Expert Career And Life Advice

What does it mean to be smart?  From Socrates to Howard Gardner there are thousands who have addressed this topic. The wise words that follow come from Jane Chin, an expert not just on being smart, but on the ways smart differs, changes, and applies not just to our work but also to our lives. She not only has published books which address ways people need to learn certain ‘smart’ skills but she has been a keynote speaker who has given advice to some of what many of us might think are the smartest people on the planet.

For those who want to learn from her personal journey while at the same time learning how to apply her “talent compass” to education and jobs I think you will be schooled to think differently and more effectively than you were before you read her words. I count myself lucky to be able to say I have learned from her to approach ‘smarts’ in ways that will help me.

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First of all can you give us a little bit of historical background? Where did you grow up, perhaps could you add a bit about your family too?

My childhood spanned 3 continents: Far East (Taiwan), where I was born and went through 2 years of elementary education; Middle East (Saudi Arabia), where I went to the British section of Saudi Arabian International Schools; the West, where I came to the U.S. as a first generation immigrant for middle school through secondary and post-secondary education.

What were you like growing up? How did you like high school and how did you decide where to go to university and what to study?

I was extremely compliant and obedient growing up; a tiger mother's dream, you might say. Then I turned 13 and rebelliousness switched on. My parents moved a few times, I went to a different high school each year. I left home as part of that rebellious phase. High school was a very difficult time. But no matter what was happening in my life, school was one constant I could rely on.

As college applications approached, I faced unfavorable odds. My high school record was inconsistent because of frequent moves and personal problems. I enjoyed my sophomore biology class at high school #2 and logically chose to study biological sciences. I was "pre-med" as I thought I was expected to become a doctor. Ironic that I rebelled against authority yet I have internalized the expectations that programmed my decisions.

The guidance counselor at high school #4 knew about my personal problems and my spotty academic record. He explicitly discouraged me from applying to Cornell. I did not disagree with him, but I applied anyway. I knew he was only trying to help me make good use of what little funds I had to apply for college.

The first acceptance letter came from a small liberal arts college in Pennsylvania that offered scholarship assistance. I will be forever grateful to that school for accepting me and renewing my confidence about the future.

Then I received the acceptance letter from Cornell. The admissions committee may have seen through my tumultuous high school career, and believed I had either grit or gut to survive Cornell's hyper-competitive academic environment. Once I got over the shock of getting into my dream school, I was very happy.

Looking back on your university education are there things you would change and if so what are they and why?

I wished I had sought help for (un-diagnosed severe) depression, and that I had learned about Cornell's Tae Kwon Do club earlier. I'd written a creative nonfiction essay called "Martial Art of Life: Way of Foot and Fist" (https://www.janechin.com/martial-...) that described how depression and learning tae kwon do shaped my experience at Cornell. If I'd learned about depression symptoms sooner and gotten help, I could have had a deeper, richer experience at Cornell. I would have opted out of the pre-med track sooner. I'd have taken more writing and communication classes. I would have spent more time exploring the beautiful campus beyond rushing from one class to the next. I would have enjoyed Cornell much more.

Your by line on your profile on the website Quora.com is that you “eat tiger moms for lunch”.  Aside from demonstrating your sense of humor why did you choose to highlight this on your profile? Do you think Asian moms are stereotyped because of Amy Chua’s Book "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother"? What would you say to Ms. Chua is you had a chance to chat with her?

"Eating tiger mothers for lunch" is my stance against forced compliance and emotional manipulation on children. I have grown up in dens of tiger mothers. Even though my rebellious side overrode my compliant side, I experienced enormous emotional suffering, and in the process have also inflicted suffering on my parents. Our household was strictly authoritarian and shame-based, there were no bedside mother-daughter snuggles or hugs and  "I Love You"'s. I don't believe Chua's portrayal of her motherhood experience claimed to represent Chinese mothers in general but the media made blanket statements for shock value. Nevertheless, the book opened up crucial conversations we parents must have about how we exert will and power on children, and at what personal costs are we willing to pay to gain the highest levels of performance from children.

Does it surprise you that Asians face greater challenges than anyone else? Does it bother you at all that there seems to be discrimination (I think this is the correct word) against Asians because they are “over-represented’?

No, it does not surprise me. When I was young, my mother constantly reminded us that because we were Asian, we needed to work "3 times as hard to get the same result" (as a Caucasian person). What bothers me about this so-called Asian representation is the myth that somehow Asians garner top performance as if equipped with higher IQs. What we see is a logical outcome of a culture that exalts education as the highest virtue. We revere education, and so we consistently invest hard work and effort in education.

I am concerned that as colleges and universities increase "diversity", Asians are excluded as a minority, and instead assigned the questionable status as "the model minority".  I look at my elementary school-aged child and I wonder how much tougher it will be for him to compete for college admission because we aren't "the target minority" in the admissions market.  The broader societal impact of this "model minority" myth is that we ignore Asian Americans who right now live in poverty and are disadvantaged but are not afforded the same opportunities through affirmative action.

Do you feel that in your own career you have been held back in any way either because of your background or gender? 

I have been fortunate to have mentors who recognized my ability to contribute. Gender did not frame my career experiences, but I tend to focus on the "cause or mission" versus "a gender equality issue". I tend to look through obstacles to find what opportunities or paths I may not have considered.

On the other hand, there have been times when my doctorate degree was a real obstacle, because I was relegated to the "overqualified but under-experienced" group; men and women PhD holders experience this obstacle when competing in non-academic job markets.

Another recent piece that came out in the NY Times recently showed that women are drawn to specific areas of engineering but do not respond in large numbers to outreach that is specifically targeted to women. Any comments about this? 

I can only speak for myself: I'm interested in the problem, the mission, or the specific contribution versus "women-targeted" efforts. What may need checking are pervasive subtle forms of discrimination, like "You code well.... for a girl" or making fundamental attribution errors where you assign gender for a behavior (like "Calm down and be a man!" suggesting that only women get to be emotional) versus looking at the situation that has caused a behavior.

One of your Quora answers that addressed the way students should approach developing a passion was so good that I asked you if I could post it on my blog and you kindly agreed. There were a few comments on LinkedIn about your advice. Do you think you would now add any more qualities that student should develop to prepare for future success? 

I'd suggest students cultivate longer-horizon thinking. Their decision-making may change if they start looking at the bigger (longer) picture and consider their lives unfolding 10-20 years hence. Today's young people face more pressure than ever. You lose perspective when you put all possible trajectories of your life into one single event, like getting into THE dream school or landing THE dream job.

Life does not unfold as crisp lines and clean parabolas. Life is a messy spaghetti diagram. You may veer off track or fall or fail, and it will not be the end of the world even if it feels that way sometimes. Failures can push you on a path you did not consider and that path may turn out to be a fulfilling one, or offer new lessons and skills to better prepare you for the journey.

I often tell students, if my life unfolded exactly as I'd originally planned, I'd probably be wearing a white lab coat, working in the basement of a research institution, hating my life. Thank goodness for all the ways I have failed, and fell into the work(s) and life I have now.

One of my favorite answers you have posted on Quora has to do with what you do now as a featured motivational speaker. Before I ask anything specific about this could you talk a bit about what you do and how you reached these heights?I am invited to give career seminars or keynotes to predominantly STEM audience, because I have had many "alternative" careers as a PhD. I say that my job is a pie-chart: I speak, I write, I teach, I advise, I parent. I've been an employee, a contractor, a hands-on consultant, a "behind-the-scenes" advisor. I can speak from a wealth of first-person experiences, as opposed to an observer speaking "about" a topic.

I have heard from a number of executives in STEM fields say a version of the following: “Anyone graduating from college these days without knowing coding is functionally illiterate. Schools should let students take coding instead of a regular foreign language. It is much better skill to have and most who study foreign language in high school don’t become close to fluent?”  How would you respond? 

Then I need to disclose that I am functionally illiterate. Coding may be a foreign language, but why view foreign language only through pragmatic lens? Languages serve a function and transcend function to embody history, culture, and consciousness of a civilization.

My native tongue was Mandarin Chinese and now I dream in American English. I have read classical Chinese poetry that cannot be perfectly translated to English because the rhythm, structure, and sound of the original language are lost in translation. A language's sound, rhythm, and structure collectively "make" poetry, not just the meaning in its words. Thus I advocate for learning languages as much for personal enrichment as pragmatism -- this goes for coding too.

Do you think students in high school and college should be taking MOOCs? What do you think of them? And what about people who are now in careers? Should they be supplementing their education too?

I have taken several MOOCs and have enjoyed the few classes I had completed. I think MOOCs are useful for students to review or broaden their horizons about a subject. Career professionals can use MOOCs as a resource for continuing education. MOOCs introduce newer technology and massive scale, but online learning has been around for longer than MOOCs. I don't see MOOCs "replacing" brick and mortar institutions for the time being. I'd like to see disruption in the pricing (return on investment or value) of higher education in the United States, but I doubt MOOCs can achieve this for the time being.

Can you share a few of the things you make sure to say to groups like this? Have you seen an increase in the past few years in these stars questioning what it is they really want to do with their lives? If yes why do you think this is?

My focus has been PhDs because I went through the same struggles as a PhD professional. There are fewer academic positions available today relative to the number of new PhD graduates. By necessity PhDs have to look outside academia. PhD professionals may look at subject matter expertise and overlook transferable skills they have acquired in the process of earning their doctorates. I urge all STEM professionals to identify specific skills that can apply in non-research contexts.

Some stigmas remain toward those who work outside the ivory towers, such as accusing us of "going over to the dark side" or labeling us as "lesser" scientists. Many of us want to use our degrees in practical ways; some of us prefer to communicate science beyond publishing in journals or presenting at scientific meetings. If we want to talk about dark sides, I believe there is a version of Sayre's Law that states, "Competition in academia is so vicious because the stakes are so small." In many ways, industry is forced to be more transparent about hiring practices, equal opportunity measures, and labor laws, because regulators are watching.

Another message I give is the "long horizon" thinking I mentioned previously. Life is messy and we cannot always expect to map out our careers the way we map out directions to a restaurant. Instead, learn what our strengths and talents are (I use the term "Talent Compass") and how to use these strengths, so that no matter what terrain we face, we can navigate our way through.

How important do you think it is that people need to have a presence on LinkedIn? You have founded an active group for STEM leaders that has been successful in raising important issues.  Many in leadership positions think everyone from students to senior executives should have, at the very least a profile. Some are now saying this is the way student might get selected to colleges. Do you agree?

If you are looking for a job, then you need to have a presence where potential employers gather. If you know that hiring managers are on LinkedIn, then you want to be visible to them, or at least searchable. Now that LinkedIn allows you to share multimedia files and volunteer activities and projects, the service may be useful to both students and executives alike.

What do you like most about what you do and what do least like?

What I like the most and least is the same: the variety in what I do means I cannot answer "What do you do?" in 15 seconds. This freedom is at once intoxicating and infuriating. I like it this way.

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Given the push and rush of what happens to us daily, developing a “long horizon” on a career and life often gets lost. Jane’s words demonstrate that the paths we take seldom follow a straight line no matter how hard parents push or how we plan. Stuff happens over which we have control and there are things that come our way, be it depression or some sort of tragedy that will effect us. And change us, perhaps over the long term in ways that might actually help.

Jane gives great advice not just to STEM leaders, but to all of us. One thing she embodies rather than talks about is "grit", something another smart person, Angela Lee Duckworth, has emphasized as a quality that we should all try to add to our mental toolkit. Jane has overcome challenges to become a leader in her field but it came through a willingness to being open to new things and new directions. She is a risk-taker, not just because she climbs literal walls, but because she climbs past the limitations some have about the value of working for companies instead of universities and past some of her own self doubts. Her honesty in sharing her story is inspiring in personal and professional ways. 

She and I have exchanged some thoughts about the pressures on students today. At least in the US, among those students trying for elite schools, the pressures are greater than ever. “Smart” students at the very top are, at one level, followingthe model of education that has been a part of the culture in certain parts of Asia for generations. Like most things, there are good and bad sides to this. These students are learning a lot, to be sure. On the other hand, taking on a dozen or more APs, trying to be leaders, activists, athletes and researchers in order to stand out among an increasingly large and deep applicant pool to the top schools has taken a toll on far too many students. I hope those students reading her words will see that the desire for perfection is dangerous. Too many students are suffering now because they feel overwhelmed. Jane gives a number of ways to be smart that can help lower the stress and open up new options.

I would like to thank Jane for sharing her wisdom here. I hope that some of you will have the chance to hear her speak or that you will take the time to read her book.  If nothing else, readers should go to Quora and read her answers to some thorny questions.  It’s not often that someone who is so busy and in demand takes time to help others for free. I know I am lucky to have had the chance to share her words here and hope you feel as I do too.

Jane's bio as posted on Amazon.com

Jane Y. Chin is founder of 9Pillars, through which she teaches mid- to senior-level pharma executives how to create a powerful personal brand so they can have more confidence, advance in their career, and become remarkable leaders. Chin's seminars on executive personal branding have been delivered through leadership-focused social enterprises including India's LeadCap and the UK's Leaders Café 2020 Ltd.

Chin was founder and president of the Medical Science Liaison (MSL) Institute, LLC from 2004 to 2011 and founding publisher of MSL Quarterly, the field-medical science liaison profession's first management journal. For her contribution to the medical science liaison profession, Chin was named one of the 100 Most Inspiring People by PharmaVoice magazine in 2006.

Chin has a BS degree in microbiology from Cornell University (Ithaca, New York) and a PhD in biochemistry from the University of Buffalo at Roswell Park Cancer Institute (Buffalo, New York). She also has a certification in competitive intelligence from the Academy of Competitive Intelligence (Boston, Massachusetts).