Current Trends in Practicing Leadership

There is a growing body of theoretical and practical studies conducted on a variety of subjects under the multifaceted leadership concept. In this chapter, the authors first explain recently discussed concepts in the Leadership Quarterly by category (leader, contingency, outcome, and leadership development) and subcategory (traits; leader-subordinate interaction, leadership style, organizational; leader, followers, organizational), explore current leadership trends at practice by analyzing Harvard Business Review articles, and then compare them. The essential objective of this chapter is to explore the current trends emerging from real business life in comparison to theoretical development in the leadership field and to highlight common concepts coming from the theory and practice of leadership. From this aspect, this chapter may provide a basis for comparative leadership studies and contribute to the related literature and practical studies. The strength of this study is to present a comparison between current theoretical and practical leadership trends by conducting a content analysis.

Tourism and Handicraft Industry

Tourism is one of the most crucial sectors contributing to country development. In Albania, the sector`s contribution to GDP has an increasing trend through the years. This study aimed to explore the role of tourism in supporting the development of handicraft sector and analyzing the constraints faced by artisans during their daily activities of crafts production process. Albania is known for the tradition of crafts with precious values, created for centuries by masters of folk, in every province according to the features and specifications of different areas. The most known handicrafts in Albania are works in wood, iron, copper, and precious materials like gold, silver, leather, wool, etc. These values are inherited generation to generation have aroused great interest to visitors and local and foreign researches. In cities like Kruja and Scutari, a diversity of crafts with high utilitarian and aesthetic level is distinguished. This is also the reason of selecting the surveyed sample of artisans from Kruja and Scutari.

First African Female to Manage a Global Crisis

Many studies have looked at leadership during disasters and emergencies in a number of countries but hardly any has concentrated on developing countries and the implications of these nations' infrastructure, culture, and control systems. This chapter attempts to examine the leadership of Mrs. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, the first female president on the African continent, who led a global medical epidemic response during Liberia's recent Ebola crises. It identifies lessons to be learned by future leaders of developing countries as well as executives of non-governmental organizations frequently working on disaster relief projects around the globe.

The Servant Leadership Movement

Uncommon to other well-known leadership models, servant leadership explicitly states that the leader serves as steward by focusing the needs of the follower, whilst growing the followers' autonomy. Consequentially, followers increase in capabilities and collaboration, strengthen the leader-follower relationships through partnership, generating decisions that can withstand challenges and sustain organizational success. The purpose of this chapter is to convey the applicability of this universal leadership model, illustrating how it would support culturally diverse case studies. Research has already stated that servant leadership is beneficial to Millennials. Little literature has focused on how to operationalize it for the younger generation. Barbuto Jr. and Gottfredson mentioned the vital necessity to train Millennials in servant leadership behaviors. This chapter highlights how servant leadership might be applied based on Van Dierendonck's and Van Dierendonck and Nuijten's research on Millennials in Asia.

Experiex Trips

Experiex Trips, a small enterprise, encourages people to get out of their seats and start experiencing in their own skin conditions that are different to those that they are used to. This is so that they will return home with deep and transformative learnings that will lead their life decisions. During the entire chapter, the authors explore the history of Experiex Trips; its core values; its business model; the three pillars for its success, which are cooperation, experimental education, and sustainability; but most importantly, the way cooperative leadership works in a social enterprise.

La Vêture

In just eight years, La Vêture has grown from a startup founded by three young French entrepreneurs to become the dominant player in retail e-commerce services for French apparel brands. But now with a staff over 100 people, and three floors of open space in the city center, the company is facing a number of challenges. La Vêture is grappling with questions such as whether or not the founder's original business model and vision are well aligned with current market conditions, and whether or not the informal, entrepreneurial management style and company culture have hidden costs which are preventing the company from further developing. Employees sometimes find themselves caught in impossible dilemmas. The e-commerce manager and the newly hired human resources manager are trying to chart a way forward.

Career Transitions

Every organization requires leaders. What “leadership” looks like is different across industries and across cultures. This chapter provides academics, executive education instructors, and other skill development specialist with an opportunity to analyze a real case scenario from the perspective of emotional intelligence, cross-cultural communication, motivation, and leading across cultures. Students will benefit from using analytic skills to identify areas of opportunity in a case that presents a real-life situation involving various concepts used in leadership development programs. Names and other key details have been changed to keep confidentiality.

“When in China...”

Leading in a global environment requires the development of unique skills such as openness, curiosity, inquisitive mind, tolerance to ambiguity, among others. It is not enough to be willing to reach out to other cultures to be successful in a global business environment. Understanding that adjusting our leadership style according to the context is key in creating effective synergies when doing business across cultures. This teaching case is a tool to be used in the classroom as a resource for a Leadership Course, Organizational Behavior course or Global Business course.