What do you make of Ethan Hunt’s leadership style? In Anglo-American business culture, Tom Cruise’s indestructible Mission Impossible agent is likely to be perceived as a pioneering hero. In Japan, he would probably be regarded as the spearhead of – but not necessarily better than – the cohesive team he works with. In Scandinavia, the concern would be how to reintegrate him into the team to ensure that no one is left behind. The franchise’s blockbuster box office revenues transcend boundaries but such a variety of attitudes does, says Randall Peterson, professor of organisational behaviour at London Business School, indicate that “good leadership looks different around the world”.
“In Australia, Canada, the UK and US, the perception would be that if you’re a leader that makes you special. In Singapore, where it is all about the power of a cohesive team, group coordination and action, such a leader may even be seen as selfish because he is preventing other members from overtaking him,” says Peterson, an authority on cross-cultural leadership.
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