Every day the business world is revolutionised by new technological advancements and other factors. The pace of change in business varies from industry to industry but there is no stopping it. Therefore it is very important for leaders to adapt and change with the flow to be more effective as well as keep their respective organisations relevant to the changing times.

1. 11 KEY
CHARACTERISTICS
TO BECOME A
GLOBAL LEADER
In An Era Of Globalisation These 11
Characteristics Are Essential
For A Global Leader To Operate &
Succeed In The 21st Century.
BY SULTAN SULEMAN CHAUDHRY

2. HOW
GLOBALISATION
EFFECTS US ALL
Today’s pace of change is implacable in this
globalised era where new technological
innovations have changed the way we work,
operate and how we communicate with
others.
Exploiting new opportunities and markets
has resulted in lot of the traditional barriers
being broken and many new developments
have taken place.

3. HOW
GLOBALISATION
EFFECTS US ALL
Increasing number of collaboration
between companies and people has given
rise to diverse workforce culture in
multitude of organisations around the
globe.

4. WHY WE
NEED
GLOBAL
LEADERS
One can debate whether leaders
are born or developed but there
are people who are born to lead.
Every day the business world is
revolutionised by new
technological advancements and
other factors.
The pace of change in business
varies from industry to industry
but there is no stopping it.
Therefore it is very important for
leaders to adapt and change with
the flow to be more effective as
well as keep their respective
organisations relevant to the
changing times.

5. THE FOLLOWING 11
CHARACTERISTICS ARE NEEDED
FOR A GLOBAL LEADER
TO OPERATE IN THE 21ST CENTURY
WITH DISTINCTION.

6. 01
BE TRUE & HONEST
TO YOURSELF
First and foremost
leaders need to have
a better
understanding of
themselves and their
own identity because
the sooner they
realise the better it
is in the longer run.
Don’t live your life in
denial mode.
Because it might not
be that harmful to
you now but in later
years you will regret
when you are unable
to change and have
your own limitations.
(i)

7. 01
BE TRUE & HONEST
TO YOURSELF
If you don’t know
what you are
doing or having
some difficulty in
leading a project
then do not be
afraid to ask or
seek help and
support.
Don’t put off something
for later because you are
unable to solve or
understand it right now.
Know that it may not only
become a much bigger
problem to tackle later
but also can effect other
aspects of the project as
well as rest of the team by
putting your role as a
leader and future in
jeopardy.
(ii)

8. 02
LEADERS ETHICAL
POSITION & MORAL
CHARACTER
In today’s ever-
changing business
environment where
organisations
operate in different
parts of the world
with diverse
workforce; leaders
ethical position and
moral character has
become even more
important than ever.
Moral values and ethics
code is part of many
organisations corporate
culture as some even
provide basic training to
its managers and
employees.
But if top leadership
itself does not adhere to
such policies then it does
not benefit the way it
should.
(i)

9. 02
LEADERS ETHICAL
POSITION & MORAL
CHARACTER
There have been some
recent cases in tech
industry where some
leaders ethical position
and their moral
character were put to
test.
They failed to take the
high moral ground and
unable to defend the
vulnerable therefore as a
result fell victim to their
own failings as well as
weaknesses.
Organisations whose
top leadership has
strong ethics and
moral values tend to
perform better than
the ones that lack
such characteristics.
(ii)

10. 02
LEADERS ETHICAL
POSITION & MORAL
CHARACTER
Leaders need to lead
by example not just
simply by
communicating these
values to rest of the
employees by mere
words but supported
by their actions as it
will settle well within
them and have lasting
effects.
When these values
are practiced from
the top; your
employees are more
likely to embrace
them and goes a
long way in
developing them as
well as responsible
future leaders.
(iii)

11. 03
EARN TRUST
Trust is an integral part of our personal and
professional lives.
Trust matters hugely in all aspects of our
lives and a foundation that is built on trust is
strong.
Where there is no trust or lack of trust;
then such relations, bonds,
personal/professional associations and
things fall apart easily as they are
susceptible to fractures.
(i)

12. 03
EARN TRUST
People rarely follow and respect a leader
who lacks trust.
In order to build trust as a global leader you
have to prove your credibility within your
organisation as well as to your team.
You can start this by setting high standards
not just for the team but yourself too. You
have to take responsibility of your actions
and decisions including your teams.
Remember accountability starts from the
very top.
(ii)

13. 03
EARN TRUST
Be consistent and competent at what you do.
Constantly evaluate your own progress and
incorporate that of the team too.
Never be afraid to adjust your goals/targets
and accept any failings. Many leaders try to
put the blame of their own failing on teams.
But I truly believe that even if the failing is
teams fault; it is in fact your failing as a
leader.
(iii)

14. 03
EARN TRUST
When as a leader your actions are based on
transparency, sincerity and honesty then
surely you will earn the trust and respect
from your team including the organisation.
Note that it takes a lot of time and effort to
build trust but it can be broken within a blink
of an eye.
Once trust is broken your reputation and
respect will erode with it.
(iv)

15. 04
DEVELOP OTHERS
No matter how much I
stress the importance
the need to develop
others is never going
to be enough.
Know that clearly your
own growth and
success is directly
proportional to others
in your team.
So the sooner you
start to develop
others from day
one when you take
on your leadership
role it is going to be
the best decision
that you ever take.
(i)

16. 04
DEVELOP OTHERS
If for any
reason you are not
developing others;
you are not doing
any favour to
yourself;
the people working
under your
command and
inversely to your
organisation.
Once you start to develop
people, you will see many
positive results within days
not just for yourself but
others and the whole
organisation. From here on
you don’t have to
micromanage everything
and this will give you the
freedom as well as the
confidence to deal with
other bigger projects but
also see your team do
great things at their own.
(ii)

17. BE
OPTIMISTIC
NOT
PESSIMISTIC
05
Lets be realistic that no one
can stop awful and dreadful
things from happening from
time-to-time in our personal
and professional lives.
But what sets you apart from
rest of the pack is that how
you act and react in such
circumstances.
(i)

18. BE
OPTIMISTIC
NOT
PESSIMISTIC
05
Do such negative events in
life as well as issues and
obstacles stop you in your
tracks; make you change your
course of action; stop you in
your tracks; or overpower
you partially or completely?
(ii)

19. BE
OPTIMISTIC
NOT
PESSIMISTIC
05
As a global leader you should
not waste time on why it
happened but see it as a
learning curve and make sure
it does not happen again as
well as able to overcome such
obstacles with ease and great
confidence.
Take this experience as a new
lesson learnt and move on
with the task at hand as this
in turn will give confidence to
rest of the team.
(iii)

20. BE
OPTIMISTIC
NOT
PESSIMISTIC
05
Try to see the
opportunity in every
difficulty rather than an
issue or obstacle.
This will set the tone not
only for the team but also
for rest of the
organisation.
(iv)

21. 06
MAKE IT WORK /
HAPPEN RATHER THAN
MAKE AN EXCUSE
The easiest thing one can do in personal
and professional life is to make an
excuse.
Yes it is much easier to make an excuse
but in no way it takes you closer to your
goals / objectives and beneficial in any
possible manner.
(i)

22. 06
MAKE IT WORK /
HAPPEN RATHER THAN
MAKE AN EXCUSE
If you have the
confidence and a
can do attitude
then certainly
there is no excuse
as to why you
cannot reach your
goals and
objectives
regardless of what
others think or say.
A leader operating in the
21st century needs to
make things happen
while there may be many
obstacles and cynic
around. He can do this by
demonstrating the
courage and passion to
lead in finding the
solutions to get the
things done but as well
as demonstrating others
how it’s done and silent
their critics with results.
(ii)

23. 07
A
VISIONARY LEADER
For a leader to be
visionary is of
paramount importance
in this ever changing
business dynamics. A
leader who has the
desire, passion and
adequate expertise in
his field will always
have specific long-
term objectives for
himself as well as his
organisation.
Such a leader can
clearly map out a
plan where he would
like to be along with
his company in
future.
Visionary leaders
plan, strategise,
prioritise and take
all-important
decisions to achieve
those objectives in
future.
(i)

24. 07
A
VISIONARY LEADER
The key to this is their
complete
understanding of the
teams, what motivates
them and how to get
the best out of them.
A visionary leader
nurtures talents within
the team and puts it to
best use to stay ahead
of competition.
The emphasis here is
that a leader needs
to have a broad
vision and capable of
seeing a
situation/scenario
from multiple
perspectives then
choose wisely but
must not get carried
away.
(ii)

25. 08
TECH SAVVY
Things in technology are changing at a rapid
pace; you as a leader have to constantly
evolve and update your know how about the
recent changes to keep abreast with business
needs.
To best serve your customers, clients, team
and organisation you have to update your
systems, processes as well as operations with
not only the best but latest technological
solutions on offer.
(i)

26. 08
TECH SAVVY
For instance there are many technological
advancements/platforms that can improve
your organisations communication with
customers, clients, business to business and
even your own team.
As a leader you have to select the best tech
solution that serves and fulfill all the needs of
your organisation that in turn improves
efficiency and productivity.
(ii)

27. 09
NO ROOM TO
BLAME COLLEAGUES
& SUBORDINATES
The reason I say I this is
because when senior
management in one of
my previous work place
started blaming
subordinates down to
the team members;
the team lacked
productivity, risk
taking, learning across
the board, growth and
creativity.
But I made sure I
was not the one to
pass it on to the
team members.
Because I believe
that a real leader
must take
responsibility for
any failings /
mistakes for ones
team.
(i)

28. 09
NO ROOM TO
BLAME COLLEAGUES
& SUBORDINATES
I realized that the Line
Managers energy was
wasted on the negative
nature of blame rather
finding a solution and
giving confidence to do the
job properly. I instead
encouraged them to make
mistakes as long as it
teaches them important
lessons and this in turn
leads to taking risks, which
in turn did find innovative
ways/processes to perform
the job better.
If we accentuate the
negative I believe
people are more
likely to veer
towards it and create
a negative mind set
with low esteem.
Both of which are not
good for businesses
as well as in
developing teams
and eventually for
leaders.
(ii)

29. JACK-OF-
ALL-
TRADES
10 A globalised era needs to be jack-of-all-
trades.
Because nowadays if a leader wants to
succeed and do better he needs to at least
know the basics of HR, Marketing, Finance,
Sales & Customer Service, other related
aspects of the business as how these
departments work and operate.
(i)

30. JACK-OF-
ALL-
TRADES
10 This addition to their skills will help the
leaders to lead more effectively in a global
environment with confidence where
competition is tough.
Becoming jack-of-all-trades contributes to
the hunger for becoming better and
cementing their position as a global leader.
(ii)

31. JACK-OF-
ALL-
TRADES
10
They are eager to learn more about
different aspects of the business as well as
how different departments work &
collaborate in different organisations not
just their own.
When we want to improve, be the best at
what we do and above all learn beyond
boundaries then we fuel our hunger by being
more creative, being more innovative as well
as finding different ways and processes to
do the same things differently but more
effectively.
(iii)

32. JACK-OF-
ALL-
TRADES
10
In this process such a leader learns
different diverse business skills that can
always be useful at looking and solving
conventional challenges in an
unconventional manner.
(iv)

33. JACK-OF-
ALL-
TRADES
10 If a person who has worked in different
industries, had different careers, worked
in different parts of the world, learned
couple of languages in the process, has
multiple life & cultural experiences.
Then his cross-functional experiences and
thinking can certainly be an invaluable
asset to any organisation as well as their
teams.
(v)

34. 11
EMOTIONAL
INTELLIGENCE:
Let’s first define what’s emotional
intelligence, according to Wikipedia
“Emotional Intelligence (EI), emotional
leadership (EL), emotional quotient (EQ)
and emotional intelligence quotient (EIQ), is
the capability of individuals to recognise their
own emotions and those of others, discern
between different feelings and label them
appropriately, use emotional information to
guide thinking and behavior, and manage
and/or adjust emotions to adapt to
environments or achieve one's goal(s).”

35. 11
WHY
EMOTIONS MATTER:
Because we as humans whatever we do that
be either in our personal or professional lives,
the decisions we take or how we behave with
others, in all such matters, emotions play an
integral part.
If we are not emotionally savvy
then our actions and behaviors can have
serious consequences both in personal and
professional lives and sometimes cause
irreparable damage.
(i)

36. 11
WHY
EMOTIONS MATTER:
Emotional Intelligence can be used as a gauge
to measure someone’s personal and
professional life as to what skills, abilities,
knowledge and wisdom they possess.
More importantly how they use all this to their
own advantage, excelling in their job by
improving overall management and making
better well-informed timely decisions.
(ii)

37. 11
HOW EMOTIONAL
INTELLIGENCE
HELPS US:
When we are aware of our surroundings and
limitations while at the same time being
emotionally intelligent/aware then we can use
this knowledge for managing people and
situations to our advantage.
When we are able to understand ourselves
better; gain insights as to how and why others
act/react as well as how others view or
perceive us; it means we have become
emotionally intelligent/aware.
(iii)

38. 11
HOW EMOTIONAL
INTELLIGENCE
HELPS US:
When we talk about the importance of
Emotional Intelligence at work, then it’s even
more so of value for someone who is in a
leadership role and has many followers
(employees), who report directly or indirectly
to him.
When a leader is emotionally aware and is
empathetic towards his employees in general
as well as towards any problem or issue that
arise,
(iv)

39. 11
HOW EMOTIONAL
INTELLIGENCE
HELPS US:
then they will not only be able to resolve the
issue minus the fuss but also sets the tone for
having a strong adherent co-working
relations.
The added advantage is that all the followers
(employees) can trust the leader
(boss/manager) which is very beneficial for
the workplace as well for the working
environment.
(v)

40. 11
CONCLUSION
From experience I can say that when you ask
employees about their immediate boss’s
working and if they say, “they know what
they are doing” (which is not very common),
that means they are emotionally self-aware
and know how to manage people and
situations effectively.
Recent studies have shown that if we are
emotionally intelligent and self-aware, it
adds value to both our personal and
professional life by making the right choices.
(vi)