Announcing "Leadership in a Cross-Cultural World 2.0"

After a few months on hiatus, “Leadership in a Cross-Cultural World: A Crowd-Sourced Blog” has been rebooted and now offers several new teaching/learning tools to help students in higher education classrooms connect with each other and with professionals in culturally diverse workplaces. 

The blog is now offered as a credit item in Northwestern University’s Spring 2016 course, “Global Leadership: Developing the Mindset That Matters.” Within the next few days, students will be posting their thoughts, and I invite you to join the conversation.   

While students’ questions related to leadership and cross-cultural challenges will remain the blog’s primary focus, new content will offer more ways to explore ideas and exchange perspectives on today’s culturally diverse workplaces. Here’s a preview of what you’ll find on the 2.0 edition of “Leadership in a Cross-Cultural World.”

Conversations with 21st Century Leaders explores the real-life experiences of today’s leaders.  In these videotaped interviews leaders recount the challenges they have faced and address a student’s question that is particularly relevant to their experience.
 

In the Spotlight features examples of classroom excellence, instances where students’ curiosity or emotional connection to the issues around leadership and diversity caused them to pursue a line of inquiry beyond the classroom that yielded important insights.

Letters from Leaders offers excerpts from the book, Letters from Leaders: Personal Advice for Tomorrow’s Leaders from the World’s Most Influential People, compiled by Henry O. Dormann, who says of leaders: “Some leave money, others leave inspiration.  Many leave both.  But all are anxious for young people to learn from their successes and even their failures.”

Talking About TED provides selected TED Talks that expand on the basic concepts of leadership and cross-cultural communication, touching on self-development, leadership behavior, integrative thinking, team-building and gender issues.  Students’ reactions to the presentations will be posted to the blog along with your comments.

Stories that Matter presents real-world stories shared by workplace professionals in a study that examined the meaning of intercultural competence and how it plays out in the workplace and in their lives.

I hope these new features will stimulate your thoughts and prompt you to share them with an engaged group of students who are eager to learn. Thank you in advance for your contributions and support for the project.

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Posted on LinkedIn 4/8/16

   

We're Taking a Short Hiatus . . .

Thanks to everyone who has been following this blog and especially to those who have contributed to the conversation. Look for new features and a fresh approach to connecting students with each other and with workplace professionals, beginning in April 2016. 

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Posted on LinkedIn 1/26/16

Reflections: Holiday Celebrations in Childhood

Events of the morning led me to a memory of my family’s holiday traditions and inevitably to thoughts about Santa, aka my dad.

 

It all started with my posting to Facebook a photo of this year’s tree—illuminated with tiny, white lights and cherished ornaments (memories of Christmases gone by)—and a simple message wishing friends a happy holiday and a prosperous 2016.  Then, with a stack of unwrapped holiday gifts awaiting my attention, I climbed my trusty step stool to search the top shelf of the hall closet for leftover wrapping paper.  While my paper hunt came up short, I found something that meant so much more.  There they were, stacked neatly on the shelf: children’s books too special to pass along or give away—books that contributed to shaping my young children.

Among this beloved treasure trove of children’s literature was a United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) book titled Celebrations! Festivals, carnivals, and feast days from around the world.  Fresh, innocent faces of children from all over the globe graced the cover, their celebrations warmly conveyed through stories and photos.  The book’s authors, Barnabas and Anabel Kindersley, traveled for a year to 18 different countries, and the celebrations featured are unique to a particular country, culture, or religion.  Page after page served as a reminder of the similarities and the differences among countries, cultures, and religions.

As I leafed through the book’s pages—country after country—I wondered about the various cultures, traditions and childhood memories of my LinkedIn and Blog followers and wanted to know more.

So, with the holidays upon us, I invite you to share a memory of your family’s celebrations—good or bad, poignant or silly, sacred or secular.  I’ll begin by recounting one of my own.

It was days before the holiday and I was sitting on the bottom step of the stairs just outside my family’s living room.  I was perhaps just four years old.  The doorway was covered with a white sheet, enabling Santa (my dad) to construct the three-tier platform that would become a charming Christmas village laid out beneath the tree on Christmas morning. 

“Santa” and I talked all during the mysterious construction phase.  “But why can’t I help you, Santa?” I asked.  “Ho, ho, ho,” he answered in a very deep voice. “I’m working hard to surprise you on Christmas morning. If you help me, it won’t be a surprise.”  Exhausted by my unending questions (yes, I questioned everything, even then), Santa finally said, “Let’s be quiet now—I need to think about making Christmas fun for you and all of the other children on my list.”

My father handmade the elements of the Christmas village—the houses, the grocery store and the church, even the train trestle and the exterior fencing that prevented the authentic-looking, plastic snow from falling on the carpet.  Dad built mountains out of brown paper—perfectly crunched to represent a rugged terrain towering behind the village.  He “relocated” the wall mirror from my parents’ bedroom to create a skating rink, complete with skaters, and used one of my mother’s kitchen pans for a swimming pool, also complete with swimmers. The village was populated with small, metal people, pets, cars, taxis and busses. The noisy, electric train that traveled the circumference of the village—circling the tree over and over again—was great fun to operate. 

    

Although photos of that Christmas village have long since disappeared, the memories of my dad and my childhood Christmas tree remain in my heart.

If you are celebrating a holiday this season, I wish you a happy holiday, and a new year filled with all good things.

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Posted on LinkedIn 12/23/15 

            

A Global Imbroglio: The Question is this . . .

In a state of stunned disbelief, I sat immobilized watching the Paris massacres unfold.  Then, on the heels of Paris . . . the San Bernardino shootings emerged.  Media have since covered little else.  Journalists were herded in droves to Paris and California to recount the tragic events in hopes of capturing glimpses of new developments—pundits wasted no time spouting their reactions and predictions.  Graphic images and audio clips of explosions and gunfire conveyed what is described as our new normal.  Perpetrators’ final shots hadn’t yet ceased when these dramas turned political—accusations, excuses, posturing and finger-pointing. 

Despite a myriad of questions swirling in my brain, “Leadership in a Cross-Cultural World: A Crowd-Sourced Blog” has been silent since the events in Paris.

After wrestling with a few ideas—post my personal reactions? ask students to share their thoughts? remain silent?—I decided to invite you, my LinkedIn and blog followers, to share your thoughts, suggestions, reactions from the perspective of global leadership and cultural competence, as it relates to ISIS.

I point to the work of Judith Martin and Thomas Nakayama in their 2013 edition of Intercultural Communication in Contexts.  They emphasize the importance of a “dialectical” perspective in resolving complex, cultural situations, and speak to this approach as “a lens through which to view the complexities of a topic . . . looking at issues and ideas from various angles: culture, communication, context, and power.” 

A modification of Martin and Nakayama’s work, another dialectical model referred to as “Levels of Interaction Analysis”—Identity, Understanding, and Power and Politics—is a simple construct used to  move students to dialectical thinking for expanded framing and analysis. It’s structured like this:

• Identity (self and other)
Examining personal/internal identity

• Understanding (cultural, racial, religious, differences)
Understanding across any difference divide

• Power and Politics (history, politics, social movements)
Creating greater effectiveness when the first two levels (Identity and Understanding) are examined and understood.

The question is this:

Is it possible to comprehend the actions of ISIS and fundamentalist terrorism using the frameworks we have come to rely on to assess global leadership and intercultural competence?

A few questions I’ve asked myself:

• Is cultural analysis so different on a global scale? 

• Is it only through the lens of power and politics that we should now view the world? 

 

• Is cultural self-assessment, with the hope of better understanding self and other, a useless effort? 

If the answer is “No” to these questions, then, why are we mired in a “global imbroglio?” Don’t we have the tools—and the will—to begin addressing this problem factoring dialectics into the solution?

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Posted on LinkedIn 12/16/15 

Your thoughts . . . ?

"I would like to address the situation about dealing with those who are resistant to leadership. How does one lead in a situation where people aren't showing leadership and where people aren't responding to provided leadership?"

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Leadership: Charting a Course through a Personal Philosophy of Leadership . . . Daring to Declare with Passion

Part Three of a three-part exercise is now due in my current leadership courses—creating a “Personal Philosophy of Leadership.” I have noticed reactions to this assignment playing out in predictable patterns, leading me to reflect on the importance of the process. The assignment, designed for students to identify and establish themselves as leaders, requires scrutinizing leadership values, assumptions and beliefs, and unearthing personal convictions, challenges, goals, strengths and shortcomings.

Leadership is an elusive term in today’s world. Examining one’s leadership philosophy against the formal backdrop of leadership theory and practice elevates student learning to a meta level, an abstraction from the original concepts. Transitioning course learning—readings, discussions, case studies and self-assessment—to a substantive construct of a personal philosophy requires an in-depth interrogation of the internal self. What do I value? What are my assumptions? What are my goals? How am I perceived by others? How will I know when I have met my goals?

The Personal Philosophy of Leadership exercise encourages students to mine their strengths and weaknesses, while gently steering them to question who they are as leaders, to identify the leadership behaviors they are working toward, and to establish a framework for evaluating their own leadership performance.

Although positioned as a formal exercise supported by current thinking in the field of leadership, the assignment provides space for inspired perspectives.


“Express your passion,” I urge students as they begin to document their ideas. I also give them prompts to help them get in touch with that passion: “Try writing in the first person—it will help you to connect your thoughts with your writing. Ask yourself when, prior to this course, did someone inquire (or even consider) your leadership philosophy? When did you consider it, or share it with your followers, while encouraging them to construct their own?” And I remind students that completing this exercise represents more than checking off a course requirement: “Maximize this opportunity,” I tell them. “Consider it a gift to yourself that charts your lifelong leadership journey.”

The predictable pattern in students’ responses to my guidance goes something like this:

”What! Write in the first person? Express passion? Say what I feel? Can I do that in a formal paper? I want to restate what the theorists say . . . this is scary! It’s making me nervous. Passion? Who shows passion in organizational leadership? Oh, that’s right, the instructor emphasizes the importance of authentic leadership . . . the importance of looking beyond what we see . . . establishing a task/relationship balance. Is that what she means? I really need to think about this warm and fuzzy stuff. Passion . . . ??????
Eventually, after this brief perplexity, students turn to the task of developing their deeply personal philosophy of leadership. And, I’m proud to say, in this pattern they are also predictable: they never let me down. The excerpts below come from the conclusions section of papers recently submitted by students in one of my leadership courses. Through their reflection, experiences, challenges and a commitment to developing leadership skills, they offer us a window into how our future leaders see themselves and their obligations.

“ . . . being a leader among my peers, I worked tirelessly to gain my team’s trust and respect.”

“Most importantly, I will strive to become a skilled and diplomatic communicator who exudes authenticity and tact. I believe that directive will help me gain the experience to hone the skills . . .”

“In looking inwardly towards my own philosophy and personality, I believe I have the chops for what it takes . . . ”

“The world is still a big place that is full of big problems. There is room for everyone to contribute. I am confident that my chance is coming, and that my impact can be a lasting one.”

“I strive to have self-awareness and open-mindedness in order to understand context . . . to adapt my skills based on doing due diligence.”

“ . . . it is the characteristics and behaviors they develop by way of their defined values or the individual experiences that shape a leader’s perspective . . .”

“As we have learned from the content in this course, it is through experiencing the challenges of trying to lead in an unfamiliar environment that we are able to transform and grow our capabilities.”

“ . . . leaders must possess strong moral principles and ethics, which they live by and consistently demonstrate to their followers . . . ”

“Leadership is not only a quality but it's a lifestyle. It's something you live out daily.”

“. . . leaders are those who can influence others and help them find the best in themselves.”

So, there you have it, in their words, not mine; their “passion,” not mine.

Congratulations, students. You’ve charted your course . . . you’re on your way!

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Published on LinkedIn 11/12/15 

Leadership . . . The Journey of a Quote Begins with its First Reading: Where does it then lead us?

"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new lands,

but in seeing with new eyes."

~Marcel Proust~

After stumbling upon Proust’s quote above a number of years ago, I chose it as my signature introduction, highlighting it on the home page of all of my online course material in leadership, global leadership and intercultural communication. The quote continues to resonate with me.  As often as I have heard and read it, the simplicity, depth and power of Proust’s words speak so eloquently, yet so subtly, to the very essence and nature of the topics I teach.

As for my students, my guess is the first day they enter my course’s learning system they quickly glance at Proust’s words and conclude they have a flaky or—if they are kind—a quirky professor.  Then, like most things one sees constantly, the quote fades into the background and perceptual blindness takes over--when students log in, they simply no longer see it.


By mid-quarter, when the leadership and cross-cultural communication concepts we’ve examined so far no longer seem like so many pieces of string too short to be useful but instead are finally beginning to interweave, link together and become meaningful for students, I introduce the quote again, this time on the Discussion Board.

Question: Does Proust's quote, posted on the course home page, speak to leadership in general, and to the leadership topics we have examined to date?  If so, how?  If not, why not?

The excerpts below were taken from some of the responses posted by students in my current “Foundations of Leadership” course.

“Although shifting perspective and ‘seeing with new eyes’ can be a powerful leadership tool, ‘new lands’ should not be completely counted out as there is always uncharted territory and innovative, creative ways to lead!"


 “The journey seems to beckon to understanding yourself as a leader and self-awareness.”

“The tools and techniques I have learned in this course are all about looking at things with new pair of eyes."


“In seeing with new eyes - specifically the eyes of their followers - the leader can achieve new levels of effectiveness.”

“ . . . the common element is not only being open to learning (‘seeing with new eyes’) but to actively seek learning opportunities (‘new lands’).”

“It's a great thing to see someone in a different light and recognize them for the gifts they offer. But if you are not able to act on that new recognition it's not effective leadership.”


“The ‘discovery’ aspect of leadership is really important. Leadership isn't a static position. It is critical to constantly refine, tailor and examine one's style in order to improve both your own skills but also those of whom you lead.”


“ . . . sometimes, we are in a new land so to speak – maybe literally.  Sometimes, it isn’t just readjusting our interpretations to fit changes in circumstances.  Sometimes, we are in a new, unfamiliar place, & then we need to learn first, & then adjust & re-adjust our attitudes & actions with our better informed eyes.”

“The quote is spot on in regards to ‘seeing with new eyes’ and how leadership is truly successful. To be a successful leader, you need to be able to look at your surroundings and understand each situation at hand. When you understand the situation, you can apply a particular model or method, and can guess what the result will be . . . "

“Adaptation will require leaders to see with new eyes, to change their ideas.”


“I’m unsure if this quote can be fully applied to the materials we have covered so far on leadership.  The quote in itself is very metaphysical in nature.  If you were to try and apply it to our leadership coursework and the various theories we have learned, it may be possible with some of the theories but not all.  In regards to leadership, this quote implies that there is essentially nothing new to discover in leadership (or the world really) but rather it is in new ways of understanding and interpreting what we already know that we can gain better insight into leadership.”


Yes, I believe they get it!  Do you agree?


Thank you, Marcel Proust.

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Posted on LinkedIn 11/2/15 

Your thoughts . . . ?

"What are some of the most common themes in leadership theory that are prevalent across culture and history?"

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Leadership . . . "Personhood" in Leadership: Am I asking the right quesitons?

Now into the fourth week of a fully online graduate course, “Foundations of Leadership,” my students and I have covered defining leadership and examining (with an eye toward cross-cultural competence) leadership traits, skills, culture and ethics.

Whether presenting online, classroom or hybrid courses, I find that Discussion questions are invaluable in assessing students’ ability to articulate and expand on the issues rather than just regurgitate from the text. Early in the quarter, I clearly state that I do not require students to post a specific number of contributions to the Discussion board—this is a graduate course, for goodness sake! Instead, to entice engagement, I rely on the questions being relevant to their lives, my ability to probe for deeper thinking, and the enthusiasm of fellow students conveyed in their responses. And it works. Through their reactions, ideas, and sharing of personal experiences, this exceptionally bright group of students do a great job of expanding each others' understanding of the basic theories and models of leadership as we move through the course from theory to practice.

That is, with one notable exception, which I’ll explain.

Recently, while searching for a book hidden somewhere on my unkempt bookshelves that I thought would inform a discussion on “Skills versus Process-based Approach to Leadership,” I stumbled upon Integrity by Dr. Henry Cloud. With a second cup of coffee in hand, I settled into my comfy reading chair and began exploring its pages. Before long (page 9, actually) I came across this passage:

Who a person is will ultimately determine if their brains, talents, competencies, energy, effort, deal-making abilities, and opportunities will succeed

It is one's makeup as a person, in ways much more than ethics alone, that takes people to success or enables them to sustain it if they ever achieve it.  While character includes our usual understanding of ethics and integrity it is much more than that.  Another way of putting it is that ethical functioning is a part of character, but not all of it.  And it certainly is not all of what affects whether someone is successful or becomes a good leader. 

In my own experience in over twenty years of working with CEOs, boards, managers, management teams, VPs, partners, supervisors, investors, and those who have a stake in their performance, I have seen many honest, ethical people of "integrity" who were not making it in some way.  While they all were people of good "character," the reality is that their "personhood" was still preventing their talents and brains from accomplishing all that was in their potential.  Some aspects to who they were as people that they had never seen as important to develop were keeping them from reaching the heights that all of the other investments they had made should have afforded them.  While they met the criteria for having "integrity," they also left behind a trail of falling short in some key areas of performance that left them as well as their stakeholders and the people who depend on them wanting more.  They were unable to successfully:

. Gain the complete trust of the people they were leading and capture their full hearts and following.

. See all of the realities that were right in front of them.  They had blind spots regarding themselves, others, or even the markets, customers, projects, opportunities, or other external realities that kept them from reaching their goals.

. Work in a way that actually produced the outcomes that they should have produced given their abilities and resources.

. Deal with problem people, negative situations, obstacles, failures, setbacks, and losses.

. Create growth in their organization, their people, themselves, their profits, or their industry.

. Transcend their own interests and give themselves to larger purposes, thus becoming part of a larger mission.

These kinds of issues have little to do with IQ, talent, brains, education, training or most of the other important components of success.  Instead, they have to do with the other aspects of character functioning that we pay way too little attention to in training people to be leaders and to be successful.  The most important tool ultimately is the person and his or her makeup, and yet it seems to get the least amount of attention and work.  Mostly, we focus on professional skills and knowledge instead.

Eager to share this provocative excerpt with my students and read their reactions, I posted it to the Discussion Board and added the following questions:

How, in your opinion, does Dr. Henry Cloud's thinking concur with your own?   Does the excerpt expand our current discussion?  If yes, how?  If not, why not?

Much to my disappointment, no one responded. This no-one-came experience left me asking myself the following questions:

. Do my Discussion questions encourage students to consider the role “personhood” plays in leadership?

. Do the concepts of emotional intelligence, social intelligence, cultural intelligence, etc., truly speak to the development of “personhood”?

. Considering that leadership is an elusive term, complicated by the sheer number of leadership-related publications and the possible over-exposure of the subject, can students make meaning of the concept in their individual lives?

For me, the big takeaway was to ask myself, “Am I asking the right questions?” As an instructor, this is the question that will continue to challenge me.  

Reference:
Cloud, H. (2006).  Integrity: The courage to meet the demands of reality.  New York, NY: Harper.  ISBN: 978-0-06-084969-6

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Posted on LinkedIn 10/14/15 

Your thoughts . . . ?

“The biggest challenge I face in the workplace is how to effectively and graciously address language barriers in cross-cultural communication.”

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