Asian Americans' Ambivalence toward Entrepreneurship

Back in the States, the Asians live with a widespread stereotype: they are the arch-typical white-collar professional set, with high salaries and stable careers but little creativity or adventurousness.  They are the doctors, the lawyers, and the engineers of America, acquiescing with parental pressures, displayed and strengthened at every opportunity possible, to pursue these subjects.  The results are an ethnic group that is almost homogeneously represented by meekness sprinkled with diligence, as they quietly toil day in and day out to further the ambitious goals of non-Asian leaders.

Unfortunately, there is still very little basis for debunking the myth of the "model Asian" who cause no trouble but do not make the big splashes.  Even years after lamenting how Asian males are perceived as feminine within American society, the trend has not at all worked in the Asians' favor, precisely because of the above-noted tendencies for Asians to remain in stable but non-adventurous positions in society, a situation that excitedly no one except the pressuring Asian parents.  The resulting portrayal of cowardly risk-aversion, in anything, is a partial but fairly accurate representation of Asian Americans of both today and yesteryear.

The world, however, seems to have moved to a place where the potential returns of pursuing this traditional route of stability in relatively high-paying white collar jobs have been diminishing continuously.  In its place, there is an increasing share of employment related to entrepreneurship, especially pertaining to pioneering small teams that set up new services and try to get a wider market to go along them.  Some of these, despite blatant disregard for human relations in the process, have succeeded, but the vast majority, for one reason or the other, have failed spectacularly.  The massive risk of rushing into entrepreneurship needs no elaboration.

Asian Americans, being risk averse as they are conditioned to be through parental influence, remain strongly underrepresented in America's entrepreneurial community.  Yet, after the author has stepped his feet into some of the decidedly more tone-down (well, at least compared to Silicon Valley) start-up scene here in Malaysia, he is starting to think that perhaps Asian Americans living in the States can take a few cues from their ethnic brothers and sisters living out here in Asia proper, who, through their own efforts, is breaking down the traditional economic arrangements that have been in place for generations.

In fact, some of these entrepreneurial spirit exist in the most basic and commonplace of locations and industries.  The author has recently had the honor of stepping into a vegetarian food chain opened up by a Malaysian coming back from his business studies in the States.  He spoke of the changing dietary conditions of the Malaysian public, the increasing health consciousness, the lack of competition in this emerging field, and his desire to ride the wave of this increasing evident trend.  Nowhere in his words did he show any anxiety and fear of potential failure or desire for more stable career.

The same sort of go-get-them attitude was on display among the Malaysian attendees of an entrepreneurial meetup event hosted at a little bar.  Of the few hundred people crowded into the seemingly tiny place, there were plenty of partner-searching, business card-exchanging, and enthusiastic intros to businesses being pursued.  People really tried hard to sell each other their ideas to get people interested, as clients, customers, and potential partners.  Such enthusiasm reminded the author of the same types of events he attended in Taiwan, Japan, and elsewhere in Southeast Asia.

Reflecting back on the Asian American existence, then, feels a bit embarrassing at times.  For the longest time, Asian Americans quietly but undoubtedly believed that they were the creme de la creme of all Asians, full of the cosmopolitanism, the coolness, and wealth (materialistic, financial, and otherwise) bestowed upon them by America.  As Americans, their behaviors have drawn ire in Asia, but often their self-conceived elitism blinded them of the ire they are facing.  But comparing today's still risk-averse Asian Americans and their entrepreneurial brethren in Asia, one has to wonder how long the sense of superiority will last.

Sure, the Asian Americans have excuses to give.  They have parents who emigrated with just the clothes on their backs and are thus focused on ways to make ends meet without fear of sudden poverty.  They have glass ceilings" where leadership positions go to non-Asians with considerations of skills and capabilities.  And above all, Asian Americans can argue that the extensiveness of social infrastructure in tech-savvy America has made entrepreneurship so much more difficult but finding a position in one of the seemingly endless list of new corporate upstarts so much easier than it is the case in emerging markets of Asia.

Yes, they might be right.  Asia may be full of untapped potential for new services and products catering to a large population that is quickly becoming wealthier.  And sure, it may also be true that Asians in Asia have more financial capital and human network to tap in their local markets, so as to make entrepreneurship so much easier to undertake than for connection-less, resources-less Asian Americans.  But ultimately, the cosmopolitan Asian Americans with their (slightly overrated) Ivy League education does still have an edge, even here on the Asian continent.  It is too much of a waste for them to forego such a way of thinking.  

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