Winning Through Simplicity: The Work Philosophy of Professionals

Author: Su Xiong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-06-01
Features: Before the interview at the Enterprise Research Institute, something interesting happened. I was chosen as the representative to deliver the graduation speech because I had previously often represented the department in various debate and speech competitions. On graduation day, many teachers from the school attended. I had no idea that the director of the Enterprise Research Institute was also there, sitting below the podium listening to my speech. In fact, even if I had known he was there, it wouldn’t have made any difference. The audience consisted of students and teachers from the entire department, and my duty at that moment was to focus on explaining the significance of this important day to them. The director of the Enterprise Research Institute was not the only listener, and he couldn’t even follow my speech because he was a foreigner, while the prearranged language for the speech was Cantonese. It must have been quite difficult for him to sit in the audience listening to a student deliver a speech in a language he couldn’t understand! However, after the speech, the director of the Enterprise Research Institute told me that he had left a deep impression of me. Soon after, when I attended the interview at the Enterprise Research Institute, my main examiner was none other than the director who had been listening to my speech from the audience that day, and we had a very pleasant conversation. Naturally, I passed the interview and was admitted as a graduate student at the Enterprise Research Institute of The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Many people might explain this as a matter of coincidence, but if we think deeper, there is clearly an inherent logic between events—if I hadn’t actively participated in extracurricular activities, I wouldn’t have become acquainted with many teachers on a personal level; if I hadn’t actively demonstrated my abilities, I wouldn’t have received the “objective” recognition of the teachers. Don’t be reluctant to showcase your abilities, just like beautiful flowers all possess vibrant colors. The Minnan people have a saying: “Even a stubborn horse can take a step.” We too easily let opportunities slip away from those who “love to show off.” In my opinion, everyone has unique abilities, and if we don’t express them, over time, some people may even suppress their desire to perform, until eventually, they don’t even believe in their own capabilities. The attribution process of ordinary people is too focused, paying attention only to special events. In reality, the reasons for good fortune are usually widespread and may not always be right in front of us. In fact, they are often the small, overlooked details in our daily lives. After getting into the Enterprise Research Institute of The Chinese University of Hong Kong, I immediately faced another problem—I decided to bear the tuition and living expenses for the institute myself. When I was about to graduate from the undergraduate program, my father had a talk with me. He told me not to worry about the tuition fees and just focus on my studies, promising to figure out a way to pay for them. But I absolutely couldn’t do that because I had already reached the age where I had to take responsibility for my own career. I wanted to raise the money myself to complete my degree. Things went surprisingly smoothly, and I may have broken a hiring at The Chinese University of Hong Kong—no student from a non-departmental research institute had ever been hired as a teaching assistant before. For the sociology department at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, switching to a Master’s program in business management midway through my studies might have seemed like an act of betrayal, but I became the first teaching assistant in the history of the sociology department at The Chinese University of Hong Kong who was not from the department. Do you want to know why? The reason is very simple: because the sociology department at The Chinese University of Hong Kong