Leadership skills for international crises: The role of cultural intelligence and improvisation

This article answers the question: What competences do leaders of multinational enterprises need to effectively manage different types of international crises? We propose a typology of international crises and present the combination of leadership skills that best fit each crisis type. We associate different degrees of leaders' cultural intelligence (CQ) - the ability to react and process differences across multiple cultures - and improvisation - the ability to act spontaneously and creatively to try to achieve an objective in a new way - with four distinct international crisis types. In doing this, our typology offers guidance to managers about the composition of effective crisis management teams. We also offer important recommendations for the development of CQ and an improvisation capability in global leaders.