Leadership Ideals Across Asia

Hi everyone,

I attended the Harvard Project for Asian and International Relations Academic Conference Academic Conference 2007. I was a member of the "Leadership Workshop" which was headed by the very capable Shannon Ashford from Harvard University. One of the panel sessions was entitled "Pan-Asian Leadership Ideals" and the panelists were Ms Ada Ho, Mr Sanjay Inamdar and Prof Edward J. Baker. I wrote a response paper to this panel session for a class in university and I reproduce it here in its entirety. Hope you enjoy reading it.

-Hozefa

Response paper on a HPAIR talk
Pan-Asian Leadership Ideals
By a panel consisting of Ada Ho, Sanjay Inamdar and Edward J. Baker


This was a very interesting talk that compared leadership styles and ideals across Asian societies and investigate how these styles influence people’s views on leadership and authority. The speakers spoke about the concepts of leadership in their home countries, which covered mainly India and China.

It was mentioned by Dr Baker that despite the western paradigm as Asians being one and the same, the leadership concepts in the two Asian giants, namely, China and India, are very different. The other two speakers made this point very evident when they started talking about leadership styles in their own country. I thought this was a very intriguing point as westerners would need to shed their paradigms on Asia as their economies become more and more dependant on the giants India and China and they will need to acquire the specific skills to deal with leaders, political and business, if they plan to do business with them.

Mr Sanjay Inamdar, who is the founder and president of FLUCON companies, a multi national company based in India, then spoke about the concept of leadership in his homeland, India. He said that Indians tend to make their natural leaders larger than life. The boss of a factory will appear to be a very important person who is highly capable and whose orders should never be questioned to the factory workers and coolies. This image is strengthened by the fact that the boss will hardly mingle with the factory workers and will be chauffeured to and fro from his home to the factory. I found this point rather true, as leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi were made to be larger than life and in many cases, this image was used for political gain. The early Congress party bosses in India milked this image of Mahatma Gandhi being the saviour of the Indian people for a long time to ensure their victories in elections.

Mr Inamdar stated that another danger of this leadership concept is that making leaders seem larger than life may confer upon them responsibilities that they may not be able to take on. I feel that this is a very valid point and an issue that needs to be addressed for a country to move forward. A parallel can be drawn with Singapore. Singaporeans have made their government to seem ‘larger than life’ and feel that there is no problem that the government cannot solve for them. In a country where people are the most valuable commodity, people refusing to take responsibility for themselves, their problems and their future is dangerous.

Ms Ada ho, the president of Nexus China, spoke next. She mentioned that people are not perceived as leaders unless they were in official positions. In China’s context, official positions could refer to communist party positions or positions in the organs of government. Thus the term leader is used very casually in China and can be used to denote “boss”. I felt that this definition of leadership definitely doesn’t hurt the Communist Party as it stifles democratic forces. In a democracy, people vote for candidates who they feel is best able to lead their country or represent their views. Thus, a person is a leader based on ability, not position. However, with leadership defined as people being in official positions, citizens of China may feel that they have no choice but to accept their so-called leaders whether or not they exhibit any leadership qualities.

Ms Ho mentioned, however, that views on leadership were changing in the country. Academics, artists and businessmen are starting to be regarded as leaders in their own fields. I felt that this could be due to the unraveling of Mao’s Cultural Revolution. During the Cultural Revolution, academics and artists were silenced. As our Minister Mentor, Lee Kuan Yew, mentioned in his memoirs, Mao was trying to paint over 4000 years of Chinese history etched in mosaic within his one lifetime. The rains will come, the paint will be washed away and the mosaic will re-surface. Perhaps the change in the concept of leadership in China is evidence of this.

Overall, I felt that this was a very insightful talk which offered very valid points on leadership concepts in Asia.

Author: Hozefa Aziz

Being follower-centric

It is very important that leadership is about the followers, not the leaders. The leader should make his/her followers feel proud to be part of the team and to make them feel that they are an essential part of the team. The following is a quote on how good leadership ensures this:

"Good leaders make people feel that they're at the very heart of things, not at the periphery. Everyone feels that he or she makes a difference to the success of the organization. When that happens people feel centered and that gives their work meaning."
-Warren Bennis

Vision and Goal-setting

"The very essence of leadership is that you have to have a vision."
-Theodore Hesburgh

Without a vision, it is difficult to lead a group of people. Leading a team is like going on a journey. You cannot start off on a journey not knowing what your final destination is going to be.

Goal-setting is the process of creating that vision. That end of the journey. That destination that you want to lead your team to. Having a goal allows a leader to have some direction. By taking a moment to sit down and put in writing what your final destination is, you will find that the process becomes much easier if you know what you are exactly working towards.

By knowing exactly where you're going, you'll also be able to figure out how you want to get there. This gives a leader added confidence because the leader would know exactly what he/she is doing and where he/she is going. This added confidence would definitely trickle down to the leader's team and everyone would be re-energized to work towards the goal.

So before you set off on a new task, remember, take a moment and write out your goals. It will give you added confidence and a better end-product.

"Begin with the end in mind." - Stephen Covey

Author: Hozefa

Know the way, Go the way, Show the Way (Part III)

Finally, a leader must show the way. He or she must be a coach to his or her team members and inspire them to work together to not only reach the end objectives but to personal greater heights. A leader must also be able to show the team members where to go and be their rock when times get tough. When problems arise, the leader must be able to come up with a solution and encourage team members who despair. In inspiring their team members, leaders become transformational leaders who gain the respect of their fellow team mates and everyone feels great about working under his or her leadership.

In conclusion, a leader is someone who is able to set the end objectives, chart a path towards it, go all the way with their team embers along this path and inspire and encourage team members to reach the end objective and new heights.

Author: Hozefa

SNCO Course Activity Sheet 7

You are tasked to plan the unit’s annual camp. The camp should include the following activities
-Orienteering
-Night cycling
-A civil defence disaster scenario
-A night-walk activity
-Team-building games
-A Barbeque
-Field Cooking

You must take the following factors into account:
-Food arrangements
-Logistics requirements
-Admin requirements
-First Aid Requirements

Write down your plans for delegating these tasks and organising the camp on Activity sheet 7.

Author: Hozefa

Know the way, Go the way, Show the Way (Part II)

Another aspect of knowing the way is being competent in the area in which the leader is leading. The leader needs to have enough knowledge of the field which the task of the team is related to. For example, a general of an army cannot lead his army into battle without knowing the basics of warfare. However, it is not to say that a leader needs to know every aspect of the field thoroughly. A team leader should know the basics of his field and the capabilities of his team mates in the field in order to complete the task. As Lee Kuan Yew, former prime minister of Singapore once compared his job to being the conductor of an orchestra, “while (the prime minister) himself need not be a great player, he has to know enough of the principal instruments…..or he would not know what he can expect from each of them.”

A leader also needs to go the way. He or she should be together with team all along the path which he or she had planned to take to reach their end objective. This allows the leader to closely monitor the progress of the team, solve problems that usually arise in achieving the objective of the team. In addition, by being on the ground with the team, the team leader is also aware of the condition of the members of team and is able to empathise with them. With leaders going the way, team members would also be encouraged to work harder to reach their goal as they see their leader working hard alongside them.

More on showing the way in the next post.....

Author: Hozefa

Know the way, Go the way, Show the Way (Part I)

When asked about what leadership means, people around us would give a variety of answers. Some of the responses would most certainly include power, influence, position, responsibility, inspiration and initiative based on the person’s experience at being a leader or experience with a leader. As no definition to date can do justice to the true essence of leadership, people are left wondering what true leadership really is. Is it power and influence? Is it the ability to inspire people? Is it the number of votes a candidate can garner in an election? Or is it how successfully a general can fight a war? In my opinion, the quote “a leader needs to know the way, go the way and show the way” is enough to cover most aspects of effective leadership.

A leader needs to know the way in order to effectively lead his team. A leader needs to have clear objectives and goals in his mind that he or she wishes to achieve. As Stephen R Covey states in his best-selling book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, a leader needs to “begin with the end in mind”. After knowing what he or she wants to achieve, a leader needs to know how to achieve it as well. Without a clear path to achieve the end goal, a leader would not be able to effectively lead his or her team. The leader also needs to be able to foresee problems in order to chart a path that would either steer clear of the foreseen problems or have a solution ready when the problem inevitably arises.

More on going the way in the next post......

Written by: Hozefa