Ed Novak divides much of his time between Boston and the Washington, D.C., area, but his professional reach is global. As managing director and partner at Vistra, an international business services provider, he’s in constant contact with clients and colleagues worldwide. Because much of his work involves helping growth-oriented clients expand their operations overseas, Novak says his global mindset competencies, relationship-building abilities and cultural curiosity are key skills.

What are the implications of the recent U.S. pressure on TikTok and WeChat, including what it means for Chinese globalization?

Chris Steadley, MBA ’12, has consistently used his global mindset in his eight-plus years at advisory and research services firm Gartner. His current role as a senior partner in consulting includes managing business in the Midwest region of the U.S. from a public sector, education, and nonprofit perspective. Steadley’s main responsibility is to oversee the growth of Gartner’s portfolio, which includes delivering the right solutions for clients. He enjoys leading his team to success.

How will de-sinicization and the new challenges in manufacturing change the world's second-largest economy? 

Each of the seven global mindset competencies is integral to Mark Lenhart’s MBA ’00 work as executive director of study abroad organization CET Academic Programs. As a manager and leader, he finds self-awareness and humility to be a particularly important competency. Lenhart explains, “the leaders I admire most are the ones who approach their world with humility. If you don’t approach a conversation with a certain amount of humility, you manage to create barriers instead of creating learning opportunities.”

Erika Hall ’07, assistant professor of organization and management at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School, studied finance at Maryland Smith while maintaining an interest in entrepreneurship. The path to her professional journey and the development of global mindset competencies began with an influential summer research assistantship with former Smith professor Ian Williamson. She witnessed the global nature of his work as his research took him to conferences and presentations across the world. Hall explains, “I just kept thinking, this is such an awesome job!

Approaching cultural differences with curiosity and openness is fundamental to leading with a global mindset. Scott Samels '92, global delivery lead within the global enablement team at McCormick & Company, Inc., oversees approximately two hundred people halved between North America and Europe, specifically in Poland. So for Samels, understanding the cultural differences in the countries that his company operates in and how that impacts the employee workforce is an important factor in developing his global mindset and leading a global team.

People with a global mindset have spent time understanding, accepting and leveraging similarities and differences among cultures and business practices. For Ernst & Young Managing Director, and Global Service Coordinating Partner, Ellen Polansky ’87, developing this mindset starts with breaking down stereotypes and barriers and for some, fear. No one’s success equations should be based on fear. As a Maryland Smith graduate, success comes from being “Fearless” exclaims Polansky.

A global mindset is essential for success in an increasingly interconnected world. For Kristin Fallon '11, that means developing boundaryless thinking, with no set geographical reference. “It is about thinking outside of your immediate world and really accounting for the world at large. We are in the U.S. and so we are thinking about the world from the perspective of the U.S. – as someone from Europe looks at the world from a European perspective. However, trying not to have a fixed perspective is key,” says Fallon, the director of content and storytelling at GE Healthcare.

In our video series, Maryland Smith experts share their insights on the broadly reaching impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.