Olina Qian

I attended the HYSTA’s Learn Top Characteristics of Successful People in Technology seminar last Saturday. It mainly talked about the cultural differences, what we are not aware of can have a very direct impact on our success in business. Edward Yang, a thirty-year industry veteran who has served as Senior VP at several global companies, shared with us from his unique perspective and experiences. He has conquered many of the differences not only for himself in his career advancement, but has helped many others succeed. Ed drew a lot from his personal experience for his talk, from very early on in his career to the very top when he formed strategies with power groups within company boards.

I especially liked the Q & A part of the event. When someone asked Ed what are the key elements for new immigrants like us to reach a successful career, Ed answered “Language, Networking and Care!”

I actually had many thoughts about this question recently. I have numerous friends here from China. They are the top students in the top schools, they are smart, and they work hard. So they had the opportunity to come to the US and settled down. But soon after they settled down, they found out that what they did to succeed in the past didn’t work effectively anymore. Since everyone around them are from top schools, they are all very smart and hard-working. Their competitive advantage became not that much of an advantage any more. So they got a little lost. That’s the result of a culture difference.

I believe there are three stages for life. Survival mode, success mode and significant mode. In order to transform from survival mode to success mode, we need to adapt the local culture and play the same rules as local people do. How? Ed just gave us the great guidelines. Let’s go through them one by one:

1. Language: I will take it as communication skill. If you can’t speak the language well, you are out of the game. However, even if you speak the language well, you still need to know when to speak, what to speak and how to speak. There are many of great training programs out there to help you.

a. Dale Carnegie’s Effective Communication and Human Relations training. (oh believe me, it changed my life. ). It can increase your self-confidence and help you understand human relations. People are often surprised how well I can do a presentation now, the secret is— I practiced a lot. The Dale Carnegie Course gave me a place to practice every week. If you need to speak to 30 people every week for two minutes according to certain topics, sooner or later, you will become an expert in it too.

b. ToastMaster. It will help you to brush up your presentation skill and help you structure your content while you talk.

2. Networking: My favorite book about networking is ‘Never Eat Alone’! It is the bible of networking. The concept in this book is: We don’t call it networking, I call it build up relationship — one at a time. Also, networking is not a way to take advantage of others. It is a way to connect to people and continue adding value to the relationship.

In order to do networking, you can do so many things. You can attend Chinese organizations like HYSTA, CINA, CIE, MJAA etc. You can attend other events from SVAMA, SVASE, AAMA etc. You can also attend all kinds of meetup events (check out www.meetup.com). The most important thing is: Step out of your comfort zone, open yourself, talk to people!

Since different people have different prospective, you need to talk to people from different culture, different sector, different levels to learn their prospective. You will then have a better idea about yourself and this world. That’s what I call ’self awareness’. The more you understand yourself, the more you will have access to the opportunity around you. And all kinds of opportunities will lead to your success.

3. Cares: I actually appreciate Ed more when he talked about care. Since care is very important in terms of human relations, I call it ‘Empathy’. In China, we believe the technology is the most important thing. So we all focus on technology. That’s only one part of your problem solving skill and contributes 30% to your success. The other 70% depends on how well you can work with people. In order to move up to the next level, you not only need problem solving skills, but also an understanding of people! Care about people and people will care about you in return. So people are more important than things. I recently heard a stack like this:

Dysfunction–Means totally not working.

Function– Means Doing. In this level, no questions are being asked, we just do it. Like we wake up in the morning, we go wash our face, brush our teeth, we don’t need to think about it.

Efficiency — Means Doing X Thinking. In this level, you start to do things while you think. The more you think through, the more you can do it better. Managers are usually in this level. Since their job needs them to handle all kinds of relationship cross department and function.

Effectiveness — Means Doing X Thinking X Feeling. We usually don’t trust our feeling, but it is very important in everything we do. You need to find out your emotional needs when you do things.

Now, you might ask what’s the difference between Efficiency and Effectiveness. Basically Efficiency is on the IQ level and Effectiveness on the EQ level. In another word, Efficiency is do the right thing and Effectiveness is do things right. For example, people on Efficiency mode turn to treat life as a problem solving series. People on Effectiveness mode look at the big pictures and cares what other people think or feel.

Greatness–Doing X Thinking X Feeling X Being. I still need to think more about the being here. But generally it means the way you do things, the style you do things. From efficient mode to efficient mode, you need a coach! From efficient mode to greatness mode, you need a mentor, plus a heart!

What a great list Ed just pointed out! If you want me to add one more element, I will say it is ‘Attitude’. When you can’t change the environment, at least you can change your attitude. And once your attitude become positive, people around you will notice that, then your environment will start to change.

Again, what gets you here may not be what gets you there! I hope the above thoughts can help you overcome the culture difference and turn you on to the success mode. I am looking forward to hearing the great news from you soon!