Leadership is the most critical component of any successful CEO, yet many successful leaders find themselves in trouble because they pay little attention to how others are perceiving them. CEO’s and top leaders are always, savvy, extremely intelligent, highly experienced with incredible track records. As a coach for Global Leaders worldwide, I have found that many of the CEO failures had to do with obvious mistakes in form and style. Yes, mistakes in form and style that usually results from the of lack of awareness. Many newly appointed leaders have the intellect, skills, and experience, yet it is form and style that gets in their way.
In his book “Global Mindset Coaching,” Dr. Gary Ranker identified the most critical skills for Managers with Global Responsibilities.
Coaching Global Leaders
In Dr. Ranker’s experience coaching is the most effective way to prepare Global leaders, and in his practice, he starts with awareness. When writing his Global Mindset Coaching book, he interviewed many Global ladders and coaches in regards to what a coach should emphasize in order to develop into a global leader? Experience with other cultures, comfort with change and flexibility and working with colleagues in other countries, ranked as the top 3 traits to emphasize.
The umbrella to make these skills most effective in a global setting is developing a Global Mindset.
“ Global Mindset: “It is the ability to step outside one’s base culture and to understand there is no universally correct way to do things.”
In the words of former client of Dr. Ranker, the CEO of a Japanese Global company.
“I am now much more mindful about my behavior. I never had a global mindset before. This new coaching has lasting value. In business, many things happen. I will now be more mindful of how I respond to people. In fact, whenever I am writing an email, I hear Gary’s voice.”
Note that his biggest learning lesson was to be more mindful in how he responds to people, he is more self-aware, he is focusing on communication and relationships (form and style). Those components weren’t the focus of his coaching, helping the leader becoming a more effective leader was. Having a Global Mindset makes all the skills that executives already have more focused and more effective, especially when dealing with people that are different from them.