Cultural competence of Successful Indian Leaders

Abstract

What characterizes global leaders of Indian nationality with high performance indicators? This conceptual paper examines the behavior preferences of Indian corporate leaders while leading people across various cultures. It is based in the environment of leaders in multinational firms in the Information Technology industry. It explores the multi-way dynamics of these interactions through semi-structured interviews with leaders and also validates those preferences through a strong literature study of both Indian and international authors with a higher focus on works of the last decade. We find that while some elements of cultural competence exist in most leaders, this could be attributed to their transnational exposure. They attribute their personal success largely to their ability to lead in cross-cultural environments.