Welcome 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
Wei Hopeman, Managing Director and Head of Asia for Citi Ventures, stresses the importance of taking risks, embracing the unknown, and cultivating strong relationships in business. Hopeman joined Citi Ventures in 2010 to lead activities in Asia, which is the venture investing and innovation arm of Citi. “We act as the eyes and ears that identify new technologies to bring into Citi to help our company stay ahead of the competition,” said Hopeman.
Career Path
When she first started out in the in financial industry, Hopeman worked as a buyside analyst on the Asian portfolio of a Los Angeles based firm. “The Asian portfolio was about one billion dollars. I was asked if I wanted to move to Hong Kong to help set up the Asian office for the firm,” recalled Hopeman. “I jumped at the opportunity, which was such an amazing experience for someone my age.”
After successfully establishing the Hong Kong office for her firm, Hopeman decided to take a detour from the traditional career path in finance when she received a phone call from a friend about joining a new real estate start-up. “I knew nothing about real estate or running a start-up, but I saw it as a great opportunity,” said Hopeman. “We started in a 10×10 windowless office, raised capital, hired a staff, and developed a business plan. Eventually we grew from just two people to having offices in Hong Kong, Japan, and China.”
Although it was somewhat of a departure from her career in finance, Hopeman values the time she spent growing her start-up. “Even though this experience happened early on in my professional life, it played a huge role in how I viewed the rest of my career. It taught me that you shouldn’t be intimidated by things you don’t know because you can always figure it out if you are smart and hard-working.”
After successfully fulfilling her goals as an entrepreneur, Wei returned to the financial services industry and spent a couple of years working for an Investment Banking and Private Equity firm whose primary focus was helping European multinational companies complete strategic acquisitions in Asian markets. Always looking for the next opportunity, Hopeman decided that it was time for her to expand her industry knowledge by attending business school at Stanford.
“In business school I caught the technology bug and fell in love with the Bay area,” Hopeman said. She continued, “I became a technology investment banker and spent the next eight years learning about emerging technologies and helping technology companies with strategic initiatives.” During this time Hopeman was presented with another opportunity to relocate to Asia and help her firm establish an office in this market.
In her current role with Citi Ventures, Hopeman spends a lot of time thinking about ways to keep Citi one step ahead of the competition. “We are facing some non-traditional competitors in our industry right now like Google, Amazon, and Alibaba who are creating customer centric and data driven financial services with the end user in mind. This makes us think about new ways of conducting our traditional business and how to enhance the customer experience with new technologies and capabilities.”
Voice of Experience: Siew Choo Ng, Senior Vice President, Head of Global Network Partnerships, Asia, American Express
Featured, Voices of ExperienceBy Michelle Hendelman, Editor-in-Chief
Siew Choo Ng, Senior Vice President, Head of Global Network Partnerships, Asia, American Express based in Singapore, has held many different positions and worked in many different markets during her 20+ year career with American Express.
By gaining all of these valuable business perspectives, Ng has been able to successfully apply her knowledge and experience in her new role as Head of Global Network Partnerships in Asia . “One of the benefits of working in so many different businesses and markets is the ability to network and adapt,” said Ng.
Ng has successfully navigated the company’s different businesses, but there is one thing that she has learned throughout her career that she wishes she knew when she was first starting out. “It is important to know how to manage your boss,” remarked Ng. “He or she is the one who can be your sponsor and help you with your career. Often times you are competing for their time and sponsorship with your other team members, so it helps to distinguish yourself from the pack.”
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Voice of Experience: Wei Hopeman, Managing Director and Head of Asia, Citi Ventures, Shanghai
Featured, Voices of ExperienceBy Michelle Hendelman, Editor-in-Chief
Wei Hopeman, Managing Director and Head of Asia for Citi Ventures, stresses the importance of taking risks, embracing the unknown, and cultivating strong relationships in business. Hopeman joined Citi Ventures in 2010 to lead activities in Asia, which is the venture investing and innovation arm of Citi. “We act as the eyes and ears that identify new technologies to bring into Citi to help our company stay ahead of the competition,” said Hopeman.
Career Path
When she first started out in the in financial industry, Hopeman worked as a buyside analyst on the Asian portfolio of a Los Angeles based firm. “The Asian portfolio was about one billion dollars. I was asked if I wanted to move to Hong Kong to help set up the Asian office for the firm,” recalled Hopeman. “I jumped at the opportunity, which was such an amazing experience for someone my age.”
After successfully establishing the Hong Kong office for her firm, Hopeman decided to take a detour from the traditional career path in finance when she received a phone call from a friend about joining a new real estate start-up. “I knew nothing about real estate or running a start-up, but I saw it as a great opportunity,” said Hopeman. “We started in a 10×10 windowless office, raised capital, hired a staff, and developed a business plan. Eventually we grew from just two people to having offices in Hong Kong, Japan, and China.”
Although it was somewhat of a departure from her career in finance, Hopeman values the time she spent growing her start-up. “Even though this experience happened early on in my professional life, it played a huge role in how I viewed the rest of my career. It taught me that you shouldn’t be intimidated by things you don’t know because you can always figure it out if you are smart and hard-working.”
After successfully fulfilling her goals as an entrepreneur, Wei returned to the financial services industry and spent a couple of years working for an Investment Banking and Private Equity firm whose primary focus was helping European multinational companies complete strategic acquisitions in Asian markets. Always looking for the next opportunity, Hopeman decided that it was time for her to expand her industry knowledge by attending business school at Stanford.
“In business school I caught the technology bug and fell in love with the Bay area,” Hopeman said. She continued, “I became a technology investment banker and spent the next eight years learning about emerging technologies and helping technology companies with strategic initiatives.” During this time Hopeman was presented with another opportunity to relocate to Asia and help her firm establish an office in this market.
In her current role with Citi Ventures, Hopeman spends a lot of time thinking about ways to keep Citi one step ahead of the competition. “We are facing some non-traditional competitors in our industry right now like Google, Amazon, and Alibaba who are creating customer centric and data driven financial services with the end user in mind. This makes us think about new ways of conducting our traditional business and how to enhance the customer experience with new technologies and capabilities.”
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Voice of Experience: Lorna Chen, Partner, Global Asset Management Group, Shearman & Sterling LLP, Hong Kong
Featured, Voices of ExperienceBy Michelle Hendelman, Editor-in-Chief
Lorna Chen, a Partner in the Global Asset Management Group at Shearman & Sterling’s Hong Kong office, wasn’t always sure where her career would take her, but she always knew that she would do something great. “If you ask me what made me what I am today, it is my subconscious belief in myself,” said Chen.
“I was born and grew up in Beijing as a native Mandarin Chinese speaker. I completed all of my schooling in Beijing and as an undergraduate and in graduate school, I specialized in English Language and Literature and American Studies. This turned out to be a very firm foundation for my future.”
Career in Law
“I think it was destiny that after I finished graduate school, I met a group of people who were opening up their own law firm. This was right around the time that China was beginning to open its doors and privatize the legal industry. I decided to join them because it was very challenging and interesting to work for a law firm.” She continued, “I took the first National Exam ever administered in China to become a trademark agent and I ranked first. My job was to go to the Chinese administration and address issues around major trademarks being copied without permission.”
This experience motivated Chen to take the bar exam in China despite not having her law degree, a practice that was, and still is, allowed in China. It was a very exciting time, explained Chen, since China was just starting their legal system. “Originally, I planned on attending business school to earn my MBA, but after I passed the bar exam, I decided that if I was going to stay in the legal field, I needed to get a law degree to become a lawyer.”
In 1997, Chen took advantage of a unique opportunity to spend six months in Frankfurt as an international associate for a leading German law firm that was considering expanding their practice into China. “Because I spoke English very well, I was the only person chosen out of about 2,000 lawyers to go to Germany. This experience started my journey in the legal profession outside of Beijing,” said Chen.
“I had already started to take charge in my firm, so I had a first mover advantage upon going to Frankfurt,” explained Chen. After accumulating so much experience in Beijing and Frankfurt, Chen decided the time was right to start applying to law schools in the United States. However, she was asked by the partners of the Frankfurt firm to stay on board for the rest of the year because one of their mid-level associates in their Hong Kong office was leaving the firm. “The year I spent working for Bruckhaus was very valuable and really opened my eyes to what it was like to work as an international associate.”
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Voice of Experience: Kathy Matsui, co-head of Economics, Commodities and Strategy (ECS) Research in Asia, chief Japan equity strategist, Goldman Sachs Japan
Featured, Voices of ExperienceAlthough 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
Featured, Industry Leaders, LeadershipBy 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:
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
Voices of ExperienceBy 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
Office PoliticsWhat’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
Managing ChangeFamiliarity 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
Movers and ShakersShe 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.
Expert AnswersWomen 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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