Conflict is good for an organization. Although the word is often associated with an altercation, conflict encompasses any disagreement—which is not necessarily bad. Conflict naturally results when people have different needs, opinions, or perspectives. Successful global leaders actively foster a culture that celebrates diversity of thought and experience, encourages the civil exchange of ideas, and embraces differences of opinion. In short, they foster a culture of conflict.

IIE Open Doors report that the number of students doing international internships increased nearly 75% over the five years from 2014 to 2019. Although other areas of international student experiences have also seen consistent growth, none appear to parallel that of internships.As the number of multinational corporations continues to grow, more and more employers are looking to hire individuals interested in having an international work experience. And students have started to

Obtaining a meaningful internship is an increasingly important step in every student’s career path. As reported byGallup, students from 2002-2016 were found to be twice as likely to acquire a good job after graduation if they had a relevant internship during their schooling experience. More and more majors in colleges and universities across the world require internships for graduation, while the others highly encourage them. And for those interested in an international caree

Dave Hanley, CEO of Tomorrow, is leaving his mark on a global scale. His work in global activism earned Hanley a seat as a young global leader attendee of the World Economic Forum. This forum is an annual meeting founded on the idea that there are problems too big for governments, businesses, or multilateral organizations—such as the United Nations—to solve on their own. The forum connects young leaders to successful CEOs, Head of States, and other prominent individuals and a

The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting public health initiatives gave organizations across the globe an ultimatum: operate remotely, or not at all. Local markets and the global economy felt the impact as businesses struggled to stay afloat amidst restrictions on in-person activities. In the wake of these circumstances, one thing became abundantly clear: the global workforce is capable of communicating at unprecedented levels. With professionals and their organizations aware of t

Profitability and productivity—two metrics that matter. As the global business and employment environment becomes increasingly competitive, it is essential that companies find ways to set their workforce apart. Organizations want to be productive, profitable, and innovative—but vague, ill-defined ideals are difficult to achieve when those executing them do not understand the specific roles they play and steps to take. The best way to ensure that companies and their employees

Blackberry dominated the smartphone market in the mid-to-late 2000s. With a 50 percent market share in the United States, and 20 percent globally, prospects looked good for the Canadian based company. Many even nicknamed their product the “crackberry” because of its massive consumer demand. But their good fortune didn’t last; Blackberry’s total market share today sits at 0 percent. The cause for Blackberry’s fall? The smartphone industry changed, and the company didn’t change

In the 1950s, three U.S. car brands – Ford, GM, and Chrysler – dominated the automobile market, capturing over 80 percent of U.S. demand. But just a few decades later, those three brands accounted for under 50 percent. Why such a drop? Toyota. Toyota had a vision of dominating the car market in the United States and then worldwide. Their strategy? Watch and learn from the best, then do it better. After making their first sales in the U.S., Toyota realized they couldn’t compet

On the Windows 95 operating system, Microsoft chose to color 800,000 pixels a slightly different shade of green which, unknown to Microsoft, represented disputed Kashmiri territory in India. The different color was interpreted in India as meaning that the territory was not part of their country. The product was promptly banned by the nation and 200,000 copies of the system were returned. Had the team at Microsoft taken more time to understand culture, the losses – both moneta

Blockbuster’s CEO, John Antioco, will always be known as the man who laughed. After much persistence, Netflix founders, Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph,finally sat down with Antioco to make their pitch—buy Netflix for 50 million dollars. In this partnership, Netflix would run the Blockbuster brand online, while Blockbuster would promote Netflix’s mail-in subscription service instore. Antioco laughed. Blockbuster dominated the video rental industry. With 9,000 retail locations

Rajshree walks through the process of applying for private and public grants. She started applying for research grants while pursuing her PhD and got used to writing and applying for them. There is a small chance of success and her recommendation is to keep applying even when you don’t get it. With public grants, she recommends you apply when you are part-way through the research process so you can show credibility. The panel of people reviewing your NSF grant are looking to

In 2007, Drew Houston, founder of Dropbox, quickly turned down Steve Jobs’ generous offer to buy his fast-growing company. In response, Jobs boldly replied that Apple was going to take over the Dropbox market with the new iCloud service. Certainly, that wasn’t very comforting to Houston and his business; but not selling his company was a risk he was willing and prepared to take. As this story indicates, successful global leaders take risks. Many individuals are natural risk t

Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017 and Utah Business’s 2019 CEO of the Year, Case Lawrence,is the chairman andfounder of the globaltrampoline park brandCircusTrix. What started as a side business to earn extra income during the 2008 recession, quickly turned into a nationwide and then international business. Throughout his experience growing locally and globally, Lawrence learned three valuable lessons: Never enter another country without local partners Don’t expe

Summary: Join us as Case Lawrence discusses what it was like to make CircusTrix a global business and the principles he used to make it successful. Bio: Case Lawrence is the Founder and CEO of CircusTrix—one of the largest developers and operators of trampoline parks in the world. CircusTrix has been a Top 10 Fastest Growing Company in Utah for a number of years and has been an Inc. 5000 Company for 3 straight years. In 2017, Lawrence was named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of t

After growing up in Washington state, graduating with a Master of Accountancy from Brigham Young University, and starting a career with one of the Big4 accounting firms in San Jose, an international career seemed distant for Jeff Jenkins. But it was always a dream of his to work globally. Here are some key points from his Cultural Conversations podcast, where he walks us through his journey to working abroad. Work for International Opportunity After starting with Deloitte in

Throughout the last few decades, the world has undergone a digital revolution, introducing us to what is sometimes called the information age. With an exponential increase in digital tools and technologies, it can be hard to stay current and even harder deciding on and implementing a company culture surrounding these tools. It appears this rapid growth will only continue moving forward, so how can businesses learn to stay current and adopt this digital revolution? Shad Morris

Walking into someone’s office and telling them you want their job probably isn’t the best method for starting your dream career; but it certainly worked for Lora Cook. What began with a year-long foreign exchange program in Finland developed into a dream of working and serving at an international level. With that vision, Lora took the fastest route to graduate school and now has a master’s in organizational behavior and a Ph.D. in educational leadership and international prog

Brazilians are known for taking long lunches, lasting up to two hours each day. The main reason for a long midday break is because lunch is viewed by Brazilians as those from the United States view dinner – a larger meal that is more social and relaxing. Thus, individuals take time to be with friends and family, build work relationships, and relax over lunch. Some suggest that the duration of lunch in Brazil has been influenced by the tradition of siestas in Spain. Spanish In

Sabrina Rubli, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Femme International, speaks about her work to provide women and girls with an understanding of their bodies and the tools they need to stay in school and reach their potential. She discusses the challenges she has faced starting an international business in a developing country and how having a strong team has made all the difference in the success of their operation in Tanzania. Transcript My name is Sabrina, and I am the c

Guest: Joshua Loud: Received his undergraduate degree in Economics and Political Science from Brigham Young University. He then went on to receive a PhD in Political Economy from Stanford. Prior to working for the EBRD, Joshua worked for the United States Department of the Treasury and GE. Overview: In this episode, we will talk with Joshua Loud, head of country risk at The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and a PhD graduate from Stanford School of Business. A