Leadership in Action: A View on Global Leadership

Influences on Global Leadership

In the latter half of the twentieth century, there have been three major influences on the practice and understanding of global leadership. Let me begin with the one that I think is crucial but that is sometimes overlooked or even discounted.

Leadership by Institutions

An important influence on the practice of global leadership has been the international effort to create organizations whose purpose is to provide it. Two such organizations have been created. The first was the League of Nations. Established at the end of World War I, it presented its mandate system as a “sacred trust of civilization.” It was to be a triumph of universal values over parochial values, but its operation turned out to be little different ...