Leader's Digest #31 (September 2019)

LEADERS ISSUE 31

SEPTEMBER 2019

DIGEST

Cultural Intelligence

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PUBLICATION TEAM EDITORIAL

Editor-in-Chief Ismail Said Assistant Editor Yvonne Lee Graphic Designer Awang Ismail bin Awang Hambali Abdul Rani Haji Adenan

* Read our online version to access the hyperlinks to other reference articles made by the author.

CONTENTS

ISSUE 31 I SEPTEMBER 2019

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CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE: AN ESSENTIAL SKILL FOR TODAY’S GLOBAL ECONOMY

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WHY YOU NEED CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE (AND HOW TO DEVELOP IT)

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DEVELOP YOUR CQ, THE NEW GLOBAL CURRENCY

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PLAYING WITH FIRE

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HOW LEADERSHIP DIFFERS AROUND THE WORLD

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LANGUAGE, LEARNING AND LEADERSHIP: THE KEY TO UNDERSTANDING CULTURES

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A GLOBAL PR NIGHTMARE OR AN OPPORTUNITY TO BUILD VALUE – LEADING THE STARBUCKS WAY

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NAKED AUTOCRATS OF THE 21ST CENTURY

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BUSINESS STRATEGY: EAST VS WEST

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TO BE A BETTER LEADER, LISTEN WITH TING

Read this issue and past issues online at bit.ly/LEADSCS Scan the QR code below for quicker access:

Content Partners:

Leader’s Digest is a monthly publication by the Leadership Institute of Sarawak Civil Service, dedicated to advancing civil service leadership and to inspire our Sarawak Civil Service (SCS) leaders with contemporary leadership principles. It features a range of content contributed by our strategic partners and panel of advisors from renowned global institutions as well as established corporations that we are affiliated with. Occasionally, we have guest contributions from our pool of subject matter experts as well as from our own employees.

The views expressed in the articles published are not necessarily those of Leadership Institute of Sarawak Civil Service Sdn. Bhd. (292980-T). No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without the publisher’s permission in writing.

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“

strength lies in differences not in similarities

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- Stephen Covey

Photo by Honey Yanibel Minaya Cruz on Unsplash

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CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE AN ESSENTIAL SKILL FOR TODAY’S GLOBAL ECONOMY

BY DR CAROL HOOI LAI WAN

Sahara walked up to Junji Kaneshiro, a potential client, looked at him in the eyes and extended her hand for a handshake.

Much to her surprise, he smiled, bowed and brought out his business card. She accepted the card with the hand that was extended for the handshake. Since she had read his profile the night before, she put the card into her pocket without reading it. She was perplexed to see the displeasure on his face; a strange feeling crept in.

After an increasingly tense stretch of silence, she walked her client to the meeting room. None of her team members were there yet. Punctuality was not a company culture, but how could she allow it when they were meeting with an international client? It was embarrassing!

“Get everyone here right now!” she signalled to her personal assistant, breaking the awkward silence in the cold room. “How did I let this happened?” Sahara wondered as she sat waiting for her team to show up.

Is the meeting going to be a success, given such an uncomfortable initial encounter? In this case, both parties were unaware of the cultural differences between them.

FOR effective business, mindful and appropriate cross-cultural interaction is key. This is called cultural intelligence or the cultural quotient (CQ) – it emphasises cultural knowledge, mindfulness and behavioural skills to adjust to culturally diverse situations.

“Cultural intelligence is described as ‘patterned ways of thinking, feeling, and reacting, acquired and transmitted mainly by symbols, constituting the distinctive achievements of human groups … including their embodiments in artefacts; the essential core of culture consists of traditional […] ideas and especially their attached values …”

– Kluckhorn and Kroeber (1952)

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WHAT IS CULTURE? Culture is so subtle that one may experience culture shock when confronted with cultural differences in values, attitudes, and behaviours. This can cause psychological disorientation and lead to negative feelings due to misunderstandings and the failure to recognise important cues.

In today’s global environment, an appreciation of cultural differences is essential. In international business, culture shock affects expatriate mission accomplishment and intercultural insensitivity can affect staff performance and happiness at work.

The increasing complexity of the global economy further justifies the need for interventions to foster cultural convergence. People need to understand when and how these differences are important.

To prepare employees working in a culturally diverse environment, organisations need to inculcate a global

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This forms the basis to develop measures that enhance intercultural competence, as well as its closely related concept, cultural quotient (CQ) – an idea developed by Christopher Earley and Soon Ang in 2003.

CQ is a specific form of intelligence that focuses on the ability to behave effectively in culturally diverse situations. It extends from earlier concepts of intelligence: academic, mental (the cognitive aspect of understanding differences), social, emotional (the emotional/motivational factors necessary for intercultural adjustment), practical, physical (the physical/nonverbal behaviour associated with cultural differences) and spiritual (the capacity to manage meaning, vision, values and beliefs).

In a study by Bucker and Poutsma in 2010, CQ is one of the four essences (among intercultural competence, intercultural sensitivity and global mindset) of management skills that a global manager needs to have.

LEVERAGING CQ Global leaders who possess a high level of CQ potentially can influence a culturally diverse workforce, moving them to work together synergistically to accomplish common goals.

Organisations can reach diverse markets more effectively if internal diversity is managed in tandem with CQ. Culturally intelligent employees are sensitive, adaptable, and embrace diversity more openly.

More importantly, they have the capability to act accordingly when needed. These people serve customers better, and ultimately improve the branding of an organisation.

chameleon

mimic

ambassador

Organisations can promote culture hybridisation as a new way of viewing what were previously considered as distinct cultures.

cultural intelligence profile

natural

“I must do something to promote punctuality!”

Sahara thought to herself, as she sat waiting for her team. But, due to the enduring differences in the behaviours of people, achieving cultural convergence was a daunting task.

Figure 1 shows the CQ profiles that distinguish between levels of cultural intelligence.

analyst

CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE (CQ)

Most individuals are a hybrid of two or more of the CQ profiles developed by Earley and Mosakowski.

PROVINCIAL

mindset (the ability to appreciate elements of various cultures), promote agile thinking, and enhance cultural awareness.

Provincial: works well with people of a similar background.

Analyst: understands various cultures through elaborate learning strategies.

Natural: relies on intuition and first impressions.

Ambassador: watches the success of others in comparable cultural situations.

Mimic: picks up significant cultural cues that puts individuals at ease.

Chameleon: possesses all forms of cultural intelligence.

Figure 1: Cultural Intelligence Profile

The Chameleon is perhaps the most desirable profile; however, most people fall in the Analyst and Ambassador categories.

In today’s increasingly global and diverse business environment, the potential for business growth goes far beyond domestic markets.

This means that managers have to manage diverse teams of stakeholders – employees, customers, competitors, governments, partners, and other business players.

Digitisation and global mobility further allow organisations to operate globally and recruit a diverse workforce. In such global business environments, CQ is a critical capability of every manager.

People with high CQ generally are better managers as they are capable of reducing cultural barriers and leverage cultural diversity for innovation success.

Cultural diversity stimulates innovation due to the presence of multiple perspectives from multicultural teams.

It fosters innovation success as it helps to reconcile cultural differences and mitigate conflict. This enhances the likelihood of achieving a culturally synergistic solution that embraces the ideas or interests of multiple parties.

CQ CAN BE DEVELOPED The good news for organisations is that CQ is not elusive.

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intelligent. The yin-yang of CQ advocates an outside-in and inside-out approach to enhance CQ skills.

CQ DRIVE • Intrinsic interest • Extrinsic interest • Self-efficacy

The yin of CQ emphasises on the ability to enhance understanding of diverse cultural heritage, wisdom, and values through continuous learning. It adopts a more personal and passive approach.

The yang of CQ is more active and aggressive. The yang approach focuses on the capability to manage people from different cultural backgrounds effectively.

So, how can global leaders today, like Sahara, integrate the cultural differences and multiple nationalities to accomplish the goals of their organisations?

Different working styles and subcultures have to be dealt with cautiously, as conflict inevitably accompanies intercultural work.

Leaders have to rise beyond cultural awareness and sensitivity to manage workplace diversity effectively at every level of their organisation.

CQ ACTION

CQ KNOWLEDGE

• Speech acts • Verbal actions • Nonverbal behaviours

• General cultural understanding • Context-specific understanding

CQ STRATEGY • Planning • Awareness • Checking Figure 2: Cultural Intelligence Capabilities

ENHANCING CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

David Livermore, president of the Cultural Intelligence Centre in East Lansing, Michigan proposed enhancing four cultural intelligence capabilities: CQ Drive, CQ Knowledge, CQ Strategy, and CQ Action to succeed in today’s multicultural globalised world.

All in all, the right strategies can assist in developing and enhancing cultural intelligence.

• CQ Drive (motivation) centres on one’s interest, drive, and energy to adapt cross-culturally.

Directly experiencing intercultural differences – through involvement, reflection, and active experimentation – can effectively help develop cultural intelligence.

• CQ Knowledge (cognition) refers to knowledge of cultures and how culture shapes interactions and work.

• CQ Strategy (metacognition) involves the ability to strategise before (planning), during (awareness), and after (checking) crossing cultures. It emphasises on being prepared, thinking consciously, and adapting in an intercultural encounter.

• CQ Action (behaviour) is the ability to act appropriately and effectively in any intercultural situations. It stresses on flexibility, customisation, and adaptability to a diverse market and workforce.

Figure 2 summarises the four cultural intelligence capabilities and their sub-dimensions.

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It has to be self-driven at the start. The desire to become culturally intelligent forces one to experience and reflect on his/her intercultural encounters.

Having understood what needs to be developed, participating in training and coaching programmes can further enhance cultural intelligence. For continuous improvement, one should create a personal CQ development plan to sustain high cultural intelligence.

Dr Carol Hooi Lai Wan Dr Carol Hooi Lai Wan is an Associate Professor of Human Resource Management and Organisational Behaviour at The University of Nottingham. She specialises in global human resources and her current work is on competencies in the digital world. She is the author of “Human Capital Management Practices in Malaysia: Local and Foreign Perspectives” and “Governance and Citizenship in Asia: Organisational Justice and Citizenship Behaviour in Malaysia,” published by Springer.

Currently, she is the Associate Editor of the International Journal of Manpower.

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Develop Your CQ, The New Global Currency

BY CAROLYNE NJOGU

Have you ever wondered why some people are better than others when it comes to connecting with people of different cultures regardless of their age, race, religion, social economics, education, gender, gender identity and nationality?

Such people are said to have higher levels of cultural intelligence (CQ) than others.

Globalisation is no longer a phenomenon to be debated, but has greatly impacted the way global citizens interact with each other across borders.

In fact, today’s business environment has become more competitive, dynamic and complex than ever before. As a result, cultural differences are now ubiquitous across the global markets.

At the core of who we are, humans are the same albeit being so different as much as we are the same. So, how can you as a global citizen or global business thrive in today’s culturally diverse milieu, and do so effectively so you can achieve your personal or business objectives – whatever they may be?

The answer lies in cultural intelligence, or CQ. Cultural intelligence is defined as the capability to function effectively across national, ethnic and organisational cultures.

In essence, it’s how well you achieve your goals when it comes to communicating, collaborating and connecting with others who hold different views from your own.

A research study by Harvard Business Review reports that, “When at least one member of a team has traits in common with the end user, the entire team better understands that user.

A team with a member who shares a client’s ethnicity is 152% likelier than another team to understand that client.” Clearly, diverse teams, stakeholders, nationals and people groups tend to have a significant impact on innovations and organisational culture.

For sustainable and superior gains, businesses are increasingly coming to terms with the fact that cultural diversity – the acknowledgement or appreciation of various cultural or ethnic groups in an organisation or society – is not enough.

This explains why boosting your levels of CQ yields far more gains in the long haul than merely focusing on cultural diversity. As such, cultural intelligence has become a must-have skill for those wishing to lead and realise sustainable return on investment.

Photo by Analia Baggiano on Unsplash

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So, how can you develop and increase your level of CQ? David Livermore, PhD., who is the pioneer researcher and father of CQ, has developed a framework to help you boost your CQ: • CQ Drive: Elicits your interests and willingness to take risks in exploring different cultures. This exposes your readiness and any biases that you may have.

• CQ Knowledge: Involves gathering the right information to facilitate learning about a particular culture.

• CQ Strategy: Is about taking the right initiatives as you learn, re-learn, and adjust yourself accordingly as you learn what is appropriate within a given cultural context.

• CQ Action: This focuses on the actual activity you undertake to develop or improve your CQ. For example, choosing to live and immerse yourself in a given foreign culture abroad, etc.

Additionally, here are a few approaches to developing your CQ. 1. Examine Your Own Bias Understand that your values and beliefs are shaped by your customs and the norms of where you grew up, and thus are likely to be different from those of a different culture.

This brings awareness of your snap judgments, and offers you an opportunity to manage yourself as

you choose the most appropriate way to act and behave whenever the need arises.

2. Curiosity Become interested, open and willing to learn from others of different culture than your own. If you are facing challenges in this area, observe a 3-year-old and be inspired to take action by their appeal to learn new things.

You could start by being intentional in choosing to meet new people with whom you differ culturally. For example, you could take a foreign language course or offer to volunteer at your local refugee centre.

3. Education What we teach our children shapes how they see and interact with others. Mahatma Gandhi once remarked: “No culture can live, if it attempts to be exclusive.”

Governments have a responsibility in influencing how well today’s young generation prepares to show up in tomorrow’s workforce.

For example, in Europe there is a lot of tension surrounding the Muslim women wearing headscarf – this serves as an opportunity for learning and improving on CQ. 4. Immerse Yourself In A New Culture This is perhaps one of the best approaches to learn a new culture.

By immersing yourself in a different culture, you subject yourself to fully embrace the customs, norms, behaviours, attitudes, languages and nuances of that particular culture.

For example, in the Middle East, people engage in small talk before business meetings, which may end with a handshake as a formal seal for the deal.

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However, in the West – especially in America – handshakes do not mean anything when it comes to business transactions.

Clearly, what is expected by one culture may be considered offensive in another.

In his TedTalk ‘My Year Living Biblically’, AJ Jacobs shares how he decided to immerse himself in living the Biblical culture.

Though difficult, he recommends it as something you should try. He adds that this experience ‘made him become a better person’ culturally.

In Conclusion Thriving in today’s competitive global market demands that you have the drive and will to increase your cultural intelligence.

How well you do this really depends on your interest to learn as well as challenge your biases, while being curious, adapting, and embracing different cultures.

Lastly, your actions towards achieving your CQ goals make all the difference – after all, how wellversed you are in CQ could very well be the difference between a new business deal or the lack thereof.

Carolyne Njogu Carolyne Njogu inspires professionals to fulfilment for a better life, better career, and better results. She is the founding principal at VPF Strategies, a coaching and consulting agency, and the author of Being Grounded: 21 Days To Come Alive And Love Your Life.

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How Leadership Differs Around The World

How Malaysia, Germany and the US differ in their definition of a leader

BY ADRIAN PANG

Leadership is still a peculiar discourse and a skill that never seems to get close to perfection. It is a phenomenon that undergoes rapid transformations generation after generation.

From the charismatic leadership of people like Alexander the Great, to traditional leadership of the monarchs to modern-day bureaucratic and contemporary leadership, the quest to creep even an inch closer to perfection never seems to be within reach.

So much for the effort that this discourse has been objectified into an empirical study known simply as the science of leadership, something that Leaderonomics has embraced and embedded deeply into the fabric of our organisation.

While most researchers have settled on the consensus that good leadership falls within the range of the “effective leadership” spectrum, an extended spectrum with the “perfect leadership” dimension is a nearUtopian idea.

For its constant transformation has shown and reaffirmed the idea that leadership is not something that can be generalised. Effective leadership is still the ultimate lesson, achievement or milestone for an aspiring individual because it is something that one can grasp.

Therefore, I have come to terms with the fact that there is no such thing as a bona-fide perfect leader.

But what constitutes effective leadership? A separate conversation altogether, it remains complex and ambiguous as the comprehensible aspect of “effective leadership” also comes with a catch – it comes in different shapes and sizes.

This “shape-shifting” rhetoric is known simply as culture.

As a millennial studying sociology with a knack for observing cultures and a passion for travelling, I have observed and experienced leadership in different countries that brought me closer to understand how culture transcends all the “Dos and Don’ts” of becoming an effective leader.

My experiences with leadership in different cultures thus far have shaped my understandings of how culture is central to leadership especially among millennials, with the quest to improve my own leadership qualities in constant hindsight.

After all, we are already at the dawn of millennial leadership. Essentially, this form of emphasising culture and leadership gears me up for a globalised working environment which I hope can be relevant to my fellow peers and our present leaders on how to work better with the millennials.

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Travelling has been integral to my experiences with cross-cultural leadership. As a born and bred Malaysian, I have spent my most productive years yet travelling and learning cultures.

I am privileged to be able to attain my tertiary studies in the United States after having spent a few fruitful months abroad in Germany.

The stark differences between these three cultures that encapsulated me in a little over a year have left me with experiences, memories and lessons to ponder as the next generation of leaders, the millennials, get ready to succeed their predecessors.

Here are the main takeaways of the different constituents of effective leadership in these three cultures. The different interpretations are honed from the classic three-pronged approach in social science: politics, social and economy.

In addition, Malaysians also value the subtle things that go into the personal realms to make relationships tick, which explains the irreplaceable “yumcha” or “mamak” sessions after work, tea or cigarette breaks during working hours.

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These are one of my favourite elements of the working culture back home as I get to have meals, play sports and forge good friendships (note the specificity) with top figures of companies for which I have worked.

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THE DIFFERENCES

(Please note that this is a general overview based on personal experiences, accounts and insights from locals and minor research to verify the accuracy of my experiences).

MALAYSIA: DIVERSITY IS KEY

Malaysians are unique, in that we walk the talk when it comes to embracing cultural diversity within our own country.

Different cultures within this colourful nation are so deeply entwined with one another that we have found ways to encompass all the differences into one huge ball of beautiful mess.

Leadership is no different. Any workplace in Malaysia is usually diverse in that the workforce is comprised of people of different races and nationalities.

Therefore, it is essential for leaders in Malaysia to tap into the middle ground of these different cultural identities in the workplace to create a conducive and welcoming working environment.

However, this is easier said than done as the need to strike a balance between maintaining workplace professionalism and fostering colleagues’ relationships is often challenging.

The classic way is for a leader in the Malaysian culture to optimise opportunities to get to know employees more personally – in line with the classification of Malaysia as a high context culture.

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Furthermore, there are often mutual interests to know more about each other, of personal stories and interests.

These opportunities to build mutual relationships between leaders and their employees have enabled me to approach them for advice and lessons more directly.

They also ensure that such interactions and relationshipbuilding are genuine and for the long term.

I have always heard stories of how my bosses are still in close contact with their former mentors or bosses for occasional advice and even catch up with former apprentices to celebrate and share their achievements and successes together despite taking different career paths.

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As a young professional, I am always going to face difficulties in completing tasks. The aforementioned “leeway” element provides spaces to breathe and learn as supervisors often know how and when to change their approaches and stance.

Ultimately, diversity is the driving force behind these approaches as it cultivates the way leadership plays out in Malaysia. In a nutshell, effective leadership in Malaysia is the ability to connect with employees while simultaneously ensuring they are working towards common goals.

My experiences living and working in Germany affirmed most of these stereotypes. While they reflect reality of varying degrees, order is the predominant superset into which most of these stereotypes fall.

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In essence, German leadership is pragmatic, bureaucratic and rigid. It is all about professionalism and hard work to ensure the quality of the end-product and practices that are for best for business.

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Finally, leeway and flexibility are also important part of fostering relationships between employer and employees, be it sick leaves, flexible working hours or occasional delays or lapse in performances.

GERMANY: ORDER AND QUALITY

On the other end of the spectrum, Germans’ take on leadership is almost a complete opposite of its Malaysian counterpart.

When we think of Germany, we often associate it with quality – think German cars, machinery, cosmetic, pharmaceuticals etc.

This constant sustenance of quality stems from their culture and values that were developed over time.

The bulk of leadership and working cultures today are especially results of the post-war wirtschaftswunder (economic miracle).

But in a broader historical and sociological context, the Germans have always worked towards producing results and maintaining efficiency even before its economic miracle years.

While quality is the result of their working culture, order is perhaps the essential component. In fact, the culture of order transcends the working world.

Rules and laws are the stability of the German society and the Germans take them very seriously.

Citing from the renowned Expatica: “Germans are often described by non-Germans as having the following qualities: sensible, reserved, punctual, precise, cold, target-oriented, arrogant, sure of themselves, obedient, disciplined, plan-oriented, authoritative, stiff, unfeeling, direct, bureaucratic, professional, correct, self-assured, petty, highly orderly, strong, humourless, principled, reliable, perfectionist, organised”.

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Leadership credentials are built on experiences and technical knowledge of their trades and industries.

Personal traits usually have minimal effects on job promotions or hiring.

There is usually a direct correlation between a leadership position and extra emphasis on the depth of skills, knowledge and experiences.

In short, a good leader is usually a highly skilled, experienced and technically sound professional, sometimes nothing more.

Moreover, direct communication that is most often goal-oriented is highly valued and central to German leadership. Germans rarely beat around the bush and their directness is often stone-cold, stern and uncompromising.

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I have had several profound experiences with such directness, having my opinions ridiculed and heavily criticised in settings that would normally be embarrassing in my own and in many other cultures.

However, the tendency for Germans to not intrude personal lives with their work makes such ordeals strictly professional to maintain productivity and quality.

when everyone is equally vocal about their ideas or opinions.

My German professor notes that an intense and hostile meeting would normally be followed up with a cheerful social outing immediately; the hostilities are only restricted to works and business.

The team provides a defined boundary that acts as a threshold to the range of ideas and opinions raised as each thought and proposition is to be filtered and processed by the team, thus creating a flow of thoughts and conversation, not merely individual perspectives.

To conclude, effective leadership in German society is the success of pragmatism while maintaining order and discipline among employees to sustain productivity and quality.

USA: COMMUNICATION AND COOPERATION

Caught in between the Malaysian and German leadership structures is the American model. America’s successes need no introduction and its model of leadership is the cornerstone to all the era-defining and life-changing successes.

The Land of the Free is self-explanatory. Among all the freedoms that are championed, none is perhaps as important as the freedom of speech.

This right of speech and thoughts are so deeply embedded into the American social psyche that communication is central to the functioning of the entire society. Among the three cultures I have had earnest experiences with, Americans are the most vocal of all in the workplace regardless of hierarchical presence.

Ideas, thoughts and opinions are constantly thrown around, mostly for constructive purposes. Thus, Americans often speak and stand firm and with conviction on what they really believe in and experienced.

As a person who does not hold back from voicing my opinions, my first few encounters working with Americans was rather intimidating. They brought the game of speaking up to a whole new level.

Even so, these experiences have added a new dimension in my interpersonal skill to be bolder, as did my peers from similar cultural backgrounds. As a result, there is always the risk of head-on and obvious clash of interests 12

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As such, there exist many different types of teams and its own ways of brainstorming and doing things. The diversity is so vast that sometimes departments within an organisation have completely different working cultures among themselves.

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An effective leader is thus the uniting and central figure to the team, able to influence, represent the team’s goals and beliefs and dictate final decisions.

Therefore, individual traits are integral in leading teams in the American setting.

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Therefore, this reinforces the idea that German leadership is often practised in a defined professional setting and it doesn’t spill over to personal spaces.

This leads to the fundamental mediation practice of cooperation. And the physical manifestation of cooperation is the strong emphasis on team and teamwork.

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It is with no surprise that there are so many different types of successful leaders in the history of the USA. From the authoritative leadership of Jack Welch at General Electric, to the innovative Steve Jobs, to the modern-day Iron Man, Elon Musk and the charismatic Barack Obama, all these figures have their say in their own right on what constitute effective leadership.

Their successes are testaments to their claims.

However, it is due to these vast differences that enforce the idea that effective leadership in the USA is so focused on the individuals. Such leadership culture also constantly casts the leaders in the spotlight, and they are expected to always be accountable since they are the brands and organisations they carry.

Hence, they are naturally scrutinised more as individuals as compared to other cultures in which we often refer to leadership in organisational or group terms rather than the individuals.

From a practical perspective, the American leadership mirrors and balances elements from both its Malaysian and German counterparts. There is the constant need to micromanage the teams and individuals within it but often with less empathy and personalisation.

Many, including myself, see Americans as being superficial and difficult to form close and deep relationships that last long. The trick then is the “small talk” culture in the USA whereby one can strike up a conversation with anyone with ease, which is very useful for micromanaging a team.

On the other hand, the leader has to maintain productivity, efficiency and quality without overly rigid and orderly structures and approaches. There is a need to maintain a rather flexible working and reporting structure and environment to keep the ideas flowing.

There are definitely many similarities between these styles too, such as the emphasis on listening.

However, the important takeaway is to motivate the next generation of leaders to embrace diversity and cultures so as to be aware of the significance of cultural awareness and understandings in an increasingly globalised world.

Leadership is no longer an internalised phenomenon exclusive to individual cultures. Instead, it is increasingly essential for different cultures to work together to ensure peace and prosperity in the world.

The very first step is none other than to learn and understand other cultures and how they approach leadership.

Fundamentally, the world requires human beings, not of nations but as a species together to push boundaries and face global crisis such as climate change and global security. Embracing differences will only make us stronger.

On a side note, as cliché as it might sound, travel more, especially when you are young as I share the same outlook as Nandos Malaysia and Singapore’s group CEO and director Mac Chung Lynn.

Never mind the financial restrictions, there are ways around it but the experiences and memories will broaden our perspectives, instil in us lessons, life tools and even paradigm shifts that will be useful for our interpersonal and relationship developments.

After all, to be a leader in a globalised world starts from within ourselves, whether we are willing broaden our horizons, understandings and tolerance of things outside our comfort zones. Travelling is one of the key to that growth.

In conclusion, the American leadership ideals start from within an individual, with a combination of skills, knowledge, experiences or interpersonal skills, rather than forming good relationships or establishing orders from the very first step.

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

I might have just scratched the surface and there might be more accurate examples and instances that represent better the leadership styles in these three cultures. Nonetheless, they are personal observations, experiences and minor research, and can be enforced or disputed based on others’ insights and experiences.

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Adrian Pang Adrian is currently pursuing an honours degree in Sociology and Global Studies with a concentration on environmental studies. He previously worked with Leaderonomics.

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A Global PR Nightmare or An Opportunity to Build Value

~ Leading the Starbucks Way ~

BY LALIT GUPTA

Photo by Khadeeja Yasser on Unsplash

How would you respond to a global PR crisis, sparked by accusations of racial profiling at one of your outlets and nationwide boycott campaign against your company on social media? A typical response would be to manage the fall out of the proposed calls for boycott by your own aggressive campaign to neutralize the negative press. And, closely monitor the impact on the earnings and stock price and devise strategies for a recovery, possibly increasing the store open hours to make up for the potential loss of revenue.

Starbucks did just the opposite and its stock went up in the aftermath of one of the biggest PR crisis in recent times.

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Two African American men were arrested by police on April 12 while they were in the shop waiting to meet someone. An employee at the outlet called 911 to say the men were trespassing.

According to media reports, police were told the men asked to use the store’s restroom, but they were denied because they hadn’t bought anything, and they refused to leave. The men were subsequently released for lack of evidence that a crime had been committed.

This incident sparked accusations of racial profiling at the chain and a nationwide boycott campaign against the company on social media. The controversy is the biggest public relations test yet for the new Starbucks Chief Executive Kevin Johnson.

Starbucks takes pride in the fact that “Inclusivity” is one of its core values. It is articulated as “Creating a culture of warmth and belonging, where everyone is welcome”. They claim that they are performance driven but through the lens of humanity. This core value of the company was severely violated during this incident. However, Johnson had no hesitation in taking the following actions.

• Planned to close 8,000 company-owned U.S. cafes for the afternoon on May 29 so that 175,000 employees can undergo racial tolerance training.

• Take out the employee responsible for the call to the police.

• Met face to face with the two gentlemen and offered them a personal apology.

Starbucks shares rose 40 cents or 0.7 percent, to close at $59.83 on 17 April and are relatively unchanged in the week since.

Johnson knew fully well that shutting down 8000 outlets for an afternoon will have a negative impact on the revenue. There was also a threat of public boycott that too would have led to potential loss of revenue. On one hand there is a risk of losing revenue and on the other hand one of the core values of Starbucks has been violated publicly. He must decide between maximizing revenue and sending a strong message publicly on upholding of the corporate values.

professional life. Not only is it important to know what your top values are, but also the hierarchy of these values, i.e. which value takes precedence over the other, in case of conflict. For example, in the Starbucks scenario, what takes precedence – Inclusivity or Maximising Revenue. And, by the way, this is not a unique situation.

As a leader, we face similar dilemmas on a regular basis.

There are no right or wrong answers. You must decide what’s right for “you”, based on your values (and hierarchy of values).

Are you ready to lead in the 21st century?

It is a classic clash of two fundamental duties of a corporate leader – maximizing revenue vs preserving core values. It is a typical leadership dilemma, where as a leader, you must decide between one “right” and another “right”. It is further complicated by the fact that we live in an uber-connected and social-media saturated world, where everybody has the ability to express an opinion and weigh in on the debate. The impact of your decision is magnified multiple times with little recourse.

How does a 21st century leader deal with such a dilemma?

As a leader today, more than ever before, you need to have deep clarity about your values and purpose. Your core values should be derived through a great deal of reflection and internal deliberation. These are the values that you will constantly use as a compass and never compromise upon in your personal and

Lalit Gupta, Chief Marketing Officer Lalit has over 30 years of extensive business leadership experience and has led Strategy formulation, execution and change initiatives across countries in Asia Pacific and Japan.

Lalit is also a mindfulness practitioner for over 8 years and believes that regular practice of mindfulness is imperative to lead a fulfilling and meaningful life and is more required today than ever before. Lalit brings real world experience to Leadership Development and Corporate Governance and is a well-respected thought leader.

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Business Strategy: East Vs West

BY ZOÉ LIM

There’s this funny joke that goes around WhatsApp family chat groups and it pokes fun at the Western approach to problem-solving. It goes like this: “A Japanese company and a North American company decided to have a canoe race. Both teams practised long and hard to reach their peak performance before the race.

On the big day, the Japanese won by a mile. The North Americans, very discouraged and depressed, decided to investigate the reason for the crushing defeat.

The next year the Japanese won by two miles.

Humiliated, the North American management laid off the rower for poor performance, halted development of a new canoe, sold the paddles, and cancelled all capital investments in new equipment. The money saved was distributed to the senior executives as bonuses and the next year’s racing team was outsourced to India.”

East vs. West

A team made up of senior management was formed to investigate and recommend appropriate action.

Their conclusion was the Japanese had eight people rowing and one person steering, while the North American team had eight people steering and one person rowing. So, the North American management hired a consulting company and paid a large amount of money for a second opinion.

It advised that too many people were steering the boat, while not enough people were rowing.

To prevent another loss to the Japanese, the rowing team’s management structure was totally reorganised to four steering supervisors, three area steering superintendents and one assistant superintendent steering manager. They also implemented a new performance system that would give the one person rowing the boat greater incentive to work harder.

It was called the “Rowing Team Quality First Programme,” with meetings, dinners and free pens for the rower.

There was discussion of getting new paddles, canoes and other equipment, extra vacation days for practices, and bonuses.

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My immediate response to these type of chain texts is usually “lol Dad.” (Tip for Baby Boomers: “Lol” is actually a nice way of responding in text when you don’t really have anything to add to the conversation but still need to respond.) But this one was actually pretty good. It did have a point.

In Asia, we grow up thinking that the West is the land of milk and honey. When I was younger, America was THE PLACE to be (OK, part of that reason was because I was attracted to the sheer number of theme parks in one country), but now I’ve started to realise that the West – though as forward thinking as they are – do have many of their own shortcomings.

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When we talk about cross-cultural differences, it’s very easy to point out the “What.” But all those points stem from the “Why.”

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Why do Asians value hierarchy so much? Why does the West value those who question authority? Why couldn’t the North American team just do what the Japanese team did and practise?

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If there were two words to summarise the Asian culture, it would be: “Save Face.” Asia’s work culture and etiquette is based on making sure that you know what to do and exactly when to do it. This way, no one is faced with an unexpected social interaction to which they don’t have a step-by-step solution.

The reality for Asians is that, traditionally, their social interactions rely on pre-set queues rather than feeling.

Every action has a predetermined reaction. For a culture that has upheld honour and respect as its greatest values for years, it is not unexpected that modern day workplaces still prioritise structure and hierarchy above all.

Once, in an interview for a company that had a very forward-looking reputation, I was asked what I valued more, discipline or passion. I answered passion. . . .

Justifying that passionate workers who believe in what they are doing put more value into their work, resulting in a discipline that is conscious as well as creative.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t received well, in the interviewer’s eyes, discipline and order provide a sure expected outcome, passionate people however are unpredictable and constantly require stimulation to keep the fire alive.

The equatorial equation There is a theory by psychologist and professor, Philip Zimbardo, which touches on how a person’s acceptance towards change is correlational to how close they live to the equator. The closer you live to the earth’s equator – where seasons more or less remain the same (rain or shine) – the least likely you are to be accepting towards change. You stay present-oriented, focusing on instant gratification; if you do this now, you get this immediately.

Following this theory, then the farther away you live from the equator, the more open you are towards change. Through the changes in the four seasons, you plan and take into account what can and cannot be done in each season.

This makes you more future-oriented because of your familiarity with change in seasons. You understand the need to plan to sow now, in order to reap later on.

Countries like the United States, Germany, Canada, and Switzerland all live in this cycle.

Westerners are bigger risk-takers. There is no blanket procedure with social interactions. They value individualism, therefore making each situation with each person unique. In that way, they respect that everyone has individual opinions and this cultivates a better environment for discussion and democracy.

It is taken as good initiative when you ask questions and challenge the standard operating procedures (SOPs) to adopt better procedures. Conversations are straightforward and factual – backed by logic and reasoning – further supporting evidence to it being a future-oriented culture i.e. focused on the goal.

This is a stark contrast to the Asian way of using polite words in private conversations to subtly give hints to Issue 31 I September 2019 17

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dissatisfaction, to convince superiors or even peers to make another decision.

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There is a downside to this though. Ever heard the phrase, “Too many cooks spoil the soup?” If there is no clear definitive of hierarchy, independent workers get overzealous, conflicting methods arise, and chaos ensues.

Bringing it all together

Asians would rather beat around the bush in order to “save face” for themselves and the other party than to put them both in an awkward situation.

Like the North American Canoe team – typically having too many mid-management staff and too little labourers – independent thinkers can spend more time arguing about the problem, discussing it intensively, rather than fixing it. So the “How” is still important.

The balance between both cultures could be to adopt solid SOPs that are trained to staff with a focus on the “Why,” but at the same time encourage staff to innovate and propose new efficient methods to managers that can improve the way things are run. Some of the most innovative companies around the globe thrive on this method like Google, Apple and Facebook to name a few.

They provide a clear avenue for executives to communicate with directors, a bottom-up approach instead of top-down. Yet, at the same time, uphold values of hard work and order of management.

With the strong and steady rise in globalisation, we are sure to be seeing more of these Asian-Western hybrids of company culture fuse together. A move that can benefit the global economy greatly. Just remember, the next time you’re on a canoe race, plan beforehand and think of the “Why” and then enforce the “How.”

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Asians tend to train their staff with “How” (i.e. this is how things are done) and Westerners tend to take the “Why” approach (i.e. this is why we do things this way).

The “How” method provides instant gratification, and “I say, you do” reaction, with no questions asked. This may be good in the short-term, but in the long run you create a workforce that is incapable of innovating and growing your company into new heights.

The “Why” method, though more tedious, creates a more competent workforce. When staffers know the reasons behind doing a certain thing a certain way, they not only a) value the process more, but also b) troubleshoot problems independently and create new solutions without compromising the “Why” factor.

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Zoé Lim Zoé holds her lah’s, midnight mamak sessions, and nasi kukus ayam berempah close to her heart. She habitually annoys taxi drivers by continuously answering the “I’m Malaysian” to the “U ini ape?” questions.

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Why You Need Cultural Intelligence (And How To Develop It)

BY DR YUAN LIAO

IQ, EQ now CQ? As globalisation has rendered the business environment more complex, dynamic, and competitive, the ability to function effectively in different cultural contexts, called Cultural Intelligence (CQ), has never been more important for organisations.

Employees who possess a high level of cultural intelligence play an important role in bridging divides and knowledge gaps in an organisation: educating their peers about different cultures; transferring knowledge between otherwise disparate groups; helping to build interpersonal connections and smooth the interpersonal processes in a multicultural workforce.

Culturally intelligent employees also possess the potential to drive up innovation and creativity, due to their ability to integrate diverse resources and help the business make best use of the multiple perspectives that a multicultural workforce brings to the workplace.

Such abilities go beyond simply being intelligent, emotionally mature, and/or having good general social skills.

CQ is a system that consists of three interactive components – cultural knowledge, cross-cultural skills and cultural metacognition.

While these three components of CQ can be developed in different ways (see below), it´s important to note that they do not operate in isolation from each other.

Cultural Knowledge is composed of content (what) and process (how) knowledge of other cultures, such as how and when people express disagreements with each other, and how to give feedback to subordinates.

How To Develop It: You can gain cultural knowledge through multiple channels, such as newspapers, movies, books, traveling to another country, or working with or being friends with people from a different culture.

This learning experience will be optimised if you are mindful during the process, such as through carefully identifying what is unique about one culture, analysing why it is unique, and forecasting when and how you could utilise this knowledge in the future.

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interactions and analyse your own behaviour as well as your counterpart´s reactions.

Cultural Metacognition (sometimes called Cultural Mindfulness) is the knowledge of and control over one´s thinking and learning activities in the specific domain of cultural experiences and strategies.

Being culturally mindful means one is aware of the cultural context, consciously analyses the interactive situation, and plans courses of actions for different cultural contexts.

Cross-Cultural Skills consist of a broad set of skills instrumental for intercultural effectiveness, specifically: • relational skills; whether you enjoy talking and interacting with people from other cultures • tolerance of uncertainty; whether you are able to tolerate uncertainties, ambiguities and unexpected changes in an intercultural interaction • adaptability; whether you can change your behaviour according to the cultural demands • empathy; whether you can put yourself in a culturally different person’s shoes and imagine the situation from his or her perspective • perceptual acuity; whether you understand other people’s feelings and subtle meanings during intercultural interactions How To Develop it: Cross-cultural skills are best developed through experiential learning, e.g. through studying or working in a foreign culture where you can practice these skills through trial-and-error.

The development of these skills is accelerated when one is equipped with the appropriate cultural knowledge that was developed earlier. For example, if you know that in cultures such as Spain meeting someone 10 minutes after your arranged time is not considered late, you will feel more at ease when a Spanish colleague does not turn up exactly on time for a meeting.

Similarly, being adaptive in a new cultural context requires the knowledge of how to behave appropriately in that culture. Again, this learning experience will be optimised if you are mindful during intercultural 20

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How To Develop It: In order to improve cultural metacognition, you need to practice mental exercises where you are observing others´ behaviours, analysing situations and reflecting on your own behaviour.

• Pay attention to how the other party acts and reacts to you in a number of situations – this serves as the foundation for evaluating whether your behaviour has achieved your desired goal. Based on this analysis, you can then decide what action you wish to take next.

• Reflect on successful as well as unsuccessful intercultural interactions and write down what knowledge and skills you have used during those interactions. Are there any clues you missed or misread? Was there any word or behaviour you did not know how to interpret? What would you do differently in a similar context?

• Again, this learning experience will be optimised if you already have some cultural knowledge and cross-cultural skills. For example, if you can relate to your counterpart and are able to put yourself in his or her shoes, it will be easier for you to interpret his or her behaviour and plan for your next move.

Developing your CQ in these ways will go a long way to ensure that you and your organisation are able to nimbly navigate across cultural boundaries.

Dr Yuan Liao Dr Yuan Liao is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Managing People in Organisations at IESE Business School, University of Navarra.

Her research interests lie in cross-cultural management, regulatory focus, cultural intelligence, and multiculturalism. Her academic work has appeared in journals such as the Journal of International Business Studies and Journal of Business Ethics, among others. She also serves as an ad-hoc reviewer for journals such as the Journal of International Business Studies and Journal of Organisational Behaviour.

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Photo by Mohamed Nohassi on Unsplash

BY DR. THUN THAMRONGNAWASAWAT

Want to energize your team? Light a fire under them.

Literally.

Finally fed up, Mr. Lee decided he had to do something about the situation.

“We must be Motorola; or get out.”

“What’s that smell?” Hyun, an employee in the phone assembly line, mentioned without looking up to his boss who was passing by.

“What smell? Ah, the smell of something burning? That’s the fire in front of the factory.”

“Who’s burning stuff in front of our factory? Does security know?” asked Hyun, his hands were still busy with phones on the conveyor belt before him.

“The chairman.” his supervisor replied equally plainly.

“The chairman of what?” Hyun looked up.

“Of our company; Mr. Lee himself. He’s burning phones” This time Hyun stopped assembling. “What phones?”

The supervisor diverted his eyes. The shame barely disguised in his voice “The phones you’re assembling, Mr. Hyun.”

In 1995, Chairman Lee Kun Hee called for a meeting with supervisor-level employees at a factory in Gumi, South Korea. Laid unceremoniously on the concrete ground out front are almost two thousand mobile phones. With everyone assembled, Lee promptly soaked the phones with kerosene and lit them on fire, turning the brand-new products into ashes in minutes.

Lee Kun Hee— chairman of Samsung Group— made the above statement in early 1990s. It was his vision for the company’s mobile phone division; made amid prominent rivals such as Nokia, Ericsson and, evidently, Motorola.

Samsung had an apathetic global market share of less than 10%.

In the prior years, Samsung found its mobile device business struggling with products that couldn’t compete.

While Nokia was known for its product durability, Samsung’s offerings were known for their fragility and poor quality. Customers who had used the earlier Samsung models might recall what I am talking about.

Participants in my session often joked that they could drop the Nokia 3310 on the floor – having it split into pieces – and the call would remain connected. But a slip of the hand, even onto a tabletop, and they might as well say goodbye to the Samsung phone.

The straw that broke the camel’s back came when Samsung rewarded brand new phones to their employees as a New Year’s present for their hard work. Ironically, a significant number of those phones failed from the moment they came out of the box.

“We must be Motorola; or get out.” The massage was loud and clear. Either get better, or let’s go home.

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A headband with the words ‘Quality Pride’ was given to all in attendance. “I meant what I said as our vision. We are capable, and we can make our rivals know the true spirit of Samsung. I want you all to remember this day; if every ounce of energy in your heart and body is dedicated to creating quality products, this sort of incident will not happen again.” Chairman Lee made his statement and was the first to put on the headband with a look of determination “Change everything but your wife and children,” were Lee’s closing words in that eventful morning.

Leadership insights: • Sometimes reasons are not the answer. Many organization fell into the pitfall of being too dependent on dry logic of the forebrain. When reasons cannot change a person, why not try the emotion game instead? How Chairman Lee played with fire is one of the many examples of a leader who successfully brought about change. This story became legendary as Samsung institutionalized the fighting spirits in their culture. In 2005 when I was working with Nokia, we used to laugh at the Koreans for challenging the giant. Samsung took less than five years since to become the number one phone manufacturer in all categories. And Nokia took the same time to become, well…

• Habits are not easily changed. Those two thousand phones were not the only lot Chairman Lee had to burn to make his point. Products that did not meet his standards of quality continued to be obliterated in the same fashion. Analysts estimated that Samsung burned approximately 150,000 phones which amounted to 188 million U.S. Dollar. This is an important part of the lesson: Do not think that even a strong reminder will solve the problem in one shot.

Habits are formed from constant stimulations that turn desired behavior into main pathway in the brain.

So, tell them, tell them again, and tell them that you told them.

• Utilize all inputs. The brain receives inputs from various channels of our body. When speaking of communication, we normally think of what employees see and hear. But the brain processes many other information sources that can also be exploited. Fire gives birth to smoke that stimulate the nose; the skin can feel the heat; emotions can be stirred by the visual of destruction. On a more positive side, leaders can also use other methods of communications to stimulate the brain; methods such as music broadcasted through speakers, nice aroma in the meeting room, the temperature of the environment, etc.

Even fire can render positive effects. My sister, who is the Chief Marketing Officer of a listed company in Thailand, quip that “Whatever happened to the Galaxy Note 7 (banned on planes in 2016 for catching fire from

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overheating), Samsung may have escaped with the best of the bargain. They got every pilot on every plane in the world to mention their brand – for free!”. It was a joke, but thought provoking nonetheless. In fact, a mere three months later the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced that mandatory pre-boarding notifications about the Note 7 were no longer needed ‘due to the high degree of public awareness’.

Samsung was not the only company where leaders played with fire. Gordon Bethune, CEO of Continental Airlines, also made his point by burning things. He wanted to build a culture of customer-centric service, but found the company’s regulation-plagued culture to be a roadblock.

Situation after situation was reported where corporate regulations prevented good service. Their employee’s manuals were getting in the way of necessary changes.

So, one day Bethune called his employees to bring their operating policies and procedures. And he lit them on fire.

“If our customer missed a flight for some unforeseeable reason, standing before us with a growling stomach and fatigued from rushing between gates; I don’t want to heartlessly tell them ‘Sorry. But we cannot help you. It’s our company policy’.” said the CEO as the bonfire was dying.

Sheepish smiles were scattering in the gathered crowd.

“Today marks the beginning of a new culture at Continental – a culture of trust…” The CEO pointed at the pile of ashes scattering by the wind. “I am confident and believe in your ability to best judge the situation. If you think that giving our customer a meal coupon – or even a ticket for a free flight— is the right thing to do, then go ahead and do it. The company will no longer restrict your leadership potential with these rules.”

This time applause broke out with cheering and laughter.

And Continental Airlines quickly rose “from worst to first” in customer service.

Want to energize your team? How might you play with fire?

Dr. Thun Thamrongnawasawat

Dr Thun is one of the foremost experts on dissecting complex management and business models and cascading them for easy implementation by companies across different industries. His innovative B.A.S.E. model has inspired numerous organisations to transform.

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LANGUAGE, LEARNING AND LEADERSHIP: THE KEY TO UNDERSTANDING CULTURES

BY LYDIA GOMEZ AND ARUN KUMAR RAMASAMY

There is no curse in Elvish, Entish, or the tongues of men for this treachery.

– Treebeard, after witnessing the destruction of the forest in JRR Tolkien’s The Two Towers

Languages are complex codes, but they are extremely fascinating for the same reason.

A set of words, translated into different languages can actually hold different meanings – or sometimes, may have no meaning at all.

There are thousands of languages – documented and undocumented – spoken across the world today.

The average person will not be able to master all of them, but throughout our lives, we’d be exposed to people from various cultures who speak a variety of languages.

In a time of globalisation, the need to communicate accurately and connect with diverse groups of people has become crucial.

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Hence, the ability to grasp different languages becomes key to promoting social cohesion, deeper and broader understanding of cultures and, eventually, better decision making.

cognitive and emotional benefits. It can happen in two ways:

COGNITIVE AND EMOTIONAL BENEFITS

The learning of languages becomes a window into another culture.

This is promising because now the learner is able to understand the uniqueness of another culture.

An interesting piece published on the World Economic Forum website – written by Amy Thompson, an associate professor of applied linguistics from the University of South Florida – asserts that a “bilingual brain becomes better at filtering out distractions”, and that “learning multiple languages improves creativity”.

Thompson says that learning multiple languages can have

1. It allows people to see and learn new ways of doing things; this is called ‘cultural competence’.

A curious learner of language will then have the opportunity to dive deep into the history, cultural evolution and the origins of the language.

Learning a new language can lead you to wider understanding of context and nuances unique to a specific culture.

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2.

Learning a new language allows a person to be more at ease in unfamiliar situations. It increases a person’s ‘tolerance to ambiguity’.

Interestingly, we live in a VUCA world; volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. Thompson says that “someone with a high tolerance of ambiguity finds unfamiliar situations exciting, rather than frightening.”

One might say that this has a direct link to how well we innovate, invent, and manage disruption that happens in the various aspects of our lives – professional, academic and even social spaces.

There’s less anxiety associated with change – and we know that change is the only constant.

Today, we live in a borderless digital time and age.

Our exposure to different cultures, languages, styles and even stereotypes is higher, but at the same time, there’s also a greater opportunity to understand new cultures through the learning of languages.

We’re now able to easily create – and even curate – these lessons. There’s no end to the learning journey, and the essence of learning is the ability to communicate effectively.

We can now share the richness of our individual cultures with one another by sharing the contextual knowledge within our languages.

HOW CAN THIS LEARNING HAPPEN? Learning starts from an early age, and schools make the perfect environment to learn languages.

Traditional classroom learning, or perhaps social learning is never an outdated way to learn. We learn

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best in a social environment, with a teacher physically present and with friends to teach and learn from.

Social learning helps us overcome insecurities especially when it comes to learning languages, mainly because of the trust that exists among a group of friends.

It feels easier to make mistakes and not judged for it. Teased, for sure, but it remains a relatively safe space to learn.

There’s an undeniable level of acceptance and understanding that we can achieve when we speak to someone in their language.

It shows we’ve made the effort to want to learn their language and culture; it shows a degree of respect.

Language holds the key to truly understanding a person, people and their respective cultures.

Technology has come a long way since the days of overhead projectors.

Today, we have tools like Google Classroom, Apple Education or Microsoft Education.

There’s learning through virtual reality, augmented reality, artificial intelligence, and so much more.

Many organisations, colleges and universities use it, and there are plenty of these systems in the market offering a variety of features (gamification, etc).

It would be great to see a scaled down version of an LMS for schools, designed according to our cultural relevance and needs, incorporating gamification features, real time translations, and built-in search tools on the system.

Main goals of an LMS: • Centralised location for all learning content Reduces loss of data or course materials, etc.

• Ability to track learners’ progress From quizzes to certificates, the entire learning journey can be tracked.

• Reduced time and cost for learning Learning isn’t restricted to classrooms and doesn’t require a physical teacher/trainer. It’s therefore more time- and costefficient.

These tools bring an incredible amount of learning power into the classroom. It is now just a matter of building apps to teach something.

• Social learning that enables better communication

Integrated social features enable sharing of resources, and knowledge helps in establishing work culture.

In the corporate setting, organisations invest in Learning Management Systems (LMS) to enable employees to learn at their own pace, and in their own space.

• Effective learning through multimedia tools Videos, podcasts, short notes and quizzes make learning interactive and fun.

WHAT IS A LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEM?

Imagine this: an educator in a classroom, teaching students how phrases that show the concept of “respect” can differ from one language to another.

The LMS essentially helps manage learning right from signing up for a course, taking the quizzes, completing the course and getting the certificates.

On screen, students see several cartoon characters depicting the

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concept of respect in their own languages, and a student can touch the phrase on the screen to hear how it sounds or read the meaning behind the words.

They can make sense of the structure of the sentence or understand the history behind the concept of respect in a certain culture.

The social learning environment enables everyone to test, learn and further understand what they had just learnt.

Here’s a thought; we have a healthy growing community of start-ups in Malaysia today constantly looking to figure out the next disruptive technology or product.

It would be great to see start-ups aiming to disrupt learning in schools and coming up with great ideas and products to help in the learning of different languages.

Malaysia has great incubation programmes for start-ups, even at the ideation stage.

Think of something that is a longterm solution, because if you merely solve the problem at hand, you solve the present, but when you introduce a solution, you solve the future.

EMBRACING MALAYSIA’S LINGUISTIC ‘ROJAK’ Most of us in Malaysia speak at least two languages, and many of us can – in some way – attest to the power of conversing in multiple languages.

That’s also why Malaysia is particularly attractive. We are rich in the various types of languages we speak as a collective nation as a result of multiculturalism, and we’re unified through a national language, which is Bahasa Malaysia.

By now, many of us are familiar with at least some words, phrases, exclamations used in languages we

speak here in our country, and we adopt them as our own.

We are not just acknowledging them – we are in fact celebrating the existence of the many languages and cultures in this country by having it permeate our vocabularies. That, in itself, is a beautiful thing.

And this has happened even without the need to formalise the learning of each other’s languages in schools as we grow up.

Now, when a child is exposed to the learning of different languages from an early age, he or she will be able to – for example – understand that statements and sentences can have both implied and literal meanings BUILDING LEADERS THROUGH LANGUAGE In Leaderonomics, our research and development arm studies the making of a leader from childhood: 1. Intelligence development: Love of learning [0–12] • Exposure to languages at this age allows a child to recognise and contextualise a language and its culture.

• Introducing a new language allows the child to be in a position to ask the meaning of words they don’t understand and in the process, be exposed to different processes of thinking and historical contexts.

2. Self-awareness and identity formation [Teenage years] • An individual’s identity is formed during these years.

• A young person uses the early exposure to language in the process shape his or her personality and communication style.

3. Connecting the dots [mid-30s to over 50] • An individual is likely in a decision-making position during

this period, and may have to make judgement calls that would affect a large group of people.

• Understanding as many cultures and languages as possible can help a person rationalise a decision in today’s global age to benefit everyone, and communicate it in the most effective manner.

IS IT TOO LATE TO LEARN? It’s never too late to learn. In fact, we can agree that learning is something we do for as long as we are alive. It is the same with learning a language.

Our culture is shaped by our social environment. Our social environment is made of people we surround ourselves with and these people are the ones whom we can relate to the best.

Interestingly, we relate the best to people we can understand the most, and that has a lot to do with language – spoken, written or nonverbal.

And while culture is probably not a choice, language can be learnt, and that will ultimately impact our culture.

So let’s make it an aim to learn a new language today. Give it a try and discover a fresh new perspective!

Lydia Gomez Lydia is the managing editor of Leaderonomics.

She enjoys reading up about the origin of languages and words, and its connection to various cultures.

Arun Kumar Ramasamy Arun is the digital initiatives lead at Leaderonomics. He believes that we should never settle for today and never quit from tomorrow, and therefore aims to inspire as many as possible to pursue their purpose, passion and dreams.

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Naked Autocrats of the 21st Century

BY RAJEEV PESHAWARIA Photo by rawpixel.com from Pexels

For far too long, we’ve been confusing leadership with followership and with pleasing people. The confusion begins early and goes on through all stages of life.

• Parents love kids that “listen to them” and obey.

• School teachers reward kids that follow their instructions most closely. They don’t like kids that ask too many unnecessary questions that challenge current thinking. A leader in class is one that replicates the taught text and theory as closely as possible in tests and examinations.

• When asked to describe a good leader, most employees paint a

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picture of someone that gives people what they want, which is not always what they need. Most bosses therefore quickly learn to please – particularly if their leadership behaviour is measured through employee engagement surveys.

• Even in boardrooms when a CEO presents an audacious vision and strategy to create something new, the first question the board asks is – How many have done this before, and what’s the best practice here?

Whichever way you look at it, leadership is confused with pleasing and following.

It might be time to recognise that:

1. to create positive change, one needs to use a top-down, and even somewhat autocratic style of leadership rather than a democratic, all-inclusive and pleasing style, and 2. best practice replication and copying past successful behaviours of others is followership, not leadership.

Sounds terrible and unbelievable?

Let me explain…

To set the records straight, I’ve been conducting an experiment in 27 countries. I ask people what these leaders had in common, and from 11 behaviours, to choose the three biggest commonalities.

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What do these famous leaders have in common: • • • • • • • •

Mahatma Gandhi Jack Ma Aung San Suu Kyi Steve Jobs Abraham Lincoln Lee Kuan Yew Soichiro Honda Nelson Mandela

Five of the 11 behaviours are consensus building, all-inclusive and democratic leadership behaviours, five are top-down (my way or the highway) behaviours, and one is a blend of both.

Leadership Attributes: Choose Top 3 Commonalities:

Top-Down / Bold Leadership: 1. Dare to be different and willing to challenge general opinion 2. Have long lasting energy to see their plans through without giving up amidst challenges 3. Be bold risk-takers that pursue unpopular or unconventional ideas to break new ground 4. Remain firm in their course of action despite setback and resistance 5. Envision audacious ideas that don’t tet exist to create a better world

Consensus Builing / Democratic Leadership: 1. Use a democratic and collaborative style of leadership

in achieving their vision 2. Take incremental steps to cautiously implement their vision 3. Listen to find middle ground in the face of opposing view points to preserve harmony 4. Rely on counsensus and support from others to make a differencce 5. Enlist everyone’s approval and acceptance to an idea before moving ahead

A mix of both: Listen to the views of others but make their own decisions of what is right Guess which ones are showing up as the top three commonalities in country after country in our experiment? Top-down! .

Nelson Mandela, Steve Jobs, Mahatma Gandhi, Jack Ma, Abraham Lincoln, Lee Kuan Yew, Aung San Suu Kyi and Soichiro Honda.

In your opinion, what do they have in common? From the list, please select 3 most important statements only Remained firm in their course of action despite setback and resistance

55%

Dared to be different and challenged general opinion

53%

Had long lasting energy to see their plans through without giving up amidst challenges

49%

Were bold risk-takers that pursued unpopular or unconventional ideas to break new ground

41%

Envisioned audacious ideas that didn’t yet exist to create a better world

36%

Used a democratic and collaborative style of leadership in achieving their vision

20%

Listened to the views of others but made their own decisions of what is right

19%

Took incremental steps to cautiously implement their vision

9%

Listened to find middle ground in the face of opposing viewpoints to preserve harmony

8%

Relied on consensus and support from others to make a difference Enlisted everyone’s approval and acceptance to an idea before moving ahead

6% 4%

Top-Down / Bold Attributes Consensus Building Attributes

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Next, I ask respondents to indicate their level of agreement with the statement: In today’s age of breakneck speed, 24/7 connectivity and total transparency, a significant

amount of top-down leadership is required to achieve breakthrough results; over 70% agree or strongly agree!

Agreement level – When it comes to achieving breakthrough success for the organisation, a significant amount of top down leadership is required.

72% AGREE OR STRONGLY AGREE

5%

8%

15%

51% 1 - Strongly disagree

What this means is that while we claim to love pleasers, in fact we’ve always admired top-down, autocratic leadership. Our data is suggesting that Steve Jobs is perhaps not an anomaly – he may be the rule rather than the exception.

So where does this leave us? Does this mean we now have a 007 licence to kill, and can simply shoot anyone that doesn’t agree with us? No. What it does mean is that today’s age of uber-connectivity is empowering ordinary people like never before, so we cannot use force or position anymore. We need to earn the right to use top-down leadership.

• Why did people listen to Nelson Mandela even though he proposed exactly the opposite of what his people wanted? Most South Africans wanted an eye for an eye, and were thirsty for blood, but upon release from prison, Mandela painted a picture of forgiveness and love.

• Why did the people of Singapore listen to and worship Lee Kuan Yew despite his autocratic style of leadership?

• Why did millions follow Gandhi even though he differed significantly from the popular notion of fighting the British with guns and ammunition?

Because, through their actions, they had each earned the right to 28

Issue 31 I September 2019

2 - Disagree

21% 3 - Neither agree of disagree

use top-down leadership. Deep down, their people trusted them enough to listen to them despite their autocratic behaviour. And none of them used excessive force or position power to enforce their will on people. In fact, Gandhi and Mandela never held positions of power for much of their lives.

So the question now is, how can the right to use top-down autocratic leadership be earned in an era where everyone is free and empowered in today’s 24/7 wired society, where position power is woefully inadequate, and where leaders stand naked in today’s age of total transparency?

To answer the question, we must first understand what leadership really is. We must stop equating it with a position or title, and with following or pleasing. Leadership does not begin with winning an election or with being appointed to a powerful position. It is not about replicating best practices either.

What were Mandela, Gandhi and Lee Kuan Yew trying to do? They were trying to create a better future for their people. That is leadership, and it begins when one closes his eyes and vividly imagines and visualises

4 - Agree

5 - Strongly Agree

the better future he wants to create for his people.

Of course, there is a huge problem with thinking about life and leadership in this way. Why? Because the moment you visualise a picture of a better future, you are ahead of everyone else, and your constant companion from then on, is resistance, resistance and more resistance. Pleasing would require you to give up on your dream and do what people say, but the key to great leadership is to not give up in the face of such resistance and keep going. So the main ingredient of leadership is not a competency, skill or personality trait, it is to stay the course.

Leadership Energy cannot be learned in business school classrooms through best practice case studies and theoretical models.

It must be self-discovered by getting clear about two things – one’s values and purpose.

To uncover limitless energy, one must first become totally clear regarding the set of values that define his identity. Leadership Energy – the reason to act – is produced when one’s values intersect with day-to-day life. One must recognise these intersections and convert the energy into fearless purpose.

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This is what Mahatma Gandhi did.

He first became crystal clear about his values, which were humility, truth, equality and non-violence.

He decided at a very early age that come what may, he would never compromise them. As he became deeply aware of his values, he began to recognise the anger he felt when he saw how people of colour were treated in South Africa, and how Indians were being treated in their own country. Ultimately, the anger became so immense that he converted it into a purpose – that of obtaining independence for India in a non-violent way.

“For this purpose, I am prepared to die, but there is no purpose for which I am prepared to kill” – he would often say.

Since his purpose was rooted in a set of deeply held values, he lost fear,

and kept going despite increasing resistance and hardship.

While he was autocratic about his values and purpose, he remained humble, compassionate and respectful with people. And that is the key to earn the right to use top-down leadership – to be autocratic about values and purpose while still being compassionate and humble with people. It is fully possible to be compassionate and humble while completely disagreeing at the same time.

Lee Kuan Yew said it best: If there is a good reason why it is ‘No,’ then it should remain ‘No,’ but the man must be told politely. You lose nothing by being polite.

This paradoxical duality (of autocracy and humility) is the unique quality that distinguishes the Gandhis, Mandelas and Lee Kuan

Yews of the world from ruthless dictators like Stalin, Hitler and Idi Amin.

In summary: 1. In the era of breakneck speed, top-down autocratic leadership is needed to create a better future 2. Thanks to 24/7 connectivity, ordinary people are more empowered than ever before, and leaders forever exposed and naked.

3. Leaders must therefore earn the right to use top down leadership by living their values consistently every day, relentlessly pursuing a values based purpose while still being humble and compassionate at the same time.

Rajeev Peshawaria CEO of the Iclif Leadership and Governance Centre, author of the Wall Street Journal and Amazon best seller Open Source Leadership (McGraw Hill 2017), Too Many Bosses, Too Few Leaders (Simon & Schuster 2011), co-author of Be the Change (McGraw Hill 2014) and a regular writer for Forbes, Rajeev is an out-of-the-box thought leader on leadership, management and corporate governance. He has extensive global experience in leadership and organizational consulting, with a particular focus on uncovering personal and organizational “leadership energy.”

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To Be A Better Leader, Listen with ‘Ting’

BY AVA DIAMOND

30

Issue 31 I September 2019

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When we are in a conversation with another person, what are most of us generally doing while they are talking?

If we were honest, we would have to admit that we’re usually thinking of how we will respond. There are very few of us who are fully engaged and deeply listening to the other person’s message.

The people we lead want to know that we care about them as individuals. They want to know that they matter.

They want to know that we are listening to them.

That means listening intently. That means being fully present with what they are saying. That means getting behind their eyes and trying to see the world from their perspective.

The listening spirit

Deeply listening

The Chinese character for listen, ‘ting’, captures this spirit of listening.

I don’t know about you, but this is not the way I was brought up to listen. I’m from New York. Where I grew up, people listen and talk at the same time. So, if you began a sentence, and I was excited by what you said, I’d jump right into the middle of your sentence with my addition or response. And, you’d feel free to do the same. We’d both be talking and listening and interrupting all at the same time. I did not learn to listen with ting until much later in my life.

The upper left part of the symbol stands for ear. We use our ear to hear the words the speaker is saying. The lower left hand part of the symbol is for “king” or “dominant one”, indicating that hearing the words through our ear is the most important part of the listening process.

In the upper right hand part of the symbol, we see mind.

Our minds help us understand the words the speaker is saying and the message they contain. Below that is eye.

Our eyes allow us to see any non-verbal messages the speaker might be sending.

In the bottom right hand side is heart, and above that, the almost horizontal line translates to “one” or “to become of one”. This tells us that if we listen in this way, with our ears, mind, eyes, and heart, we can become of one heart.

Listening with ting enables us to have a much higher quality of conversation and communication. We are engaged in what the other person is telling us. We are deeply listening for their meaning. We bring our hearts, minds, ears, and eyes into the exchange. And we get a much better result.

Ava Diamond Ava Diamond is an international business and motivational speaker who brings current and relevant insights to increase individual and organisational performance through her practical information and high-energy delivery.

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Happy Malaysia Day 16 September 2019

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