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Women and Global
Leadership:
Coloring Outside
the Lines-Around
the World
Barbara T. Bauer
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Agenda
10:30-10:45
10:45-11:15
11:15-11:45
11:45-12:15
Introductions
Global Leadership
Case Study
Readout, Q&A
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“Two years ago globalization meant paring off a function and moving it abroad: a factory in
China, a call center in India. The key driver was cost. Today, CEOs see globalization as
intrinsic to their business, the means of accessing the best resources wherever they are. It is
the gateway to new markets.”-2008 IBM CEO Study
Why focus on women and global leadership?
Why focus on women and global leadership?
The world is global, and needs women
global leaders.
• At home: school, sports, travel,
immigration
• On the job: executive, management,
and individual global relationships
• In the community: church, non-profits,
political organizations
“Women will change the nature of power. Power will not change
the nature of women.” Bella Abzug, State of the World, 1996
Why focus on women and global leadership?
The world is global, and needs
women global leaders.
• At home
• On the job
• In the community
Women have essential skills
• Intrinsic
• Learned
“A woman leader has a distinctive approach as the organization’s
chief “storyteller’, personifying a sense of community and telling a
story that helps shape people’s sense of their identity.” Mary
Robinson,former President of Ireland, 1996
Why focus on women and global leadership?
The world is global, and needs
women global leaders.
• At home
• On the job
• In our communities
Women have essential skills
• Intrinsic
• Learned
Practice makes perfect
“…non-verbal cues, emotional sensitivity, empathy, patience,
a broad contextual view, long term planning, networking and
negotiating, cooperating, reaching consessus, and leading via
egalitarian teams.” Tom Peters quoting Helen Fischer, The
First Sex.
Before we practice, some insight about the challenge
Increasing:
• Geographic diversity
• Cultural diversity
• Frequency of global interactions
• Content complexity (the deal, the task)
• Both more and less “in person”
Decreasing:
• Jobs with no global attribute
• Situations that can rely strictly on “masculine” traits
Let’s understand some personal skills
Cultural Intelligence: the ability to understand and
engage successfully in any environment or cultural
setting with behaviors that optimize the situations.
Emotional Intelligence: a self-perceived ability to
identify, assess, and manage the emotions of one's self,
of others, and of groups. Leadership based on selfawareness, self-regulation, empathy.
Social Intelligence: Leadership based on effective
group interactions and behaviors.
Cultural Intelligence:
Guiding Principle: Assume others have different ways to approach situations,
from hand shakes to conversations to signing major contracts. Appreciate that
cultural “norms” are stereotypes that may not be true of an individual.
Examples:
•
•
•
•
Asian seating arrangements
Saying “yes” in India
“It is obvious.” in Germany vs. the UK
Bare feet as a sign of respect
Challenges:
• Too many countries (e.g. APEC leadership meetings)
• Too easy to generalize and stereotype
There are too many different cultures and individuals to rely strictly on
the study of cultural differences. Leaders today must adapt to the current
“situation”, using and integrating all their skills.
Cultural Intelligence:
Guiding Principle: Assume others have different ways to approach
situations, from hand shakes to conversations to signing major contracts.
Appreciate that cultural “norms” are stereotypes that may not be true of
an individual.
Examples:
•
•
•
•
Asian seating arrangements
Saying “yes” in India
“It is obvious.” in Germany vs. the UK
Bare feet as a sign of respect
Challenges:
• Too many countries (e.g. APEC leadership meetings)
• Too easy to generalize and stereotype
There are too many different cultures and individuals to rely
on the study of cultural differences, leaders today must adapt to
the current “situation”, using and integrating all their skills.
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Cultural Research Studies
5 common dimensions of culture (Hofstede)
•Power Distance
•Long-term orientation
•Avoiding uncertainty
•Acceptance of competitiveness
•Individualism Orientation
Findings:
•Western countries have common, strong
“individualism”, lower “long-term” scores
•Asian countries tend toward “long-term” and
“power acceptance” scores, but some are
quite diverse
•France is most like Asia
Asian versus Western Tendencies
Views Employer As
Father
Colleague
Perception of Orders
Always
follow
command
Modify and
improve
orders
Rules
followed
Self-starting,
demonstrates
creativity
Resign rather
than air
grievance
Dissatisfaction with
Workplace
Quick to
voice
grievance
Rewards
Voicing Opinion
Meetings are to
listen to
superiors
Goals
achieved
Demonstration of Commitment
Company
Hard work
loyalty above
and honesty
all
above all
Preferences for Supervision
Strict
instructions,
avoid
uncertainty
Measure of Job Welldone
Meetings are to
provide input
Pay based
on tenure
Pay based
on merit
From G. Perchthold presentation, Abeam Consulting, 2005
As expected, communications patterns vary depending on
culture causing miscommunication across cultures
Tendencies in Communication Patterns
United States
France
A
confront
all the
cards
BASE
spell it
all out
FIGHT
concession
conciliation
provoke
do the business as soon as possible
on the
table
loude sarcasm
r
is
kidding Commu
nication
Done
of
imaginatio
n
summary
logic
CLARIT
Y
reinforce
logic
Mainland China
refuse
crunch
BASE
rationality
approach
South Korea
KOREAN ELASTIC
TRUTH
logic
BASE
use
powers
restate
position
verbose
Done
BASE
moderate
moral
tough
louder
harmony
negotiations behind the scenes
semiconfrontation
al
position &
power…
CLARITY
without
losing face
point
• relative truth
• only good
news
creative serious
deceptively
• what they think
you
want
to
•
general
tendency
to
make
quick
sales
or
business
general tendency: quick sales or business
hear
flashes
• what they would like
adaptable
intense
of humor
to be true
• what they think has
a chance to be true
• what is temporarily
true
From G. Perchthold presentation, Abeam Consulting, 2005
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Dangers of talking about culture
• Subject to generalities, there are always exceptions
• Always biased by preconceptions from personal experience
• Culture, history, truth all depend on your vantage point
• Most of us have experience, and don’t realize our blind
spots
“Being right” about cultural sensitivities is a dead end.
“Being culturally intelligent” is an opportunity
Our Task Today: Practice and Reflect
Practice in a small group case study:
–4 “roles”
–4 observers
–Use intrinsic and learned personal skills (“intelligences”)
–Refer to handouts on “intelligences” at your table
–15 min for activity
–10 min for sharing insights at your table, and selecting one key
insight or learning to share
Act authentically always, especially in complex cultural
settings.
Type of
Intelligence
Cultural
Emotional
Social
Good
Example
Example to
Improve
Suggestions
Case Study
Beth works for a Denver firm with many international projects. She has just been
assigned to the project team designing the opening ceremony for the London
Olympics. Her team members include Li from China, Andrew from London, and Indira
from India. This core team is newly appointed. There is a bigger team including
representatives of all countries, but this core team is responsible for bringing the plan
back on schedule, and directing the work of the larger group.
This is the first conference call to get the new core team organized and off to a good
start.
Participant: Choose one of the roles (US, China, London, India ) and carry out your
role’s behaviors. Use your instincts as well as any learned insights or behaviors. Think
(Color???) “outside the box”.
Observers: Listen to the conversation and note good/not so good examples of
applying “intelligence” or instincts. Think (Color???) “outside the box”.
After 15 min, share observations and choose one important insight to read out to the
group.
“The key to working globally is not to seek homogeneity…” IBM 2009 Global CEO Study
Case Study Read Out
Please share A good, BRIEF example of “intelligences”
observed on the call.
And, any other insights….
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Questions and Answers
Barbara T. Bauer
President
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