As I’ve explored different resources on leadership in Asia, EQ and Leadership in Asia: Using Emotional Intelligence to Lead and Inspire Your People by Sebastian Henry was one I was intrigued by and eager to read and see how helpful a resource it could be.
Asia includes a paradox of realities from my experience. On one hand, the indirect and relationally driven way things get done requires a relational or emotional savvy to not rock the boat and stay within acceptable social norms. On the other hand, roles are often so structured within a hierarchy that emotional intelligence breaks down when individually having to work through personal conflicts or navigate decision making that requires risk-taking and vulnerability. Another book – John Ng’s Smiling Tiger, Hidden Dragon captures well these realities and the pitfalls of how emotional immaturity shows up in Asian working relationships (stuffing emotions and blowing up volcano style, deception and backstabbing, the anonymous assassination of character, building of alliances to marginalize others…). Henry acknowledges many of these realities in Asia and sees the development of EQ as the key to better relationships in life and work.
Henry draws on various Asian religions to reinforce some of his points and to show that some aspects of emotional intelligence have their roots in Asian thought and culture.
I found several chapters to be very helpful, particularly the application of non-violent communication to the Asian context. I’ve used that part of this text in courses and Asian students have responded well to it as it provides a framework for communicating in an environment where such conversations feel precarious or dangerous. Of course, just because one uses non-violent communication principles doesn’t mean others won’t respond violently, but as a general rule they are helpful skills and in a lot of cases it will help translate to a helpful conversation.
The book overall felt a bit light in its depth. Attention to communication, mediation, mindfulness, self-awareness and other areas of EQ is important for Asia for sure and Henry writes some nice chapters in almost a workbook-like style to help people reflect on their situations and develop new practices. For me – I didn’t find too many things revolutionary, but i did appreciate the effort to popularize some of the research found in other places for the Asian context. It pulls in a lot of “western” theory and tools, but tweaked for the Asian context to different levels of effectiveness I think.
The book runs a bit costly on the open market so not sure i think it’s worth the investment unless you’re highly motivated. But I liked a few of the chapters a lot.
