What’s a Transcultural Leader Anyway?

Abstract

When I began to write this book, I opened my dictionary to look up the word “leader”, just to see how its editors’ definition would compare to mine. I found all sorts of quirky tidbits: I learned that a leader can be the shoot of a plant; a newspaper editorial or a blank section at the beginning or end of a reel of film, among other things. Interesting, but none too useful for my purposes. Another entry defines a leader as one who leads or a guide or conductor or one who has commanding authority. Getting warmer, but these phrases still don’t do justice to a word that, in my view, should convey volumes. Simply having — or even commanding — authority does not make a person a leader. When I closed the book, it occurred to me that it’s probably easier to define what a leader is not. A person is not a leader because he or she happens to hold a high rank or title, or occupy a corner office. A true leader might, in fact, do both, but there are plenty of people with impressive titles on their business cards and football-field-sized offices who are not leaders. I like to call these folks LINOs — Leaders In Name Only. LINOs typically get their positions by concentrating primarily on their own advancement — not on the job at hand, not on the good of the organization they work in and not on the welfare of their colleagues.