AAGEN

Asian American Government Executive Network

An Interview with Jun Jin, AAGEN Vice Chair 

What inspired you to take on the role of Vice Chair of AAGEN?

Over the course of the last several years, I have met many talented mid-level (GS-13/14-15) Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) civil servants across the U.S. Government (USG) who were interested in using their experience, expertise, and talents to stretch into newer spheres of influence in senior leadership roles in service of our country. There are a number of great AANHPI organizations that play an important role in increasing the voice, representation, and competencies of AANHPIs in the USG (e.g., the Federal Asian Pacific American Council (FAPAC), the Conference on Asian Pacific American Leadership (CAPAL), to name a few). But AAGEN’s mandate makes it uniquely suited to mentor, coach, train, and capacitate the cadre of mid and upper level AANHPIs to take that next step in their journey to executive and senior leadership roles in the federal government. After I joined the SES in 2020, Drs. David Chien and Vivian Chen, who were the co-directors of the SES DP at the time, asked me to assist in various aspects of the Program, including conducting mock interviews and participating in panel discussions on demystifying the SES. Through these engagements, I had the opportunity to meet so many impressive AANHPIs who were making a good decision to tap into the AAGEN network to help them take the next step in their professional development journeys.

In 2022, Denise Leung Williams, then-AAGEN Executive Director and a fellow member of the 2015-16 SES DP cohort (and a dear friend) invited me to serve as General Counsel of AAGEN which was a good role for me to get involved as a member of the Board. In 2023, Jiashen You, the subsequent Executive Director, expressed an interest in running as the new Chair in 2024 and encouraged me to run as Vice Chair to help him execute on his ambitious “Next Generation” vision for AAGEN. This vision includes the following: 1) infusing new energy and ideas to attract new membership and leadership into the organization, partner with like-minded organizations like FAPAC, CAPAL, the African American Federal Executive Association (AAFEA), the National Association of Hispanic Federal Executives (NAHFE), and the Federal Executive Institute Alumni Association (FEIAA) to lever each others’ reach and impact; 2) create more opportunities for connection, relationship building, and competency building through in-person events (e.g., karaoke, dim sum dinners), webinars, and whatever fun and creative ideas members have; and 3) continue to improve upon our flagship activities, namely the SES LDP and our annual Leadership Workshop. I am honored to play a part along with the other fantastic, impressive, and committed members of the Board.

Can you highlight a recent achievement by AAGEN that you are particularly proud of?

For our Annual Leadership Workshop which we held in May of 2024, we secured participation of two cabinet level officials (U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su) as keynote speakers, the first time in AAGEN Workshop history. They were so inspirational in sharing their lessons and tips on what it means to be an AANHPI leader and the importance of paying it forward. Despite all of the challenges of operating as a volunteer-run organization with no paid staff, we are continuing to improve the professionalism of our products, including the Workshop. This year’s Workshop was one of our best and we are committed to continuing to evolve the Workshop to meet the needs of attendees and members going forward.

We also partnered with the White House Initiative on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (WHIAANHPI) to facilitate two sessions on SES Interviews at their April 2024 annual Leadership Conference hosted by the U.S. Department of Transportation. Both sessions were oversubscribed due to their popularity, and we were appreciative of some of our longstanding SES members who were willing to volunteer their time to conduct mock interviews and offer some important insights to help attendees “up their interview game”. This visibility as well as our wise decision to sponsor the event and provide boba tea in the afternoon to the delight of many, drew increased interest in AAGEN. We look forward to continuing such partnerships with other organizations to capitalize and lever our strengths and ideas to meet our respective members’ needs.

If you could choose anyone as a mentor, who would you choose and why?

If I could choose anyone as a mentor, I would choose Norman Mineta. He was the first person of Asian descent to achieve the title of Secretary, serving as both the U.S. Secretary of Transportation and Secretary of Commerce. Remarkably, he served in both Republican and Democratic administrations, showcasing his ability to transcend partisan divides. Mineta's distinguished career in public service, resilience, and visionary thinking are incredibly inspiring. His pioneering efforts in promoting diversity and inclusion, along with his profound impact on policy and community, make him an ideal mentor. I would particularly value his tips on bringing people together and fostering bipartisan collaboration, as these skills are essential for making a meaningful and lasting impact in one’s career and society.

What are some of the critical initiatives AAGEN is currently focusing on?

One significant area of focus for this year is evolving and relaunching our new SES Leadership Development Program. After the groundbreaking work done by a number of previous AAGEN board members to establish a “first-of-its-kind” non-governmental SES Development Program about two decades ago, the Program has proven hugely successful, with a good percentage of graduates subsequently joining the SES ranks. Our longstanding Program Co-directors, Drs. David Chien and Vivian Chen, devoted countless loving, heroic, and often thankless hours for the benefit of so many of us over the years. Their well-deserved retirement from federal service and decision to pass the baton to the next generation of leaders has given us the opportunity to continue the proud tradition that they have established while also continuing to evolve the Program to meet the needs of a newer crop of leaders-in-training. The Program is now led by our fantastic DP Chair, the aforementioned Denise Leung Williams, and we have rebranded our program as the “SES Leadership Development Program” (SES LDP). We have decided to partner with the inimitable Vu Pham, CEO of Spectrum Knowledge (a leadership development training, research, and consulting organization) and Chair of Elevate (a multi-university partnership with the University of California Office of the President), who has generously offered significant support (teaching on various leadership topics, course materials, administrative and logistical support, venue space, and food) to allow us to run our program tuition-free this year. A big thanks to Vu and his team for their crucial support!

What advice would you give to aspiring leaders within the AAPI community?

A few tips I would provide are as follows:

1) Get outside of your comfort zone. Look at stretch opportunities which will allow you to learn a new subject matter, take a leadership role on an initiative, and practice skills that will help you grow as a leader, including how to meaningfully connect with other people, how to work with all different types of personalities and styles, and how to lead teams in driving towards impactful results.

2) Commit to being a lifelong learner with a growth mindset. The proverb ‘curiosity killed the cat” cautions individuals not to inquire or experiment too much for fear of falling into danger. But to the contrary, there’s a productive version of curiosity that in my experience has opened doors that would not have opened but for my choice to have a conversation with a stranger in a line, listen intently and ask a probing follow-up question, or listen to a podcast on a topic I know nothing about that helps me to have better conversations with others. Surround yourself with good friends who challenge you (in a healthy and constructive way) and open your mind up to different ideas and perspectives. Ask friends, colleagues, and mentors for genuine and specific feedback to learn more about what you do and how you do it (both in terms of deliverables and behavior) is perceived by others.

3) Focus on your ability to communicate effectively, both in writing and orally. What can really help to distinguish you is your ability to articulate concepts in a succinct, easy to follow, and interesting manner. I still have much room to improve myself in this regard, but there are many instances where I see colleagues (including AANHPIs) fail to capture the reader/listener’s attention and thus do not project the competence, confidence, and conviction to increase your effectiveness as a leader.