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Highly publicized scandals and increased stakeholder activism for sustainable development have resulted in calls for more responsible global leadership. At the same time, emerging economies characterized by weak institutions, political instability, and a shaky rule of law have gained in importance for global business. Under the lens of responsible global leadership, we highlight the challenges that global leaders face in addressing the needs of diverse, cross-boundary stakeholders, with a particular focus on Western multinational enterprises (MNEs) doing business in emerging markets. We identify three prototypical approaches that MNEs and their leaders take in responding to calls for responsible global leadership, focusing on the tensions and possible trade-offs between globally integrated and locally adapted approaches. We discuss the implications in view of managerial decision making and behavior and offer recommendations for how organizations may promote responsible global leadership.

Two major trends have shaped the international business field over the past decade: globalization and the quest for responsible leadership. Yet, what are the qualities that predispose business leaders to act responsibly in an increasingly complex, interlinked world, and thus to meet new social, environmental, and political responsibilities? How can organizations develop these qualities in their current and future leaders? In this chapter, we provide tentative answers to both questions by fleshing out some of the qualities global leaders need to succeed in a connected world and by comparing three innovative executive development programs that use international service learning assignments as a way to instill these qualities in their executives. These programs are PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Ulysses Program, Pfizer’s Global Health Fellows Program, and IBM’s Corporate Service Corps.

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.

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.

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.

As the world struggled to come to grips with the Covid-19 pandemic, over twenty scholars, practitioners, and global leaders wrote brief essays for this curated chapter on the role of global leadership in this extreme example of a global crisis. Their thoughts span helpful theoretical breakthroughs to essential, pragmatic adaptations by companies.

Background: Amid increasing leadership failures in the global business context, the mining industry is one of the industries with many adverse incidents, affecting employee safety, the environment, and surrounding communities. Emerging economies tend to have unique socio-economic challenges and greater relative economic dependence on mining, presenting unique challenges to leaders. The purpose of this research was to study the realities of responsible leadership in the mining industry in an emerging economy.

Methods: A qualitative research study, consisting of semi-structured interviews was conducted. Nine senior mine managers were selected to represent perspectives from different operations and mining houses. Data was gathered from August to October 2020 in South Africa, an emerging economy with significant mining operations. A thematic analysis of interview transcripts was conducted through the use of software, rendering five themes, with 12 sub-themes.

Results: The research found that requirements on mining leaders in emerging economies demand consistent balancing of a complex set of competing risks, whilst attending to paradoxical requirements among operations, and internal and external stakeholders. Leaders face several competing requirements from stakeholders, the environment, mining practices, and time frames. Responsible leaders must navigate a paradoxical maze of needs and time horizons, with several conflicting forces and dilemmas, and dichotomous relationships. Responsible leadership in the mining industry of an emerging economy is a proverbial minefield of paradoxes and dilemmas between responsible intentions and practical realities. These paradoxes and dilemmas are specifically acute in the context of emerging economies due to the dire socio-economic situations. A total of 10 competencies emerged as essential responsible leadership requirements in this context.

Conclusions: The study provides an in-depth understanding of the intricacies of responsible leadership in the mining industry of an emerging economy. This understanding will contribute to capacitating leaders in the mining industries of emerging economies to act responsibly.

Socially responsible leadership (SRL) is a “purposeful, collaborative, values-based process that results in positive social change” (Komives, Wagner, & Associates, 2009, p. xii).This approach to leadership focuses on creating leaders that are capable of tackling the predicted wicked problems the world will face in the next few decades. As the number of leadership education programs continue to grow throughout higher education, it is important to assess the impact leadership education and co-curricular programs are having on students. Utilizing the Multi- Institutional Study of Leadership, this study aimed to better understand whether higher education leadership development, community service and study abroad programs are successfully developing students with self- perceived socially responsible leadership.

Responsible leadership is a concept that links leadership, corporate social responsibility, sustainability and ethics to business performance and actions of senior executives and board members. This keynote illuminates how responsible leadership mindsets and their diverse understandings of the purpose of business are related to organizational level stakeholder engagement and corporate social responsibility approaches at the upper echelon. A first link is established between broader social movements (e.g., US Business Roundtable, Conscious Capitalism, Social Entrepreneurship movement) and the social identity of responsible leaders, thereby contributing to the discussion of the changing nature of the purpose of business. The article closes with a Q&A session.

This chapter centers on the global leadership of enterprises and their strategic business decisions as they interact with intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in constructing a supranational global governance regime to address complex global issues. As the world faces myriad issues that transcend state borders, negative externalities of globalization, such as climate change and pandemics, are straining the current system and threatening vulnerable populations. To better understand how firms address these challenges, we present a stakeholder framework involving multinational enterprises (MNEs) in a supranational context and examine their relationships with IGOs, international nongovernmental organizations, and NGOs. A typology of firm behavior is introduced to describe four strategic responses to increased pressure for corporate social responsibility that represent the extent to which firms take leadership roles. Case studies illustrate each of the four archetypes, namely the collaborator, the complier, the counteractor, and the combatant. The situational strength of global governance organizations can have an influence on which strategic response MNEs choose, and ultimately on how MNEs decide to engage in socially responsible behaviors. The interrelatedness of MNEs and global governance organizations will continue to grow as humankind grapples with complex global issues that threaten our way of life. The 4 Cs of MNE strategic responses inform how firms may choose to respond to these challenges.