ABSTRACT
Leadership professor Jim Clawson believes that being a leader boils down to one’s point of view, rather than one’s title or status (2006: 4). In his opinion, the leadership point of view has three elements: “1) seeing what needs to be done; 2) understanding all the underlying forces at play in a situation; and 3) having the courage to initiate action to make things better” (Clawson 2006: 6). This chapter is all about making organizations better and making a difference, which fits with our definition of global leaders as change agents. One can readily argue that it is more difficult to see what needs to be done on a global level and understand all the underlying forces in a more complex setting. It’s undoubtedly more problematic to successfully change the mindset and behavior of followers and partners who come from diverse cultural and organizational backgrounds. Global leaders face the arduous task of catalyzing and steering change efforts and aligning extremely large and far-flung multinational corporations. While leading and managing change is always challenging, no matter where it takes place, we make the assumption that it is more difficult in a global setting. That said, global leaders are in a position to have a broad impact with their ideas and to foster the agility, innovation, and rapid learning capacity crucial to business survival and success.
