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PODCAST: From the Pitch to the Boardroom: Lessons in Global Leadership
Jan 27, 2026, 09:20
by
Mike Koon
In studying 355 elite national soccer teams from around the globe, Gies Business Professor Mike Szymanski finds that teams led by multicultural managers enjoy an advantage in a sport where nations from every corner of the world collide.
Even at a relatively young age, Mike Szymanski has a global perspective few business educators can match. Born in Poland, he has had three-year stints at one of Mexico’s leading business schools in Monterrey and the Moscow School of Management in Russia. Since 2023, he has served as clinical associate professor of business administration at Gies School of Business. Building on this foundation, Professor Szymanski has become a leading voice in uncovering the often-overlooked intangibles for success on the global business stage.
His study of 355 elite national soccer teams from around the globe demonstrated that teams led by multicultural managers enjoy an advantage in a sport where nations from every corner of the world collide. He has shown that this same idea holds true in international business as well. One of his more recent projects extended this interest in diversity to the domain of language. Three years ago, he brought together 117 MBA students from 23 countries—fluent in English but carrying a wide range of accents—for a research project that explored how non-native accents shape communication and perceptions in global teams.
