Asian Leadership: What Works

Following the publication of Leadership in Asia: Challenges and Opportunities, the Singapore Ministry of Manpower convened a Third Executive Roundtable in 2010 to examine the various challenges confronting leadership renewal in the Asian business context, especially in the aftermath of the global financial meltdown and economic downturn of 2009. The intensive session, spread over two days, threw up illuminating examples and astute observations on the subject, which were peppered with thoughtful anecdotes and penetrating truths that will titillate the reader.

Involving corporate CEOs, Chief Human Resource Officers and leadership thought leaders, the leadership focus group identified four important questions that Asian leaders must address in order to succeed
at the highest level:

• Where are we going?
• How do we get there?
• What is work like when we get there?
• Who stays and who goes?

With these on their minds, they set about to pinpoint eight success factors and action domains that are crucial in leaders to enable them to navigate around the pitfalls of being a leader and a change agent in the organisations they lead. These are:

1. Creating customer-centric actions
2. Implementing strategy
3. Getting past the past
4. Governing through decision making
5. Inspiring collective meaning making
6. Capitalising on capability
7. Developing careers
8. Generating leaders

Edited by eminent leadership gurus Dave Ulrich and Robert Sutton, this book describes the valuable insights and lessons gleaned from individual leaders and the organisations they lead. A useful reference for potential leaders, corporate honchos and management experts on leadership issues in organisations within Asia, it represents a significant contribution to research on the subject in the continent, which is home to a multitude of diverse cultures, languages and beliefs, as well as the unique challenges these pose to leaders in leading their organisations.