The Five Principles of Global Leadership

By presenting the five principles of leadership in a global context, the book compares global and domestic leadership, cognitive complexity, and the development of global leaders. The first task in understanding the impact of the five principles is to form a true definition of global leadership. The definition encompasses more than just selling products across national boundaries.

A Global Leader is a person who leads across cultures with systems, processes, and relationships in a complex environment.

Complex, cross-cultural leadership can happen within the geographical boundaries of one nation or can span over oceans and across multiple countries. During my most recent trip to India, I was in a meeting with the top leaders of an organization. I noticed that the leaders segmented and formed groups that were discussing issues in their respective mother tongues. Among the 15 participants in the training, there were five different languages, five different people groups, and five different cultures. This is why English is the organizational language for most Indian companies. Even though the organization only operates inside the geographical boundaries of India, these leaders are global leaders.

Using the above definition, academic research, and my experiences, I will describe the five leadership principles that allow global leaders to manage the complexities with systems, processes, and relationships. These are the foundational principles that all leaders need to exhibit, and they are the building blocks for other necessary characteristics of an effective leader. We all have an opportunity to lead in some part of life, but those who implement principles of integrity, purpose, sacrifice, discipline, and compassion are most likely remembered as leaders who made a positive impact in their organization, communities, and world. If a person applies these characteristics to life, he or she will see fruit from the investment and build credibility and experiences that will attract followers, which is important because you are not a leader unless you have followers.

Principle #1 Integrity

Adheres to and acts in alignment with a set of core values and beliefs; keeps his/her word and commitments; establishes credibility with others by ‘walking the talk’; provides honest feedback in an appropriate and helpful manner; admits mistakes; doesn’t misrepresent self for personal gain; maintains confidentiality; is seen as a truthful and trustworthy leader.

In global leadership, your character is tested on a regular basis. Each crisis of leadership requires a global leader to decipher core values from cultural values. Before you can decipher these differences, you must have a clear understanding of your own core values.

Principle #2 Purpose

Understands and clearly articulates an inspired vision of the company’s goals and mission; aligns team’s goals with company’s goals; committed to the company’s core values and culture.

When leading across cultures, the global leader must carefully communicate the vision in order to ensure it is effective in reaching the target audience. Articulating a vision depends not just on the words used but on the leader’s character and integrity.

Principle #3 Sacrifice

A leader is willing to sacrifice in three primary areas.

1. Individual- Being a leader means you sacrifice individually for your purpose to be achieved.

2. Family- In leadership you constantly have to ask your family to sacrifice, so they must believe in your cause just as much as you do.

3. Those you serve- Everyone wants a piece of your attention and time. Even the people you serve will need to sacrifice and allow you to grow as a leader.

The demands of travel alone are enough to challenge the sacrificial ability of a global leader and his or her family. But an even greater challenge for a global leader is sacrificing one’s local identity in order to gain global followers.

Principle #4 Discipline

Discipline is an aspect of self-control. A leader has to be disciplined in many areas, but the two most important are time and priorities. The leader who is disciplined with time and priorities accomplishes goals and objectives.

Virtual teams and time zone differences are some of the challenges that require the global leader to manage time and priorities well. The ability to lead change also takes a discipline that is unique.

Principle #5 Compassion

Emotional intelligence is extremely important in becoming a leader and most of all in developing new leaders for the next generation. Of all the soft skills, this is the most extreme soft skill. A leader struggles without it because the essence of leadership is having loyal followers and being able to develop more leaders. Without the leadership principle of compassion, a leader will struggle to develop others into effective leaders.

Compassion is a hard trait to exhibit in one’s own culture and even more so in multiple cultures. How a global leader communicates with and treats the next generation of leaders is as important as the process. Inappropriate words or cultural insensitivities can cause a leader to be labeled as weak or hegemonistic. Both are damaging to relationships and decrease the effectiveness of leadership.