Leadership From an International Perspective

Abstract

Leadership development can be considered from its science, which addresses business skills, and it can be considered from the art of leadership, which addresses the management of relationships. There is also the third frame of the "leader within." In this frame, art and science are blended, melded, and matured into the unique shape of each individual's expression of leadership behavior. This third perspective also addresses the cultural diversity of leadership. It permits a comparison of the American leadership experience with the evolving leadership development in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). The framework used to discuss cultural diversity of leadership development is the Center for Nursing Leadership's Dimensions of Leadership. These dimensions are a set of values, beliefs, and behaviors that look at leadership beyond the traditional skill sets. The dimensions include (1) holding the truth; (2) quest for adventure toward knowing; (3) appreciation of ambiguity; (4) holding multiple perspectives without judgment; (5) discovery of potential; (6) nurturing the emotional and intellectual self; (7) keeping commitments to oneself; and (9) diversity as a vehicle to wholeness. These dimensions explore emerging leadership shifts occuring in nurse leaders in CEE. When the CEE and American experience are compared using these dimensions, nurse leaders have far more in common, despite the cultural differences.