Many companies do not leverage the great diversities of culture found within their organizations to drive value, even those which operate across borders and continents.

Cultural inclusiveness is not a passing fad. Understanding cultural biases and preferences is critical for leaders, especially those who lead individuals and teams in remote locations and different countries. A leader’s ability to understand naturally diverse approaches to work, interpersonal communications, hierarchical respect, and other cultural norms will directly impact the success of any cross-border strategy implementation.

The process for leading individuals and teams with cultural awareness and sensitivity is fairly easy to understand. But first it takes exposure to the biases and preferences found in other cultures and how these might impact the leader’s ability to successfully lead.

Since almost all organizations today have cross-border operations, market in various countries and geographies around the world, or have multinational workforces, we recommend incorporating the topic of cross-cultural leadership in all our leadership development programs. The extent of this incorporation naturally depends on the structure and geographic focus of our clients.

Caliente Leadership senior leadership facilitator Steven Howard brings a truly international, cross-cultural perspective to our leadership development programs, having lived in the USA for 26 years, in Singapore for 21 years and in Australia for 12 years.

Since 1988 he has delivered leadership development programs in the U.S., Asia, Australia, Africa, and Europe to numerous multinational organizations, including Citicorp, Covidien, DBS Bank, Deutsche Bank, Dupont Lycra, Esso Productions, ExxonMobil, Hewlett Packard, Micron Technology, Motorola Solutions, SapientNitro, Standard Chartered Bank, and others.

Contact me today ([email protected]  or 760-835-7870) to discuss how to bring best-practice cross-cultural leadership skills into your organization.