Developing Empathetic Leaders through Storytelling: The Global Citizen Story Exercise

Abstract

The global citizen story is an exercise aimed at developing empathy in leaders and aspiring leaders in cross-cultural settings. The exercise, which was designed in the context of a MBA course in International Business, asks students to write and tell stories about fictitious characters in other countries. It gives students the opportunity to research the circumstances surrounding their characters, imagine their lives, re-write, and re-tell their stories in the first person in front of the class. By asking students to speak in the first person while putting themselves in the shoes of characters from other countries and cultures, the exercise aims at increasing empathy for others. The exercise can be useful in university courses or leadership development workshops that target empathy as an essential leadership skill.