Global experience enhanced CEO Ariane Gorin’s leadership skills
Hello and welcome to Modern CEO! I’m Stephanie Mehta, CEO and chief content officer of Mansueto Ventures. Each week this newsletter explores inclusive approaches to leadership drawn from conversations with executives and entrepreneurs, and from the pages of Inc. and Fast Company. If you received this newsletter from a friend, you can sign up to get it yourself every Monday morning.
Last week’s Modern CEO made the case that boards and recruiters should stop focusing on CEO candidates’ résumés and start evaluating their potential for agility. That said, one aspect of work history can serve as a good proxy for the ability to manage uncertainty and change: international experience.
“Leaders who have global exposure tend to develop sharper instincts for adapting in different contexts, taking in information effectively, and making business decisions based on these different inputs,” says Jeff Sanders, vice chair and co-managing partner of the global CEO & Board of Directors Practice for Heidrick & Struggles. New research from the executive search firm shows that one in five Fortune 500 companies—the largest enterprises in the U.S. by revenue—appointed CEOs with cross-border experience in 2025. More than a third of external candidates named to the top job last year worked internationally. “They’ve already had to respond to complexity in real time—and that kind of experience becomes increasingly valuable as global conditions continue to evolve and shift,” Sanders adds.
Charting new territory
Ariane Gorin, CEO of Expedia Group, credits her global experience with helping to shape her leadership style. Gorin spent 23 years in Europe: 13 years in Paris and 10 years in London, where she held several senior positions at Expedia before becoming CEO of the Seattle-based travel technology company in May 2024. “The biggest thing is you’re out of your comfort zone,” she says of working abroad.
Gorin, who is fluent in French, notes that speaking a language is different than doing business with others in that language. “You’re just always a little bit uncomfortable,” she says, adding: “It also forces you to listen more.”
Working abroad also fosters empathy, another quality recruiters call out as a trait they seek in future CEOs: “I spent my first 11 years at Expedia in Europe [working with colleagues in America], and I will never forget what it feels like to be the only one who’s on the late-night calls,” Gorin recalls.
Perhaps not surprising for a CEO whose company facilitates travel, Gorin also believes in the importance of geographic diversity in her leadership team. The president of Expedia Group B2B is based in Madrid, and the chief commercial officer is in London. “I think if your leadership team is all in the same place, it certainly makes it easier to get things done, but you can start to have a myopic view,” she says.
Expanding horizons
As technological and geopolitical complexities become the norm in business, leaders with international experience often have real-world experience managing disruptions to supply chains, strategy, and talent, says Heidrick & Struggles’s Sanders.
Gorin’s agility is getting put to the test as the travel industry is feeling the impact of the U.S.–Israel attacks on Iran launched last month, and artificial intelligence continues to transform tech companies. During Gorin’s time as CEO, the company has expanded its use of artificial intelligence (AI) to assist travelers and featured partners like hotels, airlines, and car rental companies. (It was early to embed the Expedia app into OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot.) The Expedia Group, whose flagship brands include Expedia, Vrbo, and Hotels.com, last year posted revenue of $14.7 billion, up 8% from 2024.
Regardless of whether an executive secures an international posting, Gorin believes travel to other countries is critical to understanding global business. When she stepped into her previous role running Expedia’s business-to-business (B2B) unit, she embarked on a two-week trip around the world, meeting clients in Japan, Korea, Australia, and the U.S.—a journey that helped her appreciate the business and cultural nuances of each market.
Gorin also makes a case that travel can open the mind. She says: “Getting out of your day-to-day into a new environment jogs a lot of creativity.”
Working a world away
Are you an executive who has worked internationally, and if so, how did that experience shape the way you lead and think? Did it make you more agile? How? Send your stories to me at stephaniemehta@mansueto.com. I’ll publish the best examples in a future newsletter.
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