Redefining Leadership: Competing In Asia In The 21st Century;
By Gerry Davis & Stephen Langton; Wiley;
Pages: 194; Price: $24.95
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I do not like books which covertly try to promote an agenda. At least that is the impression that I got as I started out with this book. Primarily because the foreword to the book written by Heidrick & Struggles International’s CEO flaunted the competencies of the firm than what the reader is in store for. However, I was soon to change my opinion. Because the book indeed gives a perspective in to the world of corporate leadership, specifically focused on the Asia Pacific region.
Redefining Leadership starts at the right place — giving us a perspective on the rising importance of Asia Pacific in the global arena. On how the cities in this region, like Shenzhen in China and Bangalore in India are increasingly representing the new poles of the growing power of Asia in the business world. The book suggests that the brains of Bangalore and the manufacturing brawn of Shenzhen are the twin axes of the burgeoning development happening in economies around the region, leading the world on to a second wave of Asian impact, succeeding the first wave led by Japan. Probably one of the reasons why this book focuses more on the Indian and Chinese markets than others in the region.
The book revolves around a set of conversations with CEOs and top-level executives in the region coupled with the authors’ take on some of the key developments in the region. I found one of these quotes specifically interesting — one by the former Lenovo CFO Mary Ma, where she suggests that the biggest difficulty for Western executives working in the Chinese region is not that of language difference as it is expected but that of culture difference, starting from the way Chinese communicate compared to the Western world. She sketches a simplified version where the western style is characterised by talking, understanding and then listening, while the Asian style starts with listening, understanding and then talking.
The focus of the book seemed to be those executives who are from backgrounds as diverse as freshly minted MBAs to managers, who are seeking a role in Asia to be a part of its extraordinary growth story. However, the book throws in a caveat. That it does not work well, if the person is viewing his stint in Asia as a method merely to enhance his resume. The most important prerequisite, according to the book, which I also agree to, is a profound commitment to Asia. Starting a career in Asia should be viewed as one of the most important decisions in one’s career, where one remains open to adapting himself to the local ways and to its culture, than viewing it as a temporary career jump.
The book throws in some must-have leadership qualities for any executive competing in the 21st Century, gleaned from the interviews – total commitment to the point of almost married to the role, communication skills – listening, influencing and negotiating, congeniality - ability to build relationships with people you might otherwise detest and consultative character – allowing others to help you solve problems. These do sound like generic lessons applicable to any part of the world, but authors have succeeded in bringing out some subtle differences between the region and the rest of the world. However, some other parts of the book get too generic, especially the chapter ‘The Evolving C Suite’, which sounds like a job description of the most popular top roles in an organisation.
Redefining Leadership undoubtedly draws from Friedman’s The World Is Flat– not just in its references to a flat world and the 21st Century, but also in some of the lessons shared by Nandan Nilekani and Infosys. Though the book gets to be generic at times, it definitely has some good pointers to understand the fast changing business world of Asia Pacific – especially for those expatriates who are starting their career climb. And for us Asians, the book again have some interesting lessons, if we would keep our minds open. Else, we could easily mistake this book as either a book promoting practices of Heidrick & Struggles or as ‘yet another book on leadership.’
Sangeeth Varghese is a leadership thinker from the LSE and is author of Decide to Lead. He can be contacted at sangeethv@leadcap.org.
A version of this review was published in the Businessworld Issue Dated 30 June-06 July 2009
Book Reviews 
Redefining Leadership: Competing In Asia In The 21st Century; 
