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Facets of global leaders

Last reviewed: September 10, 2016 ~6 min read

Global leadership used to be a bit of a novelty or niche part of doing business. While many businesses have engaged in global commerce and discourse for quite some time, it was much more limited in many other parts of industry. However, the advancement of technology, the internet/computers in particular and supply chain logistics has been a game changer. Also significant is the massive movement of many peoples from their customary and common parts of the world to new endeavors and locales. Whether it be the refugee migrations from Africa and the Middle East or whether it be professionals from Asia finding new frontiers in the West as doctors and so forth, demographics are changing swiftly and significantly and this will require a level of cultural awareness and understanding even for businesses that do not intentionally operate in a global fashion. Analysis
Even though much of the developments relating to the global leadership paradigm are positive and increase diversity rather automatically, there are some growing pains and conflicts that emerge when it comes to meshing and merging cultures together within a singular commerce domain. Indeed, there are noticeable, if not massive, differences in the way that women are treated and regarded from one culture to the next. Indeed, a study on the matter proved this as they examined gender differences at random by pulling from a random pot of nearly 1,200 managers in 74 countries. Even when women and men had similar opportunities and leadership positions, the things that they strived for and were passionate about tended to be quite different. Women tended to focus on things like diversity, intercultural empathy and diplomacy. On the other hand men were more focused on stronger global leadership self-efficacies such as business savvy, going for a cosmopolitan outlook and good impacts of an interpersonal nature (Javidan, Bullough & Dibble, 2016).

While there is only so far that theory and ideas can take a person when it comes to the real world practice of global leadership, there are some broader frameworks and conceptual models that one can consider and ponder when it comes to the subject. Indeed, global organizations, by virtue of their status and position, must content with and handle other global leaders. Beyond that, it is less than easy to find full and constant parallels between the facets of domestic leadership and the same thing for global leadership. It has been found rather consistently that global leadership has a different perspective and level of cognitive complexity, human capital, personality processes and mindsets. Even so, it has also been found that global leadership focuses can and should focus on a number of important variables such as the aforementioned cognitive complexity, emotional resilience, intelligence and literacy when it comes to cultural matters and so forth (Mathews, 2016; Vanderpal, 2014).

It takes strong leaders of a global fashion to corral and properly influence the followers that look to them for leadership, guidance and confidence. Being able to pull this off is commonly a result of a strong loyalty and commitment to what is known as global leadership development, or GLD for short. Two of the main facets that must be adhered to when it comes to GLD and the general global leadership paradigm are technological innovation and complete efficiency (Salicru, Wassenaar, Suerz & Spittle, 2016). Even so, global leadership as it is exists today is still very much in its nascent stages. Indeed, the world's technology systems and frameworks, just to use one example, have not been advanced as they are for all that long. A mere twenty years ago, personal internet use was a bit of a novelty and computer/technology use in the global sphere does not extend terribly far in the past beyond that. As noted above when it comes to gender, there are some growing pains that have been and continue to occur. Another manifestation of these growing pains is seen when it comes to politics. While the aforementioned gender issues are a huge part of what is seen in politics, the latter deserves its own mention as there are many factors in the proverbial mix of what drives political actions and measures and why. Just as one example, the larger and richer countries tend to use their size and power to dominate the global technological and trade paradigm. While this makes a lot of sense and not a lot of people can honestly blame these behemoths from wielding their power, it does create ethical and international relation concerns, especially as it pertains to the smaller and more developing countries that are trying to make their own inroads in the global marketplace. This just another realm where leaders need to step up and creating a group of followers that are likewise committed to creating a tide that lifts all boats, so to speak (Helms, 2014).

Conclusion

This brief report is obviously not nearly enough to properly and full cover all of the relevant topics relating to global leadership. However, it is indeed possible to quickly summarize things at a high level. Global leaders need to understand that other cultures and ways of doing business are unlike their own. This difference and disparity does not have to be a source of discord and disagreement. However, it ends up happening that way entirely too often due to people that are either ignorant, unwilling to comprise or both. People that start from a position of knowing the norms and expectations of their counterparts, either within their fold or outside of it, and then progress from there in a pragmatic and logical way will obviously and logically do better than those that do not do either, for whatever reason. For those situations where people refuse to budge, about the only recourse is to lead by example and show the way in which progress is made and realized. This would be through effective dialog and cooperation. There will be differences and sources of disagreement. However, these can be worked through with proper tactics and mindsets. At the same time, there are some stances and tactics that should never be allowed for such as bigotry of any form, leading by intimidation or any sort of ethical lapses that harm employees in any physical or mental way. References
Helms, L. (2014). Global political leadership in the twenty-first century: problems and prospects. Contemporary Politics, 20(3), 261-277. doi:10.1080/13569775.2014.911499

Javidan, M., Bullough, A & Dibble, R. (2016). Mind the gap: Gender differences in global

leadership self-efficacies. Academy Of Management Perspectives, 30(1), 59-73.

doi:10.5465/amp.2015.0035

Mathews, J. (2016). Toward a Conceptual Model of Global Leadership. IUP Journal Of

Organizational Behavior, 15(2), 38-55.

Salicru, S., Wassenaar, E., Suerz, E., & Spittle, J. (2016). A Case Study of Global Leadership

Development Best Practice. OD Practitioner, 48(2), 12-20.

VanderPal, G. (2014). Global Leadership, IQ and Global Quotient. Journal of Management

Policy & Practice, 15(5), 120-134.

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