To Adapt or Not – Elena Macia

The most important thing I learned about Global Leadership was about adaptability. Something significant to me is upholding the values I believe in and follow. However, sometimes this can get confusing as a global leader is supposed to adapt to each situation. For example, the way a leader leads in the US may not be how they are most efficient in leading in China. Each continent, country, and city may differ in culture, values, and expectations of leaders. While a US leader can be known to be vulnerable and admit when they are wrong, this can be frowned upon in other countries. So, a leader needs to adapt to different cultures and situations. However, the most important part of adapting is knowing when to do it and when to not. I loved the way our professor discussed this subject using a drinking situation in Australia. There, individuals are known to like to party with friends and families over drinks. Their typical culture normalizes heavy drinking, not everyone is the same though. A religious global leader may want to do business with Australians but believes in keeping a sober mind. This is where it is important to know when to adapt and when not to. In this certain situation, the religious individual values are important and the leader may want to find a way around the heavy drinking. Hearing this story opened my eyes to a new perspective. Not everything you do has to be completely changed when abroad. Most foreign business people watch closely whether a global leader is genuine or not, and indulging too much into the culture can be seen as negative as you are stripping away your own culture completely.