“We spend so much time chasing the next ‘yes,’ but we’re communicators at our core,” Phil Kim told the TPA and advisor attendees at the 2023 National Tax-Deferred Savings Association (NTSA) Summit in Tampa on in a Feb. 27 session. “Wouldn’t it be great if we focused on communicating better?”
The context of Kim’s remarks was effectively connecting with different ethnic groups in a culturally sensitive manner, and the Managing Director with Signature Wealth Concepts was joined onstage by retired United States Air Force Major General Sharon Dunbar for the discussion, entitled “Embracing a Diverse World.”
Dunbar was born to a Korean mother and a German father, and she is a frequent speaker on topics related to cultural awareness and education.
“One month ago, I was hitting golf balls at the driving range,” Kim relayed in an opening anecdote. “An older man joined a young man behind me. The younger man asked what the older man had done the night before, which was to gamble at a local casino. At one point, the older man said, ‘There were lots of Orientals. Those Orientals sure love to gamble.’ I turned around and simply stared at them. They were embarrassed and went back to hitting balls. I didn’t react in the right way. It could’ve been a teachable moment.”
Adding that he was amazed at the number of women at the NTSA Summit, he asked for the ratio of men to women.
“I don’t know,” NTSA 2023 President Lisa Stubbs answered to laughter from the audience. “But there is a line for the bathroom.”
Turning to Dunbar and her groundbreaking experience, he noted she was in the just third class of women to be admitted to the United States Airforce Academy before rising through the ranks to serve as the Commanding General of the Air Force District of Washington as well as the Commander of the 320th Air Expeditionary Wing. She is Vice President of Cross-Company Business Initiatives for General Dynamics Missions Systems.
“It was a difficult environment,” she said of her time at the academy. “Only 10% of the students were women, and there was a 45% attrition rate. It’s hard to make people feel comfortable and engaged when they don’t look like you. I had to prove that I could do it, and those who came after me could do it.”
She noted that her mother spoke four languages and had a master’s degree, but people thought she was ignorant because of her accent.
“She would use it to her advantage,” Dunbar said. “I would get upset and tell people off; she would kick me under the table and tell me afterward what a great deal she got from a negotiation just by playing to their ignorance.”
The fact that people are more aware and sensitive to cultural differences and the need for inclusion shows how far we’ve come and that we can do much better, Dunbar concluded.
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