Global leadership is the ability to manage a business across various cultural, legal and economic systems so that it fulfills a certain common goal. So what abilities must global leaders have in order to be successful? According to TLNT.com, they must comply with the following five prerequisites.
1. Openness to new experiences
Global leaders must be inquisitive and open to all things new. This goes for local food, newspapers, inhabitants... If they only meet with people of their nationality and complain about the local culture, they should quickly change their thinking.
2. The ability to deal with various opinions and attitudes
Global leaders need this ability 24 hours per day. They must know how to accept opinions from various countries and pay attention to the differences in the ways problems are handled in individual countries. They must be flexible, know how to learn from mistakes and balance short-term and long-term goals.
3. The ability to adapt the leadership style to the given country or culture
Whereas the so called consultative style, which is based on joint decision-making, works in Europe, in Asia one must stick strictly to the management hierarchy and management is expected to have all the answers.
4. The ability to adapt and contribute
Global leaders must search for balance between teaching employees – i.e., bringing their own points of view – and learning from them, between decision-making and listening. If they adapt so much to the local environment that they lose their broader perspective, it may be harmful.
5. Knowledge of various business models
Each country has its own model for marketing, sales, branding, etc. No global leader can be successful without having knowledge of these models.
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