Servant-Leadership Across Cultures

209 Pages·2010·1.55 MB·English

Harnessing the Strength of the World’s
Most Powerful Management Philosophy
Servant-
Leadership
Across
Cultures
Fons Trompenaars
and Ed Voerman
New York Chicago San Francisco Lisbon London Madrid Mexico City
Milan New Delhi San Juan Seoul Singapore Sydney Toronto
There is a story told at Wharton University of a brilliant student from Mexico
who ran out of money because of a fi nancial crisis affecting his country.
The day before this student had to give up his studies and return home,
a scholarship opportunity miraculously appeared.
Russ Ackoff, thank you for everything you have taught us.
You are a true servant-leader.
Copyright © 2010 by Fons Trompenaars and Ed Voerman. All rights reserved. Except
as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication
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CONTENTS
Foreword v
Acknowledgments vii
Background ix
Part I Servant-Leadership: In a Nutshell
1 A Universal Given 3
2 From a Power to a Service Model 13
3 Culture Clashes 19
4 Core Qualities 27
Part II Servant-Leadership in the Intercultural Practice
5 Dilemma 1: Leading Versus Serving 45
6 Dilemma 2: Rules Versus Exceptions 59
7 Dilemma 3: Parts Versus the Whole 77
8 Dilemma 4: Control Versus Passion 95
9 Dilemma 5: Specifi c Versus Diffuse 109
10 Dilemma 6: Short Term Versus Long Term 125
11 Dilemma 7: Push Versus Pull 145
Part III Getting Started with Servant-Leadership:
A Systematic Approach
12 Can We Measure Integrity? 167
13 Benchmarking Servant-Leadership 173
Appendix: Meet the Authors 177
Index 187
iii
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FOREWORD
In these times of ever more globalization, almost every-
one is faced with culture differences in one way or
another. This book offers a practical approach, based
on the principles of servant-leadership, for how people can
deal with these differences.
Both the authors have extensive international experi-
ence on which to draw. As an intercultural consultant, Fons
Trompenaars has built up a database of more than 80,000
responses to questions about cultural differences during
the last two decades. Ed Voerman both lived and worked
in South America for eight years and has since led various
international organizations.
As a result of coupling their international experience
with the principles of servant-leadership, the authors have
found several practical insights. For example, that servant-
leaders are particularly skilled at building bridges between
cultures, because with servant-leadership, there is no “us”
and “them”; it is the shared goals that are important.
Servant-leaders do not let themselves be tempted into mak-
ing choices between opposing values, nor do they make dis-
satisfying compromises. Distinctive of the servant-leaders’
approach is that they, where possible, choose a solution
v
vi ■ Foreword
whereby opposing values or goals are combined in such a
way that each actually strengthens the other.
The authors show that this leadership principle is not at
all new by providing examples from ancient cultures such
as those in Greece (Plato), China, and India. They have cho-
sen seven important dilemmas to illustrate seven dimensions
of cultural differences: leading-serving; rules-exceptions;
parts–the whole; control-passion; specifi c-diffuse; short
term–long term; push-pull.
The dilemmas clearly illustrate the kinds of issues that
businesspeople can encounter when operating in an inter-
national context. The focus of this book is on the man-
ner in which servant-leaders deal with dilemmas. This is
explained using the example of Peter Webber, manager of a
multinational enterprise.
This book is especially recommended for leaders who
make decisions using their minds but who also want to work
from the heart. They dare to ask themselves: “Who or what
do I serve with this decision?” It is also meant for people
who are active in a multicultural community; for people
who have international contact on a daily basis; and those
who are working globally, even for expats.
The authors’ end conclusion is both positive and hopeful
for the future; there are challenging cultural differences that
can be overcome with the principle of servant-leadership.
And, thankfully, people are not the same, but equal.
Herman Wijffels
World Bank, Washington
Director of the Board for the Greenleaf Foundation
September 2008
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Many people have contributed to the creation of
this book.
For this English edition, we would like to
thank the “three musketeers”—Barbara Blokpoel, Carolien
Brinks, and Evi Collins—who, in the process of translat-
ing, implemented constructive changes to realize a com-
pleted English version within a tight time frame. Chapeau
et merci.
For the Dutch version, we would also like to thank
Henk den Dekker, recent graduate of the Servant- Leadership
Academy, for his feedback and suggestions, and again
Carolien Brinks for her tireless support and help with the
different Dutch revisions. Finally, many thanks go to Petra
Pronk for her work as Dutch editor and help in putting
together the original version of the book.
All of you have lived the principles of servant- leadership
in completing this project.
vii
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BACKGROUND
Arecently merged multinational has its fi rst meeting
with its new management team. The Americans are
full of anticipation, curious about their Japanese
colleagues’ opinion of the upcoming developments in the
stock market. However, there is an uncomfortable stillness
in the room. After several ever more desperate attempts to
get the conversation going, there is an awkwardness hang-
ing in the air. The Americans cannot understand why the
Japanese refuse to open their mouths and get a conversation
going, while the Japanese are at a loss as to why their new
colleagues are being so confrontational.
Similar situations occur on a daily basis, all over the
globe, wherever people work across cultures. In their own
cultures, their modus operandi is the norm; it is considered
socially acceptable, and, because of that, they never take a
moment to consider that there might be other ways that are
equally acceptable in other cultures—that is until they have
an experience with a new colleague from some other part
of the world, other organization, or other department, who
does things in a completely foreign way. And the way their
colleague does things is not only foreign but also, at least
from their point of view, less optimal. Ironically, the new
ix