1. Niska1
Bobby Niska
11/11/15
Bobby’s Leadership Model
In the 21st century world, things have become much more complex. The world has shifted
to one driven by technological advances, global markets and industrialized nations. In a
globalized world, the business environment is more complex than ever. For example, economic
collapse in Greece has caused global concerns for the economy. Natural disasters near oil
refineries can affect global supply of petroleum and military conflicts putting individual
countries on edge. All of these places considerable pressure on corporations as they try to keep
up with the changes occurring. Businesses operate on multiple fronts and conduct business all
across the world on a daily basis. All of this places tremendous pressure on executive leaders.
Specifically, executives of companies today must be in a global mindset and shift to become
global leaders. If a leader in today’s business environment does not comply with this, they face
the possibility of their company collapsing and erupting into chaos. In order for a leader to
become a successful globally literate leader, they must adopt certain characteristics and practices.
With these certain characteristics and behaviors, a leader has a much better chance in becoming a
successful global leader. The global leadership model I have created centralizes on
characteristics and traits that I believe any successful global leader should possess. All of these
can be related back to the Harvard Business cases presented which bring up dynamic topics
relating to global leadership. The model consists of five behaviors: unification, self-awareness,
humility, challenge and globalized adaptability. With all of these possessed by a leader, they can
shift from being a good leader to becoming a thriving global leader.
When considering constructing this model, I asked myself: “What would you do if you
were put in a situation of global leadership? How would you act? How would you want others to
perceive you?” All of these questions contributed to the outline of the global leadership model I
created. The leadership model consists of a pyramid, with each different level building off the
next. The base is the foundation of the model and without a basic understanding of it, the rest of
the model cannot function. For starters, I believe that any global leader needs to focus on
unification. In order for any company to be successful and exhibit long term sustainability, they
need to be able to bring people around them together. If a leader does not focus on creating a
culture of “we” instead of a culture of “me”, then how can they ever hope to be successful? The
article from Harvard Business Review titled, “What Makes an Effective Executive” provides
substance to back this claim up. The article states that a leader must be able to trust people in the
organization. This contributes directly to creating a culture of “we”. If a leader does not believe
that their superiors are capable of making business decisions on their own and they attempt to
micromanage every aspect of the business, how can they ever hope to be successful on the global
front? The reality is that a leader cannot be everywhere at one time. A great leader needs to
understand that the greatest asset that they have is the people surrounding them. If a leader does
not surround themselves with individuals who are team focused, united and dedicated, how can
they ever hope to be successful on the global front, especially with all of the competition? The

2. Niska2
simple answer is that they cannot. All of this contributes to the reason that unification is at the
base of everything.
Once a leader has the unification realized, they can move onto focusing on developing
self-awareness in order to become a successful leader on a global front. In the Harvard Business
Review Article titled, “What Makes a Leader”, it discusses how a leader needs emotional
intelligence. One of the key components of this emotional intelligence I believe is the concept of
self-awareness or as they refer to it as ‘self-regulation’. With this, a leader needs to be able to
control how they react to certain situations, they need to be able to adapt to any change that is
thrown their way and they need to and above all, keep calm and composed and not act on their
impulses. If a global leader does not control their feelings of frustration or anger towards a
stressful situation, how can they expect their superiors to respond? Without remaining calm and
composed, a leader can lose all of their credibility among others, especially those beneath them.
If a leader has any desire to have the individuals beneath them respond to their leadership, they
need to have self-awareness. When a leader is aware of how they are acting, know what stresses
them out and have an awareness on how it impacts the people around them, they have a much
higher chance of acting in a manner that is calm and composed. When leaders lose self-control
and let their emotions get the best of them, they lose respect from their superiors. Once a
superior recognizes that the leader has a level of composure and self-control, they gain respect
for them and will be more inclined to follow their direction. In my personal life, I worked for a
leader who had no control over their emotions. This individual let situations with customers
bother them and once they were away from the customer, they lost control of their temper and let
all of their frustration out on other team members. At this moment, I lost tremendous respect for
them and strived to become a leader who never responded to a stressful situation as they did. In a
global setting, this is magnified. If a leader responds in a negative way and is not aware of their
emotions, they will have trouble maintaining a composed and successful global company. The
importance of self-awareness is critical to any global leader’s success.
The third level of the global leadership model I created is humility. Humility is similar to
humbleness, a person who is not self-absorbed and caught up in themselves. A person who has
low humility often brags about accomplishments, strives only to achieve greatness for
themselves, boasts of future endeavors they wish to tackle and often criticizes others who say
anything negative to them. On the other side of the spectrum, a person who has much humility
and is humble will often shrug off compliments from others, attribute their success to others
around them, become embarrassed when they are talked about by others and they do not seek the
spotlight. This personality trait is very appealing to others as often individuals do not like to be
around a person who only boasts about themselves. A person with humility often comes across
as more relatable and trustworthy. For example, Ben Carson who is currently running for
President of the United States has often been called very humble. Carson’s supporters often
compliment him for being very humble and intelligent. If Carson were to act in a manner that
went against this, his supporters would falter and he would lose traction. Any leader who
possesses humility often has more traction with others. In the Harvard Business Review case,
“Level 5 Leadership: The Triumph of Humility and Fierce Resolve”, it discusses humility and
relates it to a top leader, someone who blends extreme personal humility with extreme

3. Niska3
professional will. In a global standpoint, if a leader is abrasive and boastful, they will often have
difficulty with other global leaders and employees. With a high level of humility, a leader can
also build off of the previous two levels of the pyramid, self-awareness and unification. A
humble leader is aware of their emotions and how they present themselves which resonates with
others well, leading to a greater sense of unification. All of these put together is powerful and
only contributes greatly to the next level of the pyramid in the model.
The second to last step of the model I have constructed is challenge. A global leader is
often in charge of multiple people below them and has control on how they work on a daily
basis, how fast they get promoted and what challenges they are presented with. Because a global
leader has control over the fate of individuals and how much they are pushed to accomplish, a
leader should strive to make the job challenging for them, but not impossible. When an employee
starts to work for a company, often they are unaware of how the company operates and are in
need of much training. Once this has been accomplished and they understand how the company
works, often employees settle in and get stuck in a routine of doing the same things every day.
However, a global leader should realize to improve the overall success of the company and to
build it with the best leadership, they should push the individuals who are at lower levels to
improve and work as hardly and diligently as possible. If an employee is not willing to do so,
then they should be replaced with someone who will. This creates an environment of continuous
improvement, determination and dedication to a company and helps groom individuals for
leadership positions. When leaders at the top see their subordinates working hard for their jobs,
then it will push them to work even harder to keep their job as well. All of this promotes an
environment for development, healthy competition, dedication and improvement. In the Harvard
Business Review article, “What Leaders Really Do”, it discusses the fact that leaders have to
have the ability to develop people into leaders. A leader must be able to develop those beneath
them and create a challenging environment for individuals at low levels in order to create a
stronger corporate culture of hard work and strong and bold leadership. This article outlines the
challenge level on my global leadership model that I created. I think that is essential for a global
leader to challenge those around them. If they fail to do so, they could potentially create an
environment where mediocrity is acceptable. Once mediocrity sets in, a global business will
struggle to emerge from it and competition will inevitably conquer them. Once a global leader is
able to build up from the bottom of the leadership model, they are challenged with achieving
globalized adaptability.
If a global leader has any hopes of being truly effective and successful, they must not
only have the previous levels of the pyramid realized: unification, self-awareness, humility and
challenge, they must be able to have globalized adaptability. In the global business environment,
if a leader does not have the ability to see everything in the globalized perspective, they will
struggle to gain traction with their business and will face increasingly tough competition from
others who are have a global lens on. Take for instance the global economy. When something
happens to markets on one side of the world, it sends a ripple effect all across the global markets.
Everything that is conducted in business should be conducted in a way that takes into
considerations the effect it will have in a global perspective. When a leader of a global company
ignores the cultural, political, economic, sociocultural and technological aspects of the places in

4. Niska4
which they operate, then the consumers will recognize that they are not being considered and
they will take their business elsewhere. All throughout our course on global leadership, we
discussed how the world is becoming a much more complex place for businesses and global
leadership is more important now than it ever has been before. The typical global executive is
faced with a business that is now almost a 24/7 job. This obviously raises much concern for the
health and well-being of that executive. If a global leader wants to be successful, they also need
to be able to have the self-discipline and mental stability to lead effectively. The top of this
model relies heavily on the levels below it. If any of the preceding levels is not upheld and
maintained, then the global leader will face challenges that could lead to their demise as well to
uncertain conditions for the company.
Business can be a cruel and unforgiving industry to operate. If a leader does not
recognize this and respond, they could be a failure. Given this harsh reality, a person interested
in leading any company must reflect and decide if they are truly ready to tackle the challenge.
Looking at the global leadership model that I have created below and doing a self-evaluation
could help the individual decide if they are truly ready to tackle a global leadership role.
Unification, self-awareness, humility, challenge and globalized adaptability lay a strong
foundation for a successful global leader.
Unification
Self-awareness
Humility
Challenge
Globalized
Adaptability

5. Niska5
Work Cited in Leadership Model
Collins, Jim. "Level 5 Leadership: The Triumph of Humility and Fierce Resolve." Harvard
Business Review. HBR, May 2009. Web. 13 Nov. 2015.
Drucker, Peter F. "What Makes an Effective Executive." Harvard Business Review. HBR, May
2009. Web. 13 Nov. 2015.
Goleman, Daniel. "What Makes a Leader." Harvard Business Review. HBR, May 2009. Web. 13
Nov. 2015.
Kotter, John P. "What Leaders Really Do." Harvard Business Review. HBR, May 2009. Web. 13
Nov. 2015.