2 min readCross-cultural leadership is often measured the wrong way. Boards and selection committees look at passport stamps, years abroad, and the number of markets on a resume. Those things matter, but they are not the whole story. The real differentiator is something quieter: how much complexity a leader can hold without collapsing into oversimplification, defensiveness, or […]
5 min readHiring for agility is no longer optional. A few weeks ago, I sat with a CEO who was frustrated that an apparently perfect hire could not keep up with the pace of change. “We hired someone with exactly the background we thought we needed,” he said. “They’d done this job before, in our industry, at […]
3 min readA leadership team can spend months building a strategy that looks exactly right. The numbers make sense. The priorities are clear. The case for change is persuasive. Headquarters signs off. The rollout begins. Everyone feels confident. Then the strategy lands in local markets. Not with dramatic resistance, but with something quieter: Leaders often say, “The […]
3 min readA question I often encourage senior leaders to ask in succession discussions is this: Are we promoting for comfort or for complexity? It is a simple question, but it gets to the heart of a much larger leadership issue. Too often, organizations confuse familiarity with readiness. A candidate may be highly respected, loyal, and successful […]
5 min readWhy counting overseas assignments is no longer enough and how boards can bring cultural intelligence into the center of CEO and C‑suite selection. In global CEO and C‑suite searches, especially across Asia Pacific, a familiar pattern keeps appearing: boards overestimate “international experience” and underestimate cultural intelligence. Candidate briefs ask for “significant international experience,” “time in […]
5 min readIn a world where markets, technology, and expectations keep shifting, companies are quietly rewriting what “great leadership” really means. Not on paper, but in who they actually hire and keep. What is rising to the top? Agile talent. In 2026, an impressive résumé and big title get you into the conversation, but they are no […]
3 min readAt McKinney Consulting, we help leaders and organizations navigate complex, cross‑border realities with practical, globally minded leadership. In that spirit, I recently had the opportunity to share some of our thinking about global mindset in an interview with Forbes. Recently, I had the opportunity to be interviewed by leadership columnist Rodger Dean Duncan for Forbes […]
5 min readNewsletter #143 - Subscribe to this newsletter on LinkedIn Global-ready promotions are one of the most overlooked succession challenges in international organizations. Too often, companies assume that strong local performance automatically translates into readiness for regional or global leadership, when in fact those roles demand different capabilities. A few months ago, a client described a […]
4 min readThe C‑Suite is global. Not every mindset is. Global mindset premium is becoming a real performance differentiator among C-Suites. Many organizations now operate across multiple markets, but their top teams still rely on leadership habits shaped by a single home country. That gap between a global footprint and a narrow mindset is where strategies stall, […]
3 min readGlobal mindset leadership is no longer optional for senior executives. In my recent conversation with Joe Dalton on his “Getting It Wrong To Get It Right” podcast, we explored how curiosity and humility help leaders turn local roots into global reach. With AI, hybrid work, and globalization reshaping industries at speed, leaders can no longer […]