(To read “Part 1, Ingredients of Leadership”, click here.)

Hello,

In our recent interviews on leadership, our participants ranged from aspiring and rising leaders to those with more experience in leadership roles. They related to us past and present challenges, as well as some of their learnings. One topic that came up frequently is “speaking up”. In this post, we share some of our participants’ stories and experiences about the situations, sources and impacts of not being able to speak up, and what they learned in working through this challenge.

• Speaking in meetings or groups A number of our interviewees who are adult immigrants mentioned language and cultural differences as barriers to speaking up in meetings or groups, and how that may be related to their career development choices:

• Speaking about my contributions / Asking for what I want Our participants, including both immigrant and American-born Asians, mentioned hard working and being quiet and non-demanding as part of their upbringing that contrasts with the American or western style. Advocating for themselves - speaking about their contributions and asking for what they want - is a lesson learned for some, and an ongoing challenge for others.

• Being quiet vs causing trouble Not everyone feels being Asian has anything to do with their leadership or career in general, but some shared sentiments and beliefs that are common among Asian immigrants and their descendants - that speaking up or presenting different opinions may cause conflict, be perceived as impolite, or even disrespectful.

What are your experiences with speaking up? How does that matter for your leadership? Share your thoughts and stories by joining this Google Group.

With gratitude and light,

Yan and An