More Than Words: How Language Shapes the Way Cultures Understand and Practice Leadership

Globalization is forcing leadership scholars and practitioners to examine the extent to which leadership theories and practices that have largely originated in Western cultures may apply cross-culturally. A deeper and richer understanding of leadership across cultures must begin with an appreciation of how language shapes meaning and how meaning shapes practice. This research revealed leadership insights from native speakers and leadership experts of the following languages: Chinese, French, German, Hindi, Portuguese, Spanish, Ukrainian, and Urdu, comparing and contrasting them with how English language driven Western comparative leadership studies typically characterize implicit leadership theory and leadership praxis.