Is international experience still a must for future CEOs?

For decades, the path to the CEO suite often ran through a foreign airport. A rotation in London, a turnaround in São Paulo, a regional post in Singapore. These were the proving grounds where future leaders built global fluency and earned credibility with the board. But in an age of regional supply chains, rising protectionism, and AI-powered everything, the question has resurfaced: Does international experience still matter?

Christine Greybe, president of leadership consulting at DHR Global, thinks it does, though with nuance.

“Not all companies are global,” she says. “We have clients who are purely national and others that operate around the world. If you want to be a global CEO, then it’s important to have had that global, culturally diverse experience.”

In other words, a stint overs