Earlier in my career, I had the good fortune to work for a graduate school in Vancouver, BC. A recent visit to this world-class city reminded me that global leaders must operate with a clear understanding of nationality.

The history of our nation is our meta-story, the tale of our family’s context, our community’s ecosystem. While a lot of great diversity and inclusion work in the U.S. has focused on the differences among Americans, the international economy calls all of Earth’s citizens to own the legacies we carry from the country from which we hail.

For example:

• I had the amazing opportunity to lead a refugee resettlement program in California for five years. Living and working among survivors from Cambodia and Vietnam taught me about their cultural stories, and it was humbling and exciting to watch them become Americans and join the story of my own nation, which I had previously taken for granted. We can learn a lot as we live and lead among immigrants.

• A friend with deep experience in the Peace Corps once told me this tale: she led a group of twenty Americans, evenly split among black and white folks, for a month-long project in Ghana. The black Americans expected a ‘roots’ experience, anticipating similarity with their African hosts. Instead, they mostly encountered cultural difference with African people, and were shocked to find deep cultural similarity with their white American peers. Nationality was at work; the meaning of differences like race within our country can transform beyond our borders. We are connected by a heritage that, in part, shows our divisions.

• As we celebrate Veteran’s Day, we should remember that a powerful expression of commitment to nation is service in a nation’s military. When a person puts their life on the line for their country, such a commitment shapes who they are for the rest of their lives. When we lead with nationality in mind, we need to remember this link to military service.

Those leading across international boundaries should do so with confidence in their own nation’s story, and with a teachable temperament toward the other nation’s culture. We will lead more effectively when we understand our own nationality, and respect the national legacies of our colleagues and customers.