How to Become an Effective Global Leader

As people, products, and services move around the world at increasingly faster rates, there’s a greater demand than ever for effective global leaders. As with anything in leadership, being and becoming a global leader is a process, not a destination. Like leadership in general, effective global leaders are made not born. So, what makes a global leader effective? And how do leaders become global leaders?

Being a Global Leader

A global leader is simply someone who acts with the betterment of all peoples and cultures in mind. The three primary qualities of a global leader include:

1. Embracing cultural contextualization;
2. Engaging and empowering people from different cultures; and
3. Having a strong cross-cultural network.[i]

It should go without saying that effective global leaders cross cultures effectively. They understand that there are nuances regarding power, authority, and leadership when it comes to different cultures working together. Honestly, this is true whether you’re working with people from different cultures in your home country or traveling to another country to work with your team.

Barriers to Becoming a Global Leader

Being and becoming an effective global leader isn’t without its challenges. Let’s be honest, some of our greatest learning comes from our failures. Like that one time I was traveling to Tanzania and made dinner plans with a good friend before starting my travels only to realize after everything was planned that I had dishonored his boss. Even though I had made plans with a good personal friend of mine, since I was going to be there on an official visit (not simply traveling as a tourist) I hadn’t gone through the proper protocols. You know I’ll never do that again! And, now I know that even if I don’t know if protocols exist, I need to ask about them.

There are obviously barriers that every leader will face when becoming a global leader. The top four barriers that have to be dealt with, in no particular order, are:

1. Personal experiences;
2. Cultural blind spots;
3. One’s worldview; and
4. One’s own cultural values.

In order to become a successful global leader, leaders must effectively deal with these barriers. This requires leaders to be humble life-long learners who are constantly willing to engage in personal growth and development. Remember, being a global leader is a process not a destination. The moment someone thinks they’re “arrived,” a cultural element they didn’t realize existed will catch them off guard. Just ask anyone who has lived in another country for 5-10 years. They’ll tell you that there is always something new to learn about the local culture.

Becoming a Global Leader

In their book Being Global, Cabrera and Unruh proposed that in fact leaders can become "culturally agnostic," what they described as the ability to "transcend culture by developing metacultural behaviors" that are effective across cultures. In order to do so, it’s essential for leaders to be disciplined, have a heightened sense of awareness, and be humble. It takes humility for leaders to accept that their culture is not right, nor another culture wrong, rather they are simply different and both worthy of being respected.

The value that both humility and empathy play in becoming an effective global leader can’t be overstated. Research explains humility as someone’s ability to have an accurate view of themselves:

• Their strengths and their weakness;
• To be able and willing to admit imperfections and own their own mistakes; and
• The ability to acknowledge their limitations and seek to collaborate with people who have strengths in those areas.[ii]

Along with humility, empathy is as essential trait for global leaders. For among other things (like being able to vicariously experience someone else’s feelings, thoughts, and experiences), empathy interestingly allows for the possibility that others may see something that you have failed to see. In order for leaders to accept this reality, and to embrace it, again requires humility on the part of the leader.[iii]

The need for global leaders is greater than ever before. And not just if you literally travel around the world for work, but even if you happen to live anywhere in the world where you interact with and work with people from different cultures. Becoming an effective global leader takes being intentional but let’s face it, anything worth it requires being intentional on our part! Let’s become the global leaders our world is desperate for!

[i] Maak, T., & Pless, N. (2009). Business Leaders as Citizens of the World. Advancing Humanism on a Global Scale. Journal of Business Ethics, 88(3), 537-550.

Moodian, M. A. (Ed.). (2009). Contemporary leadership and intercultural competence: Exploring the cross-cultural dynamics within organizations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Cabrera, A., and Unruh, G. (2012). Being global: How to think, act, and lead in a transformed world.  Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review.

[ii] Van Dierendonck, D., & Nuijten, I. (2011). The Servant Leadership Survey: Development and Validation of a Multidimensional Measure. Journal of Business and Psychology, 26(3), 249-267.

Pless, N., Maak, T., & Stahl, G. (2011). Developing Responsible Global Leaders Through International Service-Learning Programs: The Ulysses Experience. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 10(2), 237-260.

[iii] 2009 Global Roundtable Video – Regent University RUGLOBAL.