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The application of leadership theory to training and development in international leadership contexts is burdened by the idealistic, western-centric, prescriptive nature of many leadership theories. Consequently, theories are needed that are culturally neutral, descriptive and practically applicable to the culturally diverse contexts in which leadership interaction takes place. To this end, the cognitive process model of (Denis et al., 2012) leadership was developed to facilitate leadership development study in a variety of cultural contexts. The model is based on how the human brain functions at its most basic level in leadership situations across cultures and outlines basic principles of leadership associated with these functions. These principles include awareness, decision-making, attention, relationship building, communication and action. This study aims to discuss this model and how it can be used as a framework for doing leadership training and development study in international settings.

This paper is conceptual in nature and uses psychological studies on brain function as a foundation for developing a process model of leadership.

In contrast the cognitive process model of leadership provides a foundation for understanding what is truly universal when it comes to leadership activities by examining what happens in the brain in any given leadership moment. It then provides a framework for promoting the development of leadership competencies that are essential to practicing the principles and competencies and applying them as one takes action in specific leadership moments at the self, interpersonal, group and team, organizational and social and political community levels.

The paper has implications for the content, structure and process of leadership development study in relation to training and coaching.

This model makes it possible to identify how to provide training and education in relation to leadership competencies by identifying which aspects of the competencies are universal and which are situational or culture dependent.

This study is an original paper exploring the application of this model in the context of global leadership training and development.

Globalization introduces new challenges related to increased levels of diversity and complexity that organizations cannot meet without capable global leaders. Such leaders are currently lacking, so a theory-based approach to global leader development is needed. A critical intermediary outcome that enables competent global leadership performance is global leader self-complexity, defined by the number of unique leader identities contained within a leader's self-concept (self-differentiation) and the extent to which the identities are integrated with the leader's sense of self (self-integration). This research aims to generate and test a theory of the development of global leader self-complexity through identity construction during international experiences. In Study 1, I gathered qualitative data through retrospectively interviewing 27 global leaders about identity-related changes following their international experiences. Using a grounded theory approach, I developed a theoretical model of global leader identity construction during international experiences, which I empirically tested using quantitative data in Study 2. Specifically, I tested the hypothesized relationships through structural equation modeling with cross-sectional survey data from a sample of 610 global leaders. Findings from both studies indicate global leader identity construction during international experiences primarily occurs through interacting with locals and local culture over a sustained period, motivated by appreciation of cultural differences and resulting in increased global leader self-complexity. These results advance understanding of the global leader self-complexity construct (i.e., what develops) and global leader development processes (i.e., how it develops). Additionally, the findings have practical implications for global leader development initiatives.

While international learning programs have received a great deal of attention and have been found to provide valuable learning experiences for participants interested in developing global leadership competencies (GLCs), they are resource-intensive and variably effective. This chapter examines the relatively unexplored use of assessment center (AC) methodology as a complementary avenue for developing students’ GLCs. Scholarly literature sources pertaining to GLCs and their development, experiential learning theory, and AC methodology are reviewed to develop a conceptual model and propositions related to participants’ learning in an AC designed to develop GLCs. An example is described of one university’s design and facilitation of an AC used to develop students’ GLCs. The role of AC methodology, along with international and other learning experiences for developing students’ GLCs, and recommendations for future research, are discussed.

Although the term “trigger event” is commonly accepted and frequently mentioned by many disciplines in conjunction with sensemaking, research attention on the trigger event construct is sorely lacking. We chose to examine this construct within a specific setting that global leaders have to master – the intercultural context. After reviewing the relevant literature, we created an original model of trigger events and sensemaking in the intercultural context, which is accompanied by propositions that determine the likelihood of an event rising to the level of a trigger. It is our hope that this theoretical model will lead to a better understanding of how trigger events function in general. The chapter contributes to a greater understanding of the cognitive element of global leadership effectiveness. Finally, the model has practical implications for intercultural and global leadership training and executive coaching.

For the past several decades, the field of global leadership has made noteworthy theoretical and empirical progress. The role of a global follower, however, has not been addressed to date. This chapter focuses on global followers and global followership as vital elements of a global leadership process supporting a traditional followership view that “leadership can only occur if there is followership” (Uhl-Bien, Riggio, Lowe, & Carsten, 2014, p. 83). Two assumptions ground the arguments: global leaders and global followers are engaged in a partnering process of global leadership, and followers and global followers have distinctive characteristics influenced by their specific environments. To explore those assumptions, we start by introducing the followership theory and relevant followership characteristics. Subsequently, we address the role of context in global leader–follower dynamics, extrapolate global followership characteristics from relevant multidisciplinary literature, and offer an example of a global leader–follower partnership. Next, we examine mentions of global followers and global followership in academic and nonacademic literature, and define a global followership construct. The conceptual framework, global followership model, research agenda, and practical implications conclude the manuscript.

It is commonly believed that the complexities of different languages, cultures, histories, time zones, locations, governments, financial and legal systems contribute to the difficulty of leading global change. And yet, there is surprisingly little research at the intersection of global change and global leadership to guide practitioners. To fill this crucial gap, we provide a helpful framework for global leadership practitioners and scholars that emerged from a qualitative study of success factors in leading effective global change initiatives. We employed a comparative case study methodology to examine strategies and processes used by leaders of successful corporate and NGO global change projects. After comparing multiple cases of successful and unsuccessful global change initiatives in four organizations, we concluded that effective global change requires leaders to pay attention to 14 success factors categorized into three key design imperatives: (1) participatory process, (2) representative leadership, and (3) nested implementation. Participatory process consists of these success factors: (1) establish a clear vision, (2) ensure a collaborative start, (3) invite to the table as equals, (4) seek ideas from outside headquarters, (5) recognize and celebrate others, and (6) build systems for interdependence and accountability. Representative leadership includes: (7) create local leadership, (8) enable knowledgeable leadership, (9) empower willing leadership, and (10) develop bridge people. Nested implementation is composed of: (11) leverage formal communication channels, (12) attend to individual needs via interpersonal communication, (13) set global standards with local flexibility, and (14) test for regional credibility. We discuss these factors in light of existing literature and identify the implications and new horizons for global leadership theory and practice with respect to leading global change.

Global Mindset (GM) is a multifaceted construct that has received broad interest among practitioners and academics. It is a fragmented construct at this point in time, due to definitional overlap with other constructs such as global leadership and cultural intelligence. This overlap has created complexity for research that attempts to understand GM in isolation. Lack of clear boundaries in defining and conceptualizing this construct challenges researchers who are attempting to capture fully what constitutes GM. Our work seeks to better understand and explain what underlines the individual GM construct and how does this impact the development of global competencies in individual managers.

We systematically review and analyze the individual GM literature thematically to provide an overview of the extant research from a broad array of scholarly sources dating from 1994 to 2017. Our work offers a thematic analysis that provides a visual guide to GM by tracking the corpus of individual-level GM studies. We categorize the research according to its theoretical groundings and basic concepts and proceed review how GM has been operationalized at the individual level and measured. Next, we integrate major dimensions in the GM research and propose a framework to enhance understanding of the phenomenon. Finally, we discuss the implications of our review for the development of GM for practitioners, coaches and trainers.

Global mindset is an important theme in the international business strategy and organizational behavior literatures. However, these different paradigms define and operationalize global mindset in disparate ways, which creates problems for conducting empirical research as the disparity hampers the development of testable models. This article seeks to unify the different paradigms by introducing a third perspective from cognitive psychology that clarifies the process of mindset activation. We apply a process model of mindset activation to global mindset to build a theory of mindset switching relevant for global leaders. We operationalize global mindset as a dynamic process of mindset switching and suggest that the most appropriate mindset for a situation can be primed to activate. We also propose cosmopolitanism and cognitive complexity as antecedents to appropriate mindset activation and mindset switching. Finally, we suggest that mindset/situation congruence results in global leader creativity and boundary spanning. By applying the cognitive psychology literature to global mindset research, we clarify the process of global mindset and why it is important for leaders to understand how different primes might activate the most appropriate mindset. Our model provides a means for managers to become more cognitively aware of how they problem solve in a highly complex and multilayered world. This paper proposes a unique, dynamic model that captures dualities of global leadership. The model provides a new perspective of global mindset that is testable with existing measures and procedures.

This monograph seeks to summarise the key influences of a role‐based perspective on leadership when making decisions as to how organisational resources can best be deployed.

Application of new frameworks provides insight into the leadership roles executives can adopt when part of formal, informal and temporary groups within the organisation's senior management team and those parts of the organisation for which they are responsible. The methodology adopted is qualitative, focusing on application of previously developed frameworks.

Adoption of an appropriate leadership role, and the timely switch from one role to another as circumstances change, are found to facilitate improvement in the ability of executives to mobilise organisational resources, and in so doing effectively address those challenges with which the organisation is faced.

A one‐organisation intensive case study of a multinational engineering company engaged in the design, development and manufacture of rotating turbomachinery provides the platform for the research. The research intent is to validate two frameworks in a different organisation of a similar demographic profile to those in which the frameworks were developed. The frameworks will require validating in organisations of different demographic profiles.

The concepts advanced, and implications discussed, provide an insight into the role‐based nature of leadership. The practical steps individual executives can take to develop their ability to adopt different leadership roles are highlighted.

This monograph is an investigation into, and study of the contribution of theory that provides insight into, the process by which executives effectively mobilise organisational resources. This differs from the original contributions to theory, which focused on methodology, data gathering and validation in contrast with the current study that is focused on practical application.