I’ve been lucky enough to spend almost 20 years of my professional life in Asia. Coming from Holland and having started the first 10 years in Europe, people often ask me what the differences are between Western and Asian leaders. It always takes me a while to answer this question as truth be told, I personally don’t think that there’s a significant difference. At the end, all the deep held humanistic values are similar and I don’t think the number of bosses who are perceived as jerks versus those who are adored are that different across the world. It’s the person who’s a jerk and I don’t think his place of birth makes a difference to that.
Having said that there are obvious differences in the way different nationalities lead. But as much as there are different natural styles between bosses from California vs New Jersey or Sweden vs. Italy there are naturally different styles between bosses from China or Singapore, Vietnam or India, Saudi or Japan. There’s no one type of Asian leader just like there’s no one type of Western leader. As Reg Bull eluded to this in his interview, the differences in style are more embedded in different cultures as compared to the way we lead others.
Two HBR articles East Meets West: Who has Better Leaders and Asian Leaders Value Creativity and Intuition More than Europeans Do highlight that:
Apart from the importance of creativity and intuition (close to 90% of Asian leaders thought these are two important leadership attributes versus 55% in European leaders) the differences are more often than not over-valued.
[Tweet “In order to lead effectively you have to understand the regional culture that you’re working in.”] I would lead people in Greece differently than in Norway and the same is true for Indonesia vs Bangladesh or any country vs another.
At the end of the day I think two attributes clearly stand out to lead effectively across boundaries: authenticity and intent. As long as your intent is right and you are being authentic to yourself and others you can get the best out of your people no matter whether you are in Pakistan, Kuwait or Azerbaijan. What say you? What makes a global leader? Connect with me on Twitter and let me know.