Unlocking Global Leadership: Navigating the Modern Landscape with Global Intelligence

Every day, our activities as modern humans add to the thread of globalization. We experience globalization every second of the day. The movement of people, ideas, data, money, goods, drugs, weapons, computers, and biological viruses around the world isn't new. People have always moved around the world through various network routes, an example is the Silk road. From the 2nd century to the 18th century, the Silk Road was a major network of trade routes that connected the east and west, enabling economic, cultural, political, and religious interactions between these regions. What is new is the velocity and range of interaction across borders.

The start of 21 century brought about modern man; technologically literate and socially acute. The combination of excellent people skills and technological knowledge is more important than ever. Today, technology has taken a central role in modern society that it is difficult to imagine life without it. There are so many technological advancements that it is nearly impossible to keep track of them all. On the other hand, globalization has broken geographical boundaries; we now speak on a global level rather than ourselves; it has changed the way we interact with trade and has had a significant impact on our culture.  The unprecedented connectedness beyond physical walls, which has been facilitated by Information Technology. 

Alux introduced me to the concept of Global Intelligence on YouTube. I came across the term again in various articles and web publications. Writers have emphasized the need for people to start becoming globally aware and intelligent, not just as consumers at the receiving end of the final product or service of globalization, but also understanding the technology involved. Global intelligence is the ability to connect with people, ideas, cultures, and languages from around the world. It is also the ability to understand universal principles like compassion and caring.

When you have Global Intelligence, you are on your way to becoming a world leader, with no prejudice against diversity, idiocracies, customs, or culture that is different from yours. A good  example of a globally intelligent leader  is Jack MA, the CEO, and founder of Alibaba's e-commerce website.

According to Forbes, there are six characteristics of Global Intelligence.

• Alignment,
•  Empathy,  
• Awareness,
• Curiosity, 
• Collaboration, 
• and Adaptability.

Adaptability

No matter how advanced this world seems to look, it is still a jungle, over the years man has relied on his survival skills to defy the odds set against him, one of those skills still relevant to date is adaptability. Understanding the world and predicting the changes that will occur in the coming years is what adaptability is all about. Leaders must be able to quickly adapt to the ever-changing global context and be willing to change tactics on the fly to accommodate any changes required to remain competitive in today's globalized marketplace.

Alignment

One of the challenges of globalization will be to keep people moving in the same direction despite their differences. Norms and customs differ from one country to the next, and great leadership is defined by the ability to collaborate and get everyone on the same page and moving in the same direction.

Collaboration

The ability to build horizontal networks across geographical borders and bring people together for a cause will be critical in a global context.

 Empathy

Empathy is the ability to walk a mile in the shoes of another person. This necessitates humility and the ability to interact on a personal level with people from different cultures. There will be no room for discretion in the new economy. You will never achieve remarkable results if you do not have empathy. Even people in traditionally introverted and internally oriented positions are now expected to interact with others, so we must all work to improve our ability to connect with others. Without it, we will be unable to inspire trust, which is essential for securing a stable professional life.

Awareness

In GQ, a strong sense of awareness is the ability to understand yourself and the world around you, which includes understanding your strengths, weaknesses, and prejudices to predict how you will react to significant cultural differences in the new economy.

Curiosity

The capability to be curious about cultures and differences you encounter along the way is essential in developing a GQ. We're talking about a personal passion and an insatiable curiosity about other cultures. It is critical to remain humble and recognize that different cultural norms and ways of doing things exist. 

Do you understand why people don't hire you, why your customers don't buy your products, or why voters don't vote for your political party? If you want to know why, look beyond your skillset, the cost of the product, or your resume and consider whether or not people like you. Do you know what kinds of emotions you elicit in others?