6: University-Based Leadership Education for Professionals Working in the Globalized Context

Addressing the question of leadership education for professionals working in the globalized context requires clarifying what it means to be a leader and, therefore, what competencies are required for people navigating the existing and growing forces of globalization in their teams, workplaces, organizations or communities. Various definitions of globalization exist (Knight, 2003, 2004; Scholte, 2002). However, in this chapter, we choose to work with a definition that aptly embraces an understanding that prepares leaders for working on the micro and macro levels in the global world. Scholte (2002) conceptualizes globalization as forces that reduce barriers to connections and relationships between people. Globalization as a process of “building connections between people across a one world,” as Scholte (2002, p. 14) defines it, offers a process for the global leader who wants to actively engage in practices that increase cross-cultural awareness and communication, as well as actions that build and lead collaborative solutions to address complex global problems.