Establishing Rapport As A Global Leader
It is paramount to success to be emotionally self-aware as a global leader, to be empathetic and skilled in building rapport. These are essential to bridge cross-cultural differences. Though we speak different languages, our limbic systems express the same form of communication, our emotions. When love, fear, anger or disgust are felt, they are obvious across the globe through facial expressions. Although we all share the same emotions, how we extract meaning is varied and specific to culture. We are never fully able to understand the experience of other cultures even if we can interpret some nuances.
By fully awakening ourselves empathetically, we can connect to the humanity of the people and create a symbolic representation of their cultural experience. We begin by learning their greetings, codes of conduct and mannerisms and move further into empathetic rapport with the awareness that there are very real differences between our experiences of the world. A global leader needs to remain open and willing to truly see, listen and essentially feel what the others are experiencing through the contact.
Curiosity.
When you remain curious about different cultures, it serves as a wonderful stepping-stone to building rapport and sensitivity. Put yourself in the shoes of others, and wonder with the sincerity of a child about each situation. Try to look from the perspective of the other person, what it would be like to be in his culture and really try to get an understanding of that experience. With the intention of building mutually understanding relationships, practice the art of asking genuine and sincere questions.
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