Page 143 - Harnessing the Strengths

126 ■ Servant-Leadership in the Intercultural Practice

The Dilemma

The servant-leader has a good sense of timing: more than
just visionary. Such a leader also has respect for tradition,
a respect from which decisions are taken in the interest of
the future. Furthermore, he or she can respond quickly and
adequately to the environment but also knows when to take
a step back in order to make the right decision. Finally, the
servant-leader connects the short and the long term, daily
operations with the corporate vision.
The way that people deal with time differs substan-
tially by culture. This is diffi cult for business because activi-
ties need to be coordinated. Leaders have to deal with the
varying expectations regarding time.
Time has several different aspects: to begin with, the
relative importance placed on the past, present, and future
(A). Second, there are various ways in which cultures struc-
ture time. Some cultures have a linear notion of time, in
which time is seen as a series of sequential events and in
which there is a preference to do one thing at a time, and
there are cultures with synchronic notions of time, where
the different events can take place at the same time (B).
Finally, there are some cultures with a preference for a short
time horizon and other cultures with a preference for a long
time horizon (C).
We will zoom in on all three of these aspects below.

(A) Relative Importance of the Past, Present, and Future

The fi rst difference we will look at concerns the relative
importance people bestow on the past, present, and future.
Saint Augustine stated in his Confessions that time, as a