Innovating Leadership:
Co-Creating Our Future

Hosted by Maureen Metcalf

Conversations with global thought leaders on leadership, culture, and innovation—designed for executives navigating complexity and building resilient organizations.

International Leadership – One Size Doesn’t Fit All

Episode Description

What builds trust in one country can quietly erode it in another, a reality that trips up even seasoned leaders working across borders. Dr. Mansour Javidan draws on the GLOBE 2020 research project, involving more than 400 researchers worldwide, to show which leadership qualities are universal and which must flex to fit cultural context. His examples, from how quarterly targets signal reliability to how social rituals establish trust, make clear that a global mindset is now a core executive competency rather than a nice to have.

Key Takeaways

Effective leadership behaviors vary across cultures, so approaches that build trust in one country can undermine it in another.
Trust functions as a biological imperative, yet the ways it develops differ meaningfully from culture to culture.
Some leadership competencies are truly universal, while others only work when adapted to local norms.
Storytelling and shared narrative build cohesive teams regardless of where those teams are located.
A global mindset, grounded in rigorous cross cultural research, is essential for leaders operating internationally.

Why This Episode Matters

It shows executives leading across borders how to distinguish the leadership fundamentals that travel from the practices that must adapt to culture.

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Featuring

Dr. Mansour Javidan, Executive Director, Najafi Global Mindset Institute

Episode Topics

Culture Change • Leadership Capability & Maturity • Team Effectiveness Under Pressure

Podcast Air Date

September 27, 2023

Episode Duration

50min

Watch the episode

Season 9

Episode Number 53

Episode Content:

What do getting a little drunk and meeting quarterly quotas have in common for leaders? They each build trust with your team — depending on what country you’re in!

Guest Mansour Javidan has studied the similarities — and differences — in effective leadership in cultures across the globe. He shares the results of his research in this episode…especially the common qualities you’ll need to be a great leader no matter where you are.

Here’s what Mansour and host Maureen Metcalf cover:

The importance of crafting a story with your team, no matter what nation they’re in;
The roots of trust, and why it’s a need hard-wired into our biology; and
The universal traits of good leadership (plus a few fun differences!).

This episode is produced in partnership with the International Leadership Association: https://ilaglobalnetwork.org.

Other episodes you’ll enjoy:

The Secret Code to Uncommon Leadership – with Ruchira Chaudhary
Building Trust in Uncertainty: A Personal & Professional Journey – with Dr. Mary Jo Burchard
Digital Body Language: How to Build Trust & Connection – with Erica Dhawan

For daily wisdom from our guests, be sure to follow us on LinkedIn. We’re on Instagram, Threads, and Twitter, too!

Resources:

You can learn more about Mansour’s work with the GLOBE 2020 project at https://globeproject.com. The latest information on the Thunderbird School of Management at Arizona State University is online at https://thunderbird.asu.edu.

Our host, Maureen Metcalf, posts a newsletter every week on LinkedIn. You can subscribe here.

She’s also written several award-winning books on leadership development. You can peruse and purchase them here. Her latest, Innovative Leadership & Followership in the Age of AI, is available at https://www.innovativeleadershipfieldbook.com/book-series/innovative-leadership-followership-in-the-age-of-ai.

Books we’re reading for fun or personal development right now include:

Three Rocks: The Story of Ernie Bushmiller, the Man Who Created Nancy by Bill Griffith
The Five Lost Superpowers: Why We Lost Them & Hot to Get Them Back by John Reid, et al
The Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin

Other episodes you’ll enjoy

Decision Velocity: The Leadership System for Better Decisions with Dr. Christopher Washington and Greg Moran
Leading Smart Cities: Transforming Work & Life with Nikki Greenberg and Ugo Valenti
Agape Capitalism: Can Ethics & Profit Coexist in Business? with Jim Grote and Tom Grote

Guest(s):

Dr. Mansour Javidan, Executive Director, Najafi Global Mindset Institute

Guest(s) Bio:

Multiple award-winning executive educator and author whose teaching and research interests span the globe, Dr. Mansour Javidan received his MBA and Ph.D. degrees from the Carlson School at the University of Minnesota. He is the Garvin Distinguished Professor and Executive Director of the Najafi Global Mindset Institute at Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University.

Mansour is the Past President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the world-renowned research project on national culture and leadership, titled GLOBE (Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness, globeproject.com). He is a coeditor of the 2004 GLOBE book. Mansour is currently the Project Director and Principal Co-Investigator of GLOBE 2020, working with a team of 426 researchers studying culture change, leadership ideals, and trust dynamics. Dr. Javidan was recently recognized as among the top 100 most influential (i.e., top 0.6%) authors in Organization Behavior in the world. He is also recognized as among the top 2% most cited scientists in the field of business and management in the world. The World Bank and the United Nations Development Program have designated Dr. Javidan as an expert advisor on Global Leadership.

Transcript