Addressing the organizational barriers todeveloping global leadership talent

Jay A. Conger *

Center for Effective Organizations, Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California, 3415 SouthFigueroa Street, DCC 200, Los Angeles, CA 90089, United States

Organizational Dynamics (2014) 43, 198—204

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WHY IT IS IMPORTANT TO ESTABLISH A‘‘GLOBAL LEADERSHIP’’ TALENT POOL

To understand why it is necessary to establish a unique pool ofleadership talent as ‘‘global,’’ we need to look at the rolesand demands of this population of leaders. At its simplest,the term ‘‘global leader’’ applies to individuals who leadacross geographic and cultural boundaries. The size of thispopulation should range from one to four percent of theoverall leadership talent pool depending upon the industryand the scope of international operations. If a significantportion of their role demands working with other cultures,leaders could be based in their corporation’s home countryand still qualify as global leaders. These individuals can befound at the front line of an organization or at the very top.That said, the ultimate destination for high potential globalleaders is general management over a region of the world or,more rarely, the entire globe. They may have global respon-sibility for a business or functional activity or multi-businesslines. What differentiates these leaders from others is thefact that their roles take them across national and culturalborders. They end up leading individuals and teams whoreside outside the home country of their corporation.

The successful global leader is a unique breed of ‘‘lineleader.’’ Their roles demand that they possess a broadervariety of competencies, skills, and abilities in order tosucceed than their domestic counterparts. To make mattersmore complicated, the knowledge and expertise cultivated

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 213 740 9814.E-mail address: Jay.Conger@ClaremontMcKenna.edu.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.orgdyn.2014.08.0060090-2616/# 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

in one international role does not necessarily transfer to thenext assignment. As a result, these leaders have to beperpetually engaged in the process of making sense ofambiguous new situations as well as learning their waythrough unexpected challenges. This requires that they beopen to new ideas, behaviors, and ways of thinking and inturn make the necessary mental and behavioral adjustmentsto suit each country’s context. They often have to be mastersof reinvention.

In contrast to line managers who stay within the confinesof their home country, global leaders face deeper challengesto their personal identity. As one group of researchers haspointed out, new cultures force individuals to bring intoquestion basic assumptions about who they are. A globalleadership assignment can literally demand a transformationin how individuals see themselves. The term ‘‘culture shock’’is often used to describe the power of the experience. Theprocess of developing such special talent requires that orga-nizations ‘‘call out’’ the baseline capabilities required forglobal leadership roles.

Most organizations need only a small pool of global lea-ders. As a matter of fact, the trend over the last two decadeshas been to develop ‘‘local’’ or home country leaders ratherthan rely on expatriate talent. There are several reasons forthis. The first is the sheer cost of deploying expatriateleaders. It is estimated that expatriation costs three or moretimes a similar employee’s salary in their home country. Inaddition, the learning curve is much steeper for expatriates.Executives typically report that a minimum of three or moremonths is required to begin to understand how the econom-ics, politics, history and culture of a country affect businessdecisions. Two years or more of in-country immersion may benecessary to lead with a measure of confidence.

Addressing the organizational barriers to developing global leadership talent 199

Finally, there is the issue of trust–—a foundation for effec-tive leadership. In many countries, employees simply trustleaders from their home country more than those from theoutside. One study in Western Europe showed that individualstrust citizens from their own country twice as much as thosefrom neighboring countries. They place even less trust inthose farther away. For these reasons, the pool of truly globalleaders required by an organization is likely to be a small one.Nonetheless, there is a high likelihood that the vast majorityof organizations’ talent pools are currently too small toproduce even the limited number of these leaders that thecorporation will require.

THE ORGANIZATIONAL BARRIERS TODEVELOPING GLOBAL LEADERSHIP TALENT

Given the importance of having a pool of global leadershiptalent, the number of companies that give it a low priority issurprising. It is often assumed that talented, high performingindividuals can quickly learn and address contextual chal-lenges no matter where they are deployed. Often times, theexecutive team making decisions about the placement ofglobal talent are themselves lacking in sufficient interna-tional experience and therefore have little genuine appre-ciation for its value.

Perhaps the most significant barrier, however, is the factthat there is little value or reward placed on global mobility.For example, to succeed over one’s leadership career in acorporation, there may be no requirements for internationalassignments. Few of an organization’s executives may havespent time working in global assignments. Line managers mayactually feel that they will be penalized for taking interna-tional assignments. They see their colleagues who moveoverseas lose critical visibility and influence with decision-makers at the corporate center. These expatriate colleaguesmay be bypassed for promotions. It is therefore seen as toorisky for career advancement to take on an internationalassignment. The other side of the mobility equation is thatsenior managers often hoard their best talent. In otherwords, they will not offer high potentials up for internationalassignments for fear of losing the most talented or becausethey see little development value in such experiences.

An additional barrier can be found with the leadershiptalent itself. Deciding to be a global leader involves theheadaches of expatriation. This can be seen as a major factorfor leaders who have deep family and cultural roots in theirhome country. Much of the research literature highlights theextreme emotional demands placed on the global leader’sfamily. Though there may be many leaders who have thepotential to be good global leaders, the number of individualswho are willing to take up the challenges and responsibilitiesof being a global leader is relatively low.

While the importance of global leaders may be toutedby organizations, companies consistently fail to integratethe concept into their organizational talent managementsystems. For example, many firms have not identified abaseline set of global leadership competencies. Otherorganizations have a set of global competencies, but theyare strikingly similar to their home country leadershipcompetencies and so fail to make any real distinctions.More significantly, few companies have performance man-agement systems that are effectively integrated with the

global leadership competencies. For example, a managerin one country may not be held accountable for demon-strating the global leadership capabilities. Many firms lackrigorous assessment processes to identify and track theirglobal leadership talent below the executive ranks.

While there may be a desire to develop global talentthrough job assignments, the systems to identify and deploycandidates are weak or flawed. For example, the critical stepof assessing what in-country leadership roles will be reservedsolely as developmental assignments for global leadershiptalent and what roles will be reserved for local talent is ofteninconsistently performed. Finally, repatriation can be a ser-ious problem if the organization does not have a disciplinedapproach supported by an effective system of monitoringtime abroad.

BUILDING THE TALENT MANAGEMENTINFRASTRUCTURE FOR A GLOBALLEADERSHIP POOL

The first step required for establishing a global leadershiptalent pool is to build a persuasive case for why the corporationneeds one. The case must be made at the executive level. Thechief human resources officer should serve as the primarychampion and spokesperson in persuading both the executiveteam and the board. The case can be built by illustrating thecritical gaps in the talent management approaches in compar-ison to the ‘‘best-in-practice’’ organizations.

An overall assessment of the international experience ofthe top three or four levels of leadership talent will revealthe extent to which global assignments are considered valu-able and provide some indication of the mobility of thosewith global experience. An examination of the successionpipeline behind pivotal global leadership roles will highlightthe severity of gaps and the depth of global assignments thatcandidates possess. Finally, case examples of general man-agers and executives who have performed poorly because offlawed selection criteria or a lack of developmental supportcan further be used to build the case for more rigorousapproaches to talent management.

It is important to establish a distinct global leadershipcapability framework. This framework should recognize thebaseline requirements for leading globally as well as theunique demands of the organization, its culture, and indus-try. Later in this article, we will discuss what dimensionsmight be included in such a framework. Only a very fewcompanies have created distinct global leadership frame-works–—one of which is Citigroup, which developed a frame-work for its Global Consumer Group.

Mandatory cross-cultural training before individuals begintheir international assignments is a baseline requirement. Inaddition, seasoned local managers should serve as in-countrymentors to ease expatriate leaders into their new role. Thelocal mentor can assist both in promoting relationship tiesand in accelerating the knowledge base of the incomingleader. The mentor needs to be an individual who is wellestablished within the host country, possesses a coachingcapability, and is not the incoming leader’s direct supervisor.Procter & Gamble makes extensive use of in-country mentorsto facilitate the successful transition to a new global leader-ship role. In addition, seasoned executive-level global

200 J.A. Conger

leaders mentor up and coming leaders both before and duringinternational assignments.

Ideally, a company’s job posting system at the associatedirector level and above should show what job offerings areglobal and open to the entire organization. Career anddevelopment plans should encourage managers who expressan interest in overseas assignments to apply for them.Research strongly suggests that those who volunteer forinternational assignments tend to be more adaptive andtherefore more successful. Procter & Gamble has a particu-larly impressive system in this regard. For example, thecompany needed a leader for a rapidly growing joint venturein Saudi Arabia. The job required someone who had emergingmarket experience, expertise in the laundry detergent busi-ness, and a willingness to relocate to Saudi Arabia on shortnotice. The company’s talent database provided five poten-tial candidates within a short time. The new manager was inplace in Saudi Arabia within three months of the initial jobposting.

As with domestic talent management approaches, it iscritical to establish high potential global talent pools thatencompass executive positions down to the associate direc-tor level, with pools at each level. At the onset, small poolstend to ensure that the high potential global talent receivesthe attention and assignments they need. For example,Citigroup, General Electric, IBM, and Procter & Gamble havededicated talent pools of high potential global leaders. Thetalent in each company receives special assignments andprojects related to global growth opportunities.

The global leadership talent initiatives should be centra-lized under a separate corporate human resource (HR) func-tion reporting directly to the chief human resources officer.This acknowledges their importance to the corporation aswell as provides greater visibility for the talent pool. It alsoensures that global leadership talent is seen as a corporate-wide resource rather than simply as a business unit or func-tional resource. When it is centralized at corporate, thisfunction can ensure greater mobility — both outgoing andreturning — for talent across unit and functional silos. Forexample, the Brussels-based international chemical andpharmaceutical company Solvay Group has its global talentoperations housed in International Mobility–—a function thatoversees all of the company expat talent. This functioncoordinates not only the identification of global leadershiptalent but also handles contracting and operational aspectsof the move, and conducts assessments of the talent processitself. In addition, this group coordinates moves back to thehome country of the expat or to the corporate center.

Monitoring talent is a particularly significant function,given how often talent sent overseas report themselves‘‘stranded’’ in these assignments. It is imperative that thefunctions of the global talent organization include monitoringtime spent in assignments and identifying opportunities forsubsequent assignments in ‘‘stepping stone’’ global roles or inroles back in home countries or at the corporate center.

While we will discuss job interventions in greater detail, itis important to ensure the full complement of assignments fordevelopment are utilized–—from multi-year overseas assign-ments to short term in-country projects to global teamprojects. The former are the most effective developmen-tally, but career stage ‘‘windows’’ make these assignmentsmore attractive at certain life stages. Younger managers have

fewer personal life restrictions so they tend to be moreavailable for these jobs. This is an ideal population forrewarding early career expatriate jobs. Overseas actionlearning programs can be used to expose high potential globalmanagers to emerging or critical markets. For example,teams can be assigned short-term learning projects to ascer-tain market opportunities for new products or services withina country. General Electric has long used action learning tohelp its general managers learn about promising new marketsthrough intensive in-country projects.

It is critical to promote two-way mobility by building inattractive rewards for accepting overseas assignments. Suchassignments can serve a requirement for entry into generalmanagement and executive roles that have global content. Afew firms have made it mandatory to have at least one andpreferably two international assignments before promotion toa general manager role. At a leading consumer goods company,one international management assignment is required forentry into the executive suite. Another firm has a policy calledthe triple-two rule. Managers have to have experience acrosstwo of the company’s operating groups, two functions, and twocountries to attain executive roles. This requirement sends apowerful message about the importance of internationalexperience for senior leadership roles.

One area where many organizations consistently trip up isin the ‘‘return’’ portion of the international assignment. Onesurvey showed that only 14 percent of large companies have amechanism to track returns on international assignments.The best way to assure that talent does not end up‘‘stranded’’ overseas is to create a selective and highly visibleglobal talent pool that is reviewed annually by the head ofHR, the chief executive officer (CEO), and responsible execu-tives. A few organizations have a global talent organizationreporting directly to the head of human resources to furtherensure this visibility. Their responsibility is to keep closertrack of global talent progress. They ensure that theseindividuals not only stay visible but also are able to returnback to the corporate center. In the ideal case, it is importantto set assignment limits of two to four years. Bringingexpatriates back with a promotion or expanded responsibil-ities is a further reinforcing step. There is evidence suggest-ing that in some companies it still takes expatriate leaderslonger to climb the corporate hierarchy than their home-country based colleagues.

A number of best practice corporations use a ‘‘steppingstone’’ development framework to categorize roles andassignments for global talent. For example, Procter & Gam-ble uses country manager positions in smaller countries as theinitial developmental ‘‘stepping stone’’ to become a globalleader. Larger countries or those with more challengingmarkets are used as ‘‘second step’’ assignments, and stilllarger countries or multi-country regions such as EasternEurope or Southeast Asia are used as ‘‘springboard’’ assign-ments for the company’s leaders who demonstrate the poten-tial to become senior executives. These jobs may change overtime as market conditions evolve and as local talent marketsmature. It is important to review these positions every fewyears. That said, it is critical to have designated jobs acrossthe world reserved primarily for the global leadership pool.

Finally, a critical element for the development of a globalleadership pipeline is the establishment of a standardized andrigorous performance management and talent management

Addressing the organizational barriers to developing global leadership talent 201

system that is itself global. Few organizations have achievedthis outcome, and even their systems are not perfect. Theytake time to build and require political capital, but it isimportant to have a performance scorecard that tracks globalleadership talent performance on standardized business andorganization metrics. The scorecard should provide rigorousand standardized performance assessments so that any man-ager anywhere in the world can be evaluated with a measure ofconfidence. Such a system is imperative in order to identifythose with global leadership potential beyond the corporatecenter and therefore deserves critical development assign-ments. From the employee’s perspective, it should providethem with very clear feedback and progress updates. While a‘‘perfect’’ system is likely to be out of reach, a global systemraises the standards bar across the entire organization.

DEPLOYING THE RIGHT KINDS OFASSIGNMENTS AND INTERVENTIONS FORGLOBAL LEADERSHIP TALENT

In addition to the organizational processes and structuresidentified above, a number of development practices havebeen identified as pivotal for global talent. These includeexpatriate assignments, multicultural teaming, rotationalassignments and special projects, frequent business travel,training, coaching, mentoring, language immersion, leader-ship forums, and assessments. For example, General Elec-tric’s Transportation sends SWAT teams of talent to emergingmarkets to identify market opportunities and product spe-cifications. Coca Cola makes extensive use of internationalassignments to groom its global leaders.

Among the development interventions, expatriate assign-ments are still considered the fast track path to globalleadership development. The sheer amount of resourceful-ness required to succeed, along with the profound ways inwhich culture shock can transform an individual, make thisthe most powerful developmental experience. Expatriateleaders can learn the organization’s operational capabilitieson a global basis and over time develop trusting relationshipswith regional offices. It is important, however, that theseassignments be supported with adequate training, feedback,and coaching.

Multicultural teams are alternative opportunities to learnabout critical differences in national cultures, functionalcultures, and corporate cultures. Many operate virtually,and they are hampered by the lack of physical proximity–—an issue faced daily by executives leading global businessunits or heading global functional lines. Still these teams arerich training grounds for both cultural sensitivities and thelogistical challenges of virtual relationships.

Frequent international business travel can provide oppor-tunities to work with various international office locationsand cultures. These trips can be useful for building a globalpoint of view, networking, and learning about cultural dif-ferences in communications and style. The dilemma withthese experiences is that they are usually too short in dura-tion to allow for genuine relationship building and for devel-oping a deep understanding of the local business. Further,business travel often is arranged in ways that insulate theleader from the realities of working on a more permanentbasis in a country.

Intercultural training programs are best deployed in theearly stages of a global leader’s career or as preparationspecific to a country assignment. Ideally, these programsshould address important cultural differences in ways ofdoing business and building work relationships. Typically,these educational experiences are too short in duration tohave the impact of actual work assignments.

Mentors can prepare global leaders for the cultural chal-lenges they are about to face as well as introduce them tocritical stakeholders. They can also inform newly appointedleaders of the organizational and marketplace issues thatneed to receive priority attention.

Beyond developmental experiences, it is important toidentify certain baseline capabilities for those who aspireto global leadership roles. These can then be used to shapeselection and the right kinds of developmental assignments.In the section that follows, we examine a set of potentialdimensions.

ESTABLISHING BASELINE CAPABILITIES FORGLOBAL LEADERS

While certain personality attributes may help global leaders,there is no universal personality profile that characterizesthose who succeed. Instead there are a wide variety ofpersonalities that can perform well in this role. In addition,national cultures may place a premium on the demonstrationof certain personality attributes. In one culture, for example,assertiveness may be highly valued while in another it may bethe personality attribute of reserve or congeniality.

While we are going to propose a set of global leadershipcompetencies, a measure of caution is needed when it comesto their use. On the one hand, many researchers claim thatcompetencies should play a pivotal role in selection anddeployment. Yet often these frameworks’ competenciesoverlap so much with ‘‘domestic’’ models of leadership thattheir dimensions are indistinguishable. Other times, thereare so many competencies that they are hard to deploy in ameaningful way when it comes to assessment and develop-ment. Few, if any, leaders can live up to their comprehen-siveness. In addition, a one-size-fits-all approach flies in theface of the notion that countries differ widely in theircultures and leadership demands. Finally, some have noted,importantly, that other factors such as economic ones — fastversus slow growing markets — and political differences — theextent of state intervention — are often more deterministicof performance than the behavioral or cultural orientationsof the leaders themselves.

Nonetheless, there are baseline competencies that recog-nize a leader’s receptivity to cross-cultural experiences inthe first place. For example, certain individuals are ener-gized by experiences outside their home culture. They enjoyspending time in new cultures. They are inclined to experi-ment with their behavior in order to successfully adapt to thedemands of a new culture. These baseline competencesrecognize that unique attributes motivate individuals to seekout global assignments and learn from them. One of the mostuseful criteria is the degree to which an individual is moti-vated to work outside their home country. Any competencyframework must emphasize the leader’s sense of adventureto live in other countries, their sensitivity and responsiveness

202 J.A. Conger

to cultural differences, and their ability to quickly learn andadapt to cultural norms. These capabilities reflect the needfor global leaders to not only be speedy learners but alsoentrepreneurs who can skillfully adapt their styles and mind-sets to new worlds. They have the drive and responsivenessneeded to lead successfully across multiple cultures, nations,and boundaries.

The second category of competencies emphasizes theimportance of skills and knowledge as they pertain to culturalliteracy. These include the behavioral skills required to leadmulti-cultural teams, read behavioral cues and to success-fully network in a new culture. With these capabilities, globalleaders are able to build effective working relationships andsocialize corporate goals and norms in distant operations.

The third cluster recognizes the ‘‘mindset’’ requirementsfor global leadership roles. This cognitive capability includesbeing comfortable with cultural complexity and its contra-dictions, perceiving opportunities in the uncertainty asso-ciated with global markets, and thinking systemically with anextended time perspective. This mindset cluster helps globalleaders to reconcile the broader picture perspective ofcountry markets, economics, and politics with day-to-daytactical decisions.

The ‘‘full suite’’ of these competencies in an individual ismost representative of an executive level global leader,especially when it comes to the mindset dimensions. Thiswould be an individual who is responsible for a global businessactivity or function or who has significant multi-countryresponsibility. Such global leaders need to possess, in sig-nificant depth, this complement of capabilities. In sharpcontrast, we might expect to see only a few of these cap-abilities in a front line manager–—primarily the baseline ones.One possible exception might be organizations whose hier-archies are flat. In which case, even younger global leadersmay need to possess more of the capabilities.

HOW THE GLOBAL LEADERSHIP CAPABILITIESVARY BY HIERARCHICAL LEVEL

Using the ‘‘leadership pipeline’’ framework developed byRam Charan, Stephen Drotter, and James Noel, we will notehow the capabilities vary by level and in turn influenceassessments and development needs by level. More impor-tant, we can highlight which capabilities need to be eitherassessed or developed at each stage.

In the ‘‘leadership pipeline’’ model, there are five impor-tant leadership passages before their culmination in the CEOrole. The first passage is from managing self to managingothers–—in other words, the transition to a front-line manager.This is the stage where we would expect to see the baselineglobal leadership capabilities of a catalytic learning capacity, asense of adventure, and an entrepreneurial spirit in certainindividuals. These are foundational to becoming an effectiveglobal leader. Without them, a manager is not likely to eitherseek out international assignments or possess the resilienceand adaptability required to succeed in such assignments.Selecting individuals possessing these attributes is the firststep in the global leadership development process.

Identifying individuals with these capabilities is thewindow to starting a long term grooming process. An assign-ment to develop the baseline capability of sensitivity and

responsiveness to cultural differences is the place to begin.Specifically, it is ideal to assign junior global leadership talentthe responsibility for global team projects or at a minimummembership in them. In addition, short assignments requiringtravel to international sites are ideal. This is a very importantstage to introduce cross-cultural training along with the assign-ment of an in-company mentor who has successfully led globalteams at junior levels. Three hundred and sixty degree feed-back from the team members on the individual’s leadershipskills and their cross-cultural sensitivity is extremely helpfulsoon after the completion of one to two global projects. Weexpect that at the end of this passage the capability of asensitivity and responsiveness to cultural differences will beengrained or certainly tested. Later in this stage, an overseasassignment is feasible, provided the individual has receivedpositive feedback around cultural sensitivity, performance,and leadership.

The second pipeline passage is from managing others tomanaging managers. Managing managers is a more crucialtask and requires the ability to identify subordinates whohave the potential to be good leaders. In the ideal case,potential global leaders now have their first significant inter-national assignment with the duration of two to three years.This assignment should be in a country with strong upsidepotential for market growth but also one with a very distinctculture that is different from the individual’s home country.The individual should be supported with cultural trainingbefore the assignment, followed by in-country mentoringon the job. This period of immersion in a distinct culturewill help them to develop a deep appreciation for theimportance of cultural literacy. In addition to their localresponsibilities, they can be assigned one to two globalprojects–—further refining their capability to lead globalteams. In this passage, the networking competence nowcomes to the forefront. Working with an in-country mentorand colleagues, they will spend a considerable amount oftime learning about critical relationships beyond the orga-nization. With a senior in-country leader, they are taken onvisits to meet prominent government officials, customers,suppliers, and other external stakeholders. They are givenassignments that are dependent upon networking skills for aportion of their successful implementation.

The third and fourth pipeline passages are from leadingmanagers to functional managers and then to leadingbusiness managers. They require a focus on the functionsof the business followed by a broader focus on companyoperations and strategies. The individual now needs todevelop a more strategic mindset. This is required forcreating functional strategies for the company and mana-ging the whole function of the business. By the end ofthese passages, the global leader should have completedinternational assignments in at least two if not threedifferent countries. The contrast in countries teachesthe significance of cultural and market differences andengrains the importance of versatility and adaptability inleading. Their assignments ideally have also been in orga-nizations and markets in different stages of maturity. Intheir leadership roles, they will have had to implementinitiatives that require working extensively with local andnational governments. These reinforce the necessity of anextended time perspective, comfort with cultural com-plexity, and sophisticated networking.

Addressing the organizational barriers to developing global leadership talent 203

The fifth passage is from leading business managers toleading business group managers. Here the focus is on a groupof businesses, not just one. Individuals at this level arerequired to become more proficient at evaluating strategies,developing and coaching business managers, creating a port-folio strategy, and correctly assessing the right core capabil-ities to succeed. By this stage, the global leader shouldpossess the full complement of global leadership capabilities.A global mindset is paramount in importance given thestrategic demands of the job and the complexity of multiplemarkets and businesses. Mentoring by executives who haveheld similar roles can be extremely helpful. Executive edu-cation focused on global trends in markets, demographics,economics, and political issues should also complement thedevelopmental experience.

ASSESSING GLOBAL LEADERSHIP POTENTIAL

Assessing the global leadership potential of individuals withinan organization can be a challenging task. It is very easy tomistake native leadership potential for global leadershippotential. As a result, organizations can make the costlymistake of selecting locally effective leaders for globalleadership positions–—without appropriately assessing theirability to lead in global contexts. Conversely, employees whomay be less effective leaders in a local context may possessthe capabilities and skills to lead successfully in globalenvironments. Yet they may not make the cut.

Another assessment challenge involves potentially lim-ited knowledge on the part of assessors about what consti-tutes effective global leadership. If the individualsresponsible for assessments have a limited understandingof and experience with regards to what it takes to be asuccessful global leader, they can make costly mistakes inselection and placement.

Finally, assessment for global roles is more complicatedthan domestic roles due to variations in standards and prac-tices across a company’s geographic operations. Since can-didates are likely to be sourced globally, the challenge is thatcommon assessment standards for candidates are not likelyto exist. The operating units in countries will have their owndifferent mechanisms for assessing, developing, and promot-ing their leaders. While a candidate may be perceived as ahigh potential global talent in one country, they may not be inanother country.

As noted earlier, few companies have created universalstandards by which they can assess their global leadershiptalent. This makes accurate assessments extremely difficult.Not so surprisingly, McCall and Hollenbeck in their researchon global executives concluded that rigid assessment andselection systems are likely to prove ineffective. They arguethat such systems might end up screening out half of thedesired candidates for global executive roles. Therefore,relying on formal assessments as the primary tool for identi-fying global leadership talent is a mistake. Nevertheless,there is a role for assessment in identifying potential anddevelopment gains.

The primary step toward determining an individual’s glo-bal leadership potential is to assess his or her motivation tolead in cross-cultural contexts. Research has shown thatthis motivation is one of the most critical precursors tosuccessful performance. Effectively measuring motivation

to lead cross-culturally can help separate potentially effec-tive global leaders from the rest. In measuring motivation, itis important to use a 360-degree approach. Data on anincumbent’s motivation to lead cross-culturally should becollected from multiple sources such as supervisors, peers,and subordinates. Such triangulation ensures greater relia-bility of data.

Interviews with candidates should assess the depth of theirinterest in other cultures, their versatility in adapting to newenvironments, and their desire for international assignments.It is also critical to identify how well candidates are able tocreate feedback-rich environments for their own learning aswell as their general sense of adventure. Extensive personaltravel, college foreign exchange experiences, and knowledgeof a foreign language can serve as markers of an individual’smotivation to work in cross-cultural environments.

Lastly, appropriate weight should be given to a variety ofcapabilities while making selection decisions for differentleadership positions. For example, if the leadership positioninvolves leading a group of businesses, the global mindsetcapability should receive more weight in the determinationof potential. On the other hand, if the leadership positionrequires extensive work with peers and important externalstakeholders, then a sophisticated networking competencymay warrant greater weight.

CONCLUSION

Many organizations are struggling with a critical shortage ofglobal leadership talent. The shortfall exists largely due toorganizational barriers and poorly aligned talent manage-ment systems. Underpinning these problems is the lack ofdeep appreciation for the unique demands of developingglobal leadership talent. Senior organizational leaders oftenperceive that there is little difference between domestic orhome country leadership talent and those who go on to leadin other cultures. As a result, most organizations have notinvested in the necessary and unique infrastructure to builddeep bench strength in global leadership talent.

As we stress in this article, unique talent managementprocesses are necessary for developing global leadership. Forexample, these processes must support ‘‘two-way mobility’’in contrast to the common problem where leadership talentsent overseas has a hard time returning to their home countryor to the corporate center. An organization’s culture andrewards must not only reinforce the importance of globalassignments but also place a premium on them. Assignments,training, capability frameworks and assessments are all vitalinterventions that must be customized to cultivate and sup-port global leadership talent. Most important, the researchon global leadership talent strongly suggests that the processof building a deep bench of such talent requires an unrelent-ing commitment of at least seven or more years on the part ofa large corporation. That commitment has to start at thesenior ranks of an organization and must be supported over-time by the rigorous and integrated talent managementpractices we have described in this article.

204 J.A. Conger

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

For additional reading on developing global leadershiptalent, see P. Caligiuri, Developing culturally agile globalbusiness leaders,’’ Organizational Dynamics, 2013, 42(3),175—182; P. Caligiuri, & I. Tarique, ‘Predicting effectivenessin global leadership activities, Journal of World Business,2009, 44(3), 336—346; M. W. McCall & G. P. Hollenbeck,Developing Global Executives (Harvard Business School Press,2002); M. Mendenhall and A. Bird, In search of global leader-ship’’, Organizational Dynamics, 2013, 42(3), 167—174; J.Muczyk, & D. Holt, Toward a cultural contingency model ofleadership, Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies,2008, 14(4), 277—286; and M. Mendenhall, The elusive, yetcritical challenge of developing global leaders. EuropeanManagement Journal, 2006, 24(6), 422—429.

For a discussion of global leadership competencies, thefollowing are helpful sources: J. Brownell, Meeting the com-petency needs of global leaders: a partnership approach,Human Resource Management, 2006, 45(3), 309—336; M.Javidan, P. Dorfman, M. de Luque, & R. House, In the eye

of the beholder: cross cultural lessons in leadership fromproject GLOBE, The Academy of Management Perspectives,2006, 20(1), 67—90; J. Osland, A. Bird, M. Mendenhall & A.Osland, Developing global leadership capabilities and globalmindset: a review, Handbook of Research in InternationalHuman Resource Management, 2006, 197—222; and T. Joki-nen, Global leadership competencies: a review and discus-sion, Journal of European Industrial Training, 2005, 29(3),199—216.

For a discussion of the ‘‘leadership pipeline’’ framework,the best resource is R. Charan, S. Drotter, and J. Noel, TheLeadership Pipeline: How to Build the Leadership PoweredCompany (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 2000). Forthose interested in the role of HR in driving a greateremphasis on global leadership development within theirorganizations, see M. Novicevic, & M. Harvey, The politicalrole of corporate human resource management in strategicglobal leadership development, The Leadership Quarterly,2004, 15(4), 569—588.

Jay Conger is a senior research scientist at the Center for Effective Organizations at the University of SouthernCalifornia, Marshall School of Business and the Henry Kravis Chaired Professor of Leadership at Claremont McKennaCollege in California. He is one of the world’s experts on leadership. As a management educator, he has workedwith over 400 organizations in his 25-year career. Author of over 100 articles and book chapters and 14 books, heresearches leadership, organizational change, boards of directors, and the training and development of leadersand managers.