Jean is a highly-regarded leader in his native France. His style if quite effective with his staff. After a great performance evaluation, John has been promoted regional director for his products line. He is just back from a first trip to various subsidiaries in Europe, and he feels frustrated: the Spanish director was unfocused during the meeting and much time was wasted in unrelated business. The Dutch director appeared upfront very negative and finally the Finnish director even did not look at him...
Jean was wondering whether he had to adjust his leadership style to each of the European countries under his responsibility...?
Previously, leadership was deemed to be a unique set of skills and expectations; however, since the Project Globe research uncovered the variation in expectations, leadership has become a generic word whose content varies across cultures.
American leadership skills are not necessarily effective for leading French or Dutch people. In order to be considered good leaders, global leaders need to constantly
adjust their style to the differing expectations of staff in given country.