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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
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Go GlocalIntercultural 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 R. Capurro: Leadership Ethics East/West
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 inter-relationships. R. Capurro: Leadership Ethics East/West
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) R. Capurro: Leadership Ethics East/West
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 R. Capurro: Leadership Ethics East/West
Introduction • Intercultural Comparison of Leadership Ethics • François Jullien‘s paths of comparative thinking between the „Far West“ and the „Far East“ (China). R. Capurro: Leadership Ethics East/West
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) R. Capurro: Leadership Ethics East/West
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) R. Capurro: Leadership Ethics East/West
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 warleader or strategós), i.e., it concerns a project that anticipates a process towards a goal. R. Capurro: Leadership Ethics East/West
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) R. Capurro: Leadership Ethics East/West
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) R. Capurro: Leadership Ethics East/West
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). R. Capurro: Leadership Ethics East/West
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“ R. Capurro: Leadership Ethics East/West
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? R. Capurro: Leadership Ethics East/West
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. R. Capurro: Leadership Ethics East/West
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 R. Capurro: Leadership Ethics East/West
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“ R. Capurro: Leadership Ethics East/West
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. R. Capurro: Leadership Ethics East/West
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 ‚trans-lating‘ 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. R. Capurro: Leadership Ethics East/West
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“ R. Capurro: Leadership Ethics East/West
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 R. Capurro: Leadership Ethics East/West
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. R. Capurro: Leadership Ethics East/West