These charts reveal how to lead people in 50 countries

Richard Lewis CommunicationsThe leadership style in China would not be effective in countries such as Holland and Spain.Different cultures can have radically different leadership styles.

Understanding them is key to international success, according to British linguist Richard Lewis, founder of consulting firm Richard Lewis Communications.

In Asian countries, for instance, leadership is portrayed as a circle, where consensus rule is valued and leaders are seen as benevolent.

In America (at least outside startup culture), leadership looks more pyramidal, with orders relayed from the top to the bottom and people at every level looking out for themselves.

To learn more about these fascinating cultural norms, Lewis gave us permission to publish the following leadership diagrams from "Cross-Cultural Communication: A Visual Approach," along with his commentary.