Breaking the Bamboo Ceiling

Jane Hyun

• Publisher: HarperCollins e-books
• Year: 2009
• ISBN:
  9780061983528
• Topic: Betriebswirtschaft
• Subtopic: Personalmanagement

An essential career guide for every Asian American—and all their co-workers and managers—that explains how traditional Asian cultural values are at odds with Western corporate culture.

Leading Asian American career coach and advocate Jane Hyun explains that the lack of Asian Americans in executive suite positions is brought about by a combination of Asian cultures and traditions strait-jacketing Asian Americans in the workplace, and how the group's lack of vocal affirmation in popular media and culture, afflicts them with a "perpetual foreigner syndrome" in the eyes of Americans who don't know enough to understand the challenges placed on Asian Americans in the corporate environment.

Filled with anecdotes and case studies from her own consulting experience covering the gamut of Asian Americans from various backgrounds, the book discusses how being Asian affects the way they interact with colleagues, managers, and clients, and will offer advice and real world solutions while exposing the challenges encountered.

For the Asian reader, the book will help them to see the cultural barriers they subconsciously place in their own career paths and how to overcome them. For the non-Asian reader, the book serves as a primer for promoting optimal working relationships with Asians, and will help start a dialogue that will benefit all.

PART I

UNDERSTANDING

– ASIAN –

CULTURAL INFLUENCE

AND ITS IMPACT

- ONE -

YOUR ASIAN
AMERICAN ROOTS
AND YOU

My first impression upon meeting Trinh was that she was far more Chinese than I: engaged with the (Asian) community, fluent. Also, less polished, less assimilated than I. But there are some who would consider her very un-Chinese. She speaks up, she fights, she exposes hypocrisy. She cares less about race than about basic moral courage. . . . The irony, then, is this: I am perhaps more Americanized. She is perhaps more American.

—Eric Liu, The Accidental Asian

ASIAN AMERICANS: A MOSAIC OF BACKGROUNDS —

The 2000 U.S. Census reported that there are 11.9 million Asians in the United States, a 72% increase since the previous census. Compare that to the total U.S. population growth of 13% for the same period. Even though Latino Americans are the largest minority group in raw numbers, Asians are the fastest-growing minority group, and the population is expected to double by 2020 and triple by 2030. Forty-four percent of Asian Americans over age 25 have graduated from college, the highest percentage for any racial group. These numbers imply a success story. However, these statistics don’t always tell the whole story of what really happens to Asian Americans once they leave the halls of academia for corporate America.

Who are Asian Americans? Far from being homogeneous, we are of varied Asian ancestry. We represent multiple nationalities and languages as well as many social and political viewpoints. At last count, there were over 80 distinct Asian languages spoken in the United States. Even within each specific Asian group, there is considerable variability in education, class, and acculturation level. In addition, there is a long history of war, political unrest, and resulting prejudices in many Asian nations. What further complicates matters is that non-Asian Americans often think of Asians as a homogeneous group of people. Companies tend to view us as the Asian Pacific American constituency and do not necessarily categorize us by our specific nationalities.

THE MANY FACETS OF PERSONAL IDENTITY —

An Asian American woman who works at a large distributor of home appliances notes: “I used to be quite involved with Asian networking group activities. But lately, I find a much deeper sense of community with the multicultural women’s networking group. As a new mother attempting to juggle home and a very demanding job, I identify myself as a woman and mother first, then take my ethnicity into consideration next.” You can define yourself along a continuum of factors, your cultural heritage being one of them. Most people describe themselves differently throughout the stages of their lives, such as oldest daughter, father, mother, Catholic, manager, Asian American, cancer survivor. Yet we know these tags don’t fully define us or what we are capable of. We’re each composed of so many qualities, skills, ideas, emotions, values, and behaviors that a few descriptors won’t do anyone justice. We also know these self-ascribed tags aren’t necessarily how we are perceived by others, especially those who don’t know us well or who know us in other contexts.

WHEN PERCEPTION BECOMES REALITY —

In workplace scenarios particularly, perception is often reality. As a result, what they don’t know can hurt you. An assessment of your character and how you perform is based not solely on the quality of your “work deliverables” but also on how you interact with your colleagues. It’s not what you say but how you say it. How confident do you sound? How articulate are you? How well do you motivate others on your team? Do you take the time to chat with colleagues, whether it’s to discuss a project more thoroughly or to just socialize? Other cues that may brand you can be as superficial as how you dress, how you carry yourself, and what your facial expressions are. Behavior is often misinterpreted by people from different cultures, because it is visible, unlike motivations, feelings, intentions, and thought processes. At the most basic level, an underrepresented group like Asian Americans will stand out more.

To manage your career then, you must manage your personal brand—your image, how you come across. And knowing yourself is the first step in shaping the impression you make and in achieving your professional goals. You must understand your personality, strengths, weaknesses, and internal driving forces to guide how this all plays out in a work environment.

You may already know that your Asian background is integral to your identity. But not fully realizing how that background manifests itself in your attitudes and behaviors may cause misunderstandings in a Western corporate setting. Your Asianness doesn’t have to work against you, however. In the process of deciphering your Asian cultural values and integrating them into your workplace persona, you can leverage your natural talents and maybe even learn new skills. You will learn the tools to help break the bamboo ceiling without compromising yourself. Training in selling, presenting, negotiating, and assertiveness can tap and channel your knowledge to enhance your presence and capabilities.

Keep in mind that professional upward mobility requires action on your part. It’s unrealistic to expect that your managers and colleagues will automatically want and know how to unearth the true you and understand all you are capable of offering. People miscommunicate and misunderstand one another all the time; there will always be inaccurate perceptions of underrepresented emplyee populations. You have to take the initiative in clarifying the issues to effect change.

The corporate world is also recognizing that it’s up to them as well. By 2050, the majority of Americans will come from non-Caucasian backgrounds. When a managing director from a top financial services institution went to a Harvard recruiting luncheon in 2002 to identify candidates for the investment banking training program, she was surprised to see more than 50% of the students who attended were of Asian descent, including a majority that were students who resided in Asia. She realized then that if this was the future of her company, she had better start understanding Asians better as her new recruiting targets—as the pipeline of potential bankers at her firm.

Diversity programs were introduced at some companies as early as the 1980s. More recently, they have been developing and promoting more formal, nuanced programs that strive for inclusive environments and equip professionals to realize their full potential. Businesses are no longer implementing these programs because it’s the right thing to do or because it makes for good public relations. Comprehensive diversity programs make good business sense; groups of people with diverse backgrounds and experiences are now commonly acknowledged as repeatedly producing rich ideas and solutions. Cultural competency has become an increasingly important skill for the savvy executive. Furthermore, as cited in the 2003 Catalyst report Advancing Asian Women in the Workplace, “Biculturalism and bilingualism are important business skills. Asians who have experience in Asian countries and Asian cultures can act as ‘connecting points’ to other countries, which is crucial for global companies.”

A February 2004 Wall Street Journal article by Carol Hymowitz asserts that the very traits that make women in general good students—diligence, organization, and the ability to follow instructions—may not be sufficient to help them move up the career ladder and could even hold them back. Says Hymowitz, “. . . What counts a lot more than conscientiousness is daring, assertiveness and an ability to promote oneself—all qualities men more typically demonstrate.” As we’ll see, Asian values tend to echo these traditionally female traits, which also holds them back in the workplace.

ASIAN AMERICANS —

So who are Asians? Beyond being able to check off the “Asian or Pacific Islander” category on the U.S. Census form, how do we define Asianness? As recently as 1970, the U.S. Census did not count Asians as part of a specific ethnic designation. Asian Indians were classified as whites, and Vietnamese were noted in the “other” race category. How far we have come! The 2000 U.S. Census provides the following breakdown: Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Asian Indian, Bhutanese, Burmese, Cambodian, Filipino, Hmong, Indochinese, Indonesian, Iwo Jiman, Laotian, Malaysian, Maldivian, Nepalese, Okinawan, Pakistani, Singaporean, Sri Lankan, Taiwanese, Thai, and Vietnamese. The largest group is the Chinese (2.4 million), followed by Filipino (1.9 million), Asian Indian (1.7 million), Vietnamese (1.1 million), and Korean (1.1 million).

HOW CONFUCIAN INFLUENCE AFFECTS ASIAN AMERICANS —

Yet overall, Asians do share similar traits. The teachings of Confucius, a Chinese philosopher and scholar (551–479 BC), had a profound impact on Asian religion, government, and social structure that is in evidence even today. This influence differs dramatically from the Western school of thinking, particularly in the approach to interpersonal relations. Confucian influence emphasizes the importance of order, self-control, study, and education. To this day, many Asian countries still emphasize rote memorization and study as a significant vehicle for learning. Confucian values emphasize a sense of order, harmony, and decorum in human relationships over conflict and discourse. There is also a strong emphasis on respect for elders, both in the immediate family and at school and at work. Finally, there is a very high value placed on self-control versus self-expression, perhaps even to the extent of keeping feelings private. Other Asian philosophers have also emphasized similar ideas, holding self-restraint in high regard.

ASIAN CULTURAL VALUES —

In a 1999 study by University of California, Santa Barbara, psychologists Bryan S. K. Kim, Donald R. Atkinson, and Peggy H. Yang, 14 Asian values were identified. Though these researchers stated that we must recognize that Asian Americans comprise an extremely diverse group and that significant diffe...