Multiculturalism and Authentic Leadership

“One has to recognize that leadership in other cultures might look very different. And I think we all want authentic leadership, but the way that we get to it is indeed a little different,” explains Dr. Rajesh Kumar, Multicultural Educator and Advisor. Dr. Kumar has decades of experience living in different countries and advising companies and individuals looking to cross national boundaries. He joins Mike Horne in conversation to talk about multiculturalism and how it applies to authentic leadership.

In order for companies to successfully work in other countries, they need to truly want to dedicate their time and effort to embracing diversity and building relationships. Without strong relationships, it will not be possible to create long term success. Dr. Kumar explains that Americans have a more short term, project-to-project type mentality. Whereas in Asian cultures, the focus is on relationship building and long term goals. To truly have a multicultural business, leaders must be willing to change their mindsets and show respect for cultural differences.

Tune into this week’s episode of the Authentic Change Podcast to learn more about cultural differences in leadership styles and how to have a successful multicultural company.

• “One has to recognize that leadership in other cultures might look very different. And I think we might all want authentic leadership, but the way that we get to it is indeed a little different.” (3:39-3:54 | Rajesh)
• “Relationships are very important because without them, you're not going to have trust. And without that, you're not going to be able to motivate or lead people in the right direction.” (8:08-8:22 | Rajesh)
• “You've got to create programs, policies, and mechanisms in places that will allow for the diversity to actually flourish. I think that is the most important thing.” (22:51-23:06 | Rajesh)
• “The leader has to be one who can inspire people. The leader has to be one who can actually acknowledge these [cultural] differences and actually highlight the positivity of these differences in terms of how this could make the company or the organization a stronger one than might have been the case otherwise.” (24:40-25:08 | Rajesh) "