Writing Feedback / Essay on achievements from my professional life [2]

Hello,

this is an essay about "an achievement from my professional life and why I see it as such?"

Thank you for any feedbacks.

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"Respect for the Individual" is an attitude that I carried throughout my life. It reminds me to value the diversity of cultures and always treat people as I would like to be treated myself. This attitude helped me to master a difficult situation I was facing during an international assignment in Asia a couple of years ago.

It was back in 2004 where I took the opportunity to join a large project in Japan. The client, a global telecommunication company, decided to staff an international team of Japanese, Europeans, and US colleagues working onsite in Tokyo. I was leading a group of Japanese and Western colleagues in my role as a team lead for the quality assurance of this project. Hence, it was a challenging situation in a new cultural context for me. Not only that English is not commonly spoken in Japan but also the way communication is conducted is very different. I received an impression during the first week where I participated in controversial meetings with our Japanese colleagues. The confrontation of the reserved mentality of the Japanese with the straightforward talk of the Western colleagues often resulted in escalations where both parties left misunderstood by the other. I realized that if no party is willing to respect the culture of its counterpart the success of the project will be put on risk. Consequently to find a way out of this dilemma I had to craft strategies that bring the people together and enhance the team morale.

Thus, I consciously started going out for lunch all together, which should provide a basis for communication in a more relaxed environment. Even though it is not very common in Japan to have lunch breaks I tried to take everybody with me out to nearby restaurants. It was important for me to have a different surrounding than the company's cafeteria. The informal atmosphere offered a foundation for the colleagues to talk about topics that are mostly not work related. Later on, I organized get-together evenings where we went out after work for dinner or sports. Though there were some early apprehensions, they were eliminated by the positive result it brought. I was very happy to see that my actions resulted into a much better working atmosphere and a successful project delivery. For my part, I had my best moment on the "Bonenkai" - a popular Japanese end of year celebration - when my Japanese team members told me that I am the 'Best Expatriate' he worked with so far.

Now after three years, I consider the experience in Japan as a big achievement and an important step in my career. The fact that I could master the complex situation gave me much self-confidence and showed that I could manage people successfully even in difficult situations. Today, this unique ability of handling teams attributed me as a strong leader for my people. Along with the team management, I also further developed my emotional intelligence, particularly my social awareness and empathy skills. These qualities will continue to be my foundation when pursuing future endeavors in both my academic and career aspirations.

Writing Feedback / Essay describing my personality and decisions - Grad School Essay. [5]

Hi all - This essay I wrote for grad school admission. Thanks to all reviewers and feedbacks.

Topic: Describe the most difficult decision and its personal effect on you.

"Be your own boss", that is the motto I put upfront throughout my professional life. Right from the beginning of my engineering studies, I strived hard to select courses that bring technology and business down to one common denominator. Thus, I was happy to get enrolled into the popular Technical Entrepreneur course during my undergraduate studies. The course was absolutely demanding and brought technology into line with business. The highlight of the course was the business plan that we had to create in groups and sent in as a final work.

A couple of years later in 1999 a phone call from one of the co-founder of a web company that was later bought by Ebay, confronted me with a question that leads me to the most difficult decision. He offered me to join his team to build up a new "revolutionary" business from scratch. I was impressed but the enthusiastic wave decayed expeditiously after I reminded myself that I was heading for my educational home stretch.

I was certain that starting the adventure would require my full commitment to be successful. At the same time I was about to start my master thesis and my parents were enthusiastic and looking forward to my graduation. It was obvious to me that I would have to postpone my master for an uncertain period if I decide to have a time out from study. I recognized that I was in front of a crossroad and could not decide which direction to choose.

Two days gone by where I was torn between the onetime chances of being a part of a new great business and live up my motto or finalize my thesis and graduate as planned to see the proud in my parents' eye. Finally, I concluded that my priority is to finish what I have started. I yield my master with an excellent grade some month later, started working at a global company, and climbed up the career in a record timeframe. The latest coronation was my promotion to the company's executive team. Nevertheless, I often thought about how it would be in case I would have decided differently? This question bothered me for years.

Today I am convinced that I made the right decision. Finishing what I have started and having a clear goal in mind is the first directive for me. I recognized that the more I move ahead in my career the more the company requires me to influence the direction of its business. I could recently lead one proposal to a successful end where we could agree with the client for a new project with a total volume of 5 million euros. It was like starting a new business to me where I had to staff a new team, create a proposal that envisioned the client's needs, and present it to the client. I realize that there are many ways I can live up my motto and I am eager to continue this path.

Writing Feedback / How my favorite Hobby/Pastime refelcts my personality [2]

This is my essay I wrote for an admission test. I want to point out following points:

- social engagement
- leadership & communication skills
- lessons learned for professional life.

Thanks for all feedbacks in advance :-)

Topic: Describe your favorite hobby, pastime or sport and explain how it reflects your personality.

The day my classmate took me to a civil protection organization called Technisches Hilfswerk (THW) was the beginning of long and passionate pastime activity for me. Right from the beginning, I have admired the social commitment of this work and trained hard to become a team lead after two years. The organization itself and all members operate on a non-profit basis. The THW is specialized in rescuing people from dangerous spots such as high water or buildings in danger of collapse. It is an officially accepted institution by the government and is placed under the German interior ministry.

Even though we all pursuit for the good purpose we are all still different in the manner of communication and behavior. Within my team I had to anticipate the different educational level and social background of the companions when building the team. It was very challenging for me to manage a team of that heterogeneity. During that time I read management books such as Peopleware of Tom De Marco or Getting to Yes of William Ury a Harvard Professor, which gave me a number of good techniques on how to lead people and apply effective communication. I recognized that management and motivation does not only refer to professional work but even more for pastime activities where people are doing the work voluntarily.

The successes with my team have been the outcome of efficient employment of my qualities to understand and motivate people. I had my most successful achievement when my team was deployed to a critical mission where a building was collapsed and survivors are assumed under the ruins. Each team was assigned to work on a dedicated area to clear away the debris by hand because heavy mechanical equipments were not applicable because of potential survivors. I could never forget that summer morning when around 10am one of my team members stopped and gave the sign for a possible survivor. The hard work turned out into the most meaningful hours of my life. It was the first but unfortunately also the only survivor of this catastrophe. Nevertheless, I was very proud of my team that we were able to transfer the hard training hours successfully into a real mission so that we could save human live.

This pastime activity clearly reflected my personality in many different ways. It challenges me early in my life - before I started with my professional work - to lead people and learn to communicate effectively. I have earned valuable experiences in how to coordinate teams in critical situations and helped me to advance my ability to identify critical facts and prioritize tasks accordingly. However, I realized on the various missions that good management and hard work is not a guarantee to be successful but luck is also one important part in the game.

These experiences reflect my personality till to date when I am working with people and managing projects. It reminds me that I need my team and a dip of happiness besides the hard work to be successful.