4 Ways International Travel Will Help You Become a Better Leader  

“The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page.” – Saint Augustine

Saint Augustine could not have been more right. The world is the most interesting, exciting, and exotic book to exist. In order to read it, you must travel. I don’t believe Saint Augustine was referring to the kind of travel that involves a five-star resort in the Caribbean or a shopping trip to Paris. He was referring to true cultural immersion. It’s about experiencing a new place, with unfamiliar people and culture–a volunteer opportunity, a homestay with the locals, or independent traveling off the beaten path. The type of travel you can’t read about in a guidebook. It’s about doing your homework and studying the history and culture of the places you visit, learning a new language, and trying specialized foods. It’s about meeting and talking to locals, discovering unknown lands, and leaving time in your day for the things you find along the way. If you do it right, you will learn something with every place you visit or person you meet, and you’ll leave behind a piece of your heart and fill that space by taking home a piece of something else.

As professionals, we constantly search for ways to develop better leadership skills. While trainings and conferences provide useful knowledge and networking opportunities, there can be a disconnect when applying what we’ve learned in real time. International travel helps you develop the following four critical skills that are directly applicable throughout your career, helping you become the best leader you can be.

Traveling enables you to:

• Learn how to overcome challenges. True international immersion will force you outside of your comfort zone, placing you in a new environment, routine, and community. You will face various challenges–anything from translating a menu and asking for directions to protecting your health and well-being– that will test you intellectually and emotionally. You will need to act quickly, think on your feet, and face these challenges head on. Before you know it, you will be much more confident in your ability to overcome something that previously seemed insurmountable.

• Discover new problem-solving techniques. Cultural immersion will undoubtedly provide you with a new perspective and help you solve problems in a way you may never have considered before. Push yourself to see something in a different light. Ask the “how might we” questions that lead to change in the world. You will experience things both eye-opening and disheartening, both hopeful and discouraging, both refreshing and exhausting. Go in with an open mind, and come out of it with the ability to view and ultimately solve issues from a new viewpoint. That new viewpoint may enable you to be more efficient and effective at solving problems in the future.

• Develop empathy by connecting with diverse people. Today’s world is more interconnected than ever, but our own unconscious biases, and the media’s prevailing stereotypes and misconceptions, leaves much work to be done to bridge cultural differences. One way we can begin to develop cultural understanding and tolerance is through empathy, or the ability to share someone else’s experience. Empathy differs from sympathy, or feeling compassion, sorrow, or pity for someone; when you empathize with others, you put yourself in their shoes. Set an intention to get to know someone in a different situation from yours. Ask a stranger a basic question; it can spark an entire conversation, lead to a cup of coffee or an invitation to his or her home for dinner, and perhaps even to a lifelong friendship. The empathy you develop will encourage you to promote greater understanding and tolerance as a leader.

• Become a more competitive and interesting person. Global experience and cultural competency are highly sought after in the professional world. Learning a new language is a skill that may make you stand out from your peers. Field experience will enable you to bring a different angle to the table. Telling stories, both of triumphs and challenges, to your team at work can teach others something new. Going outside of your comfort zone demonstrates your adaptability and resourcefulness. Plus, travel simply makes you more interesting.

It may not seem possible to invest time or resources in traveling, but the effort you put in to make it happen will pay off. Forgo your daily Starbucks latte to save up for a true immersion experience. Travel on a budget. Fundraise. Apply for scholarships. Find a way for an international experience to benefit your job and pitch it to your boss. You will return with a new skill set that you can immediately put into practice and use to advance your career. Don’t stop at one page; read the rest of the book. Chances are, you’ll discover things about yourself that you never thought were possible.