Calypso Consulting

Unique Leadership Competencies in China
(Originally published in China Business Forum, December 2008)
By
 
Frank T. Gallo, Ph.D.
 
 
            Every day, a new Western leader arrives in China ready to make a big difference.  Armed with all he or she has learned in their home country about leading organizations and the people in them, the leader comes to China with the best of intentions.  What these well-meaning leaders will soon learn however is that it is simply naïve to think that Western leadership practices will automatically work in China.  In fact, some of them will work fine as is.  Some practices will need to be modified.  And some will actually have to be sent to the scrap heap.  This article looks at the cultural foundations of both Western and Chinese leadership and then identifies a group of unique leadership competencies that proven Chinese leaders have used successfully.
 
Western Leadership Competencies
            If one examines any Western leadership book that describes leadership competencies, you will most likely find such competencies as honesty, strategic thinking, visionary thinking, customer service focus, conceptual thinking and more.  Most Chinese companies would also cite these competencies as being important for Chinese leaders. But in China there are others that are specific to China.  None of these unique Chinese leadership competencies are likely to be found in a typical Western list of leadership competencies.
 
Unique Chinese Leadership Competencies
            While there are many of these unique competencies required for successful Chinese business leadership, six of them will be discussed in this article.  These are wu , zhong yong, patriotism, integrating Western best practice with Chinese wisdom, holistic thinking and indirectness.
            Wu represents a kind of very deep and sudden insight that is not often referred to in Western thinking.  While Western leaders are all taught to be deep thinkers, it is a kind of intellectual depth that is sought after; not the kind of multi-sensory insight that the Chinese word implies.  While most Western leaders will say that they use this kind of thinking, many Chinese leaders insist that it would be very difficult for a Westerner to think this way; perhaps it is impossible.  Westerners tend to think in a linear way.  Wu requires holistic thinking.  (More about this later.)
            Zhong yong is also unique to China.  While it literally translates to English as “in the middle,” the Chinese meaning of not going to extremes is very important in China but just the opposite in the West.  Western leaders are taught to take an extreme position and defend it.  The Chinese, by following the Confucian discipline of zhong yong, are trying to get it “just right.” This is certainly a cause of some conflict between Westerners and Chinese in business settings.  The Westerner accuses the Chinese of being too vague and the Chinese accuses the Westerner of being too extreme and not considering all sides of the issue.
            Patriotism is another leadership competency that is important in China but rarely mentioned in Western executive position descriptions.  In China, the Chinese leader has an obligation not only to the company to make a profit, but also to China to develop a successful company that reflects positively on the Chinese society.  Job descriptions in China (especially for leadership positions) often require a dedication to the success of China or to the Communist Party.  While all Western countries would support a patriotic business leader, it is rarely, if ever, a job requirement or a listed competency.
            Integrating Western best practices with Chinese wisdom is one of the most important differences that lead to business leadership success in Chinese companies.  New Western leaders in China are rarely able to do this well.  Successful Chinese leaders in Western companies cite this as critical for success.  Many Western leadership best practices are imported to China because they were proven in the West.  But they often fail in China unless they are modified in some way.  An example of this is “empowerment.”  This Western concept is always mentioned in Western leadership books.  Actually, it works very well in a Western environment where employees are looking for more independence from their bosses and “ownership” of their jobs.  In China however, a society founded on Confucianism, where hierarchy is advocated and roles are clearly defined, empowerment needs some explanation before it can be applied effectively.  The popular Confucianist saying,  “king is king, minister is minister, father is father and son is son” (jun jun; chen, chen; fu fu; zi zi) is very relevant here.  The idea is that everyone should have his or her proper role for society to have order.  When you “empower” someone in a company, you are disrupting that order.  Before you can do so successfully, you need to explain why empowerment works and why it will make the company more effective in the long run.  If it is simply imposed, as is the case when many Western leaders are assigned to a company in China, the very employees who are supposed to be enriched in their jobs by this practice often meet it with suspicion and confusion.
            Holistic thinking is also common in China but very rare in Westerners.  People from the West, especially Europeans, tend to think in a linear fashion.  This is based on the scientific decision-making that came about in the 19th century by certain philosophers who proposed that everything had a root cause and then a corresponding effect.  Chinese tend to think differently.  Chinese generally see the entire issue as a whole and not simply as a series of distinct parts.  This kind of thinking is often circular, which can be very frustrating to Westerners who prefer to have a beginning, middle and end to every discussion.  Chinese will often go back to the beginning to re-integrate things now that more is known.  Westerners believe that is wasting time because it was already discussed.  This is another common reason for disagreements in understanding between Western and Chinese negotiators.
            Finally, the concept of indirectness is unique to Chinese leadership success.  Despite what many Westerners say about Chinese leaders, this competency does not mean that the Chinese leader should always be indirect.  Rather, it means that the good Chinese leader knows when to be direct and when it is better to be indirect.  For example, in cases of face (mianzi), it is often better to be indirect to protect the other person’s dignity.  Westerners are taught to be direct in any situation, regardless of face issues.  This is another cause for misunderstanding between East and West.  The Westerner, in their desire to be honest and direct, is often accused by the Chinese of being too aggressive and uncaring because they make statements publicly that may harm another person’s feelings and cause them to lose face.  Chinese, on the other hand, are often accused by Westerners of being too evasive and not getting to the point at hand because they are too concerned with courtesy over truth.  One such example was in a large American firm where the Chinese employee asked his Western boss for a promotion.  The Western boss was surprised by the request because he had not considered this employee for such a promotion.  In his desire to be honest he said, “I had not thought of promoting you before, but I will consider it.”  After a week or so, the Western boss went back to the employee and said, “I have decided to offer you the promotion you requested.”  At this point however, it was already too late.  At the first meeting, when the boss said he had not considered promoting this person, the employee lost face.  He decided at that point that he could no longer work with this boss and eventually quit.  The Chinese way to handle this situation would have been different.  When the employee came to the boss and asked for a promotion, even if the boss thought it was a bad idea, the boss would have been careful to let the employee know how valued he was and how he would do what he could to help.  He need not make an immediate commitment, but he did need to give the employee the “face” he required.
 
            These six unique Chinese leadership competencies: wu, zhong yong, patriotism, integrating Western best practices with Chinese wisdom, holistic thinking and indirectness; are all considered necessary for leadership success in China.  Any leader, be they Chinese or Western, should consider these as they work to be successful in leading Chinese employees.