Saving Face

How to Preserve Dignity and Build Trust

Berrett-Koehler, 2020

15 min read

9 take-aways

Audio & text

What's inside?

Being aware of “saving face” adds respect to your interactions and honors everyone’s humanity.

1×

Editorial Rating

Qualities

Comprehensive
Applicable
Concrete Examples

Recommendation

Leadership consultant Maya Hu-Chan takes a deep dive into the Chinese concept of “face.” Face represents a person’s belief in his or her self-worth, status, reputation and societal position. Honoring face, helping people save face or causing someone to lose face manifests in virtually every interpersonal interaction. In business, awareness of face helps leaders connect with a diverse workforce, bridge cultural differences and build strong, mutually beneficial relationships.

Summary

“Face” refers to the desire for others to honor your dignity and self-respect.

In Chinese culture, “face” signifies a person’s idea of self-worth, status, reputation and position within the family, a social circle, a company and a community. If face is a social currency, your interactions with other people either boost or deplete the supply of face in each relationship. Deposits include activities that build trust, convey appreciation or demonstrate empathy. You cause someone to lose face by harming his or her pride or self-image. Fortunately, a relationship can survive a blow to face if the social currency deposits outnumber the withdrawals.

Three expressions explain how face works:

“Honoring face” – This includes relationship-building interactions that confer respect and regard, such as soliciting advice, expressing gratitude, listening respectfully and recognizing someone’s contributions.
“Losing face” – This occurs when one party feels diminished, misjudged or disrespected, all of which elicit negative emotions such as shame or humiliation.
“Saving face”

About the Author

Maya Hu-Chan is a leadership coach, consultant, keynote speaker, founder of the Global Leadership Association and co-author of Global Leadership: The Next Generation.

Comment on this summary

More on this topic

In our Journal

2 years ago

Journal Article

Making the Most of In-Person Team Gatherings

You’ve been looking forward to this for a long time: Having your entire team in person (!) gathered in one place. How do you make the most of people’s time together? Remote and hybrid work arrangements have become a central aspect of many workplaces. Certainly, some organizations are eager to have everyone back in the […]

3 years ago

Journal Article

People Will Only Leave Their Comfort Zone from a Safe Place

You don’t want your team to “play it safe.” You want people to feel safe to play – as in pitching their ideas, performing to their potential and challenging the status quo. Companies navigating a rapidly changing environment depend on an agile, innovative workforce. But team members won’t volunteer their ideas, challenge outdated work processes […]

3 years ago

Journal Article

Lessons in Psychological Safety

When people feel safe working together, they achieve more.

3 years ago

Journal Article

“We Need to Relearn How to Build Authentic Relationships.”

Leadership coach Maya Hu-Chan explains how an ancient Chinese concept can help leaders build the human skills necessary to thrive in today’s multicultural and multigenerational work environment. Maya, in your book, Saving Face, you take a deep dive into the ancient Chinese concept of “face.” Could you briefly explain the meaning of the term? Maya […]