By Dr. Larry W. Stout, Associate Professor of Psychology
Stockholm School of Economics in Riga

When the three Baltic republics of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania became independent in 1991, I joined with a small group of Americans to assist these emerging nations in the transition from a planned and very stagnant economy to one that embraced a free-market model, governed by democratic principles and rule of law. A key element for the transition, we believed, was a reshaping of the socialist-oriented Weltanschauung into one that valued personal creativity, visionary ideas, and independent thinking.

Larry, you have just finished your second book on leadership. What IS this Ideal Leadership Model of yours?

It states that a leader is one who leads his or her organization forward in a positive direction. The components of leadership are leadership conditions and leadership capital. The conditions determine who gets to be a leader in the first place. Basically, a person must be in the right place, at the right time, doing the right things, with the right people in order to have an opportunity to lead. How well they lead depends on their leadership capital; their philosophical orientation made up of their vision and values, their personal characteristics of wisdom and courage, and their interpersonal interaction of trust and voice.

By Dr. Larry W. Stout, Associate Professor of Psychology
Stockholm School of Economics in Riga

Change management is one of the hottest topics in training today, as organizations struggle to adapt to the rapid transitions taking place throughout society. But no organization has faced the challenge that the tiny Baltic countries of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia faced when they became independent of the Soviet Union in 1991. From reforms necessary in government, education, commerce, medicine, technology and even religion, they literally had to change everything.

By Larry W. Stout, Ph.D., MBA, Associate Professor of Psychology
Stockholm School of Economics in Riga

Several years ago I was invited to be a guest speaker at a Baltic Conference of Muskie Fellows (the Edmund S. Muskie Fellowship Program selects outstanding citizens of the New Independent States and the Baltics to receive scholarships for Master's-level study in the United States in the fields of business administration, economics, law, and public administration.) Before I was to speak, a representative of the program from each of the Baltic countries was to asked to relate a short five-minute talk on their experience in the United States. The Latvian representative stood up and admitted that he had not prepared any remarks in advance, and then proceeded to expound on a multitude of different issues related to the cross-cultural matters. The moderator finally got him to finish after he went over his time allotment by about fifteen minutes and it was the turn of the Lithuanian representative. This was a woman who opened her remarks by admitting that she had been robbed at the Vilnius train station the night before and was still getting over it. In spite of her disorientation, however, she used her five minutes to clearly and concisely cover three main points she had learned from her study experience in the USA with helpful and colorful illustrations. Finally, the Estonian man who spoke admitted that he was not the person who was supposed to speak (that individual was sick), but nevertheless, presented a masterful overview of the benefits of the Muskie Fellows Program and presented a proposal for continuing it.