We can talk with someone halfway around the globe as easily as with someone in the next office; sell our products in places we couldn’t spell two years ago, take a job in India as easily as in Indiana. What, however, does all of this have to do with our ability to live productive careers and satisfying lives?
Over the past several years, we have conducted dozens of studies to explore how exposure to foreign cultures changes the way we think, behave, and make decisions. The most consistent finding from our work is that individuals who have lived abroad, either for personal or career-related reasons, tend to show heightened levels of creativity. For example, across several studies we find that MBA and undergraduate students who had previously lived abroad are better able to solve standard tests of creativity than those who have never lived outside their home country. We have found this to be true regardless of whether the task involved making creative connections among very different ideas; whether the creative task demanded a sudden insight; or whether people needed to imagine something completely new. Furthermore, we have also found that MBA students who had lived abroad achieved better outcomes in negotiations exercises that demand creative solutions.
To read the full, original article click on this link: Multicultural Experiences: Making the World Creative, Innovative...and Flat! | INSEAD Knowledge
