Voice of Experience: Kathy Matsui, co-head of Economics, Commodities and Strategy (ECS) Research in Asia, chief Japan equity strategist, Goldman Sachs Japan

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Kathy_Matsui_GSWelcome to The Glass Hammer’s Spotlight on Asia Week. We’ll be featuring profiles of successful business women working in Asia all week long!

Although she was born and raised in the United States, Kathy Matsui became interested in living and working in Japan while she was there as a Rotary Scholar after finishing college. When Matsui returned to the US to attend graduate school in Washington D.C., she decided to focus on Japan Studies in order to expand her knowledge of the Japanese economy.

During graduate school, Matsui had the opportunity to return to Japan as an intern at a large Japanese bank. She recalled, “It was a tremendously eye-opening experience to work in a Japanese institution and I gained an interesting perspective on what it was like to work in a domestic organization.” Matsui continued, “After this experience, I decided that I did not want to work for a traditional Japanese company, mainly because I was concerned about how long it would take me to get to the level I knew I wanted to be at.”

Career Path

After graduate school, Matsui relocated to Japan and began looking for a job in an organization where she would be evaluated based on her performance. “I started in Japan’s financial industry in 1989 at the peak of the asset bubble and I was fortunate to have received several job offers,” said Matsui. “I accepted a job in the research department at Barclays de Zoete Wedd Securities where I was one half of a two person team,” she added.

Matsui has always worked in research and has always been based in Tokyo, which makes her career path unique compared to many other senior people in the financial industry who often work in different business divisions and different markets. “I love doing research,” said Matsui, “And this is where I enjoy working the most.”

In 1999, Matsui authored a landmark research study around the theme of “Womenomics” in Japan that had a major impact on her career and the Japanese business culture. In her research, Matsui outlined ways in which the Japanese economy would benefit as a whole by including more females in the labor force. She argued that if Japan could close its gender employment gap, it could boost the level of GDP by as much as 14-15 percent.

She said, “I picked this subject because I thought it would be an interesting topic to write about, and all of a sudden the research took off and I was being invited to speak about the topic frequently both inside and outside the industry.” Matsui continued, “In many ways, coming to Japan as a foreigner allowed me to gain insight into aspects of the economy and culture that I might not have had otherwise.”

According to Matsui, given the severe demographic pressures of a rapidly-aging society, there is a growing emphasis on getting more women to participate in the workforce in Japan. While Matsui still focuses on women’s empowerment through her research, she spends most of her time analyzing the Japanese economy and stock market, as well as helping to manage a macro research team spread across the Asia region.

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Spotlight on Asia: The Future of Professional Women in Corporate Asia

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Leading a dynamic teamWelcome to The Glass Hammer’s Spotlight on Asia Week. We’ll be featuring profiles of successful business women working in Asia all week long!

By Michelle Hendelman, Editor-in-Chief

This week on The Glass Hammer, we are featuring profiles of senior level women living and working (not to mention succeeding) in Asian markets. Collectively, their stories are inspiring and offer a representation of professional women in Asia that is motivating to future generations. Individually, each of their journeys is truly remarkable. Here, we take a closer look at some of the key issues surrounding women’s career advancement in Asia and what the future holds for the talented and bright young women emerging from this region.

Women’s career advancement has become a focal point in different industries across the globe, and some countries and regions have progressed at a faster rate than others. When you take a look at the landscape of gender diversity in the corporate culture in Asia, you will notice a gap that is starting to gain a lot of attention from business leaders who are beginning to recognize the value of women leaders in the workplace.

Tapping into the Female Workforce in Asia

McKinsey recently released their report, Women Matter: An Asian Perspective [PDF], which offers an in depth look at the state of gender diversity in Asia. This research is based on their assessment of 745 companies and a survey of 1,500 senior managers to assess the interest in increased gender diversity, the challenges involved in getting more women in leadership positions, and the barriers preventing female talent from gaining access to the talent pipeline.

The report states:

“Asian cultures of course vary widely, so the picture is a varied one. Nevertheless, the survey results are an important benchmark against which to assess both the current situation and judge future progress. Not surprisingly perhaps, the results show women hold very few of the top jobs in Asia. On average, they hold 6 percent of the seats on corporate boards and 8 percent of those on executive committees. Moreover, although elements of a gender diversity program are in place in some Asian companies, the issue is not yet high on the strategic agenda of most.”

The data may look bleak, but it can only mean one thing –there is only room to grow from here. The global economy is growing, but Asia boasts some of the fastest growing economies in the world right now. In order to keep up with the growth on the consumer side, businesses must create growth driven strategies to stay competitive. What does this all boil down to? All of this economic growth is a driving force behind the need for more labor force participation, and if this does not include women, the well of the workforce will dry up pretty fast.

Aside from the sheer supply and demand economic benefits associated with getting more female participation in the workforce in Asia, there are strategic advantages as well. Champions of gender equality have been making the business case [PDF] for gender diversity in the workplace for years, but as more women fill the top spots, companies are starting to see a profound effect on their bottom line. Yet, according to the McKinsey report, 70 percent of the executives they surveyed stated that gender diversity is not a priority on their strategic business agenda.

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Voice of Experience: Maan Huey Lim, Partner, PwC Singapore

maan_huey_limWelcome to The Glass Hammer’s Spotlight on Asia Week. We’ll be featuring profiles of successful business women working in Asia all week long!

By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

“To be very candid,” began Maan Huey Lim, Tax Partner at PwC, Singapore, “Early on, when I started I was very much focused on the technical work. To be a good tax advisor, you need to spend a lot of time going though the legislation, and deciding how it would work in the real world. I spent a lot of time doing the work, but as a result, I spent less time on soft skills.”

But over the course of her career, her focus has expanded. She continued, “Don’t get me wrong – my clients loved me because I was doing top notch work. But as I progress, I find my focus changing. I’m spending my time really talking to people and engaging with the team around me. It’s such an important part of the business. I could not see as much when I was starting out. As an associate, a lot of your focus is on getting a good foundation, learning tax laws, and writing good advice. But it’s also important that you are really connecting and engaging with the team and clients you are working with.”

“You get so much more out of talking to people. You learn useful information, and the more you get to know people the more business comes to you along the way,” she added.

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At Work, Giving is the New Getting

iStock_000017306404XSmallBy Terry Selucky (Los Angeles)

What’s the best way to guarantee a healthy ROI?

Attract talent. Analyze and use data. Beef up social media. Cultivate compassion?

Though at first glance it may seem counter-intuitive, creating a workplace culture that encourages compassion and collaboration among co-workers — as opposed to cutthroat competition — is actually one of the most effective ways to boost business.

Background

A recent article in The McKinsey Quarterly states that creating a giving culture at work not only reduces the stress level among employees, but also helps employees feel more loyal and committed. Emma Seppala, Associate Director for the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education at the University of California, notes that seeing someone help another person creates a “heightened state of well-being” and when leaders demonstrate generosity in this way, workers are “more likely to act in a helpful and friendly way with other employees for no particular reason.”

Even if the warm fuzzies you get from being selfless aren’t enough, analyzing the bottom line pleads the case for workplace compassion. For example, Philip Podsakoff from Indiana University has demonstrated a direct correlation between the frequency with which employees come to each other’s aid and the company’s sales revenues. Collaboration promotes a customer-first atmosphere; work gets done faster, it enhances team cohesion and coordination, provides spontaneous training for new employees, and increases consistency in products or services.

The McKinsey piece, contributed by Adam Grant, author of Give and Take: A Revolutionary Approach to Success, separates workplaces into three cultures: Givers, Takers, and Matchers. Though the monikers are self-explanatory, the findings are not: Matcher cultures trade favors in a closed loop, making them inefficient vehicles for exchange. Takers try to get as much as possible without giving in return, which does not benefit the whole. But Giver cultures encourage knowledge sharing among all employees and, in turn, best results and the most efficiency.

Fortunately for women (and perhaps, women-run businesses), they are natural “givers.” An article from Time shows that, in monetary giving at least, women are 40% more likely to donate than men, and at all income levels, they give more than their male counterparts. And, a recent article from The New York Times reveals that the mere presence of women makes everyone more generous — both in families and in the workplace.

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What’s the Secret to Workplace Diversity? Stop Hiring People Who are Just Like You

iStock_000017262943XSmallBy Michelle Hendelman, Editor-in-Chief

Familiarity is comforting, especially at work. Affiliations and similarities can go a long way in the office, but when does bonding in the break room over a shared alma mater or hometown become a hindrance to corporate diversity? Hiring managers and key decision makers in the hiring process meet a lot of talented individuals who each meet the requirements on paper, so how do they decide who gets the job or the promotion? Could affinity trump achievement? Let’s hope not.

There is a lot of focus right now on the role of unconscious bias in hiring and career advancement. This is the idea that underlying perceptions may cause leaders to favor the dominant group when making decisions about hiring, promoting, or any other factor that impacts an individual’s professional advancement. The subtle nature of unconscious bias makes it difficult to prove, but scientists are actually working on tests, like the Implicit Association test created by Dr. Mahzarin Banaji, professor of social ethics at Harvard University, that identify and address the hidden biases that impact our behavior.

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Movers and Shakers: Karyn Twaronite, the EY Americas Inclusiveness Officer

women working mentoring “Differences do matter,” began Karyn Twaronite, the EY Americas Inclusiveness Officer and a partner of Ernst & Young LLP. “I’m excited about expanding the definition of diversity as it applies to all men and women.”

She explained, “Many years ago, diversity work was about compliance, looking at numbers and representation. This is important, but there’s more to it than that. I like to think of the evolution as the three Cs. The first C is compliance and was focused on following the rules. The second C is character — diversity was seen as the right thing to do and something that your company needed to do to be viewed as modern. Today, we’re at the third C, which stands for commerce. It also focuses on making a difference to top and bottom lines in business.”

Twaronite continued, “Today we see diversity and inclusiveness, or D&I, as a way to further deliver quality service, innovate, and solve problems. For so many companies this is a competitiveness issue, not only to be seen as employers of choice, but also to enhance the quality of work. Diverse and inclusive teams provide better service to clients, and our high-quality service to our clients is key to our brand.”

She added, “I’m fortunate that I work at a company where D&I are embedded in our culture, and where D&I get a seat at the leadership table.”

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Looking to Get Ahead in Your Career? Look for a Mentor.

SusanVitaleContributed by Susan Vitale, Chief Marketing Officer, iCIMS

Women who want to get ahead in their careers often focus on forming alliances at the workplace, making friends who can provide a sympathetic ear in a highly competitive environment and support them as they attempt to navigate the corridors of power. It’s important to have friends – in life and on the job – and it’s crucial to form positive, productive relationships at the workplace. But when it comes to getting ahead at work, it’s far more important to find a great mentor than a BFF.

Mentors and mentees can also be friends, of course, but the mentor-mentee relationship has qualities that are distinct from the typical friendship dynamic. Friendships often arise from shared personal interests and experiences, and friendship connections frequently happen by chance. When you’re looking for a mentor, it’s more effective to pursue that goal deliberately: While you might be fortunate enough to find a great mentor through happenstance, savvy professionals who understand the value of a mentor relationship will proactively look for mentors and enlist their support.

Finding a mentor is important for a woman at any stage in her career, but a mentor relationship is particularly advantageous for younger women who are just starting out. A good mentor can help a newly minted professional identify her key strengths and find ways to use them to get ahead. By offering an objective perspective and, most importantly of all, challenging a mentee and making sure she challenges herself, a great mentor can make the difference between success and failure.

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Assessing the Structural Damages in Corporate Diversity: Fixing the Systemic Cracks

iStock_000006712763XSmallBy Michelle Hendelman, Editor-in-Chief

In a recent paper by PA Consulting, the benefit of shaping a corporate culture with a focus on diversity in order to create a high performance environment is explored through the lens of gender diversity. The paper presents a problem, which is that across the globe, there are simply not enough women in leadership positions within large corporations.

While you are reading this, as a woman in the trenches, maybe you are looking around your office and taking a quick mental count of number of women in charge? Are you concluding that whilst there are many women in the room, there is still a skewed distribution when it comes to the big decisions –of course this is industry and department specific –so one discourse about the glass ceiling does not fit all?

At The Glass Hammer, and the work we do via our consulting arm Evolved Employer, we believe that whenever you attempt to solve dilemmas around attracting, retaining and promoting people who haven’t historically been the people in the corner offices, then you need to identify multiple approaches, methods, and solutions that incentivize change.

Achieving gender diversity in the workplace –or any degree of diversity for that matter –really depends on two key factors that must work hand-in-hand: policy and people. Policies set the tone for a corporate culture and people reinforce the culture in their daily interactions with their colleagues and clients. When people are incentivized to challenge their own assumptions only then can policies bolster an inclusive work environment and the result is a positive impact on business performance.

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Voice of Experience: Mary Patrice Brown, Partner, O’Melveny & Myers

Mary Patrice BrownBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

Mary Pat Brown, Partner in the DC office of O’Melveny & Myers and member of its White Collar Defense and Corporate Investigations Practice, says one of the most important things for a young woman to learn early in her career is confidence.

Brown, a former Deputy Assistant Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice, said she shared this advice as a panelist at a career presentation. “While there are many things I wish I had known when I was younger, one was that I was not the dumbest person in the room after all.”

When you’re young and lacking in experience, she explained, there’s a natural tendency to feel that your insight isn’t as valuable as everyone else’s. But that’s not true – and in fact most people have these same insecurities. “When you’re young and you go into a room, you sometimes assume that you are not the smartest. The truth is, everyone else is feeling the same thing you are.”

By remembering that everyone is subject to doubts like these, women can better cultivate the confidence they need to advance.

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Three Ways to Make Your Boss Look Good – And Boost Your Career

Business PeopleBy Tina Vasquez (Los Angeles)

There are a multitude of reasons why people work to make their bosses look good. Perhaps they hope it will get them noticed, leading to a promotion of their own. In an unsteady economy, it might be the best route to keeping their job. Maybe they’re just looking to boost their department as a whole, and the most effective way to do that is to help the person leading the way. Whatever the reason, nothing bad can come of it, but what are the most effective ways to make your boss shine?

Michelle Foster Earle, president of OmniSure Consulting Group, a highly specialized firm offering consultation and support in risk management and loss control, says that learning new technology gets her attention. After 25 years as a senior leader on Wall Street, Doris Braun left to form Leadership Solutions for Women, an organization dedicated to advancing women in financial services. Braun says that when she was on Wall Street, getting her attention meant focusing on client relationships. Amanda Augustine, a career coach and job search expert for TheLadders, where she authors a career advice column shared with more than 5 million job seekers each week, also thinks that learning a new skills is not just helpful, but the best way to get noticed.

With the input of these experienced women, let’s look at three specific ways you can help your boss and boost your career:

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