Lost In Translation

• Place more emphasis on cultural diversity and make it clear that global experience is required for top jobs.

• Create a leadership-development institute at a central global location for "rising star" executives. PricewaterhouseCoopers, for example, selects aspiring leaders to go through a five-month leadership-development program known as the Genesis Park Initiative. The program convenes outside the United States, allowing executives to develop a more global perspective. Accenture selects 400 of its most promising managers to participate in a leadership program that develops multicultural teams to work on projects over a 10-month period.

• Build a "talent exchange" between the United States and the rest of the world. The U.S. arms of multinational corporations should consider identifying groups of up-and-coming executives in their 20s and 30s and arrange for an exchange with the same pool of executives from the European, South American and Asian divisions of the company.

Of course, companies can't do this alone. U.S. schools from kindergarten through college need to encourage students to study languages and spend semesters abroad. Guidance counselors should steer kids away from the usual semester-long Anglo pub crawls and toward China or India, or some other major emerging market. That is where the future lies for talented youths on the executive track—or any track.

Brown is the dean of INSEAD, the international business school with campuses in Fontainebleau, France, and Singapore. He is the author of “The Global Business Leader: Practical Advice for Success in a Transcultural Marketplace.”

© 2008