My old employer McKinsey & Co. wrote a great report on Asian Americans in the workplace.
Early in my career, I was aware of the bamboo ceiling but just felt lucky to be in the room. It was not infrequent for me to be the only Asian American in a big progress review with a client or a Board presentation.
This slide from the report is one of the most telling about how real the bamboo ceiling is today where the rate of promotion at the senior levels drops off, in particular for Asian women.
I also thought this slide was interesting and to be quite frank, not surprising. It speaks to the heterogeneity of the Asian American demographic and what I perceive to be a real difference in the connectivity and support of the South Asian community versus other types of Asian Americans. I don’t think it is coincidental that the tech industry has several high-powered and highly respected Indian Americans at the helm.
Have I experienced direct racism in my career? I don’t have a dramatic story to tell, but there have always been subtle signs of discrimination, particularly given my Korean name. Numerous times I have been asked whether I speak English or assumed to be just an analytics person “good with numbers” rather than the person who could facilitate a big discussion and influence a complex decision. Subconscious bias is hard to overcome with all of the stereotypes that surround us culturally.
I consider myself lucky to have reached this point of my career, and I definitely didn’t do it alone. Asian Americans must be included in this more recent DEIB push in corporate America, and the report is a reminder that people like myself have a lot more work to do to provide mentorship and support to others in our community who need it.
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