HPE celebrates AANHPI Heritage Month: Advancing through allyship and innovation
In May, we celebrate Asian American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month. Shin-Wen Kuo, executive sponsor of the Global Asian Network shares her thoughts on the moment
- Asian American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month is May 1-31
- HPE is committed to growing and cultivating our Asian American and pan-Asian talent and being a force for good in the communities where we live and work
May is Asian American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander Heritage Month (“AANHPI Heritage Month”), a celebration with its origins in 1977 and officially designated through law in 1992. This is a time to shine a light on the rich and diverse cultures, histories, and contributions of the AANHPI community to business, culture, and the arts and science. It is also a time to reflect on the challenges and opportunities that this community faces and how we can work together to embrace those opportunities while positively addressing those challenges.
Why do you think it’s important that HPE celebrate AANHPI Heritage Month?
Like the broader US population, the AANHPI community comes from diverse cultures of origin, speaks different languages, and exists across the socioeconomic spectrum with different levels of access to education and opportunity. Despite that commonality and the long history of AANHPI in the US, this community continues to struggle with unique challenges, such as being the “invisible minority,” considered the “perpetual foreigner,” and expectations of “model minority” myths which can impede investment in these communities.
We see examples of common misperceptions play out in the data. On one hand, we do not have to look far to find Asian Americans who have founded and led successful companies – in tech alone, Jensen Huang at NVIDIA, Lisa Su at AMD, Deb Liu at Ancestry.com, Eric Yuan at Zoom, Sundar Pichai at Google, and Satya Nadella at Microsoft come to mind. This can lead us to miss the fact that Asian Americans are under-represented in senior executive roles and in board seats. Recent Ascend and KPMG research shows that Asians occupy only 3.7 percent of all board seats in the Fortune 1000 in contrast to the 12 percent of the professional workforce. A McKinsey study in 2022 highlighted that Asians are more likely to be perceived as doers rather than leaders, experience lower inclusion in the workplace, and that we see a drop for Asian American employees in representation and promotions at senior levels with Asian women experiencing the greatest decrease.
Integral to HPE’s mission to advance the way people live and work is our commitment to building a more inclusive culture so that our team members can thrive and grow their careers here. We have made considerable progress, and we acknowledge that we have more work to do.
We have made considerable progress, and we acknowledge that we have more work to do
How does your personal story relate to this year’s theme of “Advancing Through Allyship and Innovation?
As a first-generation Asian American immigrant who grew up in the US, I was continually bridging two worlds. I came of age in business at a time when there were few, if any leaders, with similar backgrounds and experiences. While that came with its challenges and pressures to assimilate, I learned over time that my diverse experiences gave me an edge in seeing situations and solving problems from a unique perspective, which is foundational to innovation. The context-switching skills proved incredibly useful when I moved to Europe to help build a start-up that we later took public, worked in China to turn around HPE’s joint venture H3C, and later rebuilt our global supercomputing and AI business to set it on a growth path. I have been fortunate to work with teams and benefit from mentors and sponsors whose backgrounds were quite different from my own. I have had the privilege of mentoring and sponsoring others throughout my career. I am also fortunate to have had the opportunity to lead within start-ups and large enterprises and to live and work in the Americas, Europe, and Asia. Those collective experiences have taught me we have so much opportunity if we focus on our shared goals and use our diverse experiences and abilities to build bridges rather than silos.
What are you hoping to see GAN accomplish in FY24?
The Global Asian Network (GAN) at HPE is focused on empowering, engaging, and enabling the AANHPI community at HPE. As Executive Sponsor and a member of the CEO's DEI Council, I would like to see GAN continue to:
- Expand its impact by engaging more leaders across HPE in building the talent pipeline.
- Strengthen its partnerships with other Resource Groups, business units, and external organizations, to foster cross-cultural understanding and collaboration.
- Enhance programs and initiatives that support the professional development, career advancement, and well-being of the AANHPI community at HPE.
- Highlight and celebrate the achievements and innovations of the AANHPI community at HPE and inspire others to contribute.
Technology advancements have enabled an unprecedented level of communication, connection, and collaboration across distances and differences – fueling scientific advancement, business growth, and cultural understanding.… As technology and business leaders, it is critical that we design and use technology responsibly to provide greater opportunity
From your perspective, what role does tech play in advancing the Asian American and pan-Asian community?
When my grandparents first moved to the US, it cost $3.99 per minute to call back to Taiwan over a grainy phone line, and that was if you could get a solid connection. Almost forty years later, they were able to videocall friends and family with relative ease.
Technology advancements have enabled an unprecedented level of communication, connection, and collaboration across distances and differences – fueling scientific advancement, business growth, and cultural understanding. At a global scale, scientists and researchers are collaborating using supercomputers they can access across thousands of miles. In personal interactions, people who speak different languages can communicate using translation apps. And we can now learn about cultures from around the world by streaming a vast variety of content – from Korean dramas to Bollywood movies to food and news programs from Taiwan.
We are seeing the technology cycle speed up, with advancements in AI as an accelerator. While this represents great opportunity, AI can also amplify existing biases and discrimination if not designed and used responsibly. As a tech company, HPE has a unique opportunity and responsibility to leverage our expertise, resources, and influence to advance communities. As technology and business leaders, it is critical that we design and use technology responsibly to provide greater opportunity.
Call to action:
As we close out AANHPI Heritage Month, I invite everyone to continue the spirit of this month year-round – to learn more about the AANHPI community and their contributions, the challenges and opportunities, and how we can leverage each other’s strengths to continuously build better together.
Things you can do today:
- Learn: Have a virtual tea/coffee with a team member who can benefit from your experiences and who can share a diverse perspective with you.
- Advocate:
o As senior leaders, be active champions for high potential AANHPIs in the pipeline, and advocate for them in the rooms where decisions are made about their careers. AANHPIs are faced with the “invisible minority” bias/challenge and are often not included in reported diversity metrics and not remembered when promotion and advancement decisions are made.
o As AANHPI, raise your hand for opportunities and own your value by advocating for yourself. Even when it feels like a risk or outside your comfort zone. Remember, ships in harbor are safe, but that’s not what ships are built for.
- Contribute to nonprofit organizations serving AANHPI communities, which receive less than 0.2% of philanthropic giving from foundations and less than 1% of Corporate giving. The Global Asian Network is highlighting the following five:
o Asian Mental Health Collective