Breaking Barriers: Unlocking Leadership Potential of Asian Employees

Got Stereotypes?

Most Americans see ideal leaders as:
Assertive, Dominant, Charismatic

They see ideal followers as:
Highly competent, Hard-working, Docile

Here's the Double Whammy for Asians:

• Traits associated with ideal leaders are the OPPOSITE of those associated with Asians.

• Asians are seen as non-assertive, passive, and lacking social skills.

• Traits associated with ideal followers are PRECISELY the traits associated with Asians!

Organizational psychologists call this "role incongruence":

• It causes organizations to be less likely to promote or even to invest in Asians as leaders.

• Chicken-and-egg: Perceptions of Asians as not-leaders prevent us from getting the leadership roles needed to prove the perceptions wrong.

Fortunately, research points to a solution:

• Once Asian Americans ARE in leadership roles, we’re viewed as EQUALLY effective as their White American counterparts!

• Asians lead just as well as anyone!

The solution is clear:

• Promote and integrate qualified Asians into management and Board roles, and thus…

• Debunk harmful stereotypes.

• Gain the benefit of diverse perspectives and styles.

If you liked the Harvard Business Review article that I recently coauthored with Angela Cheng-Cimini, "Stop Overlooking the Leadership Potential of Asian Employees," then you might love the full video of this Asia Society event, where I present the underlying research and recommendations.

You'll find answers to questions like:

• Given that Asian employees comprise 30%-50% of the workforce of knowledge economy companies (!), what would be the ROI of enabling our Asian employees to fully contribute to corporate results and profits?

• What are the annualized costs of inaction to our company’s profits and enterprise value?

• How can I make our company an even more global, interesting, fun hub of innovation that attracts the very best talent from all backgrounds?

Watch the video on YouTube here: