The Way of the Leader: 25 Ideas for Leading Wisely in the Digital Age

by BH Tan Narrated by David Shih

Overview

In the history of human progress, the most fruitful developments take place at the intersection of different lines of thoughts. The timeless topic of leadership has for centuries always been dominated by the ideas and philosophies of Western thinkers, business executives, and academics. For far too long, the voice from the East has been deafeningly silent. As Asia rises in the global economy, a question that begs an answer is, "What is the leadership tradition of the East and how will it play out globally?"



Leadership consultant BH Tan has written an outstanding exposition of the Asian perspective on leadership. He has drawn upon his deep appreciation of Daoist principles to propose a complementary approach to the Western-centric leadership mindset.



A lifelong student of Eastern and Western thinking and leadership, he challenges some of our most cherished truths and perspectives. "Either-or" is out. The "both-and" philosophy will lead us to a better future in this complex, chaotic, yet interconnected world. This is the essence of leadership paradoxes. When we integrate both streams of thinking, we transcend contradictions and tap into greater possibilities for progress and creativity. This can only help us lead more wisely and courageously.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

"An outstanding exposition of the Asian perspective on leadership. Leaders in the East and West will benefit from BH Tan’s engaging book!” — Thinkers 50 #1 Executive Coach and the only two-time #1 Leadership Thinker in the world

“BH Tan has done it again. The Way of the Leader beautifully combines modern management thinking with ancient Eastern wisdom. Each of the 25 chapters is fabulously written, easy to read, with plenty of relatable examples to help any leader to grow. My own leadership journey is already greatly enhanced, thanks to this book!" —Brian O. Underhill, PhD, PCC Founder & CEO, CoachSource, LLC

“Leadership writing has always been dominated by the ideas and thinking of Western business executives, academics and pundits. It is so refreshing to discover a book from Asia that gives us pause to challenge some of our most cherished truths and perspectives. As BH Tan puts it so powerfully, ‘either-or’ is out. The ‘both-and’ philosophy has far reaching consequences that can lead us to a better future.” — Andrew Stanleick, Executive Vice President, Coty Americas

“When Nokia was acquired by Microsoft, their CEO said, ‘We didn’t do anything wrong, but somehow, we lost.’ BH Tan’s book unveils why some organizations have and may eventually experience the same downfall as Nokia. A key takeaway for me is that leaders need to continually unlearn in order to relearn. If your thoughts and mindset cannot keep pace with time, you will be eliminated.” —Elaine Teo, General Manager, SEAU, Ferragamo (Singapore) Pte Ltd

“A must-have on every leader’s bookshelf! BH Tan weaves together the key essentials of global leadership today. In the digital age, leaders are most effective when they embrace a paradoxical mindset. This lies at the intersection of Eastern and Western thinking.” — Trishia S. Lichauco, PCC, Leadership Development Coach

Product Details

BN ID:	2940178888605
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Publication date:	03/22/2022
Edition description:	Unabridged

Read an Excerpt

Introduction
Asia is on the rise in the global economy. After centuries of Western economic dominance, China, India, and the rest of the East, alongside emerging economies are beginning to challenge the West for positions of global industry leadership. According to the UK-based Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), China will leapfrog the US to become the world’s largest economy by 2028, five years earlier than previously forecast due to the contrasting recovery of the two countries from the Covid-19 pandemic. Meanwhile India is tipped to become the third largest economy by 2030.

A question that begs an answer is, “Henceforth, how will the underlying managerial philosophies and traditions of the various cultures in Asia be positioned on the world stage?”

This is an important topic to address. For many decades now, the West has been the unchallenged leader in thinking about business and leadership. As the pace of globalization quickened, Western multinationals set up subsidiaries around the world. Along with transferring their technologies, bringing jobs to millions, they also exported their managerial philosophy and processes. These Western ideas have been adopted with enthusiasm and applied diligently in both emerging and developed markets worldwide.

In the 1980s and 1990s, the Japanese success in manufacturing won the admiration of the West. This led to a global adoption of Japanese concepts such as quality control circles, teamwork and JIT (Just-In-Time) manufacturing.

Will the rise of China and India bring an infusion of Eastern perspectives to the field of leadership?

All ideas are good, especially if they are diverse. In the history of human experience, the most fruitful developments take place at the intersection of different lines of thought. We can’t get anything in starker contrast than the ideas and traditions of the East and West.

The world has entered the digital economy. In 2016, Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the Geneva-based WEF (World Economic Forum), coined the term the Fourth Industrial Revolution or Industry 4.0. Schwab argued a technological revolution is underway “that is blurring the lines between the physical, digital and biological spheres.” Increasingly AI will supplant many aspects of the “hard” elements of leadership – those responsible for the raw cognitive processing of facts. This will lead to a greater emphasis on the “soft” aspects of leadership – the behaviors, relationships and attitudes that encourage and motivate people to bring the best versions of themselves to work.

How then should leadership be defined? A recent study by MIT Sloan School of Management and Cognizant Leadership has concluded that organizations can no longer lead the way they have been used to in the past. Top-down, bureaucratic, bottom-line driven hierarchies have no place in the new era. More lateral, collaborative, purpose-driven teamwork will be the norm. Leaders will act as facilitators and coach, and must be ready to empower their teams to come up with solutions on their own. Being able to build trust will be a key attribute, and they must have a healthy dose of humility. Having a passion for technology will be a must.

In the last few decades, there has been a lot of research that points to different thinking styles between Westerners (primarily Europeans, Americans, and citizens of the British Commonwealth) and East Asians (principally the people of China, Korea, and Japan). This is reported by psychologist Richard Nisbett in his thought-provoking book entitled The Geography of Thoughts: How Asians and Westerners Think Differently… and Why.

Kaiping Peng, Nisbett’s colleague from China, summarizes the differences very precisely, “You know, the difference between you
and me is that I think the world is a circle, and you think it’s a line.”

Western linearity is displayed in the general belief that the universe is divided into two opposites with a clear-cut demarcation between them: man and nature, subject and object, mind and matter, the divine and the secular. Though the coexistence of opposites is recognized, they are viewed as separate and opposing, resulting in an either-or orientation. Linear thinking proceeds by breaking the world into manageable chunks and tackling them in isolation from each other.

From this mechanistic and fragmented worldview, problems are solved through an analytical, rational and logical process, proceeding in straight line, making connections in a sequential order. Westerners have a compelling need to find out who is right in an argument. Their form of argumentation is to proceed from thesis to antithesis, and on to synthesis. It focuses the mind wonderfully but may cause tension as the reason for a critique may not be to understand another’s view point but to disprove it.

The either-or mindset leads to dualistic thinking. It assumes a universe where there are only two contrasting, mutually exclusive choices or realities: right versus wrong, white versus black, good versus bad, winners versus losers. This becomes a zero-game game. Nonetheless, this relentless search for the truth underpins the West’s undisputed superiority in scientific discoveries. Westerners possess a remarkable sense of personal agency that they are in charge of their own lives and are free to act as they choose. In a word, they believe in individualism.

Chinese circularity takes a more organic and ecological worldview. It sees all things in the universe as constantly changing in a cyclical motion. Nature, and hence organizations, is a self-organizing system in perpetual interaction of yin and yang forces or energies. Asians attend to objects in their broader context. The world seems more complex to Asians than to Westerners. And understanding events always requires consideration of a host of factors that may interact with each other in unpredictable ways. Formal linear logic plays a lesser role in problem solving in the complex world that we live in. Chinese culture views opposites as complementary and interdependent. Instead of treating them separately, they are juxtaposed side by side in order to better understand the overall picture. Hence the treatment of opposites is to embrace them in a both-and orientation.

At the interpersonal and organizational levels, this approach has immense benefits as the Chinese’s view of life is that it is full of contradictions and that both sides have flaws and virtues. The preferred way of resolving differences is through consensus rather than conflict as only through consensus can sustainable solutions be attained. Another upside is that East Asians may be better able to embrace paradoxes and derive creative solutions.

But the tendency to find the middle way has hampered their efforts to seek out scientific truth through aggressive argumentation. The Chinese counterpart to personal agency and individualism is harmony and collectivism.

The title of this book is borrowed from the Dao De Jing (or Tao Te Ching), the classic Chinese manual on the art of living, governance and leadership written around 500 BCE. Dao De Jing, or simply The Dao, can be translated as The Book of the Way. Of its real authorship, there is some uncertainty, but it is generally attributed to Laozi (or Lao Tzu), an older contemporary of Confucius. His name means the Old Master or more picturesquely, the Old Boy. Little is known about Laozi except that he could have been an archive-keeper during the Warring States period in ancient China.

The Dao was drawn from Laozi’s close observations of nature. It reveals the wisdom of living systems, describing the patterns of energy within and around us. The Chinese call this vital energy qi, and the Japanese call it ki. The Dao consists of 81 poems, written with grace and large-heartedness. They radiate a sense of warm humor and deep wisdom. It is the most translated book in history together with the Bible and the Quran. The Dao’s influence on the thinking of East Asians is subtle, pervasive and sublime. To understand the thinking habits of East Asians, becoming familiar with the Dao is the first step.

Reality is a circle and we think in a straight line…  And we wonder why our deepest problems  remain unsolved.
— Peter Senge, Systems Scientist,  MIT Sloan School of Management
In the course of my leadership consulting work, I have worked with organizations on numerous leadership challenges. Many of these are timeless themes, and I have curated 25 topics that form the basis for this book. As we enter the age of digital transformation, leaders will no doubt be grappling with them again and again. Through real-life cases, you will be exposed to the thinking, decisions and actions of the various protagonists. They are a mix of historic figures, eminent business and political leaders, ordinary people placed in tough situations, Easterners and Westerners. What would you do if you were in their shoes?

My invitation to the reader is to treat each topic as an opportunity to examine how you habitually think, decide and act. There is no right or wrong answer. Your perspective depends on a number of underlying factors such as your experience, culture and worldview. The contrast between your worldview and other mental models may hopefully stimulate novel ideas in making sense of our rapidly changing and unpredictable environment.

As we go through the various topics in this book, some verses from the Dao will be shared. Laozi’s teachings are deeply rooted in his love for nature, people, and society. The most fundamental of his teachings is that human beings are part of nature. For people to lead rewarding and meaningful lives, they need to conduct their affairs in harmony with, and not in opposition to, nature. Instead of ceaseless striving, becoming more self-aware and doing a little less in a measured way may be a better option.

Looking at the devastation of the ecosystem, untold human sufferings and endless war and conflicts unleashed on the world, we realize that Laozi is right. We have become too sure of our science and technology, and convinced that man is the master of nature. At first blush, Laozi’s ideas may sound counter-intuitive. With patience, reflection and curiosity, we gradually become aware of their wisdom. There is a Buddhist adage, “When the student is ready, the teacher appears.”

This book is an exploration of ideas and alternative ways of making sense of situations. We all are used to the linear way of thinking. That’s what we’ve been taught in schools. Now let’s find out more about the circular way of thinking. The linearity-versus-circularity difference in Western and Chinese cultures is merely a matter of degree. There is no absolute distinction between the two cultures. Exceptions are numerous and counter-evidence exists. To compare them is not to judge which is superior, but to promote mutual understanding.

Albert Einstein was once asked, “Dr. Einstein, why is it when the mind of man has stretched so far as to discover the structure of the atom we have been unable to devise the political means to keep the atom from destroying us?” The great scientist replied, “This is simple, my friend. It is because politics is more difficult than physics.”  

Treating opposites as complementary leads to  a wealth of creative solutions
Being and non-being create each other. Difficult and easy support each other. Long and short define each other. High and low depend on each other. Before and after follow each other.
— Laozi
In the view of Professor Peng, now at Tsinghua University, the peoples of the East and the West can learn from each other in fundamental ways. The Chinese could learn much from Western methods for determining scientific truth. And Americans could profit enormously from the Chinese tolerance for accepting contradictions in social, business and political life.

In this very complex, chaotic yet interconnected world that we live in, being able to integrate both streams of thinking can only help us to lead more wisely and courageously. Our time horizon must extend beyond the here and now. The well-being of the generations to come depends on how the present generation think and do.

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