For me "globalization" always evoked the image of borderless flows—money, goods, and people moving unobstructed around the globe, forming a global society complete with a universal culture (based, I assumed, on largely American norms) and a universal business language (English, of course!). It was a utopian vision in which demographics, politics, and economics didn't figure, but it felt compelling—particularly the year I finished business school (1986) when the term "globalization" was as hot as, well, Chernobyl. My friends and I, replete with our shiny new MBAs, set off to our manufacturing, consulting, and banking jobs, dedicated to building the new global world of business.