Leadership in Asia

YOU ARE A LEADER. You make a difference. T his is true no matter what country you’re from, what title you hold, or what function you perform. You make a difference wherever you are. You make a difference in how engaged people feel, how effectively they perform, and how successful they and the organization will be. What is very important, however, is what you do. Just listen to Caroline Wang, formerly vice president and the highest-ranking Asian female executive for IBM globally, with more than twenty-five years of working experience in the United States and across Asia Pacific, and currently on the board of directors for three multinational companies in China. “When it comes to leadership,” she says, “it is not about the leader’s personality; it is all about how that individual behaves as a leader.” 1 That’s exactly what we have found in our research over the last thirty years. Leadership is not about While the focus of this book is on leaders and leadership, keep in mind that leadership is not all about the leader. Leadership is not a solo act. It’s not about doing something all by yourself. There has never been a leader who’s gotten anything extraordinary done alone. Never. Leadership is always a team performance. Strong relationships with your constituents—your co-workers, direct reports, and other key business partners—are key to making things happen in your organization, and are essential to your and your organization’s success. The reason that so many managers and executives fail to lead is not so much that their vision and strategy are inadequate or offtrack. It’s not because they’re incompetent in their functional areas. It’s because they have not built the kind of collaborative relationships that enable everyone to succeed together. It’s because they aren’t able to mobilize others to want to struggle for shared aspirations. In this book you will see how leaders work with others to liberate the leader in everyone.

The Leadership Challenge Around the World One of the leaders we studied once described himself as an “Indonesian Cantonese, carrying a German passport, working for a Mexican company in the Czech Republic.” He represents five different cultures all