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In this concluding chapter, the editors reflect on the value-added contributions of the papers in this volume toward a better understanding of global leadership effectiveness. After highlighting some of those contributions, the editors then discuss relevant directions for future research in global leadership effectiveness and organize their discussion around (1) antecedents, (2) conditions, and (3) dimensions of global leadership effectiveness. They conclude by listing some of the paramount research questions they believe should be addressed for the field to move forward in mapping the dimensions and dynamics of global leadership effectiveness.

The chapters in Volume 15 of Advances in Global Leadership provide a comprehensive examination of the state of our field in its lenses on and through power. In this chapter, we synthesize the volume's insights around two main conclusions. First, global leadership research tends to draw on the same lenses and approaches to the study of power as the mainstream leadership research does. This is helpful for comparison and extension across contexts, but the research suggests that important insights – especially around the nature of power dynamics in highly complex environments – may be missed by limiting the perspective. Second, recent research on how global leaders work is beginning to show a pattern illuminating the importance of dynamic and shared power adaptation in global leadership. There are exciting possibilities in these directions, and this chapter concludes with a discussion on ideas for future research.

In this concluding chapter, we discuss insights and reflections from our invited contributions on the COVID-19 pandemic and derive areas of meaningful future research to advance the global leadership domain. Specifically, we call for (1) strengthening the link of the global leadership domain with related research fields, (2) expanding our view on what are necessary global leadership competencies, (3) moving beyond individual global leadership toward a more collective and collaborative understanding of the phenomenon, (4) further enhancing the growing field of responsible global leadership, (5) examining the various competing tensions that global leaders need to balance, and (6) engaging in greater reflexivity among global leadership scholars ourselves.

Global leadership research published in the form of journal articles, scholarly book chapters, and theses and dissertations from 2015 to 2020 are tabulated to ascertain patterns in the field regarding the quantity of publication in the field, type of research being conducted, authorship patterns, type of theory that is utilized, and linkages of research to related phenomena. We compare our findings to previous research and discuss implications for the future evolution of the global leadership field.

The COVID-19 pandemic and its related economic meltdown and social unrest severely challenged most countries, their societies, economies, organizations, and individual citizens. Focusing on both more and less successful country-specific initiatives to fight the pandemic and its multitude of related consequences, this chapter explores implications for leadership and effective action at the individual, organizational, and societal levels. As international management scholars and consultants, the authors document actions taken and their wide-ranging consequences in a diverse set of countries, including countries that have been more or less successful in fighting the pandemic, are geographically larger and smaller, are located in each region of the world, are economically advanced and economically developing, and that chose unique strategies versus strategies more similar to those of their neighbors. Cultural influences on leadership, strategy, and outcomes are described for 19 countries. Informed by a cross-cultural lens, the authors explore such urgent questions as: What is most important for leaders, scholars, and organizations to learn from critical, life-threatening, society-encompassing crises and grand challenges? How do leaders build and maintain trust? What types of communication are most effective at various stages of a crisis? How can we accelerate learning processes globally? How does cultural resilience emerge within rapidly changing environments of fear, shifting cultural norms, and profound challenges to core identity and meaning? This chapter invites readers and authors alike to learn from each other and to begin to discover novel and more successful approaches to tackling grand challenges. It is not definitive; we are all still learning.

In this interview, Dr. Günter K. Stahl reflects on his career trajectory as a globally renowned educator and how he pivoted from being a global mobility scholar to one of the pioneers of the responsible global leadership domain. For Dr. Stahl, the ethical component is an integral – and essential – part of any meaningful definition of leadership, and he illustrates this conviction with several examples from his research and corporate practice. Building on his trailblazing work in this domain, Dr. Stahl also identifies critical areas for future research that can help address our societies' grand challenges. He further draws on his deep involvement in designing and delivering postgraduate and executive education programs to discuss how educators can better incorporate these ideas into impactful educational interventions, which he refers to as “consciousness-raising experiences,” thereby inducing lasting positive change in participants.

Dr. Stahl is a Chair and Professor of International Management and Director of the Center for Sustainability Transformation and Responsibility (STaR) at the Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU Vienna). Prior to joining WU, he served for eight years on the faculty of INSEAD, and he is an Academic Fellow and/or Visiting Professor of several renowned institutions, including the Centre for International HRM at Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, the Centre for Global Workforce Strategy at Simon Fraser University, Duke University's Fuqua School of Business, the D'Amore-McKim School of Business at Northeastern University, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and Hitotsubashi University.

Dr. Stahl is an expert on purpose-driven leadership, the drivers of corporate responsibility and irresponsibility, grand societal challenges and their implications for strategy and management, and the changing nature of global work. His research has been published in leading academic journals, profiled in a wide range of media outlets including the Wall Street Journal and Financial Times, and been recognized by prestigious awards including the Carolyn Dexter Award of the Academy of Management, the JIBS/Palgrave Macmillan 2020 Decade Award for the most influential article in international business studies over the past decade, the SAGE/Journal of Leadership Award for the most significant contribution to advance leadership and organizational studies, and the Academy of Management Best Paper in International Ethics, Social Responsibility, and Sustainability Award.

Dr. Stahl is also an accomplished teacher who has won numerous Outstanding Teacher and Program Director awards, including six CEMS Course of the Year Awards for the most highly rated course in the CEMS network worldwide, the Award for Teaching Excellence in the Executive MBA Program of HEC Université de Genève, and the Outstanding Teacher Award of the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management Executive MBA Program. He serves on the advisory boards of several for-profit- and nonprofit organizations, and he has been involved in consulting and executive teaching for a variety of industrial and professional services companies, as well as for organizations in the nonprofit sector.