Inclusive leadership in times of global crisis: how CEOs of multinational enterprises responded to COVID-19

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide a critical perspective on how the COVID-19 crisis shaped inclusive leadership behaviors of global business leaders. Design/methodology/approach Using quantitative and qualitative methods, the authors analyzed 240 CEO statements in 120 multinational enterprises from six countries (France, India, Japan, South Korea, UK, USA), pre- and mid-COVID-19. Findings Results show that CEO emphasis on inclusive leadership increased during the pandemic. More substantively, the authors identify three key behaviors of inclusive leadership – fidelity, calmness and collective resilience. Originality/value The authors provide empirical evidence of inclusive leadership behaviors by global business leaders. In doing so, the authors integrate inclusive leadership into societally engaged international business research.