Global Business Leadership:
How Cultural Competency and
GeoleadershipTM Merge
Dr. Eileen (E.S.) Wibbeke
October 21, 2009
Silicon Valley
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Agenda
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Information folders
Word associations
Define leadership
Define culture
Define Geoleadership™
Dimensions of culture
Geoleadership™ Model
Good and bad examples of Geoleadership™
Q&A
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Leader
• What is the first word that pops into your head when you hear the word
“leader”
• So, was the word you wrote down positive, negative, or neutral?
• By a show of hands, who wrote down something neutral? Something
positive, something negative?
• We see that with an international audience, the word “leader” calls for
different associations in different people
• First – they may have had different experiences with leaders
• Second – they (i.e. leaders and followers) may have different
personalities
• Third – Their association is also influenced by country from which they
come – their national culture
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Linguistic Differences
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Differences in associations with word “leader” are somehow reflected in our
national languages
• “Leader” and/or “leadership” is English word and much of the leadership
literature comes from Britain and US
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------• German - Führung,” means guidance, and in organizations, it is construed to
consist of uncertainty reduction”
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Arabic - Literally, “Sheikh” means a man over forty. However, in the Gulf and
Saudi Arabia “Sheikh” means a person from the Royal Family. In Egypt,
“Sheikh” means a scholar of religion
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French - conduite,” means to guide one’s own behavior, to guide others, or
command action”
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Chinese - leadership, 领导, means the leader and the led. The Leader is one
who “walks in front” and guides the group through teaching “the way”
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Culture
• Hofstede defines culture as “collective programming of the mind that
distinguishes one group or category of people from another”
• Culture influences your leadership decision-making process
• Culture initially provides your survival tools to interact with world
around you – cultural comfort zone
• Tri-partite cultural variable: national culture in which you are born;
national culture in which you now live/work; org. culture in which you
now work – all affect your behavior; attitudes, and values
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Influence of Culture on Behavior and Behavior on Culture
Culture
Behavior
Values
Attitudes
Source: Adler, 2009
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Leadership + Culture = Geoleadership™
• Geoleadership™ is leading others across geographies
and cultures
• Geoleadership ™ focuses on how national culture affects
bottom line in business leadership
• Remember: Culture is key – “cultural backpack”
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New Word Association
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Who is your favorite leader (i.e. historical, political, cultural, personal, etc.)?
Only thing I want to know is whether the name you wrote down is a man or a
woman.
Who chose a woman? A man?
Probably few people surprised that percentage of favorite leader who is a
woman differs from one country to another.
In countries with free elections, both the percentages of women elected and
percentages of women in government positions differ enormously from one
country to another
Scandinavia has highest percentage of female government delegates and
ministers (37-42%); Britain though has 20% women in parliament and 22% in
government
For US, 15-18% in House of Representatives and/or other government posts
(i.e. Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, etc.)
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Relationship Between Variables
• Between 1st and 2nd round of questions and answers, there is a
relationship
• In countries where many respondents have positive association with
“leader”, fewer people will choose a woman as their favorite leader
• Note: Talking here about countries, not about persons
• We have found in countries where more people have positive
associations with word “leader”, fewer people choose woman as their
favorite leader. However, these need not be the same individuals
• A country is not inhabited by stereotyped individuals, but by different
individuals who interact.
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Associations and Relationships
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Now we have seen several different phenomena in national cultures that tend
to go together one way or another
More or fewer positive associations with word “leader”
Fewer or more as favorite leaders
Shows associated examples of national cultures known as masculinity versus
femininity
Example: Nordic countries and Holland score high on the feminine dimension
Britain and US are more closely related on the masculine dimension
Position of a country’s culture on the masculinity versus femininity dimension
influences way people think and feel about leadership;
Leadership is all about relationships
In masculine cultures, the leader is a masculine cultural hero, even if she is a
woman (i.e. US; Germany)
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New Word Association – John or James
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John is decisive leader; dares to make decisions and ensures that they are
carried out
James is accessible leader – his door is usually open if people want to talk to him
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Please write down your answer
Please raise your hand if you chose John. And, who chose James?
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Choice between a decision versus an accessible leader brings us to another
dimension of national culture known as Power Distance – large versus small
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Power Distance is the extent to which the less powerful members of institutions
and organizations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed
equally
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Norway is a country with a relatively small Power Distance and so is Britain
Russia and China are examples of countries with very large Power Distance
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Power Distance
Level of Power Distance in a country related to follower’s
respect for their organizational leaders
Also relates to occurrence of corruption
Berlin-based organization, Transparency International
(www.transparency.org) ,publishes annual Corruption
Perception Index for almost all countries of the world
Globally, Index is strongly related to national poverty; poor
countries are seen as more corrupt
If people cannot feed their families, they need extra income
to get by
Often thin line between what is cultural versus what is
criminal
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New Word Association
• Choose between Amanda and Belinda
• Amanda believes that good leaders are born and so are bad leaders
• Belinda believes that whether someone is a good or bad leader
depends on situation
• Choose Amanda if you believe there are good leaders and bad
leaders
• Choose Belinda if you believe that who is a good leader or a bad
leader depends on the situation
• Who chose Amanda? Who chose Belinda?
• This shows that you can believe in good and bad as given facts
versus believing in power of how the situation relates to this
dimension of national culture – Short-Term Orientation versus LongTerm Orientation
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Long-Term Orientation versus Short-Term Orientation
• Short-term organizations take their guidance from past and from
present needs
• Long-Term Orientation organizations adapt themselves to reach a
desirable future
• US and Britain, but also many Islamic and Black African countries
foster a short-term orientation
• China, Japan, India, and several other East Asian countries can be
found more toward long-term orientation
• Example: People with STO buy on credit; people in LTO societies
save
• In past 50 years, most economic growth in world has taken place in
long-term oriented societies
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Summary Thus Far
• What makes a good leader differs between national cultures
• We have seen influence of Masculinity versus Femininity in a society,
about Long versus Small Power Distance, and about Long versus
Short Term Orientation
• Characteristics of a good leader depend on situation – the cultural
situation – situational leadership
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Geoleadership™ = Culture + Leadership
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Hofstede’s cultural dimensions relate directly to Geoleadership™
competencies (7 Cs)
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Geoleadership™ derived from Global Business Leadership Study
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The purpose of the qualitative research study was to determine best
intercultural leadership competencies vital to U.S. business leaders in the era
of globalization.
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Even though research focused on US business leaders, results are
applicable across countries, with necessary localization
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Study was first ever web-based Delphi research focused on intercultural
leadership competencies - Geoleadership™ Model emerged
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Methodology Details and Geoleadership™ Model
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Delphi methodology involves reaching agreement from group of participating
(i.e. intercultural experts) over three rounds of sequential questioning
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Seven key intercultural competencies needed for leaders interacting in global
business marketplace
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Competencies include:
 Capability
 Care
 Change
 Communication
 Contrasts
 Consciousness
 Context
www.globalbusinessleadership.com
In red folder also
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Research Finding
QUESTION: What Intercultural Competencies Can U.S. Business
Leaders Develop to Compete Globally?
RESULT: Ability for leader’s own self-awareness ranked highest
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------GEOLEADERSHIP COMPETENCY: Consciousness
Self-awareness of one’s own cultural background and bias
A Geoleader must:
Expand consciousness as cultural contexts shift around him or her
*Will look at business examples of global marketing errors from market
leaders
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Example: Consciousness (Poor Geoleadership™)
Case Study:
• Burger King in Mexico
• Ad to promote new Texican Whopper was conceived and implemented for European
market and was successful there
• Same ad shown in Mexico with no localization for Mexican market
• Ad for Texican Whopper featured a tall American cowboy, a short, round Mexican
wrestler draped in a cape resembling Mexico's flag
• Tagline stated, “The taste of Texas with a little spicy Mexican"
• Uproar from Mexican citizens
• Mexico is protesting the ads due to its stereotypical portrayal of Mexicans and offensive
use of the Mexican flag, mostly in the printed ad.
• BOTTOM LINE: Even though ad was successful in one market, does not mean it
will automatically be successful in another, even if you think you are “speaking
to” the local population
• Example of marketing leadership error not paying attention to culture
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Texican Whopper
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNabO2d-zbw
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Research Finding
How Can U.S. Business Leaders Negotiate and Make Decisions
within Intercultural Situations?
The panelists stated that context was key when making decisions
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------GEOLEADERSHIP COMPETENCY: Context
Situational perspective with no judgment
A Geoleader must:
Understand each culturally learned behavior in the context of where that
behavior originates and appears = situational, cultural leadership
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Example: Context (Good Geoleadership™)
Case Study:
• Fulla (Syrian Barbie)
• Damascus’ firm, looking to create a doll that reflected Islamic values. Many in
Middle East see Barbie not as a doll, but rather as an ambassador of
decadent Western culture. Fulla was created.
• Doll was an immediate sensation when released in Syria in 2003. Within two
years of its launch, 1.5 million Fulla dolls had been sold. Marketed much like
Barbie.
• But unlike Barbie's blue eyes, Fulla has brown eyes, darker skin and black
hair. She can pick from a wide variety of head scarves and long coats.
• BOTTOM LINE: A local firm can create a localized version of a popular
world brand and directly compete with established marked leaders
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Fulla
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHujJSCJC1o&feature=related
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Where in the World is Your Leader?
Q&A
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