Bicultural helps you be a leader

 Cultivating a global mindset is essential for today’s emerging business leaders. As the world becomes more connected and remote work becomes the new standard, there are an increasing number of cultural nuances that leaders must be able to navigate. Whether you eventually lead teams across multiple countries, or in a single location, you will need to learn how to effectively connect with employees from diverse backgrounds with varying cultural identities.

Leaders with a global mindset do more than uphold equity and inclusion – they possess a fundamental understanding of how cultural identity influences the communication styles, values, and needs of communities around the world. As a result, they approach every workplace interaction through a culturally sensitive lens and question the global impact of their decisions.

Here are six lessons I learned during my life that have helped me develop a successful global leadership mindset.

1) Consider cultural context.

When leading global teams, it’s essential to consider the greater cultural context of your interactions and how culture or geographic location might impact someone’s behavior. Do your homework to educate yourself on the cultural norms of those you’re leading and develop a deeper understanding. How might different expectations influence employee communication or collaboration across global teams? In some cultures, disagreement is frowned upon in a business setting, while in others confrontation is acceptable as long as it’s constructive. Without considering the context, what might seem like a lack of initiative could a be a polite deference to you as a leader.

2) Strive to support equity.

It’s one thing to consider the cultural context behind your interactions, but it’s another to allow cultural or unconscious bias to influence your leadership decisions. Being a successful global leader requires striving for objectivity in order to consider all perspectives equally and give everyone on your team a fair chance.

3) Lead with empathy.

Knowing firsthand how difficult it is to put yourself in someone else’s shoes made me a more empathetic leader. It helped me realize that, while I will never know any person’s entire story, I do know that we all are ultimately just striving for happiness and peace.

The value of an empathetic leadership approach is that it brings everything into balance. The minute we’re empathetic with one another, we become equals and we can interact on the same level. You may not have all the answers, but if you can lead from a place of empathy, it will help to bridge cultural gaps, bring people together and support equity within your organization.

4) Value nonverbal cues.

Nonverbal forms of communication, like body language and reading between the lines, are very important in India, especially with limited freedom of speech and religious traditions that emphasize symbolism, such as respect. When an elder walks into a room full of people, for example, everyone quiets down. There’s a respectful gaze around the elder to make sure their voice is heard. That person is given the space to get comfortable or be seated. Traditionally, India’s culture is centered around hierarchy and respect, and not unfiltered speech. Body language and nonverbal cues are ingrained in the culture and are still quite relevant today.

The ability to convey and derive meaning through actions versus words is a fundamental aspect of global leadership communication. To successfully lead people across cultures, learn to evaluate both what someone says and what they may be communicating without words, while also keeping cultural context in mind. (A firm handshake may go a long way in Western cultures, but this isn’t true everywhere.

5) Maximize your resources.

In the U.S., we take things like running water, light, and heat for granted – but in a developing country, none of this is a given. In India, many people must consider the environment, resources, and infrastructure constraints while planning their daily lives, so their entire lifestyle is influenced by this awareness – as was mine. While living in Pune, I would plan my day around needs like gathering fuel or wood in order to heat water. I considered the repercussions of using too much water or electricity, both of which were in scarce supply. Maximizing a resource meant knowing how to use the minimum availability to get the most output or usage. This even included being cognizant of how paper, glass, cloth, and plastics were used.

The experience taught me a critical global leadership lesson: resources are not always going to be at your disposal, so it’s essential to use what you have in the most efficient way possible. In the context of my work, this looks like developing innovative technologies or designing smarter processes to improve efficiency. Creativity, a positive outlook, and collaboration has become key. When evaluating resources, I now have awareness of all the people who will depend on them and feel responsible for making sure they are available to the group and being distributed equitably.

6) Earn to return.

As a responsible global leader, it’s imperative to value every country and culture equally, without being exploitative or prioritizing the prosperity of one over the other. Your goal should be to give back in order to work toward minimizing whatever deficiencies exist – not just in your own backyard, but globally – to improve the lives of future generations everywhere. After all, if the people element isn’t part of the equation, the rest doesn’t matter.