Page 14 - Harnessing the Strengths

Background ■ xiii

opinions, points of view, concepts, etc. This lessens the “us
versus them” way of thinking. From a servant-leader’s point
of view, there is no “us” or “them”—only “we” and a com-
mon purpose.
Servant-leadership is based on the idea that, beneath
all cultural differences, there is a common basis, namely,
being human. On a fundamental level, we have more in
common than not—including the dilemmas we have in life.
We defi ne a dilemma as a situation where one must choose
between two options that seem to be in confl ict with each
other. This belief leads to the insight that all dilemmas in
all cultures are the same, and that the only difference is the
starting point and path that we each take to resolve them.
For this reason, servant-leaders are not tempted into
making a choice between two opposite values, and they
also avoid choosing an unsatisfactory compromise. The
mark of a servant-leader is that he or she chooses a solu-
tion where both opposing value sets are combined in such
a way that they are actually strengthened, not weakened.
The implementation of a servant-leader in an intercultural
context is a dialectical process; through thesis and antith-
esis, the servant-leader achieves a synthesis, which is always
enriching.
The fi rst part of this book is an introduction to servant-
leadership. The theory and background of this leadership
style will be laid out, as well as the infl uence that corporate
culture has and the results that culture clashes can bring.
We will then zoom in on the ability of a servant-leader to
combine opposing values, as well as explaining what core
qualities are necessary in order to do so.
Of course, the most important thing is what you as
an entrepreneur can do to use these theories in practice.
To help illustrate this, we give several concrete examples in