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Saving Face: How to Preserve Dignity and Build Trust
In today's diverse and dispersed workplace, leaders need to connect, break down barriers, and build trust. Maya Hu-Chan shows how the concept of "saving face" can help any leader preserve dignity and create more empathetic cross-cultural relationships.
Organizations now need to attract, retain, and motivate teams and employees across distance, time zones, and cultural differences. According to cross-cultural management and global leadership specialist Maya Hu-Chan, saving and building face will allow us to do just that.
"Face" represents one's self-esteem, self-worth, identity, reputation, status, pride, and dignity. The more face you have, the easier and faster you can get work done. But saving face means far more than not embarrassing someone. It is also about developing an understanding of the background and motivations of others to discover the unique facets each of us possess. Without such an understanding, even the most well-intentioned individuals risk causing others to lose face without even knowing it. Hu-Chan explains the concept of saving face through anecdotes and practical tools, such as her B.U.I.L.D. leadership model (Benevolence, Understanding, Interacting, Learning, and Delivery). This book illustrates how we can give face to create positive first impressions, avoid causing others to lose face, and, most importantly, build trust and lasting relationships inside and outside the workplace.
Organizations now need to attract, retain, and motivate teams and employees across distance, time zones, and cultural differences. According to cross-cultural management and global leadership specialist Maya Hu-Chan, saving and building face will allow us to do just that.
"Face" represents one's self-esteem, self-worth, identity, reputation, status, pride, and dignity. The more face you have, the easier and faster you can get work done. But saving face means far more than not embarrassing someone. It is also about developing an understanding of the background and motivations of others to discover the unique facets each of us possess. Without such an understanding, even the most well-intentioned individuals risk causing others to lose face without even knowing it. Hu-Chan explains the concept of saving face through anecdotes and practical tools, such as her B.U.I.L.D. leadership model (Benevolence, Understanding, Interacting, Learning, and Delivery). This book illustrates how we can give face to create positive first impressions, avoid causing others to lose face, and, most importantly, build trust and lasting relationships inside and outside the workplace.
224 pages, Paperback
Published June 9, 2020
14 people are currently reading
96 people want to read
About the author
Maya Hu-Chan
3 books3 followersMaya Hu-Chan is a globally recognized keynote speaker, author, leadership educator, and ICF Master Certified Coach. Ranked Top 8 Global Solutions Thinkers by Thinkers50, World Top 30 Leadership Gurus, and Top 100 Thought Leaders in Management & Leadership, Maya has worked with thousands of leaders from Global Fortune 500 companies, government and non-profits around the world.
Maya is the president of Global Leadership Associates, a global consultancy that partners with organizations to build leadership capabilities and enable profound growth and change.
Her book Global Leadership: The Next Generation was a Harvard Business School Working Knowledge book. She is a contributing author of 10 business books and a columnist for INC.com. Her new book Saving Face: How to Preserve Dignity and Build Trust will be published in June 2020 (Berrett-Koehler).
Born and raised in Taiwan and living in San Diego, California, Maya is fluent in Mandarin Chinese and English. She earned her Master’s degree from University of Pennsylvania and B.A. from National Chengchi University in Taiwan.
Maya has lectured at the Brookings Institution, University of California, San Diego, University of Chicago, University of Southern California, and Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.
Maya is the president of Global Leadership Associates, a global consultancy that partners with organizations to build leadership capabilities and enable profound growth and change.
Her book Global Leadership: The Next Generation was a Harvard Business School Working Knowledge book. She is a contributing author of 10 business books and a columnist for INC.com. Her new book Saving Face: How to Preserve Dignity and Build Trust will be published in June 2020 (Berrett-Koehler).
Born and raised in Taiwan and living in San Diego, California, Maya is fluent in Mandarin Chinese and English. She earned her Master’s degree from University of Pennsylvania and B.A. from National Chengchi University in Taiwan.
Maya has lectured at the Brookings Institution, University of California, San Diego, University of Chicago, University of Southern California, and Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
August 22, 2020
The Platinum Rule
Saving Face: How to Preserve Dignity and Build Trust by Maya Hu-Chan is a well-written, instructional, informative and interesting fresh perspective for the novice as well as seasoned leader of today.
The premise of the book is that as a leader, it is important to understand and know that your face is no longer your own. By this, the author explains, that the emotions of anger, happiness, frustration, or a variety of other emotions are generally reflected on the face of an individual. In this case those emotions registering on the face of the leader. Consequently, the author further instructs the reader that the individuals seeing that reflection of one's emotions on their face will respond in kind. Therefore, the author encourages the reading leader to be as positive and upbeat as possible.
The author also expands on the acronym of BUILD. That acronym stands for benevolence, understanding, interacting, learning and delivery. She asserts that these are the five building blocks that are critical in the building of solid business relationships.
The book further develops this theme of defining the representation of the expression of face such as honoring face, saving face, or losing face. The author explains that face represents one's self-esteem, self-worth, reputation, etc.
And so, through the use of practical teaching, drawing from her own experience, and a practical toolkit, Ms. Maya Hu-Chan presents a powerful teaching to aid the current leader to interact more effectively with not only those that the leader leads, but other forms of interaction.
In today's business world and those who are in leadership positions a new and fresh perspective is called for. This is especially true in that business transactions and personal interactions which are no longer bound by geographical boundaries, but today's market place has become one large global opportunity.
Saving Face: How to Preserve Dignity and Build Trust by Maya Hu-Chan is that fresh perspective that will certainly cause the reader to think and possibly re-think their leadership skills and interactions and aid in enhancing their leadership ability and capability.
Saving Face: How to Preserve Dignity and Build Trust by Maya Hu-Chan is a well-written, instructional, informative and interesting fresh perspective for the novice as well as seasoned leader of today.
The premise of the book is that as a leader, it is important to understand and know that your face is no longer your own. By this, the author explains, that the emotions of anger, happiness, frustration, or a variety of other emotions are generally reflected on the face of an individual. In this case those emotions registering on the face of the leader. Consequently, the author further instructs the reader that the individuals seeing that reflection of one's emotions on their face will respond in kind. Therefore, the author encourages the reading leader to be as positive and upbeat as possible.
The author also expands on the acronym of BUILD. That acronym stands for benevolence, understanding, interacting, learning and delivery. She asserts that these are the five building blocks that are critical in the building of solid business relationships.
The book further develops this theme of defining the representation of the expression of face such as honoring face, saving face, or losing face. The author explains that face represents one's self-esteem, self-worth, reputation, etc.
And so, through the use of practical teaching, drawing from her own experience, and a practical toolkit, Ms. Maya Hu-Chan presents a powerful teaching to aid the current leader to interact more effectively with not only those that the leader leads, but other forms of interaction.
In today's business world and those who are in leadership positions a new and fresh perspective is called for. This is especially true in that business transactions and personal interactions which are no longer bound by geographical boundaries, but today's market place has become one large global opportunity.
Saving Face: How to Preserve Dignity and Build Trust by Maya Hu-Chan is that fresh perspective that will certainly cause the reader to think and possibly re-think their leadership skills and interactions and aid in enhancing their leadership ability and capability.
June 9, 2020
I like the point this book makes, which is preserving the dignity of others. However, I found it repetitive and somewhat narrow in scope. Perhaps it is because Maya Hu-Chan was born and raised in Taiwan, but the focus of this book was heavy on how different American culture is compared to Asian culture. I felt it would have been more accurate to title it Saving Face When Working with People From Asian Cultures. American culture is very different from most other cultures so only focusing on how different we are from the Chinese and Japanese seemed too narrow. Another thing I noticed was she used the same story twice to illustrate her point, and really it was the same point in both chapters. My favorite chapter was on giving feedback because it was straightforward. I believe the author is very knowledgable, and has experience that makes her an expert in this subject. And, I do think she makes the case for saving face for others. I received an ARC for review.
August 31, 2020
The concept of “face,” which is a combination of respect, dignity, and status, is a useful framework for understanding business relationships. In a successful business partnership, everyone involved will make an intentional effort to preserve their own image while making sure others do not lose either. When working in an international setting, it is better to keep your words straightforward and direct to avoid embarrassing confusion and everyone loses face. Also, the ability to save face is the first and most important step in a leader’s ability to keep talent and having a good team work. Therefore, people should be fulfilling duties and showing compassion to “save face.”
February 12, 2025
A good book. Reads in one or two days.
June 16, 2020
This is one book that you will want to put on your "to read" shelf and then move immediately to your "currently reading" shelf. While reading this book there were many things that became immediately applicable and usable. This, to me, is the greatest of compliments. There were also times when, as I read, I would literally say, "So, that's why I screwed that up so bad." "Face," as Maya Hu-Chan said is like social currency. The more you have, the easier and faster you can get things done.
Immediately after reading my advanced copy of the book I had the opportunity have Maya be a part of a professional development webinar I put on for teachers. Maya and I used Angry Birds as the throughline for presenting the professional growth. We actually watched part of the first Angry Birds movie and picked the part of the movie where Red is asked to be a leader and he says, "I'm not a leader." This provided a great springboard for Maya to connect the teachings of her book. One of the things she discusses in the book is using the Platinum Rule instead of the Golden Rule (not that the Golden Rule is bad, mind you). The Platinum Rule is, "Treat others the way they want to be treated."
Think about how just doing this would improve relationships - "face." Needless to say, Maya's teaching is a huge hit with educators.
One of the most impactful parts of the book dealt with psychological safety. Hu-Chan posited that, "At the very heart of creating psychological safety in an organization is the ability to honor face, save face, and avoid situations where someone loses face." Psychological safety is one of the number one variable for team performance. Psychological safety allows for moderate risk-taking, speaking your mind, creativity, and sticking your neck out without fear of having it cut off — just the types of behavior that lead to ideas, creation, and breakthroughs.
Finally, Maya also taught us the BUILD model in the book. BUILD stands for Benevolence, Understanding, Interacting, Learning, Delivery. By putting the BUILD model into action in our lives we will be able to live a life of significance while saving face. As you can see, you are going want to start reading this book right now.
Immediately after reading my advanced copy of the book I had the opportunity have Maya be a part of a professional development webinar I put on for teachers. Maya and I used Angry Birds as the throughline for presenting the professional growth. We actually watched part of the first Angry Birds movie and picked the part of the movie where Red is asked to be a leader and he says, "I'm not a leader." This provided a great springboard for Maya to connect the teachings of her book. One of the things she discusses in the book is using the Platinum Rule instead of the Golden Rule (not that the Golden Rule is bad, mind you). The Platinum Rule is, "Treat others the way they want to be treated."
Think about how just doing this would improve relationships - "face." Needless to say, Maya's teaching is a huge hit with educators.
One of the most impactful parts of the book dealt with psychological safety. Hu-Chan posited that, "At the very heart of creating psychological safety in an organization is the ability to honor face, save face, and avoid situations where someone loses face." Psychological safety is one of the number one variable for team performance. Psychological safety allows for moderate risk-taking, speaking your mind, creativity, and sticking your neck out without fear of having it cut off — just the types of behavior that lead to ideas, creation, and breakthroughs.
Finally, Maya also taught us the BUILD model in the book. BUILD stands for Benevolence, Understanding, Interacting, Learning, Delivery. By putting the BUILD model into action in our lives we will be able to live a life of significance while saving face. As you can see, you are going want to start reading this book right now.
December 14, 2025
Blinkist
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews