Making the Invisible Visible

Transcription

1 Making the Invisible Visible

2 Praise for Making the Invisible Visible Thatchenkery and Sugiyama have indeed succeeded in making the invisible visible in this powerful, research-driven account of the experience of Asian-Americans inside our organizations. More than a call for sensitivity or tolerance toward others who are different, this book shows us what we re missing when we fail to notice the talented Asian- American resources around us. In a competitive business environment, we need all the help we can get. Some of that help is right under our noses, already available and waiting to be recognized for the strengths they bring. In the end, this isn t a book about Asian-Americans; it s about all of us, and what we need to do differently to win. William Pasmore, Professor of Practice, Teachers College, Columbia University Excellence can be achieved through multiple ways that need to be adapted particularly to the culture around us. The leadership contributions of Asians and Asian-Americans through quiet leadership are supported by research and interesting illustrations. A must-read for those interested in a holistic approach to leadership and change. Manoj Juneja, Deputy-Director General (Operations), Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations As the challenges facing business change, we see how limiting the traditional leadership stereotype is. People outside the standard mold younger employees near the bottom of the corporate hierarchy, women who wish to take a break from their careers, managers who lack charisma but are quietly collaborative can be more effective than the typical leader in meeting today s business challenges. Making the Invisible Visible adds a cultural dimension to this issue, showing how in Western companies Asian-Americans often hit a glass ceiling, one that robs their organizations of the value they could create as senior leaders. Vineet Nayar, CEO, HCL Technologies, and bestselling author of Employees First, Customers Second: Turning Conventional Management Upside Down A powerful narrative about the need to embrace an inclusive model of leadership in global organizations. Thatchenkery and Sugiyama have provided a compelling case for reaching out to the quiet leaders in your organization who may have ideas and strategies that if implemented may give you a solid competitive advantage. Tiger Tyagarajan, President and CEO, Genpact

3 Making the Invisible Visible Understanding Leadership Contributions of Asian Minorities in the Workplace TOJO THATCHENKERY AND KEIMEI SUGIYAMA

4 MAKING THE INVISIBLE VISIBLE Copyright Tojo Thatchenkery and Keimei Sugiyama, Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition All rights reserved. First published in 2011 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN in the United States a division of St. Martin s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number , of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave and Macmillan are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN ISBN (ebook) DOI / Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Thatchenkery, Tojo Joseph. Making the invisible visible : understanding leadership contributions of Asian minorities in the workplace / by Tojo Thatchenkery and Keimei Sugiyama. p. cm. 1. Asian Americans Employment. 2. Leadership United States. I. Sugiyama, Keimei. II. Title. HD8081.A8T dc A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library. Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India. First edition: September 2011

5 To my husband Jesse for his ongoing support, my sister Keikoh and brother-in-law Jin for being my sounding boards, my younger sister and brother, my parents, and to my nephew Evan and my own future children that they can have all opportunities available to them to achieve their dreams. K.S. To Tessy, Sruthi, and my parents. T.T.

6 Contents List of Tables List of Figures Acknowledgments ix xi xiii 1 Introduction: Visibility for Invisible Leaders 1 2 A Pulse Survey of Asian Americans at Work 7 3 Making the Invisible Visible: Interviews and Analysis 25 4 Invisible Leadership: What Is Invisible Leadership? 41 5 Making Invisible Leadership Work 61 6 Highlighting Invisible Strengths: Career Management Strategies 79 7 Invisible Minority: The Story of the Asian and Asian American Glass Ceiling Invisible Ceiling Seeing the Ceiling: Our Story: Who Are Asian Americans? Strategies for Organizations 157 Epilogue: A Conversation between Keimei and Her Nephew Evan 169 Appendices 173 Notes 177 Authors Biographies 191 Index 193

7 Tables 2.1 Experience Base of the 250+ Respondents Self-identified Country of Origin or Ethnic Roots Educational/Professional Background of the 250+ Respondents Work Experience of Survey Participants in Years Level of Responsibility by Titles Held by the Respondents Perceived Satisfaction with Career Growth Percentage of Respondents Who Feel That They Were Treated Unfairly at Work Due to Ethnicity Percentage of Respondents Who Feel Comfortable Voicing Their Opinions about Their Work with Colleagues and Managers Percentage of Respondents Who Feel Their Coworkers Share Their Values That Are Important to Them in a Work Environment Percentage of Respondents Who Feel Their Contributions Are Recognized by Their Supervisor Percentage of Respondents Who Feel That Their Manager Understands Challenges That They ve Overcome to Complete Their Work Range of Possible Actions by Asian Americans If Their Contributions Are Not Recognized by Their Managers Qualities Rated as Most Important for Career Success in Workplace Percentage of Respondents Who Say They Know What They Need to Do to Progress in His or Her Career Frequency of Meetings with Supervisor 19

8 x TABLES 2.16 Percentage of Respondents Who Have Mentors and Role Models to Advance Their Careers at Work Percentage of Respondents Who Belong to Affinity Groups within Their Organization Specific to Ethnic Roots Understanding Social Capital Increasing Your Social Capital Increasing Your Social Capital with Appreciative Intelligence Educational Attainment and Mean Annual Earnings from Descriptive Statistics for Men in Ethnic Group Based on Country of Birth from Descriptive Statistics for Men in Income in 2005 by Educational Attainment Year-Round Full-Time Workers, Both Sexes, 25+ Years of Age Sector Wise Percent of All Jobs Senior Pay Level (SPL) Representation FY Category Wise Workforce Percentage AAPI Federal Workforce Ten-Year Trend Types of Racism Occupational Status by Racial Groups (Age 25 64, ) Summary of Finding from Carnfield Study Basic Population Statistics 121

9 Figures 2.1 Qualities Necessary for Career Success Non-minority Student Identity Circle and Minority Student Identity Circle A Current Life Balance Scenario B Future Life Balance Scenario Job-focused Work Value Circle and Self-focused Work Value Circle Total Private Sector Employment by Race/Ethnic Group, Private Sector Professionals by Race/Ethnic Group, Private Sector Officials and Managers by Race/Ethnic Group, EEOC Private Industry Data for Senior Level Officials and Managers by Ethnic Group, EEOC Private Industry Data for Professional Workforce by Ethnic Group, EEOC Private Industry Data for Mid-Level Officials and Managers by Ethnic Group, Percentage of Asian Officials and Managers and Professionals by Subsector Percentage of African American Officials and Managers and Professionals by Subsector Percentage of Hispanic Officials and Managers and Professionals by Subsector Highest Ranking Woman and/or Minority Reporting Levels Removed from CEO Highest Ranking Woman and/or Minority: Average Salary Ranking within Company,

10 xii FIGURES 7.12 Chance to Rise to Management Relative to National Average, Sectorwise Breakup of Asian Labor Percentage of Total Labor There Are Majorities within Minorities Leadership at Three Levels. 165

11 Acknowledgments We are indebted to several individuals in the endeavor of putting this book together. We thank the nearly twenty senior executives of private sector and government agencies who graciously gave their time to talk with us about their experiences. To protect their anonymity, the names of those organizations or the identity of the interviewees is not mentioned. We also thank the 250+ Asian American managers in profit, nonprofit, and government agencies who took the time to complete the survey on Asian American work experiences and the 30 Asian Americans who took the pilot survey. We are also grateful to several colleagues who supported us in many ways and for helping us reach out to the Asian American staff at various organizations to complete the survey on Asian American work experiences. They include J.D. Hokoyama, President and CEO of LEAP; Linda Akutagawa, Sr. Vice President of Resource & Business Development, LEAP; Lily Tang, The FutureWork Institute; Jino Ahn, President of National Association of Asian MBAs; Robina Singh, Program Manager, National Association of Asian MBAs; Ravi Behara, Florida Atlantic University; Yann King of the Asian American Government Executives Network (AAGEN); and Param Srikantia, Baldwin Wallace College. Sunil Kumar, Postdoctoral Research Scholar, School of Public Policy; Debasree Das Gupta, PhD candidate, School of Public Policy; and Penny Potter and Irma Firbida, graduates of the ODKM program helped with research literature. Keimei would also like to thank her friend and supervisor Hillarie Elizondo for her flexibility and support during the entire duration of this project. We have tried our best to ensure that references and citations are used with the permission of the copyright holders or publishers when

12 xiv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS necessary and to give appropriate credits to individuals and organizations. If we have made an error, please let us know and we will make appropriate acknowledgment in future editions of this book. We thank Laurie Harting, Executive Editor of Palgrave Macmillan for enthusiastically commissioning our book and providing us with continuous feedback during the writing period. We are grateful to Tiffany Hufford, Joel Breuklander, and Rohini Krishnan for their very capable and prompt editorial and production assistance. Although there may be others whom we have not mentioned by name, we are sincerely grateful for your contributions. Last, but not the least, we are indebted to our families Tessy, Sruthi, and Jesse for their understanding and support. Tojo Thatchenkery and Keimei Sugiyama