Principles of Servant Leadership in Chinese Culture and Buddhism

Servant Leadership
Student’s Name
Institution
Servant Leadership
Servant leadership is an ancient concept that has received widespread acceptance in modern organizational leadership. According to Roberts (2018), servant leadership entails selflessness in the sense that the leader puts the needs of his followers before his own. The servant-leader understands the motivation and potential of their followers and builds on this to achieve a common and shared goal. To be a servant leader, leaders have to possess certain virtues. They include humility, ethics, integrity, courage, authenticity, forgiveness, and hope (Roberts, 2018). Servant leadership has often been seen as compatible with Christianity. However, it is evident in other religions as well. The purpose of this paper is to explore servant leadership in the Chinese cultural context, with a special focus on how it is evident in Buddhism. 
Principles of Servant Leadership Evident in the Chinese Culture and Buddhism
The Chinese culture is deeply rooted in Confucianism (Li et al., 2018). Confucianism is an ancient belief system among the Chinese that is based on morality and ethics. Its main values are integrity, righteousness, shame, and propriety. Confucianism has guided the Chinese people for years on how to interact with others through respect of the community, especially because of the Chinese value collectivism over individualism. Also, as McCune, Bell, and Ai Min (2019) reveal, Confucian values also define the relationship between a leader and their followers, indicating that followers are dependent on the leaders and they should obey their leaders. As a result, there is a high power distance between leaders and followers among the Chinese. Li et al. (2018) indicate that this makes the absorption of servant leadership among the Chinese a bit difficult. However, certain principles of servant leadership are still evident in the Chinese Confucian culture. According to McCune, Bell, and Ai Min (2019), Confucianism values benevolence and requires people to take care of others. As such, under this culture, leaders take care of the needs of their followers because followers are dependent on them. This is in line with the principles of servant leadership, which requires leaders to first take care of their followers. Additionally, as indicated earlier, servant leaders must be ethical and show integrity. Similarly, under Confucianism, leaders must be ethical and show integrity when dealing with their followers (McCune, Bell, & Ai Min, 2019). Therefore, servant leadership is a welcomed style of leadership among the Chinese because it aligns with their belief system. 
Buddhism is one of the religious worldviews and is most common among the Chinese. It is therefore important to explore principles of servant leadership that are evident in Buddhism. It is based on the Noble Eightfold Path and servant leadership can be seen in one of the paths. According to Kozak (2021), servant leadership in Buddhism is demonstrated through the Right Action, which is one of the Noble Paths. The Right Action involves the desire to serve others by helping them do the right things. In Buddhism, the leader serves his people, rather than his people serving him (Kozak, 202...