Today, in the on-going American Morning series, Yul Kwon covers the topic of “An Asian glass ceiling? (video)” As I’ve written in a previous post, “Working While Asian/Asian-American,” Kwon covers the topic of Asian-American stereotypes in the workplace. Challenging authority, self promotion and taking risks are some of the attributes that are valued in
Corporate America that clash with classic “Asian values” of respecting authority, being modest, etc. as brought up in the segment (i.e. The nail that sticks up, gets hammered down.”
Kwon also interviews executive coach, author, and diversity strategist Jane Hyun, who wrote “Breaking the Bamboo Ceiling: Career Strategies for Asians (2005).” I’ve actually read this book (I was trying to get Jane as a speaker for an event once) and found it pretty interesting. As Fortune Magazine noted when writing about the book:
“Even in Silicon Valley, where Asian Americans represent 30 percent of technology professionals, only around 12 percent of managerial positions are held by Asian Americans compared with 80 percent held by Caucasians.”
Now that is pretty startling…. If you work in Silicon Valley (or beyond), have you noticed this? Do you think there is a Asian glass ceiling in America?
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Tan wrote:
I think Asians excel in assimilating into new cultural settings. When there is a conflict between personal and coporate values, we are better off in maitaining a separation of what is personal from what is professional.
Posted on 16-May-07 at 8:07 am | Permalink
James wrote:
I watched this little segment and I agreed with one of the points being made, that Asian cultural values may not coincide with ladder climbing in the corporate world. Namely, that to gain an executive position in a traditional corporate environment, it takes an aggressive and forward attitude, something as an Asian-American speaking, that was not as encouraged by our parents.
Unfortunately, I sometimes think these attitudes for ’successful’ ladder climbing also means a lot of twisting the truth and chest pounding. One reason I think the corporate world is not really for me (although I work in it unfortunately).
Posted on 16-May-07 at 11:15 am | Permalink
tiffany wrote:
I feel like this might be a generational thing– that Asian/Asian Americans adapt as they are acclimated to American values and ethics.
I didn’t watch this segment, but I also wonder if the priorities for asians (be financially lucrative and being scientifically inclined/just plain smart) need to be realigned with new values like leadership and …?
Posted on 18-May-07 at 6:41 pm | Permalink
Erik wrote:
I agree with Tiffany. Values differ now more by generational and geographical lines than ethnicity.
I also believe there are more skill sets that people tend to focus on that aren’t linked to leadership. I hate to stereotype, but verbal communication skills are a must that many Asians still have to master.
Also, the numbers may be flawed. If 30% are Asian, then I’d say probably 70% of those Asians are focused on the engineering side of things. So they are competing against each other for those same managerial positions. They don’t divide managerial positions up by ethnicity but by department. So maybe there are only 9% competing for the other non-engineering (admin, sales, biz dev, marketing) positions.
Posted on 24-May-07 at 4:06 pm | Permalink
8Asians.com » Asian American Students and School Stereotypes: An Asian American/Asian Canadian Blog wrote:
[...] in San Francisco / Silicon Valley) have been hitting the glass or “bamboo” ceiling (CNN: American Morning: An Asian glass ceiling?). Any thoughts on the “model minority” stereotype or the “bamboo ceiling”? [...]
Posted on 08-Jan-08 at 2:17 pm | Permalink