嘉文博译-写作中心原创写作案例

How do you define "leadership" and how do you define "teamwork"? Give example(s) of your most significant professional accomplishment, in which you take risk to make change to an organization and learn from the experience to shape your management skills. How do you realize to make the change? What is your role in this process? This example(s) should show your potential for success as a leader in a professional environment. (750 words double spaced, Indiana, Emory, Michigan State, Penn State, Illinois, Cambridge)

A leader should work as a part of the community by influencing people through personal integrity and maturity, rather than through absolute hierarchical authority. A true leader is successful because he or she uses knowledge, skills and abilities to seek what is best for the group, not merely personal glory. In addition, a leader should be willing to take risks to instigate a course of action that will lead to better informed decision making. I have always tried to use this attitude in my own work experiences.

Effective teamwork requires mutual trust and a common goal, with each member of an effective team assuming one's own responsibility. Each team member must know what is best for the common goal in an environment where each can express his or her ideas freely regardless of their hierarchical rank in the organization.

I achieved my most significant professional accomplishment in my first year with NIC as the chemical department sales manager. Prior to my appointment, the chemical department's main business was in exporting raw materials and chemical products to other countries. I took six months to acquaint myself with NIC's business before I decided that we needed to enlarge our business and improve our competitive position. I persuaded my colleagues to pay more attention to the import business because this would give us more options. If we could gain enough support from reliable foreign suppliers, our hard work and selling abilities would allow us to continue to make our business grow. With the exporting business, we had to reactively wait for orders from our customers abroad. With China's position as the largest products processing country in the world, with import business we could act proactively to acquire raw materials for processing. Furthermore, I wanted our salespeople to communicate more with each other rather than focusing only on sales of their own products. Our department did not do a good job of sharing ideas on how to sell better or how to improve our overall business. I realized that if our employees would share their sales experiences with each other, each individual's character, personality and integrity could contribute to a greater spirit of teamwork that would ultimately affect the overall success of the department.

At first there were doubts about my plan. Rather than forcing them to comply by using my authority as sales manager, I prepared a detailed market research report to show them how my plan could improve our performance. I focused on the plastics business because I had accumulated a great deal of experience in this area with Gyoha Plastics, Ltd., and because it was a staple raw material for many Chinese companies. Additionally, the NIC head office in Tokyo wanted to establish business relationships with some other Japanese plastics industry companies. I conducted intense research on the Internet and found many potential clients. Convinced by my research results, my colleagues began to show an interest in my plan and began to voluntarily assist me in developing our plastics business.

As I developed the business, I gained rich experience in communicating with many companies, most of which do not have cross-cultural communication skills. When I contacted domestic buyers, I had to act according to Chinese culture, but when working with foreign suppliers, I had to comply with their norms according to their cultures and business environments. As a result, I was able to not only develop my communication skills to negotiate with domestic buyers but also to hone my skills on dealing flexibly within different cultures. This also enhanced my ability to freely communicate with my colleagues as I realized that it is much easier to deal with the smaller differences between individuals than to deal with cultural differences.

This plan marked a change in my career in terms of maturity and communication, teamwork, and analytical ability. The success of the project gave me the self-confidence to assert my leadership skills. In addition, I began to challenge traditional approaches to our business and to offer more initiative solutions.

As our business developed, I began to realize that it was more important for me to direct my colleagues rather than being involved in every little detail of their work. I began learning to control business from a supervisor's point of view. But I soon realized that my quantitative and technological skills were inadequate for me to reach my fullest potential as a manager. I know that an MBA degree can give me the systematic training that I need to realize that potential.