Throughout this weeks lesson we learned about culture differences and the universality of leadership attributes. Culture can best be described as the behaviors characterizing the total way of life of members within any given society (Hofstede, 2001, Hughes, Ginnett, & Curphy, 2012). What is absolutely prevalent in cultural differences in leadership is for leaders to be culturally intelligent and respectful of all their workers or fellow organizational members. Working in a diverse atmosphere can be stressful, especially in sports such as the NBA. This is why it was tough for young NBA star Luka Doncic. Luka Doncic has been able to apply universally accepted leadership attributes towards his NBA team the Dallas Mavericks, while showing respect and understanding of his fellow teammates cultural differences.
Luka Doncic is a 22 year old NBA basketball prodigy from Ljubljana, Slovenia. Luka has been playing basketball his whole life and throughout his journey he played in multiple countries learning more and more about different cultures. He was then able to take the knowledge that he gained from the other cultures and apply it to his leadership style in the USA. Luka based his framework on the seven dilemmas that people of all cultures face. These seven dilemmas include Goals and means of achievement, orientation of authority, response to ambiguity, means of knowledge acquisition, perspective on time, and outlook on life (Hamel, 2021). Going through each of these seven dilemmas you learn how different cultures can be and how understanding the differences is even more significant.
Luka Doncic has a tender means of achievement in that in Slovenia they are more focused on spiritual rewards compared to materialistic rewards. He has an equal view on authority which allows him to take a step back to analyze a culture before judging one. In the NBA it is especially important for leaders to have a doing outlook on life. This outlook on life is inspirational to the members it surrounds and it motivates a team to work harder and play smarter. It shows that hard work will pay off and in the NBA it takes extremely hard work to win an NBA finals or conference championship. Luka is able to use the seven dilemmas to identify where misunderstandings in different cultures take place.
Beyond Luka Doncic’s cultural intelligence, he displays a number of leadership characteristics universally accepted. Some of the characteristics that are apparent in Lukas leadership style include: motivational, encouraging, team builder, communicative, and excellence oriented. Under these attributes he is able to be an effective leader in the NBA at such a young age. Luka displays these leader attributes that are universally viewed as positive and uses them to his advantage to push his teammates towards reaching their full potential. Numerous teammates have commented on and complimented his ability to lead, and his understanding of leadership styles around the world have helped him become the great young leader he is today.
Work Cited
Hofstede, G. (2001). Culture’s consequences: Comparing values, behaviors, institutions, and organizations across nations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Rachel Hamel (2021) Lesson 13 Leadership and Diversity