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Developing the Global Leader

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Author: Julia Hanna

What skills do today's executives need to develop to become effective global leaders oftomorrow? And how do corporations teach these skills to their own leaders?

"The shift from a country-centric corporation to one that is more global in its outlook will have aradical impact on leadership development," says Professor of Management Practice William

George, the former chairman and chief executive officer of Medtronic.

"We're looking to companies to create a global cadre of people who are comfortable operating

anywhere in the world."

George developed and taught for many years the popular second-year MBA course Authentic

Leadership Development (ALD), which he has compressed into a five-day Executive Education

program at Harvard Business School.

"The most successful leaders will not necessarily be those with the highest IQ," he says. "Ofcourse, they will need to be intelligent. But they'll also need to have a high level of cultural andemotional intelligence."

According to George, additional characteristics of a successful global leader include:

An intellectual understandingof the global business contextin other words, an abilityto comprehend just how complex it can be to do business around the world.

The capacity to simultaneously develop a global and local perspective. "This is mucheasier said than done," George says. "And it's almost impossible to achieve without a

great deal of experience living in different parts of the world."

Being able to overcome the dominant thinkingat headquarters. "Leadership has to leanin favor of non-dominant thinking," says George. "That requires a tremendous amount of

intercultural empathy and a passion for diversity in life experiences." In other words: "Aninsatiable need to learn about other cultures."

A knack for cross-boundary partnering. "You need to feel comfortable engaging a teamin India and giving them as much power as a team in Germany or the United States.

There's a certain level of executive leadership maturity involved in having the respect andcapacity to pull the best out of each area of the corporation."

A self-awareness and self-assurance when it comes to one's values and sense ofpurpose. At the same time, however, "you need to be flexible in learning from and

empowering others."

The ability to develop networksthat are internal and external to the organization. "It's aprocess of shifting from vertical management to horizontal collaboration. One's title and

role are far less important than the capacity to get things done."

How should one cultivate these qualities? One of George's first recommendations for would-be

global leaders is to live in a country where the language spoken is different from that in one'shome country.

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"When my wife and I lived in Japan we had a two-year-old child, which meant we had to dive inand learn very quickly," he recalls. "Doing this gives you a heightened sensitivity to cultural

differences, and how those differences are tied up in language."

After 60 or so hours of Japanese language instruction, George could more or less carry on a

conversation, and did so with a retired chairman of Mitsubishiwho gently informed him that

he was speaking "female Japanese."