What would you do if you couldn't fail?

House of Hong Restaurant, Seattle -  This was the question I asked at a recently held Women of Power Luncheon hosted by Assunta Ng, Publisher of the NW Asian Weekly and Seattle Chinese Post newspapers.  Before I get to the answer of that question, though, let me first tell you that this luncheon, now in its third year, benefits one of NAAAP Seattle's partners, the Executive Development Institute (EDI). Twelve lucky auction winners from EDI's Inclusion Fusion held earlier this year got to lunch with some very powerful women. In fact, I had the privilege and pleasure of being seated at one of the tables. I'll introduce them one by one as I go through their stories.

Women of Power Luncheon (l to r) Martha Choe, Donna Giordano, Grace Chien, and Amelia Ransom Letcher (Not pictured: Sandra Madrid)

As the food arrived, Donna Giordano, President of the Quality Food Centers (QFC), shared what she thought were her keys to success(es); that was:

• to listen and learn from others;
• to take any job offered as it would lead people to know that you're the obvious choice when opportunities arose;
• to know you are in the driver's seat of your career;
• to know and articulate your value; and most of all,
• to have a positive attitude as this will assist you in achieving results, both at home and at work. 

Next, the top Girl Scout or CEO, Grace Chien, made a point to stand firm with your commitments and define successes and failures in relation to these.

Martha Choe, Chief Administrative Officer for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and also a 2010 NAAAP100 recipient, talked not only about change, but about having it be sustained and lasting. She talked about how important it is to building lasting and effective relationships and used the term, "total leadership", when addressing one's well-being: mind, body and soul. Said another way, "When you're health isn't well, neither is your leadership."

When addressing work life-balance, "there is no perfect balance and it's a matter of balancing daily or weekly based on what is important to you. Put another way, if you are on your death bed, would you regret having gone to one more meeting?"

(l to r) Sandra Madrid, Carol Butterfield and Sandi Heddington

Now, Amelia Ransom Letcher, VP Corp Diversity Affairs at Nordstrom, rallied around people first and effective communication. Can you imagine the power in having people believe flowers grow in concrete? Getting to this level of effectiveness can help you become very influential.

Sandra Madrid, Sr. Advisor to the Dean, UW, shared a story about her own career transition. She was let go from the UW after 20 years of service. Her main point was to be part of a community because no one can do it by themselves. It was with the community's support that she got her job back at the UW.

As by now, I'm guessing you want to know what they said when asked, "what would you do if you couldn't fail?" I asked this question because throughout our careers we face fear and indecision and having gone through this themselves, they would give really good insight. Well, in short, the answer was not surprising. To paraphrase what each one of them said, "I would do anything".

Given that we're already on the topic of powerful women, I would like now to take a moment to let you know about the Women in NAAAP! program, which is our own program created and developed to build competent and confident women leaders within NAAAP and within the Asian Pacific community. If you don't already know about it, you can visit our website.

Special thanks to Char Grinolds of EDI and Assunta Ng, Publisher of NW Asian Weekly and the Chinese Seattle Post newspapers for creating a great meeting.

Regards,
Gil Gido
NAAAP Seattle

President

Where are they now? Andy Yip, NAAAP Seattle President 2007-2008

My name is Andy Yip, President for the National Association of Asian American Professionals – Seattle Chapter from 2007 to 2008. I am a registered principal at my firm Raymond James, with a focus on estate planning and investment portfolio management. In my past careers, I have led numerous leadership positions including being the state manager for Prudential Financial. In 2007, we were the number one firm for Prudential in the entire nation. After much hard work and teamwork in achieving that, I became independent and had my own operation in Mercer Island, WA with my business partner.

NAAAP-Seattle gave me the opportunity to get in touch with the Asian American community and since then, I have gone on to serve many other community organizations, such as:

• Interim Executive Director, International Community Health Services Foundation
• President, Hong Kong Association of Washington
• Acting President, International Examiner
• Vice President, Seattle Chinese Chamber of Commerce
• Treasurer, Newcastle Chamber of Commerce (2009)
• Advisor, Collaborative Artists EastWest

Being on the board of an active organization also broadened my network, I was able to meet many young professionals that are passionate about their communities; found many mentors that have been where I was and formed many valuable relationship with key personnel across various industries.

It is exciting to see many new leaders are taking the lead at NAAAP-Seattle now, and I am proud to continue serving as a member of the Executive Advisory Board of NAAAP-Seattle, having input on the direction of the organization, and continue to bring resources to foster the next generation of leaders.

To those that are still on the fence of deciding whether to become part of this great organization, just know that NAAAP-Seattle leaders are all about giving back to the community while elevating their professionalism in their own career path. You will find many excellent mentors, great friends, fun activities, and top notch training.

i work, i play, i NAAAP!

Regards,
Andy Yip
NAAAP Seattle President 2007-2008

Leaving a Mark on the University of Washington (UW)

Photos by Lori Call © Alabastro Photography

Mark Emmert after six years of having been the University of Washington President has accepted the honorable position of President of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). In a farewell event at Kane Hall last week, many acknowleged his contributions to the history of the university. He is leaving the University of Washington having many achievements including creating new colleges: the UW College of the Environment and the Department of Global Health, which was done in collaboration with the School of Medicine and the School of Public Health and with tremendous support from the Gates Foundation.

In words said at this event, President Emmert built a diverse administration based on merit and knowledge-based perspectives. In addition, his focus on social justice and responsibility led to the Long Journey Home event, in which Nikkei graduates of 1941-1942, who had been denied the opportunity to complete their higher-education at the UW during World War II, were honored with degrees .  This also served as an opportunity to recognize present and future generations of Japanese Americans and more broadly the Asian American community. The University of Washington was the first university to advocate providing honorary degrees to the Nikkei graduates of 1941-1942. Other universities, such as Berkeley, have since followed the leadership of the UW. (Note: You can read more about Japansese American history at Densho)

Photos by Lori Call © Alabastro Photography

Phyllis Wise will take on the role as President of the University of Washington. It's definitely a first, since she will be the first Asian American woman to hold the position. His wife, DeLaine, accomplished herself, will be leaving with Mark after having made contributions to the community in terms of environmental sustainability and wildlife preservation.

Congratulations to Mark, DeLaine and Phyllis on their new roles.

Thanks to the University of Washington, the Executive Development Institute, and UnionBank for organizing the program. Special thanks to community leaders Ted Yamamura, a former NAAAP Seattle President, Diane Adachi, Dr. Testu Kashima, Dennis Yamashita, and Dr. Phyllis Wise for their speeches.

Regards,
Gil Gido
NAAAP Seattle
President

Stretch projects

"Everybody stretch for growth and development!"
Photo credit: Tom at HK 2006

Ever hear of the 70-20-10 learning model?  Its principle is the percent of time allocated to any given learning activity: 70% of your learning can come from real-life or on-the-job experiences (aka stretch projects), 20% can come from others like coaches, mentors or sponsors, and the last 10% is in the classroom. Read more.

Companies recognize the value of having people work on stretch projects, both core and non-core to the business, because it gives new skills to their employees giving their companies a competitive advantage. You should always be aware of why you're doing any project or task and create value for yourself while doing them. The key message here is to accept them openly and face them head on, because these small steps will lead to bigger and brighter opportunities!  Here are a few scenarios that will help you recognize if and when you're in a stretch project.

• You've been asked to run a project that will improve your project management skills, when in fact your core job is that of a developer or tester.
• There is a re-organization in your group that certain tasks fall on you that you've never done before.
• You're asked to lead a business turnaround or implement a process change in your group.
• You've just been elected to the NAAAP Board of Directors making policy and funding decisions.

Could you now see what you're doing is fulfilling on some higher goal for the company as well as yourself? If not and wanting additional development, then ask yourself if you're in a rut. If so, a good thing to do is to seek advice from a collegue or mentor 2 levels up. As a guideline, for most professionals it takes roughly 2-3 years, and as quickly as 18 months, to master a given role and once done are encouraged to look for newer, more challenging roles within their organization as they'll have a greater potential in contributing their new skills to contribute to the success of their company or even get promoted.

Thanks for reading and hope to see you back again.

Regards,
Gil Gido
NAAAP Seattle
President