Learning From Leaders In Asia

More than ever, the world needs strong, effective and ethical leadership. Asia is the world’s fastest growing region. Its success in the 21st century will depend largely on the quality of its leaders. Learning from Leaders in Asia captures the rich experiences of leaders operating in the region, identifies the key elements of leadership and offers practical advice on how to make a lasting impact. An important and timely book for all who want to seize the moment. Anson Chan, Former Chief Secretary for Administration, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Learning from Leaders in Asia provides a solid understanding of the challenges faced by leaders in Asia today and tomorrow. It provides real life insights by leaders across various disciplines in overcoming challenges such as talent acquisition and retention, China strategies and globalization to name but a few. An invaluable read. Chen Shaopeng, President, Lenovo Emerging Market Group, Senior Vice President, Lenovo Group Learning from Leaders in Asia is a must-read for any business person in the world who wants to gain perspectives from Asia-based multinationals. It offers valuable insights as Asia’s importance rises. William Fung, Group Managing Director, Li & Fung Ltd. Learning from Leaders in Asia presents a unique opportunity for readers to learn from the insights of the business executives who are part of one of the leading EMBA programs in the world. Having interacted with these talented men and women I can say with full confi dence that they truly understand the issues of building and running a global business. That makes this book well worth reading and I highly recommend it. Jim Thompson, Chairman, Crown Worldwide Holdings Ltd. Learning from Leaders in Asia cuts through the data and popular opinions to offer an on-the-ground view of the region’s latest developments. Combining the acute perceptions and broad sweep of Leadership Experiences in Asia, this book examines the complex issues and offers fundamental insights into the business cultures of a host of countries. In lucid terms, it spells out the unprecedented opportunities and challenges facing companies wanting to devise a strategy that effectively adapts to the Asian reality. Marjorie Yang, Chair, Esquel Group This extraordinary book is the sequel to Leadership Experiences in Asia, Dr. DeKrey’s first effort to describe the functioning of leadership in the Asian contexts. There is no-one with better credentials for doing this than DeKrey, an American who has lived and worked in Hong Kong for more than two decades and who has experienced the very best examples of leadership both in the West as well as in Asia. There is no one whose leadership skills cannot be enhanced by the principles and illustrations laid out in this book. David M. Messick, Morris and Alice Kaplan Professor Emeritus of Ethics and Decision in Management, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University This timely and highly relevant book tackles the critical issues that keep general managers awake at night as they strive to build a sustainable and profitable business in Asia and, in particular, China. The triple challenges of building talent, encouraging breakthrough innovation and ensuring strong governance may be global, but they face added urgency and complexity in Asia given the very high expectations for growth and unique cultural challenges. The blend of theory, strategy and highly practical experience in this book provides invaluable advice for leaders who are determined to build a legacy in Asia. Ron McEachern, President, PepsiCo Asia

An in-depth look at how leaders in Asia apply the Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership in their organizations Kouzes and Posner's Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership is the most trusted and proven leadership paradigm in the business world. Making Extraordinary Things Happen in Asia focuses on the unique ways leaders in Asia have applied the Five Practices and documents their success with it. Using actual case studies and first-person experiences, the book examines the Five Practices framework, shows how the behaviors of individual leaders make a difference, and reveals what leadership in Asia looks like on a daily basis. Each of the Five Practices is supported with five or six case studies illustrating what the Practice looks like on a behavioral level. After examining the Five Practices, the book then reveals what actions would-be and current leaders in Asia can do to improve their leadership skills and effectiveness. Customizes the legendary Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership framework specifically for Asian leaders, and a companion to The Leadership Challenge Features real case studies that show the Practices in action on a daily basis From leadership gurus James Kouzes and Barry Posner, together with one of Asia's top leadership experts, Steve DeKrey For leaders and aspiring leaders of Asian organizations and business, Making Extraordinary Things Happen in Asia is an invaluable guide to long-term leadership success.

AN INSIDE LOOK AT THE STRATEGIES USED TO BUILD LEADERSHIP IN ASIA Bestselling author of Results-Based Leadership In Leadership in Asia, BusinessWeek's number one Management Educator, Dave Ulrich, brings together a powerhouse team of contributors to provide a concise guidebook to cutting-edge trends in leadership at emerging Pacific Rim companies. The region's top business and academic experts--Gerald Chan of UBS Singapore, Girija Pande of Tata Consultancy Services, and Arthur Yeung from the China Europe International Business School, among others--guide you through the critical, and often paradoxical, challenges of developing human capital into effective leaders of companies in Asia. Individually written chapters are brought to life by a wealth of revealing examples from each author’s own experiences, as well as illustrative charts and graphs that offer a clear picture of how these strategies work in the real world. Throughout Leadership in Asia, the experts break down in vivid and thorough detail the eight Asian Leadership Paradoxes as well as other vital topics. For the inside track on how Asia's economic force will step into the future, you need Leadership in Asia. The impact of Asian businesses has grown exponentially in the last decade. A variety of challenges still lie ahead for the seven countries of India, Japan, Malaysia, China, South Korea, Singapore, and the Philippines as they each undergo economic, social, technological, and demographic changes. One of these challenges in particular, the need to develop quality leadership, has emerged at the forefront. In Leadership in Asia, human resources master David Ulrich puts you inside the heads of Asia's top business executives, academics, and consultants to learn their strategies for building successful leadership and human capital in the region. The result is a potent mix of theory, research, and real-world practices that will prepare you to tackle the critical issues and paradoxes in the Asian business arena. Learn how Unilever Foodsolutions Asia gives its workers clearly defi ned future goals. See what Microsoft Singapore is doing to develop sustainable talent. Each contributor's business ideas share a common component for succeeding in the Asian environment. Through firsthand guidance from these leaders on the frontlines of human capital and leadership development, Leadership in Asia shows you how to: Respect and work within family-centric enterprises while creating professional organizations Recognize bureaucratic, hierarchical, and political complexity while creating flexible, agile, and simple organizations Maintain grace, courtesy, and an Asian style while taking risks and demanding strong performance Tomorrow's leaders will respond more rapidly to change and will have better responses to paradoxes. Leadership in Asia presents a survey of how these future leaders are being developed in one of the world’s most important sectors. DAVE ULRICH is a professor of business at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business and cofounder of The RBL Group, a consulting firm. Ulrich studies how organizations build capabilities of speed, learning, collaborating, accountability, talent, and leadership through leveraging human resources. He has been ranked the most influential person in human resources by HR Magazine and the number one Management Educator and Guru by BusinessWeek. He also is listed as one of the "world's top five" business coaches by Forbes magazine. He lives in Alpine, Utah.

How do leaders lead for high performance in Asia, the fastest growing region in the world? What are the new leadership influential processes and skillsets needed to engage the organizational members in creative and meaningful ways? In this book, readers will find strategic insights and tips derived from cutting-edge studies on specific leadership and management issues in Asia. Using a range of methodologies from in-depth interviews, field surveys, and computer simulation, the studies include the following topics: Strategies to foster citizenship and pro-social behaviors in high-performing firms; the roles of culture-specific values such as paternalism and collectivism, the construction of leader identity, the effects of leadership on team satisfaction, the development of female leaders, and key lessons in strategic leadership development. Featuring studies conducted in China, Indonesia, Singapore, and Australia, this book will equip readers with a set of strategic and actionable tools for tackling the leadership challenges in Asia. Further, each chapter includes a ‘Managerial Implications’ section, in which subject experts share evidence-based practical and contextual recommendations.

This book casts a refreshingly new light on current literature on school leadership, which has predominantly been viewed through Western lenses. Accordingly, key concepts and theories on leadership and school leadership have primarily been generated from thinking and research in the Western sphere. This is problematic, considering the fact that the leadership concept or construct, and its practices, are significantly influenced and shaped by contexts, and even situations. However, there are various contextual conditions and forces that can separately or collectively affect how school leadership is understood and practiced, including social, cultural, historical, geographical, economic and political conditions. In response, the book seeks to provide readers a better awareness of how the leadership construct or phenomenon is shaped by the varying contexts constantly affecting school leadership, while specifically focusing on the Asia Pacific region. In turn, it highlights various Asia Pacific contexts that shape school leadership, so as to ‘speak back’ to existing theories on school leadership.

This is truly a unique book on leadership in Asia: lessons from experiences and voices from the field. It offers valuable experiencebased lessons and insights for global leaders who aspire to make a difference and an impact in the global arena.—Katherine Xin, Editor-in-Chief, Harvard Business Review (China), Professor of Leadership and Organizational Behavior, IMD For a born-and-bred American, this wonderful new book is all about nuances—the subtle differences that enrich the practice of leadership in Asia. The many stories throughout this book provide the rich texture of leadership in Asia, simultaneously revealing the commonalities of leadership around the world and the beautiful adjustments we all must make to be effective in our own locales.—J. Keith Murnighan, Harold H. Hines Jr., Distinguished Professor of Management and Organization, Department of Management and Organizations, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University I can think of nothing more important to business leaders of today and tomorrow than the lessons of leadership presented in this book. Learning how to lead an organization in the most dynamic region of the world—Asia—from those who have mastered the art, is invaluable. This is highly recommended reading.—Jim Thompson, Chairman, Crown Worldwide Group Leadership is perhaps the greatest challenge of any business career. But how should a leader behave in the Asian cultural context? How to navigate differing behavioral norms or deal with the ethical issues that can arise? These are some of the themes of Leadership Experiences in Asia. In its pages, business leaders from East and West share their experiences of Asia’s unique leadership challenge. Whether you are a seasoned Asian business leader or on your first assignment to Asia, I can think of no better insight into thepractical issues of leadership in the Asian context.—Lawrence T. Wong, Former CEO, Hong Kong Jockey Club There are countless books that simply expound a single theory or narrow approach to the leadership process. This path-breaking collection, in contrast, provides a rich and diverse set of crucial experiences by major leaders—as well as insightful analyses by leading scholars with expertise on this vitally important topic. The chapters are not only compelling in their own right as gripping stories, but also contain a great deal of more general practical advice and wisdom. This book will no doubt become a vital resource and standard reference for practitioners who hope to navigate effectively in Asian markets.—Roderick M. Kramer, William R. Kimball Professor of Organizational Behavior, Stanford Graduate School of Business

This book examines the vital nature of the subject of leadership in Asia and looks, in particular, at the processes and practices within the Asia Pacific region. It describes how leadership processes differ across various regions and teaches managers how to better employ these processes in order to improve the success of their organisations. The work moves beyond looking only at Western ideas and explores further leadership perspectives based on differing cultural foundations. It considers the influences of Confucianism, Daoism, Mohism and Legalism and also reflects the character of different leadership styles, such as paternalistic, benevolent transactional and transformational styles, as well as authentic and entrepreneurial approaches. Throughout the text, a wide range of international contributors adopt an array of leadership and other theories, cases, sectors and methods to discuss leadership in Asia. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Asia Pacific Business Review.