Characteristics of Global Cosmopolitans Change is normal and positive Not a single set of cultural rules Adaptation to new ways of thinking Not a fixed identity Learning is central Take risks

1. Linda Brimm’s Global
Mindsets
Dr Ryan Thomas Williams

2. The speed of change...

3. The current business environment
Businesses operating in a “VUCA” environment (Bennett and Lemoine, 2014)
• Volatility: doing business in many countries, all with unique regulatory
environments, tariffs, and cultural values.
• Uncertainty: Prices fluctuate after a natural disaster takes a supplier off-
line.
• Complexity: Movement into immature or emerging markets or to launch
products outside core competencies.
• Ambiguity: Competition between similar services and products which
creates a lack of clarity for the future of the business and the market.
• According to Ashmore and Wedlake (2016), in a “VUCA” environment only
agile firms survive by adapting and exploiting opportunities

4. Thinking about the current business environment
• When you consider a 'VUCA environment’?
• What observations from your own developing knowledge and wider reading can you
offer?
• What examples of VUCA are you aware of?

5. How to manage in a VUCA WORLD

6. The speed of change and the business
environment...
Industry perspectives:
• ‘Change is the new superpower’ (Michaels, 2019)
• The need for a new leadership mindset (Girzadas, 2018)
• Shifting from training to learning: ‘...paradox of the arrival of digital
technology is that it has increased the need to make our
organisations more ‘human’ (Broadbelt, 2019)
• Volatile markets and the need for agility (Harvard Business Review
Analytic Services, 2019).

7. A VUCA environment threatens to:
• Destabilize team members and make them anxious.
• Make constant retraining and reshaping a necessity.
• Take huge amounts of time and effort to fight.
• Increase the chances of people making bad decisions.
• Paralyze decision-making processes.
• Jeopardize long-term projects, developments, and innovations.
• Overwhelm individuals and organizations.
• Take its toll on internal culture.

8. Global Cosmopolitan Mindset (GCM)
• Highly educated
• Multi-lingual
• Lived/worked/studied in different cultures
• Grown up in a rapidly changing world
• N.B: globalisation is not only about the economic, political and
international brands, but also at a micro level, the pursuits of
individuals.

9. What does the
concept of GCM
include?

10. Why is GCM relevant?
How would you answer this question?
Brimm (2018): the internal learning journey and overcoming challenges
• Personal development
• Professional effectiveness
• Professional stories
Can we explore this further by considering how we have so far lived/worked/studied
within the current, global pandemic?

11. Global Cosmopolitans
• Young professionals: starting their
journey
• Mid-career: relocating, career
change
• Returning to country of origin

12. Brimm’s (2018) life stages
• Which stage conveys you, currently?
• Do you agree with Brimm’s life stages?
• From your own experiences, would you add any other stages?

13. Characteristics of Global Cosmopolitans
• Change is normal and positive
• Not a single set of cultural rules
• Adaptation to new ways of thinking
• Not a fixed identity
• Learning is central
• Take risks

14. How do you fit into this rapidly changing
environment?
Brimm (2018) writes about the importance of the stories she collated
from individuals
Story-telling
• Part of human history
• Living and working with people from different geographical
backgrounds, cultures, lifestyles and upbrings.
• Social interactions and building networks is an increasingly important
aspect of contemporary society and business (McGregor, 2020).

15. A Geography of Ideas About Globalization
• Geographical location does not matter for some people
• However, for others, there is a growing acceptance that geography
can impact people’s perspectives
• Living and working with people from very different geographical
regions can open the door to different ways of understanding
globalization
• Global Cosmopolitans are enriched by their understanding of regional
politics and cultural or regional identification