Kevin and the Giant Peach

Several years ago, I was sitting in the airport in Chicago waiting for my connecting flight to Miami. I was on my way to attend Market America’s “Leadership School” – as it was called then. Near me, in the boarding area, were a group of Chinese Americans who were also on their way to Miami, for the same reason.

For the past several years, the Chinese American contingent in attendance at these conferences had been growing noticeably. Now, at least half the attendance is composed of Chinese-Americans. They are the fastest rising group of distributors, in terms of income, as a whole.

So, while we were waiting, I asked one of them what it was that made them so successful. Her answer was eye opening. First, she said, they are supportive of each other. If someone is going to be going to college or is going to open a business, an eighth cousin, who they’ve never met, will send them money even if they aren’t asked to. It’s just done that way in their culture.

The other factor, she said, is the fact that they come from a culture in which they do exactly what their told – without question.

They succeed or fail as a group. But no one is left alone.

Compare this to Caucasian or Black groups as a whole, and it becomes clear why so many in those groups are falling behind financially.

A recent USA Today article, Cultural Factors Help Limit Recession’s Impact puts this same phenomenon in terms of the recessiaon.

“The recession has been brutal for just about every segment of the population, but though the unemployment rate for Asian Americanshas been inching upward, it has been far lower than the rates for whites, blacks, Hispanics or the nation as a whole. “

“Asians in the United States, both native born Asians and Asian immigrants, have higher educational levels than other groups,” says Alan Berube, senior fellow and research director of the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program.

Asians also are “tied in by a social network, a family network,” says Paul Ong, a professor of Asian American Studies at UCLA. “Rather than lay people off, you will find them spread the work out and there is lots of use of family labor.”

“Despite their upward mobility, Asians are still a minority group and thus more closely connected to one another than a native-born Caucasian American,” he says. “You’re much more on your own if you’re a middle-income, native-born white American, especially in a big city.”

So, what lessons can be drawn from this for Caucasian and Black Americans? Be more supportive of each other.

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