Abstract
Globalization has led to cultural change, convergence, and a rise in multinational organizations. Leaders who can work effectively across nations and cultures are in demand. Today's global leaders face increased complexity due to the need for cultural sensitivity and knowledge of other countries (House et al., 2004). Competent global leaders who can effectively navigate cross-cultural boundaries are more vital to the success of multinational organizations than in previous decades (Ang & Inkpen, 2008). Multinational organizations struggle in determining what knowledge, skills, and abilities are needed to develop competent global leaders (Caligiuri, 2006) for the 21st century. Many organizations understand that competent leadership will lead to a competitive business advantage and have begun focusing leadership programs on developing competencies for global leadership (Bird, 2008). This chapter considers the importance that personality traits, emotional, social, and cultural intelligence play in developing global leaders. It offers leaders an assessment tool for self-reflection and personal inquiry development.
TopTraining And Development Of Global Leaders
Global leadership researchers sought to identify personality characteristics and competencies essential for effective global leadership and explore how these capabilities could be developed (Jokinen, 2005). Over the past decade, many traits and competencies attributed to effective global leadership have been identified (Osland, 2008b). The Big Five personality traits deemed most important for global leaders include:
Leveraging personality traits could be important to organizations in selection of leaders for global leadership development program (Gills Jr., 2012). However, personality and individual identity is largely shaped by hereditary, familial, social and cultural interactions (Tubbs & Schulz, 2006). Thus, personality traits are culturally specific, not generalized across nations, and are almost impossible for global leaders to develop (Tubbs & Schulz, 2006),
Global leadership competencies can be categorized into six groups:
Key Terms in this Chapter
Cultural Intelligence: “An individual's capability to function and manage effectively in a culturally diverse setting” ( Ang et. al., 2007 , p. 337).
Social Intelligence: “The ability to recognize, understand, and use emotional information about others that leads to or causes effective or superior performance” ( Boyatzis, 2008 , p. 8).
Empathy: Recognizing or being able to sense the emotions of other people.
Emotional Intelligence: “The capacity for recognizing our own feelings and those of others, for motivating ourselves and for managing emotions well in ourselves and in our relationships” ( Goleman, 1998 , p. 317).