Every day the business world is revolutionised by new technological advancements and other factors. The pace of change in business varies from industry to industry but there is no stopping it. Therefore it is very important for leaders to adapt and change with the flow to be more effective as well as keep their respective organisations relevant to the changing times.

1. LEADERSHIP IN AN
ERA OF
GLOBALISATION
The Characteristics Required By A
Global Leader To Operate In The
21st Century.
B Y S U L T A N S U L E M A N C H A U D H R Y

2. HOW
GLOBALISATION
EFFECTS US ALL
Today’s pace of change is implacable in this
globalised era where new technological
innovations have changed the way we work,
operate and how we communicate with
others.
Exploiting new opportunities and markets has
resulted in lot of the traditional barriers being
broken and many new developments have
taken place.
Increasing number of collaboration between
companies and people has given rise to
diverse workforce culture in multitude of
organisations around the globe.

3. WHY WE
NEED
GLOBAL
LEADERS
One can debate whether leaders
are born or developed but there
are people who are born to lead.
Every day the business world is
revolutionised by new
technological advancements and
other factors.
The pace of change in business
varies from industry to industry
but there is no stopping it.
Therefore it is very important for
leaders to adapt and change with
the flow to be more effective as
well as keep their respective
organisations relevant to the
changing times.

4. THE FOLLOWING ARE SOME OF
THE CHARACTERISTICS NEEDED
FOR A GLOBAL LEADER TO
OPERATE IN THE 21ST CENTURY
WITH DISTINCTION.

5. 01
BE TRUE & HONEST
TO YOURSELF
First and foremost
leaders need to have
a better
understanding of
themselves and their
own identity because
the sooner they
realize the better it is
in the longer run.
Don’t live your life in
denial mode.
Because it might not
be that harmful to you
now but in later years
you will regret when
you are unable to
change and have your
own limitations.
(i)

6. 01
BE TRUE & HONEST
TO YOURSELF
If you don’t know
what you are doing
or having some
difficulty in leading
a project then do
not be afraid to ask
or seek help and
support.
Don’t put off something
for later because you are
unable to solve or
understand it right now.
Know that it may not only
become a much bigger
problem to tackle later
but also can effect other
aspects of the project as
well as rest of the team
by putting your role as a
leader and future in
jeopardy.
(ii)

7. 02
LEADERS ETHICAL
POSITION & MORAL
CHARACTER
In today’s ever-
changing business
environment where
organisations operate
in different parts of
the world with
diverse
workforce; leaders
ethical position and
moral character has
become even more
important than ever.
Moral values and ethics
code is part of many
organisations corporate
culture as some even
provide basic training
to its managers and
employees.
But if top leadership
itself does not adhere
to such policies then it
does not benefit the
way it should.
(i)

8. 02
LEADERS ETHICAL
POSITION & MORAL
CHARACTER
There have been some
recent cases in tech
industry where some
leaders ethical position
and their moral
character were put to
test.
They failed to take the
high moral ground and
unable to defend the
vulnerable therefore as
a result fell victim to
their own failings as
well as weaknesses.
Organisations whose
top leadership has
strong ethics and
moral values tend to
perform better than
the ones that lack
such characteristics.
(ii)

9. 02
LEADERS ETHICAL
POSITION & MORAL
CHARACTER
Leaders need to lead
by example not just
simply by
communicating these
values to rest of the
employees by mere
words but supported
by their actions as it
will settle well within
them and have lasting
effects.
When these values
are practiced from
the top; your
employees are more
likely to embrace
them and goes a long
way in developing
them as well as
responsible future
leaders.
(iii)

10. 03
EARN TRUST
Trust is an integral part of our personal and
professional lives.
Trust matters hugely in all aspects of our lives
and a foundation that is built on trust is
strong.
Where there is no trust or lack of trust;
then such relations, bonds,
personal/professional associations and things
fall apart easily as they are susceptible to
fractures.
(i)

11. 03
EARN TRUST
People rarely follow and respect a leader
who lacks trust.
In order to build trust as a global leader you
have to prove your credibility within your
organisation as well as to your team.
You can start this by setting high standards
not just for the team but yourself too. You
have to take responsibility of your actions
and decisions including your teams.
Remember accountability starts from the
very top.
(ii)

12. 03
EARN TRUST
Be consistent and competent at what you do.
Constantly evaluate your own progress and
incorporate that of the team too.
Never be afraid to adjust your goals/targets and
accept any failings. Many leaders try to put the
blame of their own failing on teams.
But I truly believe that even if the failing is teams
fault; it is in fact your failing as a leader.
(iii)

13. 03
EARN TRUST
When as a leader your actions are based on
transparency, sincerity and honesty then surely you
will earn the trust and respect from your team
including the organisation.
Note that it takes a lot of time and effort to build
trust but it can be broken within a blink of an eye.
Once trust is broken your reputation and respect will
erode with it.
(iv)

14. 04
DEVELOP OTHERS
No matter how much I
stress the importance
the need to develop
others is never going
to be enough.
Know that clearly
your own growth and
success is directly
proportional to others
in your team.
So the sooner you
start to develop
others from day
one when you take
on your leadership
role it is going to
be the best
decision that you
ever take.
(i)

15. 04
DEVELOP OTHERS
If for any
reason you are not
developing others;
you are not doing
any favour to
yourself;
the people working
under your
command and
inversely to your
organisation.
Once you start to develop
people, you will see many
positive results within
days not just for yourself
but others and the whole
organisation. From here
on you don’t have to
micromanage everything
and this will give you the
freedom as well as the
confidence to deal with
other bigger projects but
also see your team do
great things at their own.
(ii)

16. BE
OPTIMISTIC
NOT
PESSIMISTIC
05
Lets be realistic that no one
can stop awful and dreadful
things from happening from
time-to-time in our personal
and professional lives.
But what sets you apart from
rest of the pack is that how
you act and react in such
circumstances.
(i)

17. BE
OPTIMISTIC
NOT
PESSIMISTIC
05
Do such negative events in life
as well as issues and
obstacles stop you in your
tracks; make you change your
course of action; stop you in
your tracks; or overpower you
partially or completely?
(ii)

18. BE
OPTIMISTIC
NOT
PESSIMISTIC
05
As a global leader you should
not waste time on why it
happened but see it as a
learning curve and make sure
it does not happen again as
well as able to overcome such
obstacles with ease and great
confidence.
Take this experience as a new
lesson learnt and move on
with the task at hand as this
in turn will give confidence to
rest of the team.
Try to see the opportunity in
every difficulty rather than an
issue or obstacle.
This will set the tone not only
for the team but also for rest
of the organisation.
(iii)

19. 06
MAKE IT WORK /
HAPPEN RATHER THAN
MAKE AN EXCUSE
The easiest thing one can do in personal
and professional life is to make an
excuse.
Yes it is much easier to make an excuse
but in no way it takes you closer to your
goals / objectives and beneficial in any
possible manner.
(i)

20. 06
MAKE IT WORK /
HAPPEN RATHER THAN
MAKE AN EXCUSE
If you have the
confidence and a
can do attitude then
certainly there is no
excuse as to why
you cannot reach
your goals and
objectives
regardless of what
others think or say.
A leader operating in the
21st century needs to
make things happen
while there may be many
obstacles and cynic
around. He can do this by
demonstrating the
courage and passion to
lead in finding the
solutions to get the
things done but as well
as demonstrating others
how it’s done and silent
their critics with results.
(ii)

21. 07
A VISIONARY
LEADER
For a leader to be
visionary is of
paramount importance
in this ever changing
business dynamics. A
leader who has the
desire, passion and
adequate expertise in
his field will always
have specific long-
term objectives for
himself as well as his
organisation.
Such a leader can
clearly map out a
plan where he would
like to be along with
his company in
future.
Visionary leaders
plan, strategise,
prioritise and take
all-important
decisions to achieve
those objectives in
future.
(i)

22. 07
A VISIONARY
LEADER
The key to this is their
complete
understanding of the
teams, what motivates
them and how to get
the best out of them.
A visionary leader
nurtures talents within
the team and puts it to
best use to stay ahead
of competition.
The emphasis here is
that a leader needs
to have a broad
vision and capable of
seeing a
situation/scenario
from multiple
perspectives then
choose wisely but
must not get carried
away.
(ii)

23. 08
TECH SAVVY
Things in technology are changing at a rapid
pace; you as a leader have to constantly
evolve and update your know how about the
recent changes to keep abreast with business
needs.
To best serve your customers, clients, team
and organisation you have to update your
systems, processes as well as operations with
not only the best but latest technological
solutions on offer.
(i)

24. 08
TECH SAVVY
For instance there are many technological
advancements/platforms that can improve
your organisations communication with
customers, clients, business to business and
even your own team.
As a leader you have to select the best tech
solution that serves and fulfill all the needs of
your organisation that in turn improves
efficiency and productivity.
(ii)

25. 09
NO ROOM TO BLAME
COLLEAGUES &
SUBORDINATES
The reason I say I this is
because when senior
management in one of
my previous work place
started blaming
subordinates down to
the team members;
the team lacked
productivity, risk taking,
learning across the
board, growth and
creativity.
But I made sure I
was not the one to
pass it on to the
team members.
Because I believe
that a real leader
must take
responsibility for
any failings /
mistakes for ones
team.
(i)

26. 09
NO ROOM TO BLAME
COLLEAGUES &
SUBORDINATES
I realized that the Line
Managers energy was wasted
on the negative nature of
blame rather finding a
solution and giving
confidence to do the job
properly. I instead
encouraged them to make
mistakes as long as it teaches
them important lessons and
this in turn leads to taking
risks, which in turn did find
innovative ways/processes to
perform the job better.
If we accentuate the
negative I believe
people are more
likely to veer towards
it and create a
negative mind set
with low esteem.
Both of which are not
good for businesses
as well as in
developing teams
and eventually for
leaders.
(ii)

27. JACK-OF-
ALL-
TRADES
10 Last but not least a leader in a globalised
era needs to be jack-of-all-trades.
Because nowadays if a leader wants to
succeed and do better he needs to at
least know the basics of HR, Marketing,
Finance, Sales & Customer Service, other
related aspects of the business as how
these departments work and operate.
This addition to their skills will help the
leaders to lead more effectively in a
global environment with confidence
where competition is tough.
(i)

28. JACK-OF-
ALL-
TRADES
10
Becoming jack-of-all-trades contributes to the
hunger for becoming better and cementing
their position as a global leader. They are
eager to learn more about different aspects of
the business as well as how different
departments work & collaborate in different
organisations not just their own. When we
want to improve, be the best at what we do
and above all learn beyond boundaries then
we fuel our hunger by being more creative,
being more innovative as well as finding
different ways and processes to do the same
things differently but more effectively.
(ii)

29. JACK-OF-
ALL-
TRADES
10 In this process such a leader learns different
diverse business skills that can always be
useful at looking and solving conventional
challenges in an unconventional manner.
If a person who has worked in different
industries, had different careers, worked in
different parts of the world, learned couple of
languages in the process, has multiple life &
cultural experiences.
Then his cross-functional experiences and
thinking can certainly be an invaluable asset
to any organisation as well as their teams.
(iii)