Globalization and Leadership Effectiveness

The foundation of a global mindset lies in globalization, which refers to the terms “global” and “globalize.” Derived from the Latin globus, the word “global” is over 400 years old. In the first decades of the twentieth century, terms like “globalize” and “globalism” appeared in the English language followed by the words “globalization” and “globalizing” two decades later. It seems that globalization has no clear date of origination, although for some people, globalization is a more recent phenomenon since, from the late nineteenth century, globalization processes accelerated through increasing worldwide communication, the rise of global markets, increased global transactions, and intensified global travel. All these developments have intensified interactions between people everywhere on Earth. This transworld interconnectedness, or social relationships on a worldwide scale, can be perceived as a manifestation of contemporary society. Other authors consider globalization part of a longer process. For instance, the establishment of world religions and the activities of the ancient explorers can be regarded as early globalization. We distinguish a number of broad conceptions of globalization: (1) globalization as internationalization, (2) globalization as universalzation, and (3) globalization as social reorganization.