4 Culture matters—especially in leadership in the twenty-frst century. This chapter explores the context and frameworks for developing intercultural competence for successful leadership. Exploring the Signifcance of Culture in Leadership Darla K. Deardorff A project team consisting of members from three different generations, four dif- ferent religious traditions, and fve different ethnic or cultural backgrounds. Col- leagues who work on three different continents. Clients who are from a wide range of backgrounds including urban as well as rural settings, divergent socio- economic backgrounds, distinct educational levels, a spectrum of political ide- ologies, and several different religions. These examples describe today’s realities. Given such realities, personal experience, technical knowledge, interpersonal skills, and traditional be- haviors are no longer suffcient to be successful in leadership. With the ever-increasing need to navigate face-to-face learning, workplace, and com- munity environments as well as the virtual world culture, intercultural com- petence now plays a decisive role in one’s ability to lead. This chapter ex- plores the context for such leadership, highlights intercultural competence as a vital leadership competence, and concludes with implications for edu- cators as well as those seeking to engage in leadership. Context Literature in organizational management and leadership has thoroughly dis- cussed the role of societal culture on leadership, including to some extent how leadership varies according to context. Particularly dating from the 1980s and 1990s, the business literature has been impacted by the work of those such as Gert Hofstede and Richard Lewis, the latter who outlined twenty-four different leadership models around the world in his book When Cultures Collide (Lewis, 2006). Such models include “structured individu- alism” in the U.S. context, “ringi-sei consensus” in Japan, and an autocratic leadership model in France. In 2004, a groundbreaking comprehensive NEW DIRECTIONS FOR STUDENT LEADERSHIP, no. 160, Winter 2018  2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) • DOI: 10.1002/yd.20309 41