Happy Asian Pacific American Heritage Month
As part of MyT.Coach advocacy service for the Asian Pacific American community, Coach George Mui spoke at the Bridge Bio Asian Pacific American heritage celebration on May 12, 2022, via Zoom. Sixty plus took part in a hybrid in-person/virtual event. The request came from a MyT.Coach member and a participant in the MyT-Coach online seminar series.
“In honor of #AAPIHeritageMonth, we were thrilled to have George Chunkau Mui speak to our team about his passion for working with AAPI small businesses across the country and his mission to help Asian Americans move into positions of influence and senior leadership roles. Thank you, George!” BridgeBio LinkedIn post – May 13, 2022
The event was formatted as a “Fire-side Chat” with the representatives from Asian@Bridge, Bridge BIO Asian American Employee Resource group serving as the moderators. The questions fell into three different areas:
- AAPI Heritage Month
- Personal Journey
- AAPI Career Transition from Technical to Business
Here are the questions and Coach George Mui candid answers.
AAPI heritage month
- What does AAPI heritage month mean to you?
While we all should celebrate every day, it seems like Asian Pacific American Heritage Month or Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage month gives us the opportunities to be proud of our cultural heritage and the rest of America is celebrating with us. Unfortunately, we also must deal with having to prove that we belong and even are “real” Americans. AAPI as a group continue to have to prove that we belong in the C-Level executive levels, corporate boards, partners in accounting & law firm, university executives, judges, etc.
For those of us that have been working on AAPI advocacy issues for so long, AAPI Heritage month is bittersweet – good to see we have more coverage and more buy in there is even such a month. Sad that the AAPI community still need it to celebrate their success and speak out on their challenges.
For me personally, getting a grip on my own Chinese American identity took a while. In the early days, we were taught to “assimilate”- it seems contrary to taking pride in my own culture and truly embrace it. I was constantly trying to fit in and showing that I am an American also. When I was naturalized on July 4, 1976, I felt that I finally belong. I proudly called myself the “Bi-Centennial” U.S. Citizen and even have a certificate to show for it. When I entered the professional working environment, I realized being an U.S. Citizen “doesn’t” really mean that much to the rest of America. Asian Pacific American Heritage meant to me that I can be myself for at least one month…?
Since AAPI individuals have been taught to assimilate, it can be difficult for them to take pride in their cultures and truly embrace their identities. But when they know that allies are willing to uplift AAPI stories, that makes it easier for everyone to understand that our differences are what makes us all beautiful and unique.
Why do you think it’s important to celebrate contributions from other cultures?
It is important for any company to celebrate the cultures of all its people. That is the only way they can maximize their collective productivity and impact. The AAPI community is not often expressive in letting the company know their collective needs. The AAPI Heritage Month offer this opportunity for the AAPI community to highlight their accomplishments and share their challenges and issues to maximize their potential within a company. The company should listen.
- Your personal journey
- How has your heritage shaped the person you are today?
My Chinese heritage fits into the very traditional immigrant box in most American’s mindset. Immigrants with a history of being outcasted dating back to the Chinese Exclusion Act back in 1882 to being the target of hate in the COVID-19 pandemic when Chinese are being blamed for the cause of the COVID-19. I came to this country as an immigrant sponsored by my half-sister back in the late 60’s as a teenager. Then become an U.S. Citizen on July 4, 1976 – so called Bi-Centennial Citizen.
Having to deal with the challenges of assimilation and then integration into the American society make having my own identity exceedingly difficult. Like most Chinese Americans, our acceptance by main-stream Americans depends on the current China – U.S. relationship. Spending last 12 years working for the U.S. Federal government confirmed my citizenship but my acceptance as an American still really depends on where I go in this nation.
For example, during the early days of the pandemic (March 10, 2020), I was invited to a meeting with the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) to discuss the impact on the APA businesses during COVID-19. On my way to the meeting on Capitol Hill in a DC Metro station, and someone yelled out to me “Hey, Corona Virus” in my face. I didn’t know how to react. Thinking to myself, “Wow, I am no longer Jackie Chan” to these people.
Another example that when we start to feel like we belong, they have a way of putting you back in place. This really drive me to elevate my Asian Pacific American Advocacy effort. - Who are the role models or mentors that have influenced you?
My Asian American Advocacy began in ATT-Bell labs when I was fortunate to have mentors and supporters within the Asian American community offering support as I advanced in my career. They offered me unconditional support as I moved from R&D to the Business side of the company. My role-models are generally Asian Americans leaders who have made it up the corporate ladders and yet still spent time and effort to help others in the community. The only thing they asked from me was the fact that I will do the same for other Asian Americans with the same aspiration. That is also what I asked now for the people I help. - What inspires you to develop and grow?
Getting more Asian Americans into position of influence and senior leadership role may be the only way to improve the situation. I am inspired by the achievement and impact of people I mentored and supported. I often find myself in the coaching mode or offering advice whether they asked for it or not.
- How has your heritage shaped the person you are today?
- AAPI Career Transition from Technical to Business
- Why?
As a software engineer in one of the leaders of Telecommunication Bells Lab and later Lucent Technologies, I often questioned the decision of management and the businesspeople on the chosen technology, features, and target market. Working my way into technical management at the supervisory level further reinforced my desire to move to the Business Side of the house. Research & Development departments get its funding from the business side of the house, they are just following the demand of their funders.
- How?
While moving to the business side of the house was my new career goal, not having the necessary business background was a big challenge. At the time AT&T has a wonderful internal education program including what was called the AT&T School of Business – I took all 15 classes in a span of 2 years. At the technical management level, I find my way into a “Technical Marketing” role where I managed a group of Engineers supporting the Business and Marketing departments. It supplied a wonderful opportunity to gain experience the business side of the Telecommunication business.
As the product management Director, I also attended 2 continue education programs at Stanford University – Mini MBA and Marketing Management. I learned what I am supposed to know and what questions I need to ask the MBA working for me…Good enough to grow a $120 million business into a $400 million business in 3 years. - Key challenges and how did you overcome them?
The most difficult aspect of my transition from R&D to Business was not the technical part of the job. As the Director, I did not have to perform any technical part of the job. It is namely to set the business strategy and managed the profits and loss. The most difficult job was really getting the recognition that I can be the one making the final business decision on my own unit, i.e., the General Manager. I was acting General Manager twice for also 9 months and replaced by someone with less experiences and knowledge of the project each time. I knew I have reached my Corporate Ceiling – Senior Director level and did not advance to Vice President/Executive level. This is often called the Bamboo ceiling. Looking back and knowing how the reality of the corporate world now, I never had a chance.
To learn more about Coach George’s perspective on Career Management, see his articles available on the Member Resource page. https://myt.coach/author/george-mui/