Chapter 6: Indo-European Leadership (IEL): A Non-Western Leadership Perspective

This chapter moves beyond Western notions to expand our perspective on leadership by proposing Indo-European Leadership (IEL) as a distinct and divergent approach that originates in ancient India and Iran. The exponential Indian economic growth has garnered attention recently and the success of Indian organizations has been attributed partly to their unique management and business practices. We make the case that IEL is a unique leadership style that has contributed to the success of Indian organizations where leaders successfully blend social concerns and caring for stakeholders with Western business practices. IEL is a comprehensive and balanced approach to leading with a focus on integrity, action, moderation, accountability, kindness, and humility. It has been tested and has succeeded in ancient as well as modern dynamic and highly diverse environments that parallel many of the challenges global business and social leaders face today. The application of IEL to Western contexts is innovative in its performance and action orientation – that is, allows a focus on outcomes and the bottom line – while also taking care of people and demonstrating integrity and accountability. As businesses and economies worldwide continue to experience sluggish growth and face ethical and legal scandals in a highly diverse and global world, leadership models are being questioned and the need for innovative approaches has never been greater. IEL is one such proven approach that may point the way out of some of the current challenges.