PR97717

SINGAPORE, Sept. 8, 2022 /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/ --

-Report revisits data from 2017 to identify the individual actions and

structural changes needed to break the bamboo ceiling

Center for Creative Leadership (https://www.ccl.org/) (CCL), a top-ranked,

global provider of executive education today released a new report, "Global

Asian Leader: From Asia, For The World" –  an extension of its 2018 study (

https://www.ccl.org/articles/research-reports/the-global-asian-leader-from-local-star-to-global-cxo/

), "The Global Asian Leader: From Local Star to Global CXO" [1]. Through

interviews with 75 leaders, the report unpacks factors that have stalled the

growth of Asian leaders over the past five years, in addition to evaluating the

impact of megatrends like the pandemic and rising nationalism.

Bamboo ceiling endures even as Asia becomes the 'center of the world'

Developing Asia economies are projected to grow 5.2% (

https://www.adb.org/news/developing-asia-economies-set-grow-5-2-year-amid-global-uncertainty

) in 2023 despite global uncertainties and a sluggish economic outlook.

Increasingly, global organizations will have to 'look East' to sustain business

growth, calling upon local leaders with a nuanced understanding of social and

cultural norms to drive regional expansion.

Yet, even with the strong business case to develop Asian leaders, Asian

representation in top leadership has fallen from 2017. Among the top 200

organizations, Asians comprised only 4% of executive teams in US-headquartered

companies in 2022, declining from 8% in 2017.

"Talent in Asia has developed tremendously across multiple leadership

attributes over the last decade – however our latest research reveals an

alarming trend over the last few years of decreasing representation of Asian

leaders in top multi-national teams. There has never been a more important time

to break the bamboo ceiling and enable Global Asian Leadership in order to

better equip organizations to overcome the massive regional and global

challenges we face," said Elisa Mallis, Managing Director and Vice President of

APAC, CCL.

Setting Asian leaders up for success in global roles

To override cultural hardwiring and succeed in global roles, CCL identified

five must-have traits that Asian leaders must demonstrate – courage, curiosity,

trust, an ability to influence decisions, and strategic thinking. Asian leaders

have made significant progress in all these areas over the past five years.

Strategic thinking, for instance, was one area that Asian leaders showed

notable improvement in, scoring 3.82 – up from 3.74 in 2017.

However, while there are several success stories of Asian leaders successfully

stepping into regional or global roles, organizations need to step up

initiatives to scale up Asian leader development in a structured manner. The

report outlines a five-step action plan for aspiring global Asian leaders,

along with organizational shifts needed to build a diverse leadership pipeline.

"Business in Asia is dynamic, fast and intense. Leaders need to keep working on

decision making under pressure and be ready to adjust, setting the

organisation's path forward with the right balance of strategic thinking,

courage, confidence, and risk awareness. At Swiss Re, we believe in continually

investing in our leaders as we recognise these attributes are instrumental in

propelling the organisation's growth in Asia and globally," said Paul Murray,

Regional President and CEO Reinsurance Asia, Swiss Re.

For more information and to download the report, visit this link (

https://www.ccl.org/articles/research-reports/the-global-asian-leader-from-asia-for-the-world/

).

Research Methodology

Between February and June 2022, a total of 75 regional or global leaders across

50 companies were interviewed for this research. These interviews built on the

data from 119 interviews conducted in 2017. Interviewees hailed from a mix of

industries, with 75% holding business roles and 25% being senior HR executives.

Out of the interviewees in the report, 70% were of the Asian origin, and 25% of

organizations were headquartered in Asia.

About Center for Creative Leadership

The Center for Creative Leadership (CCL)® is a top-ranked, global, nonprofit

provider of leadership development. Over the past 50 years, we've worked with

organizations of all sizes from around the world, including more than 2/3 of

the Fortune 1000. Our cutting-edge solutions are steeped in extensive research

and our work with hundreds of thousands of leaders at all levels. To learn more

visit ccl.org.

[1] Data collected in 2017

Source: The Center for Creative Leadership (CCL®)