
the importance of networking. However, our research
revealed important distinctions in what successful network-
ing really means and requires. It is not solely about building
an impressive number of LinkedIn connections, for example.
Global Social Capital is built through a combination of
both interpersonal and group relationships. While it is cer-
tainly useful to have a large network of acquaintances to call
on when needed, it is important that a global leader have a
deep network as well — one where interpersonal relation-
ships are vibrant and communication is frequent. These
close, trusted connections inspire colleagues to freely help
one another, collaborate well, and make and keep agree-
ments. The success of a leader’s network can be assessed by
the extent that the people in that network have a compelling
desire to interact with the leader. The implication is that
networks require continuous ‘‘care and feeding’’ to thrive.
Global leaders should build broad and diverse networks of
connections to facilitate their global reach, but the real
payoff of networking comes from staying in periodic contact
with each individual in that network to maintain and deepen
relationships.
Our research on how to develop Global Social Capital
revealed that networks provide incredible development
opportunities when they are tapped into. Whether leaders
are novice or experienced, there should be a number of
potential mentors within their networks who can help them
learn and grow in their roles. Very experienced global leaders
can continue their development by focusing on being mentors
to others. In fact, in our forthcoming handbook on how to
develop Global Mindset, networks were such an important
source of development for all levels of leaders that every
capability has a series of development suggestions that focus
on learning by connecting with others. Tapping one’s network
for development purposes creates a win-win scenario: net-
work connections are maintained, relationships are dee-
pened, and Global Social Capital is enhanced.
Focused Growth of Global Mindset for
Organizational Results
We facilitate many Global Mindset sessions and we find that
global leaders are often very enthusiastic about enhancing all
elements of their Global Mindset. We appreciate the enthu-
siasm. However, our research made it clear that limited time
and resources make it necessary to hone in on growing the top
three to five most critical and immediately useful Global
Mindset capabilities over the course of a performance review
period (i.e. 6—12 months). Focusing on fewer capabilities in
 Author's personal copy
154
more depth will generally produce better results, but the
actual number of capabilities to develop will depend on the
depth of knowledge and skill development needed in each
area.
Leaders in global roles are often faced with steep learning
curves that they must traverse quickly to succeed in their
current responsibilities. This means that development foci
must be chosen strategically; focusing on only the lowest
scoring areas of Global Mindset (based on GMI results) may
not be appropriate. We advise leaders to first consider their
roles and responsibilities along with the current organiza-
tional priorities and goals. These criteria will help a leader
identify the right Global Mindset capabilities to develop now.
As priorities shift, it is important to re-evaluate development
plans to keep them relevant, engaging, and impactful for
performance improvements.
To sum up, global business presents many opportunities.
But how big and how fast a company can succeed in global
M. Javidan, D. Bowen
business depends, in large part, on how its management
team is able to adapt to their global realities. The path to
globalization is littered with vestiges of ambitious compa-
nies who did not realize the importance of a globally
oriented management team. Many Japanese companies
learned this lesson the hard way during their U.S. acquisition
binge of the 1980s. There is no shortage of stories and cases
of multinational companies that have either paid a heavy
price or outright failed in their global strategies. Corpora-
tions who understand the importance of Global Mindset and
make an investment in developing their managers’ Global
Mindset are more likely to succeed in realizing their global
ambitions.
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The ‘Global Mindset’ of managers 155

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
You can learn more about our work on Global Mindset by visiting
our website, www.globalmindset.com. You can also read M.
Javidan, M. Hitt, R. Steers, eds., Advances in International
Management, vol. 19: The Global Mindset (UK: Emerald Group
Publishing, 2007); M. Javidan, M. Teagarden, and D. E. Bowen,
Making It Overseas, Harvard Business Review, April, 2010,
109—113; D. E. Bowen and A. Inkpen, The Role of Global
Mindset in Leading Change in International Contexts, Journal
of Applied Behavioral Science, 2009, 45, 239—260; M. Javidan
and Mary Teagarden, Conceptualizing and Measuring Global
Mindset, in: W. H. Mobley, Y. Wang, and Li Ming, eds., Advances
in Global Leadership, 2011; and M. Javidan and J. Walker,
Developing Your Global Mindset: The Handbook for Successful
Global Leaders (forthcoming, 2013).
To learn more about the link between Global Mindset and
performance, you can review O. Levy, S. Beechler, S. Taylor,
and N. Boyacigiller, What Do We Talk About When We Talk
about Global Mindset? Managerial Cognition in Multinational
Corporations, Journal of International Business Studies,
2007, 38, 231—258, Beechler, Taylor & Levy, The Crucial
Yet Illusive Global Mindset, in: H. Lane, M. Mendenhall, M.
Maznevski & J. McNett, eds., Handbook of Global Manage-
ment: A Guide to Managing Complexity, (Oxford: Blackwell,
2004), 81—93; C. A. Bartlett and S. Ghoshal, Managing Across
Borders: The Transnational Solution (Boston, MA.: Harvard
Business School Press, 1989), and D. Livermore, Leading with
Cultural Intelligence, (AMACOM, 2010).
To learn more about global firms, you can review Medard
Gabel and Henry Bruner’s book, Global Inc.: An Atlas of the
Multinational Corporation (2003) and the Economist Intelli-
gence Unit report, Global Firms in 2020 (2010).
To learn more about the GLOBE project, you can review
the article Cultural Acumen for the Global Manager: Lessons
from GLOBE, in the 30th Anniversary Special Issue of Orga-
nizational Dynamics by M. Javidan and R. J. House (2001) or
R. J. House, P.J. Hanges, M. Javidan, P.W. Dorfman, and V.
Gupta, eds., Culture, Leadership, and Organizations: The
GLOBE Study of 62 Societies (Thousand Oaks: Sage Publica-
tions, 2004).
To learn more about the current literature on global
leadership, you can review M. E. Mendenhall, J.S. Osland,
A. Bird, G. R. Oddou, M. L. Maznevski, M. J. Stevens, and G.
K. Stahl, Global Leadership: Research, Practice, and Devel-
opment, 2nd Edition (New York and London: Routledge,
2013); P. Caligiuri, and V. Di Santo, ‘‘Global Competence:
What Is It and Can It Be Developed Through Global Assign-
ments?’’ Human Resource Planning, 2001, 24(3), 35—37; P.
Caligiuri and I. Tarique, ‘‘Predicting Effectiveness in Global
Leadership Activities,’’ Journal of World Business, 2009,
44, 336—346, P.C. Earley and S. Ang, Cultural Intelligence:
Individual Interactions Across Cultures (Stanford, CA.:
Stanford University Press, 2003), and R. Johnson and R.
Oberwise, Developing Global Leaders, (Palgrave McMillan,
2012).

Mansour Javidan received his M.B.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the Carlson School at the University of Minnesota. He
is Garvin Distinguished Professor and Director of Najafi Global Mindset Institute (www.globalmindset.com) at
Thunderbird School of Global Management. Mansour is the past president and chairman of the board of directors of
the GLOBE (Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness) research project, and is designated an
expert advisor (global leadership) by the World Bank and a senior research fellow by the U.S. Army.

David Bowen received his M.B.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the Broad School at Michigan State University. He holds
the G. Robert & Katherine Herberger Chair in Global Management at Thunderbird School of Global Management. He
has twice served as chief academic officer at Thunderbird. His publications have focused on service management
and HRM effectiveness.

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