(this is part 5 of 5 of a series of posts on leadership in an interconnected world)

If you have been keeping up with the previous posts, then you'll note that Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, Rosa Parks, Steven Spielberg, and William Shakespeare all contribute something to leadership in an interconnected world. To review, let me simply make 5 brief points.

In an interconnected world, leaders will have to:

1) work with people of clashing ideologies (see Lincoln in Goodwin's book Team of Rivals)
2) focus on something bigger than their job or themselves (to me Lincoln is the example again, but a case could also be made for Wilberforce)
3) utilize words carefully and understand that words do leave a legacy (see Jefferson's example)
4) know when to stay seated on principle and when to move ahead; sometimes staying still is progress (see also Rosa Parks)
5) understand who the storytellers are and how their influence shapes ideas (see how Spielberg and Shakespeare have shaped ideas)

This is, of course, not an exhaustive list, but in our interconnected, globalizing world, there are some things that cut across cultures in this list that are worth contemplating. For example, whether you live in the U.S. or in the developing world, the storytellers matter and should be noted. Also, if working with someone of another culture, what words we leave behind are important and our ability to focus on something bigger than what is directly in front of us will be useful for endurance when conflict arises. Some more good reminders can be found at a blog entitled 'What's Best Next' in this post entitled 'What do Leaders Produce?'

Of course, since we're all connected, this means that an underlying challenge for all leaders is that there will be more communication disseminated than we even realize, therefore the chance for miscommunication and misrepresentation also grows exponentially. With this in mind, perhaps time is a friend of leaders and not simply a clock, god, or tyrant. The test of time may indeed separate true leaders from counterfeits.