World Issues for Educational Leaders

The major issue facing educational leaders outside of North America is how to participate in the Knowledge Era while maintaining and honoring local identities and cultures.  The most efficient way to enter the Knowledge Era is to adopt the learning styles of North Americans and Western Europeans, but these learning styles do not always acknowledge the traditions and customs of other cultures.  Imposing North American values and habits on the education of those of different cultural backgrounds is an inappropriate response.  Educational leaders must look for solutions that address the particular learning needs of various cultures and use those solutions to allow other cultures to come into the Knowledge Era on their own terms.

To this end, further research into the common cross-cultural leadership characteristics reviewed in Culture Specific and Cross-culturally Generalizable Implicit Leadership Theories: Are Attributes of Charismatic/Transformational Leadership Universally Endorsed (Den Hartog, House & Hanges, 1999) would aid leaders in developing a culturally sensitive leadership style that would help bridge the gulfs that separate us.