Purpose – Understanding how managers in position of leadership experience culture is essential to avoid instability and poor performance in international strategic alliances. This study tests the proposition that national culture, top management team culture, and manager's personality influence leadership and shapes intercultural fit through the predominant management style in US‐Mexican strategic alliances.Design/methodology/approach – Strategic leadership and personality theories constitute the framework for this study. Managers from the US‐Mexican strategic alliances which partners hold an equity position were surveyed and provided data to test the hypotheses.Findings – Findings show that American and Mexican managers construct their own social reality with rules and norms bounded primarily by the existing organizational culture in the alliance. Both managers' management styles are similar and converge into a participative “consultative” style emerging as a “third culture” characterized by task innovat...