Let us recap what we have talked about in this module. We will do that for every module that we have to look back at the topics that we have covered and also to put things into context, to connect them to other topics in the course. We have started our conversation about leadership in this module with a fairly high level abstract notion of these three principles for leadership development. I want to apply those to specific international leadership challenges and opportunities that we have talked about. The first principle that we talked about was the need to be be unique and develop a unique style of leadership. That means that you want to look back at your own cultural heritage, your own strength and weaknesses, your skills, but also your limitations. This makes you you. The person who you are will then influence how you actually approach international leadership situations and how you can be effective in them. It stands to reason that if you are facing your first foreign assignment; if you are dealing for the first time with a multi-cultural team then you want to be quite humble and cautious to some degree and very adaptive to that situation. That will be credible. It would be weird if you approached that situation as if you know everything, you could do everything, and with an attitude saying, how difficult can this international leadership thing really be. On the other hand, if you have a little bit of experience, you can be more confident and confidently build on those skills and those experiences that you have made. You can forge connections between people that do not naturally occur. You can force difficult conversations to some degree, press on those issues a little bit more and tackle more difficult conflicts that maybe the teams that you work with do not want to tackle Who you are will affect how you influence the international leader situations, but those situations in turn will shape who you will become. They will inform your unique leadership style that you develop over time. Regardless of your experience as a leader or unique leadership style, we said you also want to focus on the relationship with your followers. In the international context that means that you want to understand the often unique perspectives, concerns, and interests of your followers. Sometimes those can be difficult to intuit and difficult to reconcile in a multi-cultural setting as well. The competences that we will talk about later on in the course will help you to do that better. But in my mind this is not just about skills. It is also about an attitude. An attitude to genuinely want to understand the world through the perspective of others To see the world through their eyes, Through the eyes of your followers essentially; To want to empathize with, their concerns that they might have in intercultural interactions. Concerns that they might be misunderstood, or ignored, or mistrusted, or maybe even discriminated against. Having those things in mind helps. And it is also about an attitude not taking things for granted too much. Of not taking for granted that your leadership style is immediately recognized or regarded as valuable or effective by your followers. It is fine. I do not want to be too normative here. I am not suggesting that you have to be the leader that makes everybody feel warm and fuzzy inside or that you are the boss that everybody loves. That is not what I am shooting for. However, gaining a reputation for being respectful and for having the interests and concerns of your followers in mind, perhaps in your heart, can be a good starting point. Usually it is a good starting point for gaining your follower's trust and their commitment, and for then moving on to actually changing things and to challenging your followers to grow beyond where they currently stand. The third and last principle we talked about was the need to be flexible and adaptive. The third and last principle we talked about was the need to be flexible and adaptive. Now in international context, I think we all realize that a rigid mindset and tool set is really holding you back to make a contribution. This is your opportunity to embrace your inner Kofi Annan Kofi famously said that the idea that one people is in possession of the truth, or that there is one solution to the world's ills has done untold harm. Which is to say that to be effective as an international leader, you really want to embrace different perspectives, different approaches to solving problems. Being a role model in that regard. Role modeling this openness and flexibility. This attitude of and willingness to change your ways of thinking and your behavior. That could go a long way to establish as a norm for your follower, to do the same. That it becomes a norm for them to also, be willing to, adapt different perspectives, to change their ways of thinking and doing. Ultimately in an international multi-cultural setting, you do not want to be the only one who is adapting. You want to get your followers to a point where they are adapting as well. Where you are changing the mindset from one where people regard international and/or cultural differences as pesky problems and barriers to getting things done, maybe done more efficiently. And instead actually embrace differences and see those as opportunities, as sources of advantage. You can learn from each other. You can make better decisions. That you are better prepared as a team and as an organization to deal with unfamiliar problems, challenges, and situations. This is ultimately what flexibility and adaptiveness is all about. All right, so we see that these three principles can really help us bring together a lot of the issues of international leadership that we have talked about so far. They can guide your development of international leadership competencies. Let us bring this all back to the tensions that I outlined in the introduction. The tensions that all international leaders face between local and global, and between supporting and challenging their followers. As you begin, as you embark on your journey as an international leader. Most likely you will focus on understanding the local and supporting the followers that you are interacting with in the context in which you operate. You will focus on understanding exactly what the unique skill sets and mindsets are and how to leverage those effectively so that is going to be the focus. But keep in mind that you want to also have this global orientation and that you ultimately want to challenge your followers to grow in the long term. As you gain the trust and the commitment of your followers, as you gain the confidence and sense of effectiveness as a leader in an international setting yourself, You will journey more towards that end of the spectrum. You will focus more on the global and you will focus more on challenging your followers. One important competence to do that is to understand culture. The cultures that you are interacting with as an international leader. That allows you to identify and recognize those local differences and to to support and leverage the unique mindsets and skill sets. It also allows you to forge that path towards global orientation, to really challenge people to to leave behind and transgress off of seeing the world or dealing with challenges that they are facing. So understanding culture and being able to navigate, the dynamics that we see in a cultural setting. Developing your cultural intelligence if you will. That is going to be our next topic.
