A few good men

I had a meeting with my boss, the Acting General Counsel, today in Shenzhen. He was hired a couple of months ago as an IP counsel for the company, but because of the departure of our GC, he was then appointed Acting GC until a replacement is found.

He is a nice guy. I knew it the very first moment I met him. He's Malaysian Chinese who has spent the better part of his life in the US. He's worked in a leading US law firm and in a major US company so his experience and exposure is more than excellent.

Most of all he is a good guy. I didn't have a chance to get to know him very well back when he started his job (he is based in Shenzhen, me Hong Kong; plus I started my marriage leave shortly after he joined) But today we had a long chat, and he reaffirmed my impression of him. For a GC, one may think he is too idealistic and optimistic, but hearing him say what he said, you can't help thinking that "hmm...this is good. We need leaders like him with passion and vision". He does not give you lectures and lessons, instead he shares with you his experience, with the help of some funny real and fake stories, to get the message across to you.

I was most impressed when he told me that "family always comes first. If you do what you think is right for your family and your company doesn't appreciate that, then maybe this company is not worth your effort. You can always change your job, but you can never change your family". To take up his position in Shenzhen, he had to relocate his whole family (wife + 3 kids) from the US. He certainly has a very supportive family.

When he first joined, my ex-boss (GC who has now left) and some other senior management had doubts whether he may survive this company, since he seems to be too idealistic and westernised to be working in a political and chaotic PRC company. But there is something about him that makes me believe that not only will he make a good boss, he may actually be able to win the favour and trust of our management, and therefore make all our little lawyer lives a whole lot better.

I have friends who, for all his/her life, works for bosses from hell. I have been really fortunate in this aspect, as most of my bosses are good leaders and nice people. Let's hope that it stays that way.

Interview II

This morning I went for an interview with another company. This is a world renowned sports company whose products have won the favour of millions of people, including my newly acquired husband BB.

The interview was very brief, with me meeting only the HR manager for about 15 minutes. The HR manager asked me the standard questions, and then went on to explain their corporate culture and management style.

I was told that the company is highly performance driven, and there have been, and will be, a lot of changes in personnel and company direction. The way she said it (plus her facial expression) suggested that the company is merciless when it comes to year end evaluation - if the company thinks you are not delivering results (revenue), you can pretty much start packing.

After the two interviews I had yesterday and today, I find that it really is a big bad world out there. And what has surprised me is how honest the interviewers have become these days. I remember a few years back, whoever I interviewed with would only tell me all the glorious things about their company. You have to conduct your own due diligence through your friends, or friends of your friends, who work in that company.

Despite the many complaints I may have about my current employer (lack of leadership and vision, undesirable corporate culture, poor management skills, the rudeness of some of my PRC colleagues, etc etc), I do enjoy really flexible working hours (many times my friends call me at 6pm and I am already on my way home) and I have kind of established myself in the company. Do I want to throw all these away and
rush to the unknown, where I may have to work 15 hours a day, or help the company generate millions of profits, so as to justify my existence?

I am not too sure now.

But I am not too worried about it. I have prayed about it and have lifted it all up to God. I am never sure what will be best for me, but God is.

When is too much too much?

I went for an interview today. The company runs what most people consider a very glamours business and is one of the biggest employers in HK. During the interview, the following conversation took place:

General Counsel (my potential future boss, should they/I decide to hire me/join the company): I've got to tell you, this company has the worst politics. You must come here with no expectation because whatever expectation you have as a lawyer you will be very disappointed when you see no one appreciates you. The legal function in this company doesn't command any respect. You have to fight for everything every day. We don't even have our own standing and have to sit under the personnel division. [GC went on to tell me horrible stories about their legal team being treated like crap]

Me: [Still smiling] I see. Sounds like your company is as chaotic as mine.

GC: Yeah. Everyday is a battle. You have to deal with all sorts of people problems. It's trouble when they come to you for advice. It's even more trouble when they don't come to you until shit hits the fan.

GC then continued for another 15 minutes to talk about the pain of being a lawyer for this company, and then went on to talk about business trips:

GC: Business trips is part and parcel of this job. I don't expect you to travel a lot on a frequent basis but when you do, the business trips can be extremely demanding. I have more than once travelled long haul to a country, only to be there for a few hours and then I have to get on the earliest plane to come back to HK. And you are not allowed to have jet-lag. Oh and since your role is a world-wide role, you will have to work the Europe and US time zones as well, and when you have a global conference call, you sometimes have to get up at 5am to take those calls.

Me: [......]

GC: And senior management may wake you up in the middle of the night and ask you questions, and you have to give them answers there and then.

Me: [......]

While I truly appreciate the honesty of the GC in telling me the reality of the working environment despite the huge risk of scaring me away (he said, and I truly agree, that he'd rather tell me everything upfront for me to make an informed decision than for us to have a mismatch of expectation), I cannot help thinking how tough it will be working in such a position, having to deal with the sorts of challenges that were mentioned, and having to work 3 time zones and weekends and take late night and early morning calls. The remuneration package is not spectacular either. And did I mention that should I take the job, I will have to spend 3.5 hours each day commuting to and from work?

The upside of things is that their office complex is like a mini community, equipped with a gym, a theatre, a mini supermarket, a bank, and whatever you can think of in a local community. Oh and you get to see many many glamours people every day. That's not too bad.

無題

凡事都有定期。

萬事互相效力。

I see you, I see you not

如果眼睛是靈魂之窗，而你因爲戴了那些新科技小黑環隱形眼鏡而使瞳孔變得大了亮了，而如果有男生因爲你大了亮了的瞳孔而愛上了你，那你怎辦？難道日日夜夜也要跟這小膠片做朋友？你又有沒有欺騙觀衆之嫌？

眼睛會説話。我可以理解人們（包括我）希望用eye shadow, mascara, eye liner, 等等等等把眼睛弄得漂亮一點，但瞳孔是另一回事，它是一個人真誠的指標。如果隨隨便便的把這個指標加大改小，那和騙子又有什麽分別？ 我看見你但看不見真的你，那我還是不是看見你呢？

好書推介

《小事情》-- 陳慧

“別小看生活中這些小事情，小事情中有大道理。因爲每個人的生命，都是日日夜夜由如此這般的小事情交織而成。”

很久沒有看過一本叫我真正感動的書。如書名一樣，說的都是發生在小人物身上的小事情。陳慧一向擅長觀察和捕足生活的細節和感情描寫，這次沒有例外。

你和我都是小人物，看這書，你會驚訝有人可以這麽精准地了解你的内心世界。在地鐵裏看這書，好幾次弄得我鼻子酸酸。旁人怪怪的看着我，好不尷尬。

趕快看哪！