Leaders have always existed, as individuals capable of influencing others, as it is an individual characteristic.

Leadership (and the type of leadership) is instead an interactive process, linked to the context and the moment, as it is a social role that leads to change.

Today, reflections are needed on the skills that a leader must have to create synergistic and resonant organizations, considering as characteristic, today, two unstoppable and unavoidable phenomena: the transformations linked to digitalization and the multiculturalism of both organizations and markets.

Organizations are built from the bottom up, and in a recursive way:

– there is a need for listening, observation and intuition skills, towards the individual components of an organization, so as not to exclude anyone or anything that can potentially express value. (reframe)

– a coherent and shared value and purpose system must be built, integrating all the components, so that everyone feels involved. (adapt)

– interconnections must be created between the various value-generating components, so that synergies can be developed. (connect)

– an organizational form must be defined that allows to put in resonance the skills with the needs. (orchestrate)

Why is digital transformation linked to this context? According to MIT Sloan Management Review “The right way to think about digital transformation is to continuously adapt to a changing environment.”

The goal is to develop a technical and operational base, evolve and respond in the best possible way to local or global events, market conditions and customer expectations that are unpredictable and constantly evolving.

And why do we need multi-cultural intelligence? (multi) Cultural intelligence is the ability to understand and interact effectively with people from different cultural backgrounds.

It is a key skill for leaders who want to foster diversity and inclusion in their organizations, as well as for those who want to expand their markets and reach new customers. Cultural intelligence involves four dimensions: cognitive (knowledge of cultural norms and values), metacognitive (awareness of one’s own and others’ cultural assumptions), motivational (interest and curiosity for other cultures), and behavioral (ability to adapt one’s communication and actions to different cultural contexts).