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Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Virginia P’an had three strikes against her when she started on Wall Street in 1973: she was young, Chinese and a woman. A positive attitude helped P’an conquer Wall Street, becoming the first female vice president at American Express Bank.
Virginia P’an had three strikes against her when she started on Wall Street in 1973: she was young, Chinese and a woman.
“Talk about liabilities,” P’an said. “But you can’t operate from a negative viewpoint, or you’ll be paralyzed. You have to focus on your abilities and play the game.”
That positive attitude helped P’an conquer Wall Street, becoming the first female vice president at American Express Bank.
But after a successful run at the Fortune 500 firm, P’an decided to strike out on her own in 1984 when she established the TransCapital Group, a company that helps Western corporations form strategic alliances within the Chinese market. The TransCapital Group boasts a client list including Aetna, the PepsiCo Foods and Valmet Paper Machinery.
Her risky, but successful decision made her part of a quickly growing demographic: Asian women entrepreneurs.
Notably, 20 percent of all female business owners are women of color, and this segment is growing at four times the rate of the economy in general, according to a new study by the Center for Women’s Business Research. Women business owners are also more likely to have sole ownership of their company today as compared to 1998, according to the report.
P’an’s experiences have taught her that despite being a Chinese-born woman in the white male-dominated business world, all entrepreneurs must have the same qualities. “The same characteristics are needed to succeed whether you’re male or female, white or Asian,” P’an said.
The report corroborates P’an statement, finding the similarities among all ethnic groups on key business issues far exceed any differences.
“This study shows that regardless of ethnicity, entrepreneurship holds the same rewards and challenges for women and that women of all backgrounds are making a substantial contribution to our nation’s economy,” said Myra Hart, chairperson of the Center for Women’s Business Research.
Despite the overarching similarities among all business owners, however, the study notes that women business owners are more reluctant to borrow capital to start their enterprise.
Vivian Shimoyama is one example. She used her own capital to start Breakthru Unlimited, a California-based company that manufactures glass artwork. The handmade pieces symbolize the breaking of barriers, a theme that drives her business, she said.
“I had funds that I set aside,” Shimoyama said. “I didn’t even approach banks to be rejected.”
The reluctance to approach banks for start-up capital is also common to Asian business owners, a group that is surpassing all other groups in terms of the numbers of firms and their annual receipts.
To help overcome that reluctance to borrow capital, Wells Fargo, the underwriter for the study, launched the Asian-American Business Services program in February, with a public lending goal of $2 billion over a span of 10 years.
“Traditionally, Asian cultures were less likely to use credit and more likely to raise funding from their families, communities and their own savings,” said Iris Chan, executive vice president of Commercial Banking and spokesperson for the Asian Business Services program. “More recently, however, the tendency to borrow from financial institutions has become more commonly practiced in the Asian business community.”
Partnerships with organizations like the Asian Business Association help Wells Fargo disperse financial education to this group, Chan said.
The need for financial education among Asian Americans points to another obstacle for Asian-born business owners; the ability to communicate effectively. For P’an, this is the most fundamental asset for success. It is particularly crucial for Americans of Asian descent, many of whom speak English as a second language.
“I’m first generation. So what? I don’t believe in being a victim,” P’an said. “If you don’t have the skills, get them.”
That attitude helped P’an succeed in a homogenous business world. “Women are choosing to have their own businesses because they believe in having more control over their future and being able to positively impact their own communities.”
Women’s leadership decisions differ from those of their male counterparts. Women business owners are pioneers in offering work-life benefits, Shimoyama said. Their style of leadership also incorporates the building of community along with business.
“I started this business because I have a very entrepreneurial spirit. I’m creative and innovative, and I wanted to merge that with my corporate background,” Shimoyama said.
In a refrain that is being echoed by more and more women entrepreneurs, Shimoyama said, “I wanted to build a company that reflects my values.”
The Asian Diversity Magazine, http://www.asiandiversity.com/
Used with permission.
posted in: Diversity
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Many Asian Americans fighting their way through corporate America are finding that mentoring programs can help them break into the business world"s homogenous old boy"s club.
Many Asian Americans fighting their way through corporate America are finding that mentoring programs can help them break into the business world"s homogenous old boy"s club.
“Mentoring allows people to get a first-hand perspective from someone on what it takes to be successful,” said Andrea Lowe, managing director of the Northern California branch of INROADS, a national business mentoring organization. “A mentor can help you learn those unwritten rules and give important career advice you wouldn"t find anywhere else.”
A plethora of surveys support the power of mentoring; three-quarters of the 1,504 mentors surveyed by The Commonwealth Fund said mentoring had a “very positive” effect on their lives, and more than 80 percent said they felt they were better people because of the process.
And in a recent survey of an elementary school mentoring program at Allstate Insurance, the Mentor Consulting Group found that 75 percent of the participants reported that the activity improved their attitude at work. This may explain why mentoring has become a key factor in retention ?especially for employees of color. “A lot of companies have realized that, from a diversity perspective, you have to establish networks and support systems,” Lowe said. “Having senior-level mentors or even peers to lean on for support can make all the difference in how happy an employee is.”
A study from the Conference Board of more than 450 U.S. businesses found that employees involved in mentoring programs reported improved teamwork skills, morale and self worth. The companies boasted increased employee retention, productivity, community relations and public image, according to the report.
“There are so many reports backing up the positive personal experiences mentors and mentees have, it seems odd for companies to pass up mentoring and networking programs,” Lowe said. “Relationships that open doors, instill confidence and promote productivity can only be good for a company"s success.”
Indeed, the trend, which has for long been an informal process, is gaining speed nationwide as more advocacy groups and businesses realize the countless benefits of mentoring.
The Asian Pacific American Women"s Leadership Institute (APAWLI), is launching Discovery Leadership - An Emerging Leaders Program this spring.
More than a dozen Asian-American women who have at least four years of work experience and are community leaders will come together one weekend each month for nine months to create a community-impact project. The project will begin in San Francisco before moving on to other major cities.
The program is in response to a study conducted by the group that showed Asian-American women may face even greater obstacles in the workplace than their male counterparts. A significant number of Asian-American women reported feeling significantly underrepresented in corporate America, which led to a sense of isolation.
Reaching out to students early can also help alleviate that sense of isolation and accelerate advancement in the corporate world, according to Asian American LEAD (AALEAD), a Washington, D.C. organization that has matched young children of immigrants with mentors since 1995.
“There are a lot of new immigrants and refugees, especially Vietnamese, in the area, so often parents have little education and don"t speak much English,” said Ingvild Bj¿rnvold, mentoring coordinator for AALEAD.
The Vietnamese refugees who traveled to the United States after 1975, when the capital city Saigon fell, were usually sponsored by American families, who introduced them to country’s ways.
Since most immigrant parents aren"t equipped to navigate the American educational system, mentors focus on helping their mentees academically, but also help open doors to the business world.
“Mentors open doors for their kids, help them get in touch with the right people and open them up to new opportunities that they wouldn"t have had,” Bj¿rnvold said.
The Asian Diversity Magazine,
http://www.asiandiversity.com/
Used with permission.
posted in: Diversity
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Sixty-three percent of colleges and universities report that they either have in place a diversity requirement or they are in the process of developing one. This is the main finding of the first national survey to examine this trend in undergraduate education
Note: This survey is no longer active, for more recent from the Association of American Colleges and Universities, please visit AACU.org.
Sixty-three percent of colleges and universities report that they either have in place a diversity requirement or they are in the process of developing one. This is the main finding of the first national survey to examine this trend in undergraduate education. Campus leaders in all regions of the country realize that a high quality college education today should include education about diversity both in the U.S. and around the globe.
This trend is consistent with public opinion on diversity in the curriculum. A national opinion poll of registered voters sponsored by the Ford Foundation Campus Diversity Initiative in the Fall of 1998 found that 68 percent of those polled support “requiring students to take at least one cultural and ethnic diversity course in order to graduate.” An even larger majority (94 percent) agreed that “America’s growing diversity makes it more important than ever for all of us to understand people who are different than ourselves.”
This new survey, administered by the Association of American Colleges and Universities and supported with funds from the James Irvine Foundation, suggests that colleges and universities, large and small, public and private, are indeed stepping up to the plate and providing the kind of education the American public believes is important to help today’s graduates succeed in the workplace and to strengthen America’s increasingly diverse communities.
AAC&U developed this survey after working through its national initiative, American Commitments: Diversity, Democracy and Liberal Learning, with hundreds of colleges and universities around the country as they develop model courses, programs, and requirements on issues of diversity. This survey makes clear that these schools are not alone in investing in transforming their curricula and developing effective models for diversity learning. The survey was sent to every accredited college and university in the country. Completed surveys were received from 543 colleges and universities representing every region of the country and a wide array of institutional types.
Main Survey Findings
Of the survey respondents, 54 percent had diversity requirements in place, while another 8 percent were in the process of developing them. Of those with requirements, 25 percent of institutions have had them in place for more than 10 years. Forty-five percent had put them in place in the past five to ten years and another 30 percent reported having their requirements in place for less than five years. A majority of those schools with requirements (58 percent) require only one course, while 42 percent require two or more diversity courses.
Fifty-nine percent of those responding from Research or Doctoral institutions and sixty-three percent of those responding from Master’s level institutions report having diversity requirements. Fifty-eight percent of those responding from Baccalaureate institutions have requirements, while only 32 percent of those from Associate degree-granting institutions (AA institutions) report requiring diversity courses. The sample of AA institutions was somewhat smaller than the other institutional types. One-hundred and nine AA institutions responded to the survey.
Of those schools with requirements, 83 percent offer one or more course addressing diversity in the U.S; 65 percent offer one or more course addressing diversity outside the U.S.; and 76 percent offer one or more non-Western cultures course.
Given the changing demographics of the U.S. and the importance of issues of diversity in this nation’s history, AAC&U has recommended that every college student should learn about issues of diversity in the U.S. as part of their undergraduate curriculum. As AAC&U’s report, “American Pluralism and the College Curriculum,” puts it, “Education for United States democratic and cultural pluralism is not the same task…as the education for global knowledge and interconnection…. Students require both global knowledge and domestic knowledge.” While it does appear that many colleges and universities are continuing to develop courses and requirements that address issues of diversity in the U.S., this survey did find that 44 percent of those with requirements allowed students to fulfill the requirements without addressing issues of diversity in the U.S.
Models for Diversity Requirements
Given the diversity of kinds of academic programs offered at American colleges and universities, it is not surprising that this survey found a wide array of different models for diversity requirements. By far the most common model, however, is one in which students are required to take one course among a list of different approved diversity courses. This was the model chosen by 68 percent of the respondents. Seventeen percent of respondents require all students to take a single course with a shared syllabus and another twelve percent report having a diversity requirement within one or more major.
Differences Across Regions
While requirements seem to be a trend across the country, this survey did find some regional differences. Using the regional breakdowns of the 6 Regional Accrediting Agencies, staff members examined regional trends in the findings. Seventy-eight percent of those respondents from the Western region had requirements. Sixty-eight percent in the Middle States Region, 60 percent in the North Central Region, and 45 percent in the New England Region reported having diversity requirements. Only 35 percent from the Northwest Region and 36 percent from the Southern Region reported having requirements. The pool of survey respondents from the Northwest region was relatively small (26 institutions). One-hundred and twenty-nine institutions sent responses from the Southern region.
This survey clearly demonstrates that colleges and universities across the country are taking seriously the challenge of educating students for life in a diverse democracy and increasingly interconnected world.
posted in: Diversity
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
When Celia Young immigrated to the United States in 1971 from Taiwan, she fit into the cultural box that often defines Asian women; she was quiet and didn’t ask questions. This became a problem during Young’s first job as a marketing analyst, when a supervisor curtly told her that unless her ‘communication skills’ improved within 90 days, her future at the company would be bleak.
By Chan Cho, Asian Diversity Magazine
When Celia Young immigrated to the United States in 1971 from Taiwan, she fit into the cultural box that often defines Asian women; she was quiet and didn’t ask questions.
This became a problem during Young’s first job as a marketing analyst, when a supervisor curtly told her that unless her ‘communication skills’ improved within 90 days, her future at the company would be bleak.
Young, who came to the United States on a scholarship and had an MBA under her belt, interpreted the comment as meaning her English could use improvement.
‘Many years later I realized it wasn’t just that,’ Young said. ‘But that was not explained to me, and I did not think to ask.’
Poor communication with her managers led Young to leave the organization before the 90 days was up - but the incident planted a seed in Young’s mind about how human relations impact the bottom line.
That early experience eventually manifested into the formation of Celia Young & Associates, an organizational development firm based in Monarch Beach, Calif. Today, the group Young founded helps Fortune 500 corporations manage diversity, and, ultimately, prevent cultural differences from causing an exodus of minority employees.
Managing Diversity
As the workforce increasingly reflects the diversity of the United States, Young points out that managers must develop multicultural skill sets and new ways of evaluating employees.
‘Managers need to get out of auto-pilot, and stop thinking there’s only one way to evaluate an employee,’ she said. ‘It shouldn’t be up to the employee alone to bridge that gap, but the managers as well.’
One way to narrow the gap is by recognizing different work styles, Young said. For example, a study conducted by the Asian Pacific American Women Leadership Institute (APAWLI) in Denver, Colo., found that Asian-American women had distinct definitions of leadership.
Asian-American participants believed a manager could be effective by playing the role of the ‘quiet leader who convenes people to get things done, but stays in the background’ and ‘the person who ‘steps up to the plate’ because she sees a gap that needs to be filled’.
‘Asian-American women have same leadership talents as others, but we choose to exercise them a little differently,’ said Martha Lee, executive director of APAWLI.
Lee said Asian Americans subscribe to principles of leadership that are ‘very much about inclusiveness, collaboration, and focus on relationships and the ethics of service.’ This may stem from the fact that many Asian cultures value consensus over the individual.
In contrast, Western culture values self- promotion, and often sees it as an indication of having initiative, Young said. What managers may perceive to be a ‘lack of initiative’ in their Asian-American employees is a major factor contributing to the glass ceiling for this group, she said.
The APAWLI study found that a significant number of Asian-American women believe their race is a major roadblock to their professional advancement. In addition, Asian-American women said they were the most likely to have been passed over for a promotion, and the least likely to have had a mentor.
Data presented in the APAWLI study corroborate these sentiments; less than .5 percent of corporate boards and executive positions are filled by Asian Pacific Islander women, although this group makes up 2 percent of the total U.S. population.
Lee said that corporate America is slowly gaining awareness of the different work styles Asian Americans bring to the table. However, like Young, Lee stresses that change will only come about through a collaborative effort between managers and employees.
‘Asian Americans cannot leave it to others to interpret our work habits,’ Lee said.
Otherwise, misunderstanding will continue to breed dissatisfaction and eventually cost companies in the single most costly line item: turnover.
The Bottom Line: Retention
The Saratoga Institute in Santa Clara, Calif. estimates that the average turnover cost is one times the employee’s salary and benefits (varying by industry). It’s no surprise then that retention has become the centerpiece for many corporate diversity programs.
‘Nobody’s perfect when it comes to retaining talent,’ Young said. ‘But some companies are more interested in it than others, and they’re putting their money where their mouth is.’
Asian Americans are often few and far between in the offices of corporate America, leading to a sense of isolation, Young said.
‘Many Asian American employees go work for a large company, and find that they’re part of a very small minority, so it’s tough to keep a group consciousness. My work has to do with helping create that sense of community,’ she said.
One of her clients, Proctor & Gamble (PG) based in Cincinnati, Ohio, is tuned into how employee networks tie directly into retention, Young said.
At PG, Young helps mobilize Asian-American employees. ‘In order for these employees to move ahead, they need to have someone advocating for them,’ she said. Employee network groups are an effective way to give minority employees that mouthpiece.
Without such support systems, Lee said that Asian-American executives often ‘get stuck’ after about four to five years in the workforce, and end up leaving for positions at other organizations.
‘Companies spend a lot of time recruiting Asian Americans,’ Lee said. ‘Now they need to focus on keeping them on board.’
The Asian Diversity Magazine,
http://www.asiandiversity.com/
Used with permission.
posted in: Diversity
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