As part of the summer courses in my doctoral program, I had the opportunity to attend a panel discussion on international leaders. The panel consisted of:
- Jonas Prising, Executive VP of Manpower and President of the Americas
- Dr. Al Durtka, President and CEO of the International Institute of Wisconsin
- Nelson Soler, President of the Multicultural Entrepreneurship Institute and the Latino Entrepreneurial Network
- Dr. Clara Brennan, Dean of the Cardinal Stritch University School of Business
These accomplished leaders offered some fantastic leadership insights, and I’d like to share some of them with you:
Read and learn as much as you can. Each person stressed the importance of being a lifetime learner, even after you are finished with formal schooling. To this end, develop an area of functional expertise and own that expertise over a lifetime.
Be generous with your expertise. Knowledge is not a commodity to be hoarded, but rather to be shared. When you supervise/lead others, you should be striving to improve their abilities so one day they can leave you to lead their own team. I also interpret this as contributing to the knowledge of your profession, whether that’s through professional associations or your personal network.
Conflict is inevitable—you need to be able to manage it. Conflict isn’t positive or negative, it’s a neutral action. The behaviors that result from conflict will determine how it’s perceived. Strive to make conflict result in a positive outcome.
Know what you don’t know. This derails a lot of people. Developing self-awareness will give you great strength. In international settings, you may recognize that you don’t understand cultural mores. Expanding that knowledge can help you avoid potentially catastrophic situations when doing business in other countries.
Recognize what you’re excellent at, and delegate what you’re good at. The whole team benefits when their strengths are utilized to the fullest potential. Seek out team members who excel in areas that you don’t.
Develop your emotional intelligence. This is extremely important in a global environment. According to Jonas, up to 40% of people assigned to work abroad see their experience end prematurely because of a lack of emotional intelligence.
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This is just a small portion of the information that was shared with us last week. What struck me throughout the presentation was my complete lack of work experience outside the United States. Of course, it’s never too late to change your life’s direction. Some action steps I created for myself after attending this session are:
Seek experiences in different countries. For me, this will start with a study tour of Italy next year.
Expand my sources of knowledge. I didn’t read a journal article from a different country until the last year of my master’s program. I need to be intentional about seeking knowledge sources from different countries so I don’t generalize my knowledge of the U.S. population to the entire world.
Spend time with international students. I’m fortunate enough to be in a program that includes students from Saudi Arabia, Kenya, Uganda, Sierra Leone, and China. I need to purposefully spend time with these students to broaden my perspective of the world.
Listen to/read international news sources. U.S. news is usually focused on what’s happening in our country, or in other countries because of our involvement. International news sources tend to have a more global perspective, and I can learn from that.
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Have you thought about what it means to be a truly global leader? What steps have you taken (or will you take) to become one?
Tags: International, leadership
