Julia Middleton's thoughts on leadership » china

Linking leaders together

Julia — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 13:34:20 +0000

Dishaa (our Venture which connected leaders in the UK and India) was so successful, unbelievably successful, that we have been asked to launch similar Ventures between lots of countries around the world (see www.commonpurpose.org/ventures). Dishaa means direction in Hindi, so we will have Phambili (direction in the Nguni languages inc. Xhosa and Zulu), Dao Xiang (in Mandarin), Itijah (in Arabic) and more.

A Brit was complaining yesterday and telling me that they were hard words to pronounce. I think I lost a sale because all I could say is “get over it”. In fact, his starting point pins down the exact reason why many Brits need to wake up and book onto a Venture fast before we disappear into irrelevance (whilst muttering gently in English!).

Is there a difference between appointed & elected leadership?

Julia — Mon, 16 May 2011 13:08:38 +0000

Appointed leaders know, but so often forget, how different it is for elected leaders. How normal behaviour resumes months after an election and ends months before one.

Listening to a friend reminded me why China seems to have halted in a trajectory just at the moment. It’s the ninth year, next year is the tenth and their election happens next year. As he said, don’t expect too much in the next two years!

What are your thoughts on the difference between appointed leadership and elected leadership?

Does everyone leave a legacy of knowledge?

Julia — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 08:52:51 +0000

I recently met a very senior, very analytical and very inspiring leader from China. We were talking about the need to pass on knowledge in societies. He told me that this was a ridiculous idea in China. “No one passes on knowledge,” he said, “knowledge is what you hold on to.” After all why would you help your competitor? So that he could beat you? He said you may pass your knowledge to your son – certainly not your daughter – but even then you would not hand on all of it, you would keep some back in case the son turns on you. He said that this is why some knowledge has been lost in China.

Leaders need to listen

Julia — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 16:20:42 +0000

I spoke for a long time with a business leader in China about leadership. It made me realise that as a Westerner if I hear the words “Leadership” and “China” in one sentence my mind immediately computes “Mao” and to some extent turns off. Yours might too.

So it was interesting to go further. He talked about the Confucian roots of everyday leadership in China: of the credibility of the word “wisdom” in the context of leadership; of the commitment to forests rather than trees, so that systems deliver; of the culture of cultivating yourself before you lead. He said that Chinese culture is very old and is now perhaps being reborn.

And he talked about what the Chinese perceive Western leadership to be about: the drive to perform ever better individually; the dismissing of words like “wisdom” as wet; the drive to specialise and to compartmentalise.

As ever, the temptation to be defensive and make easy retorts needs resisting lest something important passes us by.

Twenty years of change

Julia — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 09:53:45 +0000

Tiananmen Square was twenty years ago this week. How the world – and China – have changed. The symbol for me was the earthquake last year when the Chinese government opened its reporting to foreign journalists. Over the last few months we have been talking to many leaders in China about whether we could start Common Purpose there and I believe that it increasingly makes sense . The sheer talent in China and the hunger of Chinese leaders to learn FROM people all over the world seems finally to be almost – not quite yet but almost – equalled by the rest of the worlds wish to learn at least ABOUT China. I hope that Common Purpose in Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta, as a first step, is around the corner, then with luck Shanghai.