Bridging Culture Gaps: Beyond Celebrating Asian Heritage to Understanding It

Joy Chen is CEO of the Multicultural Leadership Institute, which trains leaders to boost collaboration and sales across cultures. She is a former Deputy Mayor of Los Angeles and Fortune 500 CEOs and Board recruiter.

🏮 Is your company gearing up for Asian Heritage Month celebrations?

Seize the moment to celebrate AND create greater cultural understanding.

Celebrations are no substitute for true cultural understanding

Asian Heritage Month often spotlights cultural expressions such as Dragon Boat races and dumpling-making classes.

These activities provide an exciting introduction to Asian cultures but often overlook the complexities shaping these traditions. This can perpetuate fleeting celebrations, causing leaders to believe they've met their cultural appreciation goals without fostering deeper cultural understanding.

A month dedicated to honoring Asian cultures can elapse without bridging the cultural knowledge gaps that sideline many Asian professionals, who are America's best-educated yet least-promoted employees.

To move beyond celebrations, organizations should commit to year-round initiatives that promote continuous learning and interaction. This way, leaders can build more inclusive workplaces where cultural diversity is not just celebrated, but understood and leveraged as a potent source of strategic advantage.

Empower all to greater understanding

In my experience conducting cultural training for leaders and teams, I've discovered that participants are invariably excited by the opportunity to better understand cultural similarities and differences. They're eager to understand what makes us uniquely human, what's universal, what's cultural, what's individual --and how our cultural backgrounds invisibly influence our interactions with one another.

Drawing on anthropologist Edward Hall's cultural iceberg model, we learn that while visible aspects of culture are just the tip, the cultural "differences that make a difference" are the ones beneath the surface.

You could refer to these below-the-water-line differences as “the way we do things around here” or a group’s “unwritten rules of the game.” Because they’re subconscious and deeply embedded, we’re often not used to identifying them. But THESE are the aspects of culture that matter to individual and team success.

When barriers arise, the problem lies not with the cultural differences, but from a collective inability to recognize and navigate them effectively.

By equipping teams with the knowledge and skills to recognize and embrace diverse cultural norms, we can appreciate and leverage the unique contributions of Asian and all employees.

Only when we recognize and leverage our cultural commonalities and differences can we unlock the potential of cultural diversity, and turn it into a key strategic edge, fostering innovation and market growth.

May your Asian Heritage Month be a time of both celebration and growth! 🎊

Want to better leverage Asian Heritage Month?

If you'd like my support, consider my keynote that merges fun with impact.

In "Unwritten Rules of the Game," I peel back the curtain on the inner workings of Corporate America, sharing stories and insights from my own path—from a shy child of immigrants Deputy Mayor of Los Angeles at age 31, and then executive recruiter for Fortune 500 CEOs and Board members.

Attendee feedback speaks volumes:

• "Life-changing."
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Your Insights Matter:

What experiences and insights do you have on how to build bridges across cultures? I'd love to hear your insights. Please share in comments below, and let's chat!