This is me.

My father is the most influential person who shaped me. Small business though it may be, my father worked diligently and wholeheartedly by dedicating all his time into it. The pleased moment my father promoted his products, the temperate way he provided pre- and after-sales services, and especially the prudent expressions on his face when he was calculating how much he made still lingered on my mind. When I was a little girl, I had complained that my Daddy had spared little time with me, but as I grow old, I started to realize that his hard-work and the time of being my companion sacrificed were for the well being of my family. His diligence and hard-work paid off because his start-from-scratch business was no longer one just to earn bread for family but became a sizable enterprise. I learn from my father that once you decide to do something, do it wholeheartedly and diligently. This is also the most important core value I upheld in my life. Besides that, I always tell myself to be adaptable. As a famous saying goes, “change is the only constant”. Since I was a primary school student, I had to transfer every two years to different schools in Wuhan City Hubei Province due to my father’s business needs. After completing my first year in a junior high school in Wuhan, I transferred to an international school in Beijing where 99% percent of students were foreign and only English teaching and speaking was accepted. I spared no effort in studying English and catching up with those international students. During this process, I fell in love with English and made a lot of friends who were from different cultural backgrounds. From that time on, I had made up my mind to come to the U.S. for further study and to experience the real different culture. Rather than being resistant to changes like other girls in my age, I embrace and be adapted to them, no matter what location, climate, schools, ways of teaching, ways of learning, language spoken, communication styles, and cultural differences. This is exactly why I am here.

Though being alone in the U.S., my father is always my role model as a successful entrepreneur. My career pursuit of being a successful female CEO always motivates me, which is also the reason I chose business management as my major. I love picturing the scene where I was standing in front of managers from different departments, delivering a meeting and justifying the most plausible schemes. I hate waiting, no matter for a person or for a thing to happen. I always believe if one starts to wait, he is defeated by time and loses the initiative. I fear of being caught in comfort zones and I avoid being at a loose end where I would have been drifted away from the life I want. A life where I achieve self-worth in both family and work. I’d like to depict myself as a confident girl, from both outside and inside. I like to dress myself well, like most girls who like shopping for beautiful clothes and putting up a delicate make-up. I also get confidence because I am quite popular among classmates and they like to make friends with me. Such kind of popularity, certainly, does not result from the way I dress but from my unique qualities shaped by my culture. Hofstede categorized different culture from four aspects, with the first one being the power impact on relationships (power distance); the second one being how the society handles ambiguity (uncertainty avoidance), the third one being how a society defines gender roles (masculinity/femininity) and the last one being collectivist or individualist focuses society (individualism) (Hofstede, 1984). I grew up in a culture which advocates collectivism. Thus, whatever community I was in, I thought about others’ interests and always try my best to do what I can to help others. Also, I was brought in a culture of higher uncertainty avoidance. A culture of higher uncertainly avoidance values authority, seniority, age, etc., and attempts to provide greater occupational safety, establish more formal rules, and intolerance of extreme views and behavior (Jones, 2013). This is also a guiding principle in my communication with others. I show absolute respect to my teachers and classmates and everyone I met in my life. And this is me.

This is where I want to be.

I pursue to be a successful business woman in the future. I have made short-term and long-term goals to expedite my career pursuit fulfillment and I have made them SMART. The short-term goal is to understand management principles, leadership theories, human resource management theories, managing organizational behaviors and ethics, and strategic management before graduation. My long-term goal is to become top management in an investment company within 6 years.

Besides probing deeper into business management related theories, I also bury my head greedily into piles of books related to economics and investments. I am deeply aware that a strong ability in profession is the basic of being a good leader.  According to the path-goal theory which was first developed by Robert House, a leader should behave with the purpose to complement subordinate’s abilities and compensate for deficiencies and leaders help subordinates achieve goals by outlining the paths towards the goals and by removing obstacles in the way (House & Mitchell, 1974). Solid theoretical foundation would be relied on. What’s more important is the application of those theories into practice. To accumulate real-business experience, I managed to find an internship opportunity in Guojin Dingxin Investment Co. in Wuhan during summer vacation. I was responsible for an investment project worth 25 million RMB. It was about an acquisition of some cinemas in a small city. I went on business travels with my leader and wrote reports about the on-site investigations of those cinemas. My leader was directive, supportive, participative and very achievement-oriented. Besides the features demonstrated by my leader, I think there are four other leadership skills I need and want to have if I become a top leader in a company. First, effective communication with all employees. Clear and succinct explanation to employees from company goals to specific tasks in all forms such as e-mail, telephone, and social media. An open-door policy should be adopted to ensure a steady flow of communication with employees. Second, leaders must be able to inspire and encourage productivity and passion by allowing employee autonomy, and providing rewards, mentoring and recognizing others. Third, a good leader must delegate tasks to each employee based on individual’s abilities. Leaders who try to take on too many tasks alone will find it hard to do anything. Fourth, leaders need to be flexible, accepting whatever changes. Last minutes change always happen in work. Similarly, leaders must be open to suggestions. Flexibility related skills include adaptability, ability to learn new skills, open to feedback and ability to respond unexpected issues.

This is how my graduate degree can get me from where I am to where I want to be.

First , through this program, I can learn the relevant theoretical knowledge of business and understand the most cutting-edge academic achievements which will lay a solid foundation for my future business practice. Second, many high-end subfields in business are mandatory for degrees and specialties, such as most sectors of the financial industry. This program provides insurance for the uncertainties in my career pursuit. Third, this program can bring me an international perspective. Studying abroad can bring us better communication skills, such as master of a foreign language and a better understanding of the different cultures which will enable overseas returnees to have better international communication skills. In searching job opportunities in companies of foreign capital or joint ventures, or even for some companies aiming to develop their business in foreign markets, such skills can also allow me to outperform competitors.

The ranking of education quality in developed regions in Europe and America is higher than that in China. At present, American universities have the highest degree of recognition for academic qualifications and diplomas after returning to China. Also, most business management theories were first developed by American scholars.

The most important factor that PPD attracts me is that it attaches great importance to the entrepreneurial spirit of the students. It has been ranked the “Top 10 most Entrepreneurial University” by Forbes magazine. And your business school ranks #3 in the “Greatest opportunity for Women”. Zong Fuli, daughter of Zong Qinghou who is the former richest man in China, graduated from your business school.

References

Hofstede, G., (1984). Cultural dimensions in management and planning. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 1(2), pp.81–99.

House, R. J. & Mitchell, T. R. (1974). “Path-goal theory of leadership”. Journal of Contemporary Business, 3, pp: l-97.

Jones, R. J. (2013). Organization Theory Design and Change, 7th edn, U.K.: Pearson Education Ltd.