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Sarros, James; Reed, Peter; Hartican, Anne --- "Pathways to success" [2006] MonashBusRw 23; (2006) 2(2) Monash Business Review 28

Pathways to success

James Sarros, Peter Reed, Anne Hartican

Little is understood of what really drives and shapes Asia’s high achieving women. So, to find out more, James C. Sarros, Peter W. Reed and Anne M. Hartican spoke to 19 of them who work across both private and public enterprises.

When we talk about successful Asian business people the stereotype is of suit-draped, bottom-line focused, male warriors battling market forces and balancing demands of hungry shareholders, partners or investors. This cliche, however, ignores the female of the species, a large, potent talent force.

Family and values

While family backgrounds ranged wildly among those Asian business women leaders interviewed, all considered family crucial in moulding character, developing values and understanding the importance of hard work. “A leader must be able to take criticism without accepting it as something personal, and to learn from mistakes made,” says Lillian Too, Chairman, Wofs.Com Sdn Bhd in Kuala Lumpur.

“In the Chinese way of thinking, in our family the thing is that if you don’t work hard, you don’t get anything,” says Balbina Wong, Deputy Chairman and CEO, ImagineX Holdings in Hong Kong.

Education

Formal education was also very important to all women in this study. Lim Hwee Hua, Minister of State Finance and Transport in Singapore, has a maths degree from Cambridge and an MBA from UCLA; Rohana Tan Sri, Director of the Malaysian Strategic Research Centre, has a BA (Hons) in Politics from the University of Essex and a Master of International Relations from the University of Sussex and is about to submit her PhD thesis to the University of Hull. As Tan Sri explains: “I can’t even begin to emphasise the importance of education to someone’s success. When you have formal education, the foundation is very, very important. You can’t run away from the fact that you do need formal education.” Siaou-Sze Lien, Senior Vice President of Hewlett-Packard Asia Pacific and Japan, asserts that: “Formal education gives a person a basic foundation. It also provides discipline and hopefully the ability to stand on your own two feet.”

Career paths and challenges

This study revealed three distinct career path patterns. The first path was the traditional ideal career path of graduating with very good credentials, taking a job at a blue chip organisation and learning to deal with corporate politics. The second was the entrepreneurial route to success, which splits into two sub categories; the early start entrepreneurs and the entrepreneurial route of many years experience before venturing into their current businesses. The third career path pattern, the varied school of experience, involved having various jobs with a number of companies throughout the development phase of a career.

Role models and mentors

Few women in the study had mentors or senior people with whom they regularly interacted on a professional basis. Instead many saw role models, such as family members or teachers (living or dead), as most influential. “Professional mentors are not as important as they are made out to be,” claims Lillian Too. “Overall, having a role model is more significant.” Ramesh Ramsachandra of 3R Holding in Singapore says her role model was her entrepreneurial grand uncle. Yu-Foo Yee similarly spoke about the influence of family members as role models: “You get influenced by your family, then after that your teachers and then later your peer groups and bosses.” Lim Hwee Hua, Singapore’s Minister of State for Finance and Transport, speaks of her father as role model: “The entrepreneurial experiences I was exposed to on business trips, meeting the Prime Minister or other social gatherings like garden parties built up self confidence.”

Strategies for success

All women indicated that the capacity to learn and adapt was critical in getting ahead. As Dr Jannie Tay, Vice Chairman of Singapore’s The Hour Glass, put it: “If you learn fast, be very clear cut as to what your game is and the rules of the game, and you’ll have a very disciplined approach.”

The findings indicated successful Asian business woman shared the following characteristics:

  1. Positive experience of early family shaping their beliefs, values and attitudes
  2. Respect for individuals, valuing honesty, integrity and hard work
  3. Achieving personal best as opposed to competing with others for top positions
  4. Work hard and long to achieve excellence
  5. Exhibit openness to risk-taking
  6. Flexibility in their thinking
  7. Actively seek opportunities for ongoing learning
  8. Cultivate a network of influential people as well as a sound support network
  9. Perceive practical experience as being more important to professional success than formal education, still view relevant formal education as important
  10. Not limited by male stereotyping
  11. Importance of international experience
  12. Balance between business and family life

Dato’ Maznah Abdul Jalil argues that one needs to be “street smart” while Christine Loh, Chief Executive Officer Civic Exchange Hong Kong, points out the importance of focusing on getting things done: “I’ve got to be able to deliver, not just talk about it eloquently.”

Cross-cultural comparisons

When we compare career strategies of Asian women with a 1998 study of US female executives the similarities and differences are compelling. For example, US women executives saw international experience as the least important strategy for career advancement, while Asian business women maintained it was the most important. Meanwhile in both Asia and the US, the male-dominated business world was seen to work against women’s career success, both through stereotyping and exclusion.

Important leadership attributes

The sample of Asian business women were asked to list in order of importance the leadership attributes they considered vital to success (see figure below).

Attributes rated as most important by the women in the study were the relational aspects of leadership such as honesty, trustworthiness, dependability and fairness; that is, those associated with character. In other words, what appeared to matter most was who they were, as opposed to what they achieved. This orientation was conveyed by Elsie Leung, Secretary for Justice in Hong Kong, who explained that her aim was to lead a proper life, not necessarily become a high flyer.

Women interviewed for this survey:

SINGAPORE

Dr Jannie Tay, Vice Chairman, The Hour Glass Limited

Lim Hwee Hua, Minister of State for Finance and Transport, Ministry of Finance

Ramesh Ramsachandra, 3R Holding Pte Ltd

Lien Siaou-Sze, Senior Vice President, HP Services Asia Pacific & Japan, Hewlett Packard Asia Pacific Pte Ltd

Yu-Foo Yee Shoon, Minister of State, Ministry of Community Development, Youth & Sports

Low Sin Leng, Executive Chairman, SembCorp Parks Management Pte Ltd

Helen Yeo, Managing Partner, Rodyk & Davidson

Jennie Chua, President and Chief Executive of Raffles Holding Limited and Chairman, Raffles International Limited

Elim Chew, Managing Director, 77th Street (S) Pte Ltd

KUALA LUMPUR

Lillian Too, Chairman, Wofs.Com Sdn Bhd

Chan Mo Lin, Partner, Nik Hussain & Partners

Dato’ Maznah Abdul Jalil, Senior Group Director, DRB Hicom Group

Nancy Yeoh, Managing Director, RAPR Communications

Rohana Tan Sri Mahmood, Adviser, Pacific Basin Economic Council

Pat Liew, CEO, British India

HONG KONG

Elsie Leung GBM, JP, Secretary for Justice, The Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region

Sandra Lee, Permanent Secretary for Economic Development & Labour (Economic Development), The Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region

Christine Loh, Chief Executive Officer, Civic Exchange Limited

Balbina Wong, Deputy Chairman and CEO, ImagineX Holdings Limited

To view the full paper email mbr@buseco.monash.edu.au.

Cite this article as

Sarros, James; Reed, Peter; Hartican, Anne. 'Pathways to success'. Monash Business Review. 2006.; Monash University ePress: Victoria, Australia. http://www.epress.monash.edu.au/. : 28–30. DOI:10.2104/mbr06022

About the authors

James Sarros

Professor James C. Sarros is Deputy Head of the Department of Management Monash University.

Peter Reed

Associate Professor Peter W. Reed is the Director MBA, Monash University.

Anne Hartican

Dr. Anne M. Hartican is a Senior Consultant with McArthur Leadership Solutions.


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