The concept of leadership transcends boundaries, but each culture still maintains its own distinct view, Marcus Dickson, an industrial psychology professor at Wayne State University, said Thursday, Jan. 9 in a speech at Elon University.

Dickson spoke at Elon to discuss his research findings on global leadership, a concept that explores various cultures' view of leadership.

The GLOBE Research Project examines the effects of societal culture on organizational culture and leadership, and is the largest study of leadership ever conducted, according to Dickson. It spans more than 62 nations and thousands of managers.

During the presentation, Dickinson defined the GLOBE’s interpretation of leadership, which is the ability of an individual to influence, motivate and enable others. Creating the definition itself became a part of the study, because every nation had its own thoughts on the word.

“We assume things to be true without questioning it,” Dickson said.

Some ideas do extend globally. One of the primary findings of the research indicates there are distinct values in leadership that are either universally endorsed or rejected.

“Nobody will ever say ‘I hope for a leader that is really dumb,’” Dickson said. “Most primary characteristics are the same, which is not surprising.”

Nevertheless, for other values, Dickson explained that there are “clusters” of countries that are similar across a variety of dimensions.

“When you travel to the UK, it seems very different to you,” Dickson said. “But compared to countries such as Malawi or China, we are the most similar to the U.K.”

Dickson's work on the GLOBE Research Project helped him identify a psychological theory titled the Just-Noticeable Difference, which is the study of how comparatively different two things must be before you notice the contrast between them.

“The differences between the U.S. and the U.K. are so small, you notice more of the little things,” said Dickson. “But when you go to China, all you see are the big, obvious differences.”

Dickson continuously returned to the fact that every country is different in their values and leadership ideas. No matter how small, all countries are different from one another.

Referring to the study, Dickson said, “We’re right, not every country is the same.”

Dickson has been working on the GLOBE Research Project for the past 11 years, under the principal investigator Bob House.