Since I entered the cotton industry, I’ve spent nearly 200 days a year traveling to farms, mills, factories, brand headquarters, and trade meetings around the world.

Many people don’t realize how global a single garment’s journey can be. Cotton can move through farms, gins, mills, factories, brands, and retailers across half a dozen countries before it reaches a closet. Each stop is shaped by different regulations and cultures, plus incentives, so a decision made in one part of the chain can ripple through the rest.

The first time I visited a cotton farm, I realized how incomplete my understanding was. Speaking directly with producers and seeing their operations firsthand challenged assumptions I had internalized from a distance.

This lesson stayed with me: When we form opinions without speaking to the people doing the work, we miss the complexity of their decisions and the depth of their investment in the outcome. In an economy where supply chains, customers, and competitors extend far beyond your home market, a global mindset is table stakes.

It’s tempting for leaders to walk into every meeting as the person with the answers. Experience on both the brand and manufacturing sides of this industry has taught me the opposite works better: Assume the market in front of you operates differently than the one you know, because it usually does.

Every part of a global supply chain has its own rhythm for building trust and making decisions. A retailer, a grower, a manufacturer, and a brand may all be part of the same conversation while operating from very different realities.

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