Existing models of leadership have been built on the assumption of face-to-face interaction, cultural homogeneity, and hierarchical
organizational structures. We introduce a new model, Ambassadorial Leadership, which recognizes that different behaviors are
needed for leading globally distributed virtual teams. The behaviors include those that are characteristic of an Ambassador
who must be culturally sensitive, able to span boundaries created by geography and functional background, and able to help
build a collective identity for the virtual team. We conducted a pilot study to examine the model and to compare our model
to the transformational leadership factors. The results showed good discriminant and convergent validity as well as some indication
that the new model adds some complementary dimensions to the transformational leadership model.