Page 124 - Harnessing the Strengths

Dilemma 4: Control Versus Passion ■ 107

Resolution
How can Peter Webber help in choosing a leadership
style that will be acceptable to the Italians and the Ger-
mans? The leadership style that works across cultures is
one where the emotions are instilled in the context of seri-
ousness and control and where there is also room for a
light, relaxed approach. Conversely, this also means that
a passionate group of people sometimes need to acknowl-
edge the importance of a controlled presentation, which,
though inspired by passion, should nonetheless be deliv-
ered in a sober style. One idea would be to give both a
German and an Italian the responsibility for the function
and to appoint a third person (neither German nor Italian)
to act as a sounding board for issues concerning signifi cant
investment or innovation.

The servant-leader will try to give more meaning to his
or her passion by expressing it in the context of control, and
vice versa. In this way, both gain more meaning.

Notes
1 Fons Trompenaars and Charles Hampden-Turner, 21 Leaders for
the 21st Century (Oxford: Capstone Publishing, 2001), 144–146.
2 Michael Schrage, Serious Play (Boston: Harvard Business School
Press; 1st edition, 1999).
3 Arthur Koestler, The Act of Creation (London: Pan Books, 1970).