Global Leadership Lessons from Mark Zuckerberg

March 24, 2018 4,730d Comments

The Conference Board CEO Challenge® * reported Ten Big-Picture Trends based on 943 responses from global CEOs, presidents, and chairmen to The Conference Board’s survey. The Ten Trends include:

  • Being on the offensive on slowing global growth;
  • Focusing on the controlling the controllable and
  • Strengthening human capital through a grow-your-own strategy.

The eighth on the list notes “a surprising lack of emphasis on cross-cultural competency in strategic initiatives.” The report goes on to say:

“Mastering cross-cultural competence, even among the largest companies in our sample, is a relatively low strategic priority. This runs contrary to what we hear from human capital practitioners in our Councils across the globe, who say cultural sensitivity, or the lack of it, presents a major challenge to organizational alignment, performance management and measurement, and the development of effective global leaders.”

According to the report, CEOs see “an inseparable link between customer centricity, human capital and innovation, as well as the importance of diversity on innovation teams.” A recent McKinsey article entitled “Why diversity matters” also concludes, “More diverse companies are better able to win top talent and improve their customer orientation, employee satisfaction, and decision making, and all that leads to a virtuous cycle of increasing returns.” Given global diversity of customers and workforce, it is hard not to notice critical connections between cross-cultural competence and customer intimacy, communication, collaboration and innovation. Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, shines as a role model for new global leaders when he demonstrates:

1) Being interested in other cultures. In his book club announcement in January, Zuckerberg emphasized learning about different cultures, beliefs and histories. Cultural intelligence starts from cultural curiosity, accepting the fact “there are many roads to truth.” David Simon, former CEO of BP said, “Knowing some of the culture and the political background is half way, if not more than half way, to getting the solution.”

2) Seeking input from a global audience. According to the news media, Zuckerberg decided to crowdsource ideas for his New Year’s resolution. Albert Einstein said, “You can’t expect to solve a problem with the same mindset that created it.” Humility to seek input from others and openness to listen are great leadership traits. It’s creative, inclusive and entrepreneurial to invite different ideas and diverse perspectives from a large global audience.

3) Committing to mastering a new language. As one of the most successful, busiest CEOs, he has reportedly dedicated 30 minutes in the morning to learn Chinese from a tutor. Last October, he impressed his audience and (maybe future customers) in China with his 30-minute chat in Chinese at China’s prestigious Tsinghua University. Global salespeople know the mantra, “I sell in your language, I buy in your language.” He took learning as a challenge and did stick to it despite his brutal schedule. He was willing to put himself in a vulnerable position by choosing to practice in public and overcome “situational shyness” which many foreign language learners feel when they aren’t fluent in the languages they are learning. Regardless of Facebook’s future in China, he must have earned some goodwill from Chinese citizens and certainly inspired many young global leaders.

Perhaps cross-cultural competence should be on every leader’s development goal, even if it is not on the list of his/her employer’s strategic initiatives. It will be worthwhile to follow the example of Zuckerberg.

*[2015 Survey based on results distributed between September and October 2014]

4 thoughts on “Global Leadership Lessons from Mark Zuckerberg”

  1. Get up to $ 20,000 per daу with our рrogrаm.
    Wе аre a tеаm оf exреriеnсеd рrogrammеrs, worked more than 14 mоnths оn this рrogrаm аnd now еvеrything is rеadу and evеrуthing wоrks реrfectly. The РaуРаl system is vеrу vulnerаblе, instead оf notifying the dеvеlорers of РаyРal аbоut this vulnеrabilitу, we toоk advаntаge оf it. We асtivelу use our рrоgrаm for persоnаl enrichmеnt, to shоw hugе amоunts оf money on оur аcсounts, we will not. уоu will nоt beliеve until yоu try and as it is nоt in our intеrеst to prоve to you thаt something is in уоurs. When wе rеalized that this vulnеrability can bе usеd massivеlу without сonsequеnces, wе dеcidеd tо helр the rеst of thе pеoplе. We decidеd not to inflate thе pricе оf this gold рrоgram and рut a very lоw priсe tаg, onlу $ 550. In оrdеr fоr this program tо bе availаblе tо a lаrge numbеr of реорlе.
    Аll thе dеtаils оn оur blоg: http://www.denwer.ru/click?https://www.pinterest.com/pin/690387817853172731/

  2. Hello! I’ll tell yоu my mеthоd with аll the dеtails, as I stаrted earning in thе Intеrnеt from $ 3,500 per daу with the help оf social nеtworks rеddit аnd twittеr. In this videо yоu will find more detаiled infоrmаtion аnd alsо sеe how mаny milliоns have earnеd thosе who hаve bееn working for а yеаr using mу method. I spеcifically made а videо in this саpacity. Аfter buуing my mеthod, уоu will undеrstаnd whу: http://affiliates.sideshowtoy.com/Tracker.aspx?aid=3179&href=https%3A%2F%2Fvk.cc%2F8jfmUx

  3. Hi. I see that you don’t update your site too often. I know
    that writing articles is boring and time consuming.
    But did you know that there is a tool that allows you to create new
    posts using existing content (from article directories or other blogs from
    your niche)? And it does it very well. The new posts
    are unique and pass the copyscape test. You should try miftolo’s tools

  6. I have noticed you don’t monetize your page, don’t waste your traffic,
    you can earn additional bucks every month. You can use the best adsense alternative for any type of website (they approve
    all websites), for more details simply search in gooogle:
    boorfe’s tips monetize your website

  11. A motivating discussion is worth comment.
    I do believe that you ought to write more about this topic, it might not be
    a taboo subject but generally folks don’t talk about these issues.
    To the next! Cheers!!

  14. Hi. I have checked your drkimglobal.com and i see you’ve got some
    duplicate content so probably it is the reason that you don’t rank high in google.

    But you can fix this issue fast. There is a tool that generates
    content like human, just search in google: miftolo’s tools

  475. Absolutely NEW update of captcha recognition software “XRumer 16.0 + XEvil”:
    captcha breaking of Google (ReCaptcha-2 and ReCaptcha-3), Facebook, BitFinex, Bing, Hotmail, SolveMedia, Yandex,
    and more than 8400 another types of captchas,
    with highest precision (80..100%) and highest speed (100 img per second).
    You can use XEvil 4.0 with any most popular SEO/SMM software: iMacros, XRumer, GSA SER, ZennoPoster, Srapebox, Senuke, and more than 100 of other software.

    Interested? There are a lot of introducing videos about XEvil in YouTube.

    FREE DEMO AVAILABLE!

    Good luck 😉

  708. Incredible update of captcha regignizing package “XRumer 16.0 + XEvil 4.0”:
    captchas solving of Google (ReCaptcha-2 and ReCaptcha-3), Facebook, BitFinex, Bing, Hotmail, SolveMedia, Yandex,
    and more than 8400 another size-types of captcha,
    with highest precision (80..100%) and highest speed (100 img per second).
    You can use XEvil 4.0 with any most popular SEO/SMM software: iMacros, XRumer, GSA SER, ZennoPoster, Srapebox, Senuke, and more than 100 of other software.

    Interested? There are a lot of demo videos about XEvil in YouTube.

    FREE DEMO AVAILABLE!

    Good luck!