<p>According to my dad, asians cannot succeed in the business world because of the race barrier. He is very adamant about this. He has no basis except for his "gut feeling," and says that I should "trust him" on this point.</p>
<p>What say you guys? Brutal honesty.</p>
<p>THAT IS ABSOLUTELY NOT TRUE. In my opinion, there are two main reasons that Asians don't succeed in business. Tell your father that he is COMPLETELY WRONG and cite these two reasons that Asians didn't make Forbes 400 this year (succeed in business).</p>
<ol>
<li><p>MOST ASIANS NEVER ENTER BUSINESS IN THE FIRST PLACE. In fields such as trading, investment banking, consulting and accounting, race has almost nothing to do with success. I've seen heads of Goldman Sachs who were Asian. Most asians are forced to enter fields of medicine, engineering, education or law by their parents.</p></li>
<li><p>MOST ASIANS ARE AFRAID OF TAKING RISKS AND AFRAID OF FAILING. Look at the professions that Asian-Americans enter: law, med, engineering, whatever. These are almost foolproof, and there's almost no failure. But those professions will never make a humongous income that businesspeople can make. I'm not saying that this is a negative, but this characteristics is certainly a liability for asians. They value stability too much for success in business.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I'm not saying that this list is completely accurate, but this is my opinion why Asians DON'T, NOT can't succeed in business. There's no reason that Asians can't succeed in business. They are smart, hardworking, diligent, and there IS NO GLASS CEILING. And that's all you need to succeed. Success is achieved by 95% effort and 5% talent.</p>
<p>But I thrive on risk, and I'm planning to go into business, so I have the potential for success (I'm asian btw).</p>
<p>I second IhateCA's opinion. Asian people are too afraid of taking risk. Anyway, we cannot blame them for that, it is kinda cultural characteristic. The second reason for the question "why don't we ussually get information about richest Asian people," I think it is because they are fairly discreet. You see Eastern Culture values things that is mysterious; they think that the more you are in the dark, the easier for you to manage your works.</p>
<p>it's important to note that culturally asians are taught to be followers and not leaders...this is a key reason why asians in the business world tend to be back-office workers leading people to believe they are unsuccessful.</p>
<p>Can you elaborate more on your opinion that "culturally asians are taught to be followers and not leaders?"</p>
<p>It is interesting to see a number of people on this forum scream, "It's culture! There's no entrepreneurialism!" But they all seem to overlook the many entrepreneurs in Asia. Soichiro Honda (Honda motor corp.), the guys who started Lenovo (I forget it at the moment), the Koo and Heo families (who founded LG), Fusajiro Yamauchi (Nintendo), Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita (Sony), Shin Kyuk-Ho (Lotte Group). The list goes on and on. </p>
<p>There is definitely entrepreneurial spirit in Asia.</p>
<p>But even in the US, I can think of some Asian names.</p>
<p>James Chu (Viewsonic), Victor Tsao/Janie Tsao (Linksys), Dunson K Cheng (Cathay Bank), Jen-Hsun Huang (NVidia), Vera Wang (trust me guys, the ladies will know that name), and the guy who started Bugle Boy.</p>
<p>I don't think Asians are doing too badly.</p>
<p>Oh, another name that comes to mind is Azim Premji of Wipro. He didn't found it, but he's sure a hotshot in his domain.</p>
<p>Also I think after white people, There is quite a large number of asians on wall street (including indians)</p>
<p>yea, asians work hard.</p>
<p>yeah, indians are doing well <a href="http://www.leveragedsellout.com/2006/02/bsdesis.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.leveragedsellout.com/2006/02/bsdesis.html</a> ;)</p>
<p>Asian schools are very hierarchical. They believe that leadership comes with age. In Asian countries, most leadership positions are filled by older people, and that's because you get promoted based on how old you are and how long you've been working there. There's a HUGE emphasis on group orientation rather than individualism. Dissent is strongly discouraged, and people at asian schools are rather cliquish. There's a HUGE emphasis on "fitting in", rather than standing out. People will exclude you from "the clique" if you are different in any way. Uniformity is encouraged, and leadership is discouraged. That's what I think bern700 means by "asians are taught to be followers rather than leaders." Huge emphasis is placed on working hard and succeeding, and being "better" than the other person, rather than being different and unique. And teachers and administrators hold strict authority over students, and therefore there is no opportunity for asian students to be leaders.</p>
<p>i say Asians are too honest with their work. most are not agressive enough to survive on wall street. they might be full of brains, but on Wall Street you need the bussinessman skills.</p>
<p>to UCLAri,
you're just naming a few out of the millions. of course there are going to be some successful asians, but the majority are not. most asians work honest jobs. i get what i work for. in business, you've got to be aggressive and on top of someone.</p>
<p>^obviously the majority of asians are not succesful, just like most whites,blacks and hispanics are not succesful.And for the not surviving on Wall STreet part, times are changing not all asians are interested in engineering or medicine and are entering the business world instead. Within the next 10-20 years the forbes 400 list will be filled with them.</p>
<p>Im sure asians are very prominent in the business world, look at how many asians there are at the top bschools (wharton, nyu, mich etc)</p>
<p>Asians are too honest. They're not capable of having an extremely high goal, and just accomplishing it. They're afraid that they'll fall through a crack someplace. They're not afraid of stepping on people and then never looking back. It kind of hurts them because they're programmed to function in a group. They feel awkward when one individual is way ahead of the group.</p>
<p>In business, I agree you have to be able to bring people down and not feel bad about it. It's either your ass or someone else's ass that's on the line. And you have be able to cause someone else's ass to be fired, blow it off, and be able to say "It's not personal, it's just business.". If you get an emotional breakdown every time someone gets fired, you'll be very unhappy and you'll lose in business eventually. Business is a dog-eat-dog world.</p>
<p>
[quote]
it's important to note that culturally asians are taught to be followers and not leaders...this is a key reason why asians in the business world tend to be back-office workers leading people to believe they are unsuccessful.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Yes, I absolutely agree that there are cultural barriers that hamper asians' ability to succeed in the American workforce. One such example is that Asians consider profusely apologizing as a gesture of goodwill, however, Americans see it as a sign of low self-esteem and/or guiltiness.</p>
<p>asian guys are cute.</p>
<p>My uncle was the first asian CEO of a major hotel franchise. He was CEO of Knights Inn. He has inspired me to think otherwise when we converse at family gatherings.</p>
<p>i cannot even explain who extremely wrong you guys are. ihatecali, are you even asian or are you just claiming that you know.</p>
<p>Maybe some of you could stand to be less ignorant</p>
<p>Asians are taught to do things for themselves, they are not taught to be followers, that is why so many succesful asians are enterpeneurs and they make it to be succesful, yet you claim asians are to honest, not aggresive enough. BS</p>
<p>Every person down my family line has been in business. I can name at least 20 asians that own their businesses that bring in more than a million a year. </p>
<p>I would call you guys id**ts, but i dont want to be warned by admins</p>
<p>business trait runs in my family. my dad's side of family owned businesses before the cultural revolution in china. everytime i mention the revolution, my dad criticizes and starts swearing. i guess that's how bad it was. right now, my relatives in china owns some kind of business. idk. we don't keep in touch. so does my family in australia. </p>
<p>here in america, my parents own a little business as well. pretty cool. i'm aspired to work in the business field as well.</p>