Global Literacies Lessons on Business Leadership and National Cultures

Throughout the world, languages differ, but the business questions are the same. In French and Japanese, Hebrew and English, executives are asking, "How can I survive and thrive in the borderless, global marketplace?"For answers, the authors ofGlobal Literacieswent straight to the leaders themselves -- the CEOs of thousands of corporations around the globe.Two lessons emerged. First, there are leadership universals that every executive and manager needs to practice in order to be world-class at home and abroad. The second defied conventional wisdom: in the borderless economy, culture doesn't matterless,it mattersmore.Around the world, business leaders apply their own experiences -- personal, professional, and cultural -- to an ever-expanding world of Dutch colleagues, Brazilian suppliers, Taiwanese manufacturers, and Chinese competitors. These leaders are trying to become globally literate...andGlobal Literaciesis for, and about, them.No one knows this better than CEOs of successful global companies such as Japan's Canon, Sweden's Ericsson, Taiwan's Acer Computers, the U.K.'s British Telecommunications, and U.S.-based Coca-Cola.InGlobal Literacies,a team of researchers led by Robert Rosen, Ph.D., of Healthy Companies International, and Watson Wyatt Worldwide have produced the first model of international business success based on a wide-ranging landmark study of global leaders and their world-class companies.Global Literaciesdocuments the exclusive results of a worldwide survey of over one thousand senior executives and in-depth interviews with CEOs of seventy-eight companies -- companies representing 3.5 million employees in more than 200 countries, and with more than $725 billion in annual sales.Global Literaciesoffers compelling new insights and business tools:The Global Leadership UniversalsLearn the new literacies of business:* Personal Literacy -- understanding and valuing yourself* Social Literacy -- engaging and challenging people* Business Literacy -- focusing and mobilizing your business* Cultural Literacy -- valuing and leveraging cultural differenceThe Global Success QuotientLearn which are the most globally active, financially successful companies -- and countries -- in the world, understand how they got there, and apply those learnings to your own organization.The Cultures of Twenty-first-Century BusinessDevelop ways toseeglobal challenges and opportunities,thinkwith an international mindset,actwith fresh global-centric leadership behaviors, andmobilizeworld-class companies -- whether you're a multinational giant, a domestic manufacturer, or a local community organization.National ProfilesWith sophisticated profiles of thirty countries, and survey data from eighteen national cultures -- from the Tolerant Traders of the Netherlands to China's Ancient Modernizers and the Optimistic Entrepreneurs of the United States,Global Literaciesis a groundbreaking and fascinating work on the most important issues in the world of business today.

Robert Rosen is a psychologist and the founder and CEO of Healthy Companies International, a consulting firm that advises executives of the Global 1000 and entrepreneurial growth companies. The author of The Healthy Company, Leading People, and numerous articles, Rosen has worked in over twenty-five countries, speaks to thousands of executives each year, and appears regularly in the media worldwide.