Expatriates are legally working professionals who reside temporarily in a country of which they are not a citizen in order to accomplish a career-related goal. Attracting global talent is a competitive advantage for companies, as is developing, managing, and retaining them. Losing them to competitors not only hurts the bottom line, but it also disrupts succession pipelines. Organizations might use expatriates to fill international positions when qualified locals are not available, for management development, or to help control, coordinate, and assist in the transfer of a firm’s culture.

The most common length of time for which expatriates are deployed is via a long-term international assignment, usually over a predetermined period, perhaps two or three years. Typically, most companies conceive of only one type of expatriate, commonly known as a parent country national (PCN) and defined as a citizen of the headquarters country location of a company from which they are then sent abroad. The development of international business skills are increasingly viewed as an essential part of career progression for employees in global companies and are viewed as prerequisites for senior management positions.

Most expatriates are considered part of the global talent pool in that they are high-performing employees requiring a specialized degree of support and development. Global is the new reality of how business will be conducted. In today’s interconnected and dynamic world, global leaders need to be able to quickly, comfortably, and effectively work in different countries with people from different cultures. They need cultural agility.

To develop a global mind set, dynamic learning is essential because each of the three kinds of capital within the global mind set is best developed through different methods and over varying lengths of time, Global leaders who have a high level of global mind set tend to better understand the situations and individuals they are interacting with in a global environment. They demonstrate a passion for learning about multiple cultures and ideas. In terms of global leadership development, there is no one best model or one-size-fits-all model for global leadership development.