【《ChaseDream Career》八月刊选文摘录】之“THE ONE and ONLY”

Career

The Adventure of Vivian:
If you want to survive in the business world, you'd better change yourself to fit your role--stick to the status quo! Wait a sec, is that the person you really want to be?
--No, I am the one and only--Vivian

THE ONE and ONLY

Every half year, McKinsey conducts semiannual performance review with all their consultants. During the review process, your evaluator asks everyone whom you worked with in the past 6 months and summarizes your strengths and “development needs” in a 2 page note. Before your next semi-review, you are required to show improvement in those development areas or there is a chance that you might receive a poor ranking. These semiannual reviews are taken quite seriously as it determines whether you get promoted, on the track of being promoted, or being "cancelled out".

On my 4th semi-annual review, I received a “development needs” that went something like this:

"You need to avoid being too empathetic with client's situation: You tend to become a bit too concerned with client's emotion, our team are concerned that this might affect your overall judgment and even affect your effectiveness with your client. Developing closeness with your client is a good thing, but make sure you maintain your objectivity."

I understood that last part of the feedback. Not maintaining objectivity is regarded as a very unprofessional behavior for the type of work we do. Consultants are expected to offer thirdparty, un-biased perspective to some of the most critical, political-sensitive corporate decisions. Everything we say, every idea we put forward, every recommendation we make has to be factbased, supported by a solid quantitative analysis. My first 1.5 years at McKinsey was learning how to build all type of excel models, run complex analysis and analyze data provided by our client. I didn't know anything about excel before I joined McKinsey but after 1.5 years of solid, on-the-job training, I relied on excel to solve 90% of the business problems. I didn't mind running numbers but I didn't love it. I didn't love it because there were very limited client interactions. If your sole responsibility is crunching and analyzing numbers, of course you don’t need any empathy.

As I grew more senior, I was given more responsibilities and had more direct interaction with clients. Just before this 4th semi-annual review, I was involved in serving a Taiwanese bank where I was asked to train and coach their 8-person team. Working with Taiwanese client was very challenging as they expected consultants to literally tell them everything and do everything. In the beginning of the project, the client team leader was very skeptical about the values I could bring to the organization. In her view, the “perfect” consultant was one who should have the answers to every business question and could always predict exactly what the future opportunities were. Unlike previous projects where I could just “hide” myself behind pile of spreadsheets, I had to really understand what was going on, why the client team leader wasn't motivated and create excitement for the team. To do all of that, I really needed to understand emotions and build trust. Luckily the 1.5-year solid analytical training didn't take away the people-oriented side of me. I connected very well with the client leader and her team- not really because of my capabilities or banking knowledge, it was the extra mile that I put in to understand her situation and my commitment in developing her people.

This could have been a happy ending story except there was one problem. Because I was so close to my client's situation, I didn't agree with some of the initiatives that my manager was suggesting my client to implement. I was too young to resolve this type of conflict and chose to stand by my client's side because I believed it was the right thing to do. When I received the development needs on my performance review, I was confused and begun to doubt if I could ever be a great consultant, even though I knew there was nothing I enjoyed more than inspiring clients with my advice.

But now looking back, this is the best performance review I have ever received in my entire life. It means that I will always standout among a group of consultants- One who will always add that extra personal touch when delivering my analysis and message. What I really needed wasn't avoid to be too empathetic with client's situation, but to understand when to be empathetic and when not to. Sometimes you need to be objective, but other times you need to be empathetic to get things implemented. No matter what job, position or role you are in, it's important to always develop a wider spectrum of skills/capabilities. As your experiences grow, you will gradually learn the best time to use your skills.

Also, I will never again in my life let a performance review tell me who I need to be to “fit” a particular role. My role doesn't define nor confine me as I am the onle and only.
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Career

独树一格

       每隔半年，麦肯锡就会对全体顾问进行一次半年度绩效评估。其间，你的评估员会询问每一个在过去六个月中与你共事的员工，然后用两页纸的篇幅总结出你的优势和“发展需要”。在下一个半年度业绩评估之前，你必须在它指出需要“发展”的方面有所进步，否则就有可能得到一个低得可怜的排名。半年度绩效评估非常受重视，因为它决定着你是会被放到晋升组还是淘汰组。
   
      在我的第四次半年评估上，我接到了这样的 “发展需要”：
 
     “你应当避免过于站在客户的立场看问题：你有点太过在意客户的感受，我们担心这会影响你的整体判断力，甚至影响你和客户沟通的有效性。拉近与客户的距离是好事，但必须确保你的客观性。”

      我知道最后这部分文字的含义。对于我们这样类型的工作，不能确保客观性是非常不专业的。咨询顾问应当给那些至关重要的，甚至具有政治敏感性的企业决策提供第三方的，无偏见的视角。我们说的每句话，提出的每个观点，给出的每项建议都必须基于事实，有可依据的定量分析作支撑。我在麦肯锡最初的一年半里都在学习如何建立各类excel 模型，实施复变分析，并研究客户提供的数据。在进入麦肯锡之前，我完全不知道怎么搞定excel，但是经过一年半扎实的在职训练，我已经能用excel 解决90% 的商业问题。我并不排斥数据运算，但也并不喜欢，因为做数据分析与客户的接触并不是很多。如果你的职责是分析和咀嚼数字，自然不需要同理心。

      当级别逐渐升高之后，我的职责也增多了，因此有了更多与客户接触的机会。就在第四次半年评估之前，我拿到一个台湾银行的项目，主要负责培训和指导该行一个8 人的团队。与台湾人共事非常有挑战性，因为他们总是希望顾问事无巨细地告诉他们每一个细节，并帮他们做好每一件事。项目一开始的时候，客户方的组长非常质疑我能给公司创造多少利润。在她眼中，“最佳” 顾问应该能够回答每一个商务问题，并准确预言未来的发展机会在哪里。不同于之前的项目，这一次我不能再躲在那一摞摞的数据资料背后，而必须去弄明白整件事情——为什么客户团体的领导不积极配合？然后试着动员大家积极起来。为了能做这一切，我首先要摸透客户的心，获取信任。好在这一年半的数据分析训练还没有磨灭我以人为本的一面，我与客户领导和她的团队都相处得非常好——并不是因为我的个人能力或者银行知识，而是我为了了解客户状况而额外付出的努力，以及我做出的发展人才的承诺。

      若不是这中间出了一个问题，结局该是皆大欢喜的。我因为和客户走得太近，没有同意我的经理建议客户去做的一些事。我太年轻，根本没有能力去化解这样的冲突，而是选择站到客户一边，因为我觉得这样做才是对客户最好的。接到“发展需要”时，我非常困惑，开始怀疑自己最终能否成为一名伟大的顾问——虽然我觉得能用自己的建议启发客户才是我最热衷的事情。
   
      现在回过头来看，这是我人生中收到过的最好的绩效评估。它意味着我将在一群顾问中脱颖而出——我是一个能在传递客观的信息和分析时又能加入更多关怀的人。我真正需要的不是避免怀抱太多同理心，而是懂得什么时候该有，什么时候不能有。有的时候你应该客观，但也有时候你需要考虑他人的立场，以保证自己的计划得到实施。不管你在工作中是什么位置，扮演什么角色，博采众长，拥有广泛的业务技能很重要。随着经验的增长，你将会懂得什么时候该用什么样的技能。

      另外，我再也不会让一份绩效考核来告诉我，为了适应某个特定的角色，我该成为什么样的人了。我不会受我的工作角色定义和限制，因为我知道唯有如此我才能真正独树一格。

bxybyby

I like her article, it's kind of interesting reading material for me. I like the way she tells stories, and the way she looks at the world and herself. Sometime I think that kind of life is too far away from me, even though I always want to find a way to get there. Yet after reading her story, I start to reconsider whom I really want to be. You can't escape from this question, if you really wanna be responsible for yourself. There's no easy way to go to find the answer, especially for people like me, who is just graduated from school, and haven't found a suitable job. Each time I read her article, I tell myself, don't be afraid of my future, no matter what level people are in, they still face the same question, keep thinking and learning, this is the only way to get myself ready for a chance that may come at any time, and sometimes I need a little more courage and confidence. That's it. Looking forward to the next story.

komalee23

我顶~

superzhangjian

顶，这就是我不能成为牛人的原因啊！！！牛人敢于独树一格，而我只知道为了混口饭吃努力让自己适应工作

vivianxyr

很喜欢~~~

komalee23

终于读完。。。这个世界很奇怪，有很多所有人都不认同的价值观成为了评判一个人是否出色的标准，而标准本身又被人推崇。能在大众的价值观中保持独树一格的信念很不容易，也一直希望自己能如是做，甚至期待自己能改变一些风气。然而现实往往让人乏力，所以对于作者又更多了几分敬佩。
就像Steve Jobs说的，Keep looking, don't settle. 继续寻找吧！

P.S.翻译得很棒啊~

bxybyby

终于读完。。。这个世界很奇怪，有很多所有人都不认同的价值观成为了评判一个人是否出色的标准，而标准本身又被人推崇。能在大众的价值观中保持独树一格的信念很不容易，也一直希望自己能如是做，甚至期待自己能改变一些风气。然而现实往往让人乏力，所以对于作者又更多了几分敬佩。
就像Steve Jobs说的，Keep looking, don't settle. 继续寻找吧！

P.S.翻译得很棒啊~

-- by 会员 komalee23 (2012/8/18 17:16:22)

谢谢~

komalee23

终于读完。。。这个世界很奇怪，有很多所有人都不认同的价值观成为了评判一个人是否出色的标准，而标准本身又被人推崇。能在大众的价值观中保持独树一格的信念很不容易，也一直希望自己能如是做，甚至期待自己能改变一些风气。然而现实往往让人乏力，所以对于作者又更多了几分敬佩。
就像Steve Jobs说的，Keep looking, don't settle. 继续寻找吧！

P.S.翻译得很棒啊~

-- by 会员 komalee23 (2012/8/18 17:16:22)

谢谢~

-- by 会员 bxybyby (2012/8/21 15:25:43)

0_0!

衣袂飘飘

好文章~