Business leaders must break barriers

Cheers from Barcelona, where I spoke at an event for intercultural, diversity, equity & inclusion experts organised by Anna Zelno no of the Academy of Diversity and Innovation. More about the event soon, but first…

Politicians are busy erecting ever-thicker economic and cultural barriers, ad raising the risk of crossing them. That is their job.

I believe that part of businesspeople’s job is to find legally and ethically compliant ways around, over, under and across those barriers. People across regions and cultures still need each other for jobs, goods, services, funding and ideas.

Imagine the two prices as propulsion and air resistance for a plane, or muscle power and gravity for athletes. Needs exist, business dreams up solutions, politics forces solution providers to fact-check and de-risk.

Business leaders should remember that taking sides is a politician’s job. One way to stay globally connected is to physically crisscross geographic and cultural barriers, which is the lifestyle of many executives I coach and advise, even in today’s virtual world.

This week I had the privilege of asking consultants, coaches and academics from 5 continents and twice as many countries to challenge my East-West Leadership ideas. The intercultural profiles were amazing, with Asian or African participants intimately familiar with the West and senior Western experts fluent in Asian languages. In coming weeks I’ll digest and share what I discovered, learned, discussed and will include in my coaching, workshops and advisory.

Reach out with questions and make sure to follow my LinkedIn newsletter: https://www.dhirubhai.net/newsletters/east-west-leadership-by-gabor-7168183859686109184/