Customer Reviews

Breaking the Bamboo Ceiling: Career Strategies for Asians

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Let me save you some money...because if you're Asian, you're definitely all about saving money:

Section 1: You're Asian. That means you're reserved and don't like to toot your own horn. Let me tell you a story about Bobby Chang... (repeat 50 times)

Section 2: You're raised to only want to be a doctor or a lawyer and business is only a backup. You should be less reserved, toot your own horn, and find a job you really love *but* that doesn't mean you're less Asian! Let me tell you a story about Suzie Lee...(repeat 50 times)

Section 3: Even though I encouraged you to do whatever you want in the previous section, now I'm going to tell you how to get ahead in business because you're Asian, and that's obviously the job you're in.

I understand she had to make generalizations to make the book appealing to a diverse group of people, but it's so watered down that it's near meaningless. She repeats herself so much that the actual content could be boiled down to 10 pages or so.

Most of book is spent describing what it means to be Asian. While this was done succinctly on one page, the descriptions were then repeated over and over again until it became a charicature. I get it already. It's not like I didn't already spend over half my life living amongst non-Asians and haven't analyzed or overanalyzed all the ways I'm different. Most of my Asian friends are a pretty self-aware bunch.

Where the book could've been most helpful, it was pretty much useless. Instead of giving tips on how to change the habits she identified, her advice boil down to "change your ways," "here are some things you can say," or "this is what I told this one guy and it changed his life." She has a few good tips here and there, but most of the examples she gives of things you can say sound really unnatural and brown-nosey. Her job advice seems geared for some generic 'Office Space' role. In addition, her self-assessment tests provide no way for you to assess them after you've taken them.

If this were a book on how to be a faster runner, it would go something like this:
You run slow. You need to run faster because you run slow. Other people can see you run slow. Therefore, you should run faster. Here's a stopwatch. You should time how fast you run, but I'm not going to tell you how to run faster or what your speed means. I gave Johnny Kim a pair of new sneakers and now he's in the Olympics.

WTF?!

I gave it two stars for those Asians out there who dodn't realize how Asian-y they're being. This book could be a tremendous help to them. It's also always nice to hear someone confirm what you think and tell you how others perceive you. But if you already realize your shortcomings and someone telling you to "speak up" isn't all the encouragement you need to change, then look elsewhere or just skim it in the bookstore.

A book specifically targetting Asian American professionals has long been overdue (where in the world are all the would be Asian American authors????). This book provides solid advice for Asians climbing the corporate ladder. In summary, values that Asian American parents inculcate into their children (obedience, passiveness, modesty, extreme emphasis on education over experience) often work against Asians. Here are the key points summarized at the end of the book.

1)Take time to do a thorough self assessment.
2)Recognize your bamboo ceiling barriers, both personal and organizational.
3)Choose an Employer that fits your personal values and interests.
4)Develop cultural competence.
5)Find mentors.
6)commit to building a deep and broad network.
7)Make use of your bicultural and bilingual abilities.
8)Get into the habit of asking for and giving honest feedback.
9)Develop resilience in your career.
10)Be politically astute.

The book could have provided more details on how one can improve one's chances of promotion in ways which are not culturally related.

It is to Jane Hyun's credit to discuss issues of Asian American professionals on a very practical level. There are however, some caveats for the reader. The book needs to be contextualized within a larger conceptual framework. The overarching issues are ignored within her practical framework, namely: Who needs to change? Who needs to accommodate whom? How much? What are the risks and benefits? Her book appears to be saying that corporate America needs to understand Asians, but it does not need to change. Rather it is the Asian professional that needs to change and adapt.

Is the book too heavily assimilationist? It is not clear as Hyun does make a distinction early in her book between assimilation ("adopting ...at the expense of one's own cultural characteristics") and acculturation ("adapting ...while continuing to maintain values, perspectives, and features of one's native culture").

There appears to be little adaptation of any Asian models or perspective to the mainstream USA corporate culture -- page 279 suggests two ways: "Develop cultural competency" and "Make use of your bicultural and bilingual abilities." While recognizing the dominance of USA/Western research and models in the business world, it is also logical and no "one model fits all." Perhaps future research and practices can provide indigenous Asian models or perspectives that can be adapted and work effectively in coporate America or other cultures. The Special Issue on China & India (Business Week, August 22/29, 2005) points out how some USA business models are not applicable.

It is not an either/or proposition. By utilizing the juxtaposition of the Asian behavior/values system versus the Western behavior/values system to present her central thesis, Hyun creates a false dichotomy in the mind of the reader. Current business literature is filled with exhortations of "win/win," "both/and," "alignment," and "interdependence" -- all very Asian concepts. These traditional Asian cultural values are at the very heart of what contemporary corporate America is trying to effect in order to add value. So there is a "baby with the bath water" caveat here to the reader. The accommodation needs to be reciprocal, not unilateral.

In her Epilogue, Hyun encourages the reader to "Develop an Action Plan That Works with Your Persona." It seems throughout her book that the emphasis is on asking the reader to tailor his or her persona to that which is required for success in corporate America, not on utilizing the behavioral strengths and cognitive positions with which someone who comes with a strong Asian cultural background is imbued. Being Asian -- it seems to Hyun -- puts one in a deficit position.

The reader needs to be cautious in the self-assessment, individual profiles, exercises and tools cited. They yield helpful descriptive self-awareness profiles and information, not diagnostic or predictive profiles, and they are dependent on situational factors. There are many suggestions, based perhaps on many years of experience, but empirical data demonstrating their reliability, validity or efficacy are not mentioned.

Kudos to Hyun for encouraging the seeking of regular and frequent performance feedback. This is a career self-monitoring technique that is utilized far too little by all employees to help document and strengthen requests for job and salary advancement. In spite of the conceptual conundrums, this highly practical book is a must read.

Adrian Chan (Kochman Mavrelis Associates, Oak Park, IL) & Barry Mar (Management & Resources Associates, Seattle, WA)

If you look at upper management at the large companies in the United States you will find a heavy preponderance of white native-born males. There are all kinds of 'ceilings' imposed on minorities, be they women, native Americans African-Americans, or as described in this book Asian.

This book, obviously about Asians looks at the situation and examines not only the situation as it exists, but then attempts to find out why this situation exists. This includes an analysis of the mental attitude of the Asian worker who is coming from a different culture that teaches a different standard of behavior.

This book is written by an Asian woman who is a career coach or human resources consultant to Fortune 500 companies. Her book offers some advice aimed at the Asian worker that might help to point out ways that an individual might use to change certain cultural behavior patterns. This includes such points as speaking out, participating in a conversation may be more important than the study hard skills learned when the goal was to make good grades.

However, having grown up in a traditional Asian immigrant family, I was told over and over again by my parents that "empty can makes louder noise". I learned the virtue of being thoughtful (think twice before saying anything needless), which apprently has not helped me much in the ways of advancing my career as a manager.

This book is a MUST read for anyone working in a multi-cultural corporation, especially for those who come from Asian heritage. It will help you better understand yourself, and provide you with the corrective lense (if you will) to get a better sense of how others really see you (or don't see you) when you keep your thoughts to yourself.

Very well written, and it is easy reading.

As the first book of this kind, this book has done an excellent job in provoking thinking and providing valuable career advice for business professionals with Asian ethnic background.

I highly recommend it to any Asian who works in North America or whose bosses happen to be white.

In contrast to other general career books, the book has done a great job to emphasize how important the soft skills like presentation and interpersonal skills are. Traditionally, Asians especially Chinese focus more on the hard skills like math, PC skills, probably under the influence of Confusian. (Confusian said: "A person of virtue should be quick in action but reluctant in words) Jane also covers the major weaknesses Asian people exhibit in North American business. I think her summary is insightful, comprehensive and worth to be kept for frequent reference. Jane also presents valuable anecdotal feedbacks on how westerners characterise Asian.

However, the book is far from being perfect. Several arguments are obviously out-of-date or only true in very few small and remote cities. For example, white people tend to think Asian-like people were not born in America. And Jane didn't do a good job in distinguishing the personality differences and the cultural differences. For example, the author cited that one Chinese girl just came to U.S but appreared to be more American than an Asian man born in America. I don't think it correct that if a person stands for herself, the action should be categorized as "American". it might be more due to the personality.

If Jane had more experience working in Hongkong, New Dehli, Singapore, and etc., she would have noticed that many many Asians have what she calls "American" attributes like aggressiveness, out-spoken, not afraid to confrontation.

Jane also tried to write a career encyclepedia, which was a bit over-ambitious goal. Readers will be better off to turn to other books for help on tactics like interview skills. The evaluation provided in the book is far from being sophisticate and also out-of-date. I will suggest you rely other general personality evaluation to get better understanding of yourself.


Obviously, Jane doesn't have much exposure to the rich traditional Asian literature(like one of the most famous, The Art of War). Some weaknesses she cites in the book can easily, in my humble opinion, overcome by drawing from the traditional values. This limited exposure also prevents her from providing much better career strategies.

Nevertheless, the book has inspired deep reflection and thinking, some of which is already reflected in this review.


As a Chinese immigrant studying and working in Canada, I found this book very helpful for my career. Besides providing ample foods for thinking, this book helps me better align my study and self-development plan. My friends also like it and we even had several good discussions.

Highly recommended!

Breaking the Bamboo Ceiling is a great guide on advancing and succeeding in the corporate workplace today. It sheds much needed light on topics relevant to all Asian Americans but virtually unaddressed, in my opinion, by mainstream career advancement books.

What makes the book particularly helpful is how it provides not only big-picture strategy guidance, such as the importance of building career networks, but also provides practical tips, at the tactical level, needed to make these a reality: how to perfect the 30 second marketing pitch and how to build and nurture mentoring relationships.

Occasionally, however, I found the examples a bit repetitive, especially with regard to the descriptions of examples stereotypically attributed to Asians. However, the short vignettes and anecdotes used to illustrate many of these examples were very insightful and kept the pace of the reading lively.

Overall, Jane Hyun's message throughout Breaking the Bamboo Ceiling is an inherently empowering one - that building the skills to succeed in today's workplace does not have to conflict with our cultural values and that these skillsets are no different from the other interpersonal / managerial skills needed as we climb the corporate ladder. Breaking the Bamboo Ceiling has definitely earned a permanent spot on my reference bookshelf and I highly recommend it to all those working to build more successful careers.

I started a new job a few months ago and have found this book to be very helpful. In past positions, I've been able to distinguish myself based on the quality of my work product, but I've always felt that improvement of my soft skills would take me a level up from just being viewed as intelligent and hardworking. I knew I could probably do things to better my standing, but I didn't know how to do so since I figured doing good work and being social was pretty much the whole equation.

Hyun's book has been a solid resource for me in identifying concrete areas to improve on and providing guidance for such improvement. The book made me conscious of some habits I have that might be perceived negatively (though some habits I might not consider asian-specific) and ways to improve how I present myself. The self assessment section and the networking and mentorship guidance were very insightful and I've found them easy to turn into actionable items.

I will say that I wish the book could have gone a little more in depth into certain areas (maybe more with on-the-job strategies) and covered others a little less (e.g. on choosing a career since I'm pretty much wed to mine). Still, I would be surprised if any career-oriented person read this book and didn't find it to be a very valuable read. Highly recommended.

I first came upon a recommendation to read this book from an article by Anne Fisher of Fortune magazine on Fortune's 2005 diversity issue. This book is excellent guide both to corporate HR personnel and Asian employees trying to move up the corporate ladder! Asian employees and the direct correlation of their work habits to their culture have been an underlying mystery in the workplace because very little study has been made for this group-until now. This book is a breakthrough in explaining Asian tendencies in the workplace and is very helpful both to the employer and the employee-Asians or otherwise. Certainly a must read for those creating and leading the Diversity Initiatives in their companies!

The book not only offers case studies, but it also includes worksheets for understanding how one's Asian culture serves as the foundation of his/her work mannerisms and tendencies. It offers tips on how to overcome cultural challenges as well as tips for the employers on how to make Asian workers feel more open. These tools will ultimately increase productivity, promote Asian leadership in the organization, and help form a truly diverse corporation.

I found the description of different mentorship programs particularly useful to me, as I believe mentorship is the most effective way in honing future leaders internal to the company. As a Filipino-American and an aspiring leader in a Fortune 100 company, I highly recommend this book.

Jane Hyun's book penetrates past the superficial layers of discussions about ethnicity, culture, and heritage in the workplace in order to get at the heart of how these factors influence hiring, promotion, and performance. I became interested in her book through my involvement with a South Asian dance group at my university. Being one of the only non-South Asians in the group and the ensuing social scene, it was a very interesting for me to see both the typical "American" aspects of my friends as well as their more distinctive Indian identities. Hyun explores this dichotomy and how each factor influences Asian American employees in varying ways. Regardless of family heritage, the book has some effective strategies for personal career development and overcoming the cultural barriers and confines that we sometimes don't perceive as affecting us. Additionally, it is a unique guide for managers on how cultural factors may affect a worker's performance, behavior, or ability to contribute to a team. I would recommend the book as a tool for anyone wishing to learn more about how cultural characteristics can influence the character and productivity of the workplace.