Global Leadership Success through Emotional and Cultural Intelligences

Culturally attuned and emotionally sensitive global leaders need to be developed: leaders who can respond to the particular foreign environments of different countries and different interpersonal work situations. Two emerging constructs are especially relevant to the development of successful global leaders: cultural and emotional intelligences. When considered under the traditional view of intelligence as measured by IQ, cultural, and emotional intelligences provide a framework for better understanding cross-cultural leadership and help clarify possible adaptations that need to be implemented in leadership development programs. This article posits that emotional intelligence (EQ), analytical intelligence (IQ), and leadership behaviors are moderated by cultural intelligence (CQ) in the formation of global leadership success. We acknowledge that successful global leadership is a function not only of leadership behaviors, but also of multiple intelligences: analytical intelligence (measured by IQ), emotional intelligence (measured by EQ), and cultural intelligence (measured by CQ). In this work, we have focused on the latter two. To be successful, global leaders must not only understand but also be able to work within the local culture and display high IQ, EQ, and CQ.

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