Leadership and culture

Leadership is an enigmatic and complex concept on which a plethora of material has been written, often without ever defining the term. Why is it so difficult to define leadership? Every culture, every occupational field, every individual within these fields and cultures has their own perceptions of leadership. This is because leadership and leaders are influenced by their culture, their personal characteristics, their experiences, situations in life, societal, economic, religious, and political factors, and much more. For ethnic-minority immigrants living in Anglo-Saxon majority cultures, their native culture plays a significant role in shaping them as leaders. Focusing on cultural differences is not meant to stereotype ethnic minorities living in Western cultures, but just to emphasize the role of cultural influences in a person. Culture defines human psychology and therefore one’s behavior.

What is culture?

Like leadership, culture too has various definitions. Definitions of culture depend on who is offering them – humanists, anthropologists or sociologists. It is generally accepted that culture defines thoughts, ideas, behavior, and the structure of people living in a society. Culture is about the ways in which people are used to living within their geographical boundaries. Culture is influenced by climate, natural surroundings, and people who occupy the area. Culture is logical, contradictory, complex, with shared assumptions, priorities, and practices. Kluckhohn (1965) defined culture as consisting of patterned ways of thinking, feeling, and reacting to various situations and actions. Marsella et al. (1979: 57) go further to say that, “culture and the individual are mutually constitutive. The individual perceives, interprets, and acts as he does (partly) because of his culture, and in perceiving, interpreting, and acting in that way he (and others) makes his culture what it is.”

Given these interpretations, it is evident that an individual and his/her culture are inseparable. An individual’s thoughts, behavior, and language is shaped by culture. Though human evolution did not begin with the origins of culture, “culture itself must be congruent with the features of human physiology and psychology that are vestiges of earlier evolution” (McCrae, 2009: 207). Humans are cultural animals and their personal characteristics mesh with the society and customs that condition their behavior. Gandhi’s non-violence strategy was an influence from his early introduction to Jainism – an ancient Indian religion that prohibits violence even towards the smallest creatures on earth. Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela were influenced by the segregation that was all around them. All three also had Western world influences because of where they lived or where they went for higher education. Gandhi was educated in England and had visited South Africa where Nelson Mandela also lived. Martin Luther King lived in the United States. The last two were also influenced by Gandhi’s non-violence movement. In all three cases, their own culture (Indian, black or African-American) was a major influence on them: they became leaders to change things around them, to educate people, and to achieve freedom.

A study justifying culture for behavioral patterns, especially with relation to minorities living in white cultures, is probably avoided or questioned due to fears that it might verge on stereotyping. Much of the earlier leadership literature was written by researchers from Anglo-Saxon cultures about minority cultures, and was perhaps biased. This fear has been around for a long time and Scherer and Brosch (2009) have addressed this in their article. They state that:

Accepting cultural influences is not about confirmation bias or ethnocentricism, but is about acknowledging the definitive possibility of the influence of native culture in immigrants.

How does culture shape a person?

There are many ways in which culture shapes a person: religion, economy, politics, language, all contribute towards this. The idea of individualism in cultures plays a major role in shaping one’s personality. Asian cultures emphasize “we,” as in society as a whole, while American culture emphasizes the importance of an individual, as in “I.” In Asia and Africa, the emphasis is on fitting into the society and therefore being interdependent. American and European cultures emphasize independence. As Gardener et al. (1999: 321) noted:

Probably because of their emphasis on “I” rather than “we,” American and European cultures are at the opposite end of the pole to Asian and African cultures when it comes to behavior in individuals. While Americans and Europeans are, generally speaking, more extroverted, Asians and Africans tend to be more introverted, especially so if they are minorities living in Western cultures. Asians and Africans living in Western cultures are, again generally speaking, usually happy to be followers, while Americans and Europeans have historically aimed to be conquerors and therefore leaders. Asians and Africans have had their share of conquering, but that was well in the past. Non-Caucasian cultures are happy to adapt, while Americans and Europeans are more prone to reject or question decisions before considering accepting. Some of these characteristics could also be due to political influences within cultures. In totalitarian states, followers worship their leaders (they are either forced to or trained to); in a truly democratic culture, leaders and their decisions are questioned. In a democratic country where the majority of the population is poor, working class or uneducated, leaders are often left unchallenged and unquestioned by their followers. There is no implication that Asian and African cultures are lackadaisical, but just that their approaches to issues are different due to cultural and personal differences, and this could be misinterpreted by host countries. In recent times, this idea of thinking as a group has changed. Probably due to Western influences or influences within cultures, and the introduction of popular social media such as You Tube and Facebook, cultural values are changing. For example, Locker and Findlay (2009: 109–110) state that:

Asian and African cultures also emphasize respect of elders. It is not just bowing to or saluting their elders, but following orders from their elders without questioning them. When people from these cultures move to the United States or Canada and are placed in positions where they are to take responsibility and make decisions, they are not completely comfortable. They are not totally sure if they really have complete freedom or if they should run everything by their superiors. In some cases they misunderstand independence and completely ignore updating their superiors. Workplace culture in their host country may also contribute to their leadership behavior when it comes to decision-making and independence at work. If their first job experience in their host country was under an authoritative leader, they are not going to learn the idea of independence at work as it exists in the North American culture. Countries like India, China, and Malaysia in Asia (to name just a few), and many African countries, have authoritative leadership style. Employees are told what needs to be done and how. They are given deadlines to complete projects. They don’t get a pat on the back or freedom in choosing how they accomplish their work. The hierarchy of the organization and the employee’s role in the organization are made clear. Leaders have titles and authority and most certainly maintain a power distance. Only recently has this begun to change; in many IT-based industries in India young workers are given a voice and asked to participate instead of follow: “Infosys Technologies in Bangalore, India, started a Voice of Youth program, which gives top-performing young employees a seat on its management council” (Griffin et al., 2010: 307).

Like everything else, leadership is a learning experience. It takes time for minorities to adapt to their new culture (both of their host country and their organization) and they would feel less marginalized if they were to find encouragement and mentorship from their white cohorts. With proper training, a good workplace environment, understanding superiors and co-workers, and time on their side, minority librarians will gain an understanding of their new culture, and gain the confidence to learn to make decisions. If the cultural natives have three challenges – organizational culture, adaptation of individual style to fit the organizational culture, and the culture of their land (native) – to deal with, minority librarians have four challenges. They can bring their strengths from their native culture but they also have to learn the ways of their new culture.

Many immigrants also come from competitive environments within their home countries. This competitiveness causes a conflict in the collective culture. In spite of the cultural philosophy of working and thinking collectively as a whole, in China and India, probably due to their very large populations, students in school, college, and university have to perform competitively to get better grades and win scholarships to better schools either at home or in Western countries. They learn to be competitive at a young age. Being competitive in these cultures means not sharing your means and resources – focusing on the self to get ahead. They are bent on their own achievements and accomplishments, which also causes a lack of trust of others. They do not talk about how much work they have done, which sources they used to complete their assignments, which Western universities they have applied to, or how they might have got their visas to other countries so quickly. They do not want another person competing too closely with them. If they bring this attitude with them to their host countries and continue to foster it at work, it can cause many misunderstandings among their colleagues. The lack of trust that comes from competitiveness can be another cultural issue to deal with. Since libraries are collaborative workspaces, trust is an important issue that minorities need to deal with.

Refugees who seek asylum in North America, the United Kingdom, Australia or elsewhere may also be experiencing survivor’s guilt. Survivor’s guilt is a condition that affects the mental state of those who survive a traumatic event and move on to better lives when others could not. They often blame themselves, and this causes emotional damage that can also affect self-confidence. Survivor’s guilt feelings are usually paradoxical. These survivors may not feel very motivated to be successful, but also appreciate that they have a better life. Some immigrants also have a fear of success. They are afraid of the barriers that may cause between themselves and their family members still at home. They welcome financial stability so that they can help these family members, but they are afraid of becoming too different as a result of the influence of their new culture or the successes that it offers. This fear is heightened if the immigrant is a very visible minority. Success in their new country could mean losing one’s self-identity. For the first few years of their life in their new culture they work on overcoming these fears and guilt before becoming completely assimilated (if they ever do) into their new societies. Immigrants arriving in other countries have all sorts of anxieties. The process of immigration in itself is very stressful: there is a lot of paperwork to be completed, pictures to be taken, referees to be contacted, money to be spent in Canadian, American or Australian dollars or Euros and Sterling, depending on where they are going. This is money they don’t have in plenty due to vast differences in the exchange rates of their local currencies. An American dollar is worth Rs. 44 to Rs. 50 depending on the currency fluctuations, and the average Indian salary is not more than the equivalent of $65 to $70 a month. If the immigrants are arriving as students, they have to sit multiple exams in many cases. To come to North America and the UK, students have to prove their English language skills by scoring a certain number of points in the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), or the International English Language Testing System (IELTS). Depending on what they choose to study, they may have to complete a Graduate Record Examination (GRE), a Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT), a Biomedical Admissions Test (BMAT) or a reasoning test or Scholarly Aptitude Test (SAT). All of these exams cost them in dollars and pounds too. If they gain good enough scores, then they have to undergo health checks, character background checks (with police involved), and attend interviews at their local embassies. Immigrants leave their home countries for various reasons such as wars, religious persecution, to seek a better education, a better lifestyle, to explore new cultures, or to find a new life. Some immigrants suffer from familial separation anxiety, because, in many cases, the whole family is unable to come for various reasons. These are some of the many, many reasons that cause personal and cultural behavioral patterns in an individual.

A comprehensive essay on how cultural differences impact leadership qualities is almost impossible to offer because culture is not easy to define and it is not the only influence that shapes an individual. Where an individual lives, family, economic status within their home culture, educational background, and personality, also contribute to their leadership qualities. As McCrae (2009: 205) states, “human mentality and personality were shaped primarily by culture, which was itself a relatively arbitrary product of history and geography.” He goes on to add that “culture [itself] must be congruent with the features of human physiology and psychology…” (ibid.: 207). In today’s global world, there is no longer a single factor that dominates a personality. For example, children in India watch children’s programs televised from America, Australia and the United Kingdom. They are no longer influenced only by the culture into which they are born, but by all that they watch in their formative years. Does this mean that future generations of Indians will have a different mindset from the generation that exists today? Only time will tell.

Minority librarians and majority white cohorts need to be aware of their cultural differences when dealing with each other. This may clarify behavioral patterns and allow one to ask questions to clarify a situation rather than assume. Intercultural or cross-cultural work experience can create a vibrant, knowledge-rich, creative work environment, but only if seen in a positive light by both parties.

It should also be mentioned that acculturation happens to these ethnic minorities but the pace at which it does may vary depending on at what age they arrive in a new country, how strong their beliefs were (political, religious, and cultural), etc. Being aware of cultural differences, acknowledging their impact on the individual, and adapting to behavioral change when needed are the first steps towards leadership.

How can leaders learn to be aware of cultural differences?

What is cultural intelligence?

Since culture plays such a vital role in shaping a person, it is important that ethnic minorities pay attention to who they are, what they are doing, what the culture around them is doing, and how they are different. This will enable a person to learn the differences and how to work effectively with the differences. Visible minorities living in a majority white culture need to learn to be culturally intelligent to work efficiently and effectively. Being culturally intelligent refers to “a person’s capability to adapt effectively to new cultural contexts” (Earley and Ang, 2003: 59), and not necessarily to complete assimilation. Cultural change is a good challenge to adapt to and accept since the ability to adapt to change is a vital requirement for leadership roles. On that same note, it is also advisable that the majority culture realizes these cultural differences and reciprocates cultural intelligence. They should understand the different cultural personalities that surround them.

Apart from learning and adapting, cultural intelligence is also about mutual trust. If, as a leader, an individual who is an ethnic minority has problems with trust in a collaborative environment, it is advisable to do a self-check on what is causing this. There could be many reasons for this mistrust (such as negative job experiences from the past), but in the case of a minority librarian it is worth looking into the cultural issues as well. In third-world or developing countries, many of which were occupied and ruled by the European colonizers and where everyday living could be a challenge, people learn not to trust each other. This same strain of mistrust can also be seen in the natives towards their majority occupants. With minorities living in majority Anglo-Saxon cultures, different ethnic-minority groups develop mistrust towards each other. A poll conducted in the US in 2007 reports, “61 per cent of Hispanics, 54 per cent of Asians and 47 per cent of black respondents would rather do business with whites than members of the other two groups” (Hastings, 2008). This may not be a widespread mentality in the library field, but both the minorities and majorities in this field would do well to be aware of this. Learning about the behaviors of different cultures, and the reasons behind them, then being able to adapt, is cultural intelligence.

Librarians coming from various minority cultures are also influenced by the politics of their countries: a black immigrant from South Africa (during apartheid) might say that he/she has never been allowed to take control of a situation let alone make decisions. Then there are cultures where men are dominant and women are not allowed or expected to make decisions. A female librarian from this cultural background is possibly surprised and hesitant when placed in a position to make decisions. Minority librarians need to overcome these cultural hurdles in order to become culturally competent librarians and then leaders. If in any doubt, it is advisable to seek constant feedback from all diverse perspectives involved in order to identify and overcome problems. Cultural awareness and self-awareness are two important steps towards becoming a minority leader. If an individual is one of the very first or one of very few minority librarians hired by an organization, it is also important to realize that one may be a role model for any future minority librarians hired.

Self awareness can happen through self-evaluations and workplace evaluations. Self-evaluation is left to the individual’s willingness to learn to acknowledge weaknesses and learn to change. With workplace evaluations, an individual’s strengths and weaknesses as a functioning employee can be identified. In the United States and Canada, newly-hired workers in all fields are evaluated constantly. Depending on the field or the organization, workers can be evaluated anywhere between every three months, every six months, once a year or every two to five years. In many public libraries in North America, librarians need to pass a probation period of six months, after which they will be evaluated every year. In academic libraries where librarians are hired as faculty, they go through renewal processes and tenure tracks which expect them to show that they are competent and are progressing in their position. Most of these evaluations are carried out by their supervisors or managers. There is always the danger of these evaluations being too subjective. Quite often these evaluations are not explicit in identifying a person’s potential, but they are a step in the learning process of the self. In North America, there is also the humbling 360 degree evaluation where all colleagues who work with you – be they your subordinates, peers, supervisors and managers – evaluate you under various categories. This is also known as the multi-rater or multi-source feedback. All of these evaluations should be seen as stepping stones towards success – learning experiences to better one’s self. This kind of monitoring/evaluating is essential for leadership behavior. Self-monitoring cannot be done without social intelligence skills.

What is social intelligence?

Social intelligence refers to “the ability to understand the feelings, thoughts, and behaviors of persons, including oneself, in interpersonal situations and to act appropriately upon that understanding” (Marlowe, 1986: 52). Very similar to cultural intelligence, social intelligence is about social awareness. Having social intelligence promotes flexibility in one’s behavior, by providing a better understanding of society, of feelings, thoughts, and behaviors in individuals, and shapes one’s decisions and responses accordingly. This is another important step towards leadership: understanding an individual’s behavior.

What is emotional intelligence?

Emotional intelligence (EI) is the ability to listen and empathize, the ability to recognize and regulate emotions in oneself and others, and the ability to communicate effectively. Kreitz (2009) observes five domains of EI: self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills. With these EI skills, leaders should be able to take a proactive approach to issues that might be brewing within the organization or an employee. The ability to create a workplace culture that encourages interaction among people and develops shared service values among co-workers creates good leaders. When service values are shared, employees feel responsible for their contribution to their workplace and this in turn motivates them to be more involved with their assignments. With emotional intelligence, leaders can lead with influence and understanding and achieve goals.

Just as the idea of leadership differs between cultures, it also differs in every occupational field.

Leadership and occupation

Leadership in every field is also defined by the nature of the occupation, not without commonalities. In the field of nursing, ward leadership aims to improve the care experience: “A ward leader needs to be well equipped, educated and motivated to perform in that role” (Waters, 2010).

In war, leadership is about accomplishing missions. Leadership in the Canadian Forces: Doctrine defines leadership in the Canadian forces as: “directing, motivating and enabling others to accomplish the mission professionally and ethically, while developing or improving capabilities that contribute to mission success” (Canadian Forces Leadership Institute, 2005: 5).

In sports, leadership is about success. It can be achieved independently or in a team environment, as in playing as a team with one common goal: achieving success.

In business, leadership is about making profits, which ultimately is about success. But today’s businesses focus not only on profits, but triple-bottom line reporting: the economic, social and environmental success of a business.

In all fields, leadership is about good behavior, being self-aware, enabling others, showing accountability, developing thinking skills to make better decisions, working as a team, progressing, accomplishing, and being successful.

Libraries, like most organizations, are dynamic and complex entities. In libraries, leadership is no different from any other industry. Leadership in libraries is about caring for users and their experiences as users, caring for staff and their needs, finding and implementing innovative ideas, working on projects and accomplishing success, and, for a truly business experience, working with vendors to negotiate prices for products so a decent budget can be maintained. Librarians work collaboratively to achieve success, much like a sports team does. It is about achieving success in providing and matching the right source to the right user. Today’s librarians are no longer just keepers of books, but, by providing and meeting the informational needs of their users, they create scholars and educate and entertain their users, which in turn helps create an intelligent, self-reliant, truly democratic society. As librarians, they motivate, mobilize, and enable others, which are all leadership qualities. Unfortunately, many librarians don’t recognize this quality in themselves. Often, others within the organization, or outside of it, don’t recognize this quality in librarians either. Librarians provide information and mobilize and enable their society and have a role in its successes.

A library’s organizational culture changes due to the many variables that affect social interactions at work, much like any other organization. It is important for a leader to understand and remember the fact that a library as an organization is a growing and evolving organism. The library leader needs to understand how his/her library functions, what changes may occur, how to deal with them proactively, how to come up with creative solutions and be aware of the role of their library within the parent organization. A leader should not only be capable of dealing with the different situations and problems that come their way, but should go beyond what is expected of them and come up with creative ideas and innovative solutions.

Can leadership be taught?

The fact that most of the literature available on leadership tries to explain leadership qualities or describe the skills required by leaders rather than define leadership itself tells us that leadership is not an exact science. Leadership is about styles and skills: leaders need to have certain skills to succeed and learn different styles of leadership so that they know which one to use, and when. Skills and styles can be taught in a classroom. In Leadership Can Be Taught, Parks (2005) has a whole chapter on the first day of classes at Harvard University. Professor Ronald Heifetz teaches a class on leadership using case-in-point methodology and his first day of class is nothing more than conversations and questions that go back and forth between him and his students. In this method of teaching, “what goes on in the classroom itself is an occasion for learning and practicing leadership within a social group … The class also has a clear and challenging purpose – to make progress in understanding and practicing leadership” (ibid.: 7).

It is evident that leadership can be taught and learnt in a classroom. It can also be learnt informally – from experience, education, self-awareness, and self-evaluation. As a minority librarian, experiences will abound and it is important to learn from these experiences. Becoming a leader (with a title attached to your name) takes time and practice. Developing trust, showing accountability, and proactive behaviors are all steps towards leadership. Minority librarians should not focus on acquiring titles or climbing each rung of the professional leader for success. Commanding respect with actions and decisions, regardless of the title or position one holds, can lead towards leadership. Alire (2001) calls this marginal leadership. Marginal leadership is about influencing in non-traditional ways, without fancy titles such as Director, Dean or Head of a Department. There are many leaders, even among non-minorities, who influence and command from the margins. From this perspective, many leaders in a library may not even be librarians. But because of who they are and how they deal with issues, they command respect. To do this, one needs to be self-critical and evaluate:

Managers as leaders

Libraries have managers. Although some managers can be leaders by the nature of their jobs (they have a title, they mobilize their team members, and motivate them to achieve goals), most are just managers in the sense that they manage, control their employees to be productive, and meet their library’s goals. These managerial managers look up to higher-level management for directions towards the future of their organization. A leader-manager on the other hand has a vision, influences others, provides direction, makes tough decisions, and creates and directs change as necessary to lead the organization through its best, and its tough, times.

Leadership and discrimination

Leadership is not for the weak and faint-hearted. It is for those who are able, competent, and trustworthy and can command respect through their actions and behavior. It is for those who can face their weaknesses and have a willingness to learn from them. A leader should possess certain basic qualities such as humility, simplicity, diligence and determination, and follow ethical practices in order to be effective in a multicultural environment. A leader cannot afford to be too sensitive to comments and minority librarian leaders need to remember this. It is true that, in some cultures, being a minority of a certain ethnic group and living day-to-day life might in itself be a challenge. But as leaders, librarians need to rise above this. As Alire (2001: 102) put it, “It is not easy being a minority, in almost every aspect of daily life except within one’s family. It makes one develop the tough skin that is necessary for many leaders of color to lead. Better said, emerging leaders should not take adversity and conflict personally.” It is important to focus on the job that needs to be done rather than worry about discouraging or disparaging comments from co-workers. However, if a problem of acceptance persists within an organization regardless of all the efforts by a minority employee, then the problem could lie within the organization and needs to be addressed. Talking to the individual causing the issue may clear up a lot of the problems. It is possible that the person causing the issue isn’t even aware of how disruptive they are. Talking to a trustworthy co-worker is advisable. This way, others know that a problem exists. Another self-reliant tool is to keep a record of all the issues that arise, so that there is some evidence to present to higher authorities if the situation gets out of hand. If all these strategies fail, then there are laws in the country. In Canada, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is a binding legal document that protects the basic human rights of all Canadians. The Racial Discrimination Act in Australia (1975) aims to protect Australians of all backgrounds and ensure that they have the same opportunities. Other statutes and charters to know about are: the United Nation’s International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ratified in 1965 and entered into force in 1969); New Zealand’s Race Relations Act (1971); the Human Rights Act (1993); the Human Rights Amendment Act (2003); South Africa’s Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (1996); the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act (2000); the United States’ Equal Pay Act (1963); the Civil Rights Act (1964); the UK’s Race Relations Act (1976); the Human Rights Act (1998); Ireland’s Employment Equity Act (1998); the European Union’s Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (1950); and the Treaty of Amsterdam (1999).

Every country, and possibly different jurisdictions within countries, has their own laws on human rights.

Women and leadership

Women dominate the library field numerically and hence there are many female managers and some leaders. But the focus here would be on female ethnic-minority librarians. There are no known statistics on the number of female ethnic-minority librarians working in Canadian libraries. The Canadian Library Association (CLA) informed the author that it does not collect information on the ethnicity of librarians for understandable reasons. This means that, unless a survey is sent out to all the librarians in Canada (in all provinces and territories, and covering school, public, regional, special, college, and university libraries) and assuming participants would be willing to provide this information, it would be impossible to assess how many female leaders come from ethnic minorities.

But as an ethnic minority, to become a leader one has to follow the same principles of leadership that are recommended to their Anglo-Saxon cohorts. Being aware of oneself and others will help on the way to leadership. Since leadership can be taught and learnt, ethnic minorities can learn and develop a style that fits their personality and work culture. Seek mentors who understand cross-cultural management. Some ethnic-minority women come from a culture where men are dominant and make decisions around the home and may not share domestic work responsibilities. Regardless of their education, experience, and background, these women may have to take a secondary role or may play no role in decision-making at home. Even though many of the minorities who come from abroad are well educated and Westernized in their external appearance (in their clothes, hairstyles, and makeup), they may follow their cultural traditional roles at home, and many women may accept these without complaining.

In Western cultures, it is only recently that women have started to break the glass ceiling and attain leadership roles. If this is the case, one can imagine the challenges an ethnic-minority woman from a background such as that described above would have to face as a leader. Turock (2001: 114) quotes Margaret McIntosh’s four phases of leadership where women are concerned: Phase I is Womanless Leadership; Phase II is Women as a Leadership Anomaly; Phase III is Women as Leaders; and Phase IV is Leadership Redefined. It is in the final phase that female leaders are inclusive. Modern leadership theories that include the contributions of women have filled a hole in leadership theories. This Phase IV is the reconstruction of leadership by including all kinds of leadership patterns crucial for future success. Although as a feminist McIntosh is talking about gender balancing in leadership roles, equity of leadership, as in the inclusion of ethnic minorities for leadership roles, can also be added to this phase. As Turock says (ibid.: 129–130):

Hopefully, it will not take that long for other ethnic-minority librarians to gain and retain leadership positions. According to the World’s Women 2010 Report by the United Nations (2010), women worldwide have a long way to go in terms of high-level leadership positions. Women are highly under-represented in decision-making positions at government levels and in the private sector, with only “13 of the 500 largest corporations in the world” having a female CEO. This in spite of the fact that women are predominant in the fields of education, health and welfare, social sciences, and humanities and arts.

There are well-known popular leaders such as Oprah and there are lesser-known successful leaders such as Banaree Bennie Wiley (CEO of The Partnership) from minority cultures. But, as Turock implies, there aren’t enough of them to strike a balance either within the library field or elsewhere. Bennie was one of the very few African-American women who graduated from Harvard Business School in 1972. She became the CEO and President of The Partnership, Inc., in 1991, where she had been working for over 20 years. What Bennie was most appreciative of during her path to leadership was “the value of inclusion and social networks for ethnic minorities’ career success and quality of life” (Roberts, 2007: 343). Unless minorities feel included and appreciated for their differences and trained to be leaders, there will not be a balance of leadership.

So what is leadership?

So, can we arrive at a definition of leadership after reading this chapter? Leaders are influenced by the culture they are from, the culture they live in, their personality (which again is a result of their culture), and the demands made on them. Leadership is about mobilizing people, predicting future directions, leading your team towards success, caring about people who work with you and who depend on your services. But this alone does not define a leader. Leadership is also about styles and skills, and about using the right styles and skills in the right place at the right time. Each leader has his or her own style, which may or may not work in different situations. For an ethnic-minority leader living in North America, the United Kingdom, Australia, etc., it is important to know and use the right style in the right situation. How does one know the right skills and styles for the right situation? Self-awareness, cultural awareness, and social intelligence will all help in learning and building skills and styles.

References