Developing Ethically & Culturally-Intelligent Leaders Through International Service Experiences Alice C. Stewart North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University Charles E. Wilson The Merrick Group, LLC Angela K. Miles North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University Leaders must develop increased capacities of perception, discernment, and moral reasoning to negotiate the complex ethical and economic challenges that emerge from the crossing of cultural and political boundaries. This paper examines the impact of international service experiences on adult development in the domains of moral reasoning and cultural intelligence. Data on moral reasoning level were collected using the Defining Issues Test (Rest & Navarez, 1998). Cultural intelligence data were collected using the Cultural Intelligence Questionnaire (Early & Ang, 2003). Findings suggest that service projects may have an impact on moral development and cultural intelligence in some adult populations. INTRODUCTION There is increasing need for leaders and managers who can embrace the complexities of the globally- networked, economically-interdependent, multicultural world. Leaders in a global economy must navigate uncharted territory, avoid ethical failures and chart paths toward the common good. This challenge requires the personal capacity to relate to those who are fundamentally unlike themselves, to understand and navigate competing cultural values, and have the ability to construct meaning from ambiguity. Leaders need to be able to think, decide, and act from a new level of consciousness (Kegan, 1994) and meet the adaptive challenges of work and relationship in the contemporary world (Heifetz, 2006). This research investigates the proposition that experiences at the intersection of culture and service may be important components of interventions aimed at impacting moral reasoning and cultural intelligence in leaders and managers. Although traditional research (Kohlberg, 1976) focused on the role of cognition alone as foundational to moral development, recent research reveals that moral reasoning alone predicts only 10 - 20% of the variance in moral behavior (Rest, Narvaez, Bebeau, & Thoma, 1999). Boundary-crossing experiences such as those offered by service-learning projects and international voluntary service experiences can provide opportunities to grow in understanding of the moral motivations and values of others. International service-learning experiences may be seen as venues for adult development through activities that address human and community needs. Traditional service-learning experiences may be Journal of Leadership, Accountability and Ethics vol. 11(2) 2014 115