Across industries, businesses are globalizing at a remarkable rate. However, the authors argue that there is a severe shortage of executives and managers who are capable of seizing all of the available opportunities. Based on their research at the Thunderbird School of Global Management, they define 'the Global Mindset' and its three components: Global Intellectual Capital, Global Psychological Capital and Global Social Capital. They then describe how to choose between finding people with this mindset or growing a global mindset, and the steps involved in each.

The conventional wisdom holds that the best way to develop global leaders is to circulate talent through positions overseas. Expose promising managers to new cultures, the thinking goes, and they'll grow and thrive. Unfortunately, that approach isn't enough. Plenty of smart, talented executives fail spectacularly in expatriate assignments. So what does prepare people to thrive in leadership roles abroad? Years of research by the Thunderbird School of Global Management, involving more than 5,000 managers around the world, reveals that success abroad hinges on something called a global mind-set. This mind-set allows executives to cope with the challenges of working in unfamiliar cultures and helps them influence stakeholders who are unlike them. It has three main components: intellectual capital (global savvy, cognitive complexity, and a cosmopolitan outlook); psychological capital (passion for diversity, thirst for adventure, self-assurance); and social capital (intercultural empathy, interpersonal impact, and diplomacy.) It can be measured-with a diagnostic developed at Thunderbird. And it can also be measurably improved-through a development plan that focuses on building each kind of capital.

Illustrates how Four Seasons manages hotels in countries with strong and distinct national cultures. Focuses on how the chain meets its exacting service standards in a variety of settings worldwide, with special attention on France.

Spreadsheet supplement for case 803-069.