Developing Cross-Cultural Competence for Leaders

Joseph J. Thomas currently serves as director of the VADM James B. Stockdale Center for Ethical Leadership at the United States Naval Academy (USNA) in Annapolis, Maryland. A retired Marine, he served previously as the Class of 1961 Professor of Leadership Education at USNA and as Director of the MajGen John A. Lejeune Leadership Institute at Marine Corps University in Quantico, Virginia. In addition, Thomas has taught at the University of Notre Dame, University of Maryland, George Washington University, and the National Outdoor Leadership School. He has published five books on the topics of leadership and ethics, along with numerous articles, book chapters and research reports. Thomas supported student research that led to the award of Rhodes, Mitchell and Fulbright scholarships. He has also planned and led cultural immersion expeditions to South Africa, Tibet, Turkey, Vietnam, Morocco, Peru, Jordan, India and Mongolia and has taught at service academies and war colleges in Central Asia, Eastern Europe and throughout Africa. Thomas holds master’s degrees from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University and the US Army War College, a PhD from George Mason University and a Certificate in Public Leadership from the Brookings Institute.Clementine K. Fujimura is a cultural anthropologist (PhD, University of Chicago) whose career spans academic research, leader development and applied military education. A Professor in the Leadership, Ethics, and Law Department at the United States Naval Academy, she has dedicated her career to advancing the Navy and Marine Corps mission by teaching future officers how culture shapes leadership, operational effectiveness, organizational behavior and ethical decision-making in complex environments.Her scholarship bridges traditional anthropology with the modern demands of digital and hybrid operational spaces. Dr. Fujimura’s work emphasizes developing cultural acuity and human-terrain awareness as core leader competencies, integrating ethnographic methods into leadership curricula, experiential programs and study-abroad initiatives that prepare midshipmen for real-world operational challenges.Her research portfolio, which includes studies of Russian youth, veteran well-being, digital culture and cyber-domain engagement, reflects a sustained commitment to strengthening the armed forces’ ability to operate effectively across wide-ranging populations and contested information environments. Through her teaching, writing and program design, Dr. Fujimura equips future officers with the adaptive, perceptive and operationally attuned leadership required in today’s complex global security landscape.

• Foreword. Introduction: Developing Cross-Cultural Competence for Leaders. Chapter 1: Defining Culture for Leadership. Chapter 2: Cross-Cultural Understanding as a Function of Leadership. Chapter 3: Experiential Learning and Immersive Environments to Develop Leaders. Chapter 4: The Ethnographic Method for Leadership. Chapter 5: Developing 3C in the Workplace and the Role of Communication. Chapter 6: Biases and Obstacles to Critical Thinking. Chapter 7: Optimizing 3C with Key Ingredients: Empathy, Mindfulness and Reflexivity. Chapter 8: Developing 3C in Cyberspace: Leadership in the Digital Age. Conclusion: The Personal and Organizational Benefits of Being Cross-Culturally Competent. Afterword. Index.