Transcript Go Glocal Intercultural Comparison of Leadership Values

Go Glocal
Intercultural Comparison of
Leadership Ethics
Rafael Capurro
Stuttgart Media University
www.capurro.de
International Center for Information Ethics (ICIE)
http://icie.zkm.de
6th Leadership Forum: Growing successfully – Crossing borders
DB Akademie GmbH, Potsdam November 30 – December 2, 2006
Content
Introduction
I. Leadership Ethics in the „Far West“
II. Leadership Ethics in the „Far East“
III. How do we speak?
IV. Lessons Learned
Conclusion: Go Glocal
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Introduction
Two dangers of intercultural dialogue:
 We remain satisfied with merely juxtaposing
concepts
 We remain at an early stage of an intercultural
dialogue, defined by what may only look like a
common ground or an incompatible view...
…that in light of further dialogue, however,
will dissolve into far more complex interrelationships.
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Introduction
The task of intercultural ethics:
The quest for a global morality.
Universal moral principles and local moral
traditions.
The task of intercultural ethics.
Ethics as problematization of morality.
We live in the „era of comparison“ (F.
Nietzsche)
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Introduction
Corporate Social Responsibility:
Giving reasons for our actions
Human Rights
Sustainable Development (Ecology)
The precautionary principle/custom:
Principles create obligations
Precaution as an attitude
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Introduction
Intercultural Comparison of Leadership
Ethics
François Jullien‘s paths of comparative
thinking between the „Far West“ and the
„Far East“ (China).
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I. Leadership Ethics in the „Far West“
Some leadership maxims from the „Far West“:
 „Thou Shalt Not…“ (morality and monotheism) (J.
Assmann)
 “meleta to pan“ (Periander, 600 BC) (take care of the
whole)
 „kairón gnothi“ (Pittakus, 600 BC) (know the right
moment/opportunity)
 „epimeleia heaoutou“ (Plato/Socrates) (take care of
one‘s self)
 Follow the „phronesis“ (Aristotle) (follow practical reason)
 Become master of the situation (virtù) (Macchiavelli)
 Universalize your maxim (Kant)
 Consider the consequences (Utilitarianism)
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I. Leadership Ethics in der „Far West“
Greek roots of key leadership concepts
 Goal (telos/eidos)
 Action (praxis/poiesis)
 Means (di‘ou, ta pros to telos, hodós,)
 Will (boulesis)
 Subject (hypokeimenon)
 Leader (hegémon; demiourgós = pottery god)
 Actualization (efficacy)
(dynamis/enérgeia/entelécheia)
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I. Leadership Ethics in the „Far West“
 Leadership and action are related to a model
(eidos) or goal (telos) that the leader (hegémon)
is supposed to achieve through theoretical and
practical reason (phronesis) on the basis of a
plan/an idea(l) in order to master a situation.
 Efficacy = the power or capacity to produce a
desired effect
 Such action is strategic (the action of a war
leader or strategós), i.e., it concerns a project
that anticipates a process towards a goal.
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I. Leadership Ethics in the „Far West“
Such in-formative action is
direct
based on
the will/the freedom, the courage (andreia)
and the knowledge
of a leader or (decision) maker
heroic
Nature (physis) itself is conceived as a
production process (téchne) as done by a
‚pottery god‘ (demiourgós)
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II. Leadership Ethics in the „Far East“
Key leadership concepts in the „Far East“:
 Process („dao“) (no goal)
 Transformation (not in-formation)
 Indirect (not direct)
 Discrete (no ‚show‘)
 Potentiality of the situation (not power of a
subject)
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II. Leadership Ethics in the „Far East“
Key concept in Chinese war strategy:
potentiality of the situation.
The potentiality of the situation (not the
will/knowledge of a leader) is efficient.
Key task of the leader: to evaluate this
potentiality (through lists/registers).
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II. Leadership Ethics in the „Far East“
Process: no mean/goal relationship
Tendency of the situation from the very
beginning (no model to follow)
Denial of self: no hero and no theatrical
effects
Morality is more effective than violence or
(individual) power
Ripening process of nature that is called
„heaven“
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II. Leadership Ethics in the „Far East“
The polarity of heaven/earth develops a
sponaneous interaction of initiative and
receptivity (yin and yang)
Such action is discrete and indirect or
gradual (no sudden events)
No plan or dream of mastery
No blocking through models
What is an agreement?
What are rules for?
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II. Leadership Ethics in the „Far East“
 ‚No action‘ (wu wei) but in such a way that
nothing remains undone.
 The efficiency of the „dao“ vs. Western efficacy
 See also: „Efficiency is doing better what is
already being done“ (Peter F. Drucker)
 Immanentism vs. transcendence
 The opportunity is not a chance (tyche) beyond
a project but arises out of a ripening process.
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III. How do we speak?
Direct and indirect speech: A comparative
view of language:
Leadership ethics in the „Far West“ is based on
direct speech
Leadership ethics in the „Far East“ is based on
indirect speech
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III. How do we speak?
Direct speech in the „Far West“:
Freedom of speech, freedom of the press,
freedom of access (World Summit on the
Information Society, WSIS)
Free speech (parrhesia) as a fundamental
dimension of (Athenian) democracy (M.
Foucault)
The tradition of indirect speech in the West:
„Tricky reason“ (metis)
Leo Strauss „Persecution and the Art of Writing“
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III. How do we speak?
The tradition of indirect speech in the „Far
East“:
In China the master speaks less and gives
signs. He calls the attention instead of
transmitting a message.
Confucius: No speculative moral theory but a
‚logic of the path‘.
Lao-Tse: giving hints
Dshuang-Tse: Fluctuating speech acompanying
the global process of the Dao.
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IV. Lessons Learned
 Changing the „place of thinking“ (Jullien):
Overcoming ethnocentrism
Becoming aware of different paths of thinking
Taking distance from ourselves
Meeting the other where he/she is, instead of ‚translating‘ him/her into your own.
 Westernization and Easternization have
produced hybrid cultures: the „Far East“ has
ambitious goals and the „Far West“ deals with
the question of ecology and sustainability.
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Conclusion
„Feed your life“ (Dshuang-Tse/F. Jullien)
and the life of your company, your society,
our common world...
Go glocal:
Open your mind to intercultural dialogue
Do things responsibly – locally and globally.
Follow the potentiality of the situation.
„Growing successfully – Crossing borders“
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Bibliography
Assmann, Jan: Religion und kulturelles Gedächtnis. München 2000.
Capurro, Rafael: Ethik der Informationsgesellschaft. Ein interkultureller
Versuch. In: Wolfgang Coy et al. (Ed.): Shapes of the Things to
Come - Die Zukunft der Informationsgesellschaft (2007) (in print).
http://www.capurro.de/parrhesia.html
Capurro, Rafael: Privacy. An intercultural perspective. In: Ethics and
Information Technology. Vol. 7, No. 1, 2005, 37-47.
http://www.capurro.de/privacy.html
Capurro, Rafael: Intercultural Information Ethics. In: Rafael Capurro,
Johannes Frühbauer, Thomas Hausmanninger (Eds.): Localizing the
Internet. Ethical Issues in Intercultural Perspective. Schriftenreihe
des ICIE, Bd. 4, München (2007) (in print)
http://www.capurro.de/iie.html
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Bibliography
Clausewitz, Carl von: Vom Kriege. Bonn 1980.
Foucault, Michel (1983). Discourse and Truth: the Problematization of
Parrhesia.
http://foucault.info/documents/parrhesia
Jullien, François: Conférence sur l‘efficacité. Paris 2005 (German:
Vortrag vor Managern über Wirksamkeit und Effizienz in China und
im Westen. Berlin 2006).
-: Traité de l‘efficacité. Paris 1996 (German: Über Wirksamkeit. Berlin
1999; English: A Treatise on Efficacy: Between Western and
Chinese Thinking. Hawaii Press 2004).
-: Nourrir sa vie. À l‘écart du bonheur. Paris 2005.
Nagenborg, Michael: Ein Ortswechsel des Denkens. Interview mit
Rafael Capurro. In: Telepolis 20.03.2005.
http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/19/19645/1.html
Strauss, Leo (1988). Persecution and the Art of Writing. The University
of Chicago Press.
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