Page 72 - Harnessing the Strengths

Dilemma 1: Leading Versus Serving ■ 55

gic perspective of marketing. Marketing in turn makes sure
that the “grand design” forms the context for and gives
meaning to the “emergent” activities of the sales team.
A perfect example of this is how, over the past several
years, Unilever has been able to cut the number of its indi-
vidual brands in half by listening closely to what the sales
departments had to say.

Different Starting Points
Servant-leadership works in cultures because it has differ-
ent starting points.
For example, an American company in fi nancial ser-
vices bought a signifi cant share of a Chinese bank. Part
of the deal was to train the top 1,000 Chinese managers,
who went to a two-week course. On the last day, they
were invited to share their perspectives about the intercul-
tural aspects of policy and the possible adaptations thereof
in China. The question arose about the usefulness of the
American participative training methods. Is a training
method that is based on participation possible in a culture
in which people are used to one-way communication and
where the expression of your opinion at a lower level is
not done because it is related to the risk of the leader’s
losing face? Is servant-leadership even possible in such a
culture?
The answer is yes, but servant-leadership in an East-
ern culture will have a different starting point from in the
West. It is obvious that the Chinese will not likely come to
the point where they give their opinion en plein publique
as the Americans are used to. It was, however, possible to
combine the two extremes—authority and participation—
in a creative way.