The Multicultural Mind: Unleashing the Hidden Force for Innovation in Your Organization

Globalization has created a superheated competitive business environment that demands innovation to stay ahead. But it's also created a hidden source of innovation right in your midst: the people in your organization who have deep experience in more than one culture—multiculturals. Having to integrate different cultural frameworks has enabled them to develop abilities that can contribute powerfully to building innovative organizations.

David Thomas makes a compelling business case for recognizing and cultivating a new dimension of diversity—the diversity within individuals! He looks at how to establish the organizational conditions under which multiculturals can flourish and shows how even the most monocultural among us can gain the advantages of a multicultural mind.

About the Author

David C Thomas (PhD University of South Carolina) is the Beedie Chair and Professor of International Management at Simon Fraser University, Canada.

He is the author of ten books including the bestselling Cultural Intelligence: Living and Working Globally, (2009, Berrett-Koehler Publishers). His book Cross-Cultural Management Essential Concepts (2008, Sage Publications) was the winner of the R. Wayne Pace Human Resource Development book of the year award for 2008. In addition, he has recently edited (with Peter B. Smith and Mark Peterson) The Handbook of Cross-Cultural Management Research from Sage Publications. His research on cross-cultural interactions in organizational settings has appeared in numerous journals. He is currently the Area Editor of the Journal of International Business Studies and serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of World Business, Journal of Organizational Behavior, and European Journal of Cross-Cultural Competence and Management.

His previous academic postings have included positions at Simon Fraser University, Canada, the Pennsylvania State University and The University of Auckland, New Zealand, where he was also Director of the Master of International Business Program. He has held visiting positions at Koç University, Istanbul, Turkey, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, the University of Hawaii, Massey University, New Zealand, and ESCEM, Tours, France. In addition to teaching at both undergraduate and post graduate level, Dr Thomas has consulted on diversity issues with numerous organizations including, the Canadian Police College, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Citizenship and Immigration Canada, and Correctional Service Canada.