Leadership involves connecting with a wide range of people, from inspiring employees to building business relationships, to keeping stakeholders happy. However, you might find it harder to build rapport with someone if you don’t understand what makes them tick, and this is especially hard if they are from a different culture. A big part of studying abroad involves meeting people of different nationalities, not only from the country you are living in but also the community of other exchange students who you will spend time with. This is very interesting on a personal level to learn about different cultures. But job applications often look for candidates with good communication skills and spending every day with people whose first language is not English definitely develops this skill. If you can learn a language while studying abroad – even better.
