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Thunderbird breaks ground on Najafi Global Mindset InstituteThunderbird breaks ground on Najafi Global Mindset Institute

On Thursday, October 6, 2011, Thunderbird School of Global Management celebrated the groundbreaking on a new facility to house the  Najafi Global Mindset Institute, an international research center dedicated to studying the quantitative attributes that make international managers successful.

The Institute, which has been funded by 46 individual donors, received a generous lead donation of nearly $2 million from Thunderbird Trustee Francis Najafi, a 1977 graduate of the school. Originally from Iran, Mr. Najafi is the chief executive of Phoenix-based Pivotal Group, a leading investment company focused on private equity and real estate. He recently received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, an award presented to Americans of diverse origins for their outstanding contributions to their own ethnic groups and to American society.

“As one of our most active and stalwart trustees, Francis Najafi is an alumnus who cares deeply about the advancement of Global Mindset worldwide,” said Thunderbird Professor Mansour Javidan Ph.D., who serves as director of the Institute.

The  Najafi Global Mindset Institute, one of Thunderbird’s Centers for Excellence, administers the Global Mindset Inventory® (GMI) assessment, a unique psychometric evaluation tool that allows individuals, companies and organizations to measure their capacity to thrive in environments and influence others unlike themselves.

“Until now, corporations have lacked the ability to reliably gauge their management team’s capability and effectiveness in multicultural environments,” said Francis Najafi.  “The concept of ‘global mindset’ is at the very heart of what Thunderbird is all about.  It teaches our students and executives how to achieve success in different social, political and cultural environments.”

To learn more about the Najafi Global Mindset Institute at Thunderbird, visit:  www.GlobalMindset.com.