CAST-GNY Career Development Series: Break the “Glass Ceiling” and Become Star Performer

In February, CAST-GNY invited speakers and guests from different industries to discuss how to break the glass ceiling for Chinese in America. The guests included Richard Liu, a former Google Executive and CEO of Leap. A, Jing Juang, Senior Managing Director of AIG, and Yao Zhang, Managing Director of Navigant Consulting.

The guests shared their personal experience on making career decisions including transitions and seeking other opportunities. They describe multiple reasons to cause the “glass ceiling” phenomenon. First, there are too few Chinese in America. It’s important for us to help each other. Secondly, the difference in culture between China and America is drastic. Finally, many young Chinese in America do not have the courage or confidence in a professional setting. Too many are too afraid to fail. The guests also highlighted that an important skill is to deal with incomplete information and think from multiple perspectives to resolve problems.

Comparing to Indians in America, Chinese often lack the confidence in their language ability. However, the important factors in a conversation are when to talk, the content and the approach rather than the accent. Also, Indians tend to be more proactive in a team. Finally, Indians are very good at helping each other in a foreign country.

The speakers also gave their different career tips such as forcing yourself to speak in meetings, networking during lunches, seeking mentors and leveraging personal strengths.

 

Edit: Maier Wang

Translate: Andy Kong

 March 10, 2017