Few studies have focused on Asian Americans who have advanced through the challenging, and at times, seemingly subjective pathways into leadership. For Asian American leaders who have secured oft-desired high-ranking positions as C-suite or senior executives, little research is available about how they achieved those roles.
What are the characteristics of successful Asian leaders across multiple sectors in the United States?
The research design explored the life journeys of 24 Asian American executives across multiple sectors. The leaders in the study currently hold executive roles in Fortune 500 companies, higher education institutions, government agencies, and the largest nonprofits in the U.S. Using a narrative inquiry approach allowed us to delve into each of the leader’s distinct experiences of navigating the varied organizational structures.
Our aspiration in sharing this research study are as follows:
Contribute to the limited, yet steadily expanding literature about Asian Americans in leadership.
Provide insight into each of the executive’s stories and encourage the next generation of Asian and Asian American leaders to pursue a career in executive leadership.
RESEARCH FINDINGS
Characteristics of Asian American Leaders
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As opposed to chasing positions and titles, I was always interested in gathering experiences. I was just thinking about this the other day. You know, if someone said, ‘What is it that you want to do?’ I don't actually have a position title in mind, I don't have a company in mind. I know that I like to be involved in things that affect certain areas.
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So I learned some of the tricks of becoming a ‘normal-ized’ office colleague, whether it's music or sports… people want a common interest as a basis for interaction. From there, you can talk about anything you want. Eventually, they wanted to know about my background. But that ‘normal’ means of communication, I felt was important.
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I’ve been involved in a lot of the other organizations that focus on Asian American development. It’s still a very hard thing to see Asian Americans at the C-level. So I have a very strong interest in helping us to figure that out.
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One of my favorite areas that I like to focus on is our Asian business partnering group, our ERG. I want to help the next generation and help them see that they have a path….
KEY INSIGHTS
Interpretation of Research Findings
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Hopefully the team would say that they feel I give them a fair amount of freedom to drive their work. But then I'm available to engage on the details because I make sure that I understand the details well enough to be a thought partner to them.
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…they would probably say that I'm a supportive manager and I'm always open to feedback. So, I'm always wanting a continuous loop in feedback because I'm all about the team. I don't see myself as their boss. I see myself as their team member. Sometimes they carry more, or I carry more, but I have an amazing team, so I can't even begin to imagine what my job would look like if I didn't have them.
LESSONS FROM LEADERS
Suggestions for Individuals and Organizations
Using the words of leaders, we encourage you to take inspiration from the leaders’ stories and directly apply into your life.
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…I learned more from people that were making mistakes than I did from people that were doing the right thing. Because there were probably a lot more people making mistakes and I noticed that.
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And so, over time, just many, many experiences of learning along the way and being successful and then adapting and doing it a little bit differently. Just towards the end you're like, ‘Yeah, I can do anything.’ Right? I can take that risk, because not that I've done it before, but I'm confident in my ability to land and have learned something from the experience. And in some cases, I've done things and as I said, it hasn't been as successful as I thought, but I learned something.
Our recommendations for organizations come through our observations and insights gathered from the data.
Help continue the expansion of research about Asian and Pacific Islander leadership.
Contact Linda Akutagawa, President & CEO, about ways to support this work.