THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE LEADER 261parking lots for redundant employees when times are lean at home, with
no guarantee of a job in their home country when the foreign assign-
ment is fi nished. As I mentioned earlier, truly global companies make
foreign experience a requirement for reaching more senior leadership
positions. Transfers should be handled by a globally oriented human
resource system that takes into consideration the family situation of
the global executive and helps transferees prepare for reassignments
abroad.
Companies can do more to prepare people for international assign-
ments through company - specifi c executive education. An increasing
number of companies have set up a corporate university to facilitate this
process. Others have created company - specifi c programs with the help
of business schools, even going so far as creating degree programs.
Unfortunately, and too often, most of the training concerning cross -
cultural issues that are carried out seems to be based on cognitive
approaches: language training and information about the country,
culture, and style of living. In addition, many of these executive pro-
grams seem to focus on the development of analytical skills and neglect
the less quantifi able intuitive processes, such as stimulating a sense
of cultural empathy. The enhancement of right - brain capabilities —
the domain of emotional intelligence — (e.g. judgment, intuition, ‘ gut
feeling ’ ) has often not been satisfactorily introduced into the traditional
left - hemisphere, more logical, business environment.
Experiential Training
In some cases, however, affective training is also undertaken to prepare
people for situations they may encounter using case studies, simulation,
outward - bound situations, and role - playing. Global business schools
such as INSEAD pay a great amount of attention to the skills necessary
for working in a multinational environment. For example, at the
INSEAD Global Leadership Center, much energy is devoted to integrat-
ing the cognitive with the affective domain. A main vehicle to accom-
plish cross - cultural sensitivity is to engage in joint problem - solving
through group coaching in multicultural groups.
Clinical interventions have demonstrated that basic values, beliefs,
and attitudes do not change overnight, however. On the contrary,
change requires a lengthy process of working through and overcoming
resistance (Kets de Vries, Korotov, and Florent - Treacy, 2007 ). But it can
be argued that some executive programs — if the right parameters are
used — can be instrumental in setting a process of change in motion. The