嘉文博译-写作中心原创写作案例

What leader (current or historical) has had the biggest impact on your personal leadership style? Please give three key leadership lessons that you learn from this person. One lesson should describe a work situation in which your goal was not achieved, how did you deal with it? What was the outcome? Another lesson should be a meaningful cross culture experience. (750words double spaced, Emory, Penn State, Cambridge)

The leader that has had the most influence on my life and leadership style is my current boss at Nissho Iwai (Qingdao) Corporation, Mr. Nishikawa. I have had the good fortune to be able to work closely with him since being assigned to the position of sales manager of the chemical department at NIC.

First of all, Mr. ABCDEF has enhanced my cross-cultural communication skills by giving me advice on the best ways to communicate with my colleagues at the NIC head office in Tokyo. When I was developing our plastics business, I needed to gain the trust of Mr. GHIJ, who was the person in charge of plastics at our Tokyo headquarters. Mr. GHIJ exemplified the typical Japanese way of thinking, with his main principles of doing business being 1) taking the seller's point of view, because it was a seller's market in Japan, and 2) never canceling orders or changing the price regardless of any changes in market conditions. My way of thinking on developing business was very different from that of Mr. GHIJ. When I had worked at Gyoha Plastics, I was involved in the exporting business, so I was used to working on behalf of the buyers rather than the sellers. Secondly, the buyers hold the dominant position in the marketplace in China because of intense competition among sellers. Furthermore, our Korean competitors were much more flexible than NIC and were better able to meet nonstandard requests from Chinese buyers. Mr. GHIJ and I disagreed on the best way to proceed. Because I lacked effective communication skills, I was unable to persuade him to change his business methods and I was therefore unable to meet my sales goals. I became frustrated and was ready to quit.

Fortunately for me, Mr. Nishikawa stepped in and helped me to understand the special cultural background of Japan and the differences between China, Korea and Japan not only in business methods but also in cultural differences that drive the different business philosophies. Moreover, Mr. Nishikawa persuaded me to look at the business from Mr. GHIJ's position and to be more empathetic when dealing with different cultures. Following his advice, I was able to take a more international perspective by adjusting my thinking according to the changes in cultural philosophies. As my advisor and mentor, Mr. Nishikawa helped hone my cross-cultural communication skills by enlarging my perspective on the business as a whole.

Secondly, Mr. Nishikawa helped me develop not only my business skills but my personal character as well. Desperate to enlarge our business, I decided to take the risk of signing contracts with some customers with a bad history in our files. As an example, there was one client that had the potential of giving us one million orders every month but that had been blacklisted due to a reputation for canceling orders when the market took a downturn. Thinking only of the potential for great sales, I decided to go around the "blacklist" by using another company's name in order to get the raw materials from the manufacturers. To my dismay, Mr. Nishikawa sharply rebuked me for even considering such a plan. He told me that it is more important to do the right things rather than to do things right, and that my customer's character would reflect upon our company as well. Commercial integrity and high personal morals are crucial to success in business. Doing business with this company of ill repute might help sales in the short run but it would ultimately undermine our business in the long run. Mr. Nishikawa taught me that I had to act with integrity in both business and my personal life in order to be successful. I have begun to think more strategically and look not only for the answers that best suit our business today, but that will also serve us in the future.

Mr. Nishikawa has taught me the value of true leadership in other ways as well. He has always led by example rather than through absolute authority. He always shares his experiences with me, whether failures or successes, to illustrate the correct path to follow when making a decision. Rather than giving me step-by-step instructions, he has shown me the right direction and left me enough room to find my own style and way of accomplishing goals. I know that my future success as a manager will be due in great part to the leadership and instruction of Mr. Nishikawa.