Be Your best self

Angela Bai
Vice President, HSBC Bank (China) Company Limited (Asia Pacific)
International Business development

May 2009, Vice President, HSBC Bank (China) Company Limited (Asia Pacific), International Business development, Angela Bai was visited to Antai college of economics & management, Shanghai Jiao Tong University. She gave an exciting speech in MBA students’ Career Management course.

Her subject is: How to Be Your Best Self.

Angela Bai was working in finance business for 17 years from local bank to global bank. Her 14 years witness signal improvement and triumph for CCBC. Have a strong desire to study she moved into international financial company form a local bank in 2005. The new challenge also was seen as the most important life experience to her, she said: “I’ll do my best self no matter making any way of life”. She really did well indeed.

A person’s career lasts about 35-40 years, which 2/3 of the time are engaged in a specified occupation or a certain kind of work. The time is probably different in different market and gender, men’s career is 3-5 years longer than women. Each person persistently pursuit of a goal—success, but it’s not ultimate goal. From the social value there are some standards to evaluate success, they are Multi-criteria. In a sense, successful career can be quantified from individual perspective、family perspective and social perspective.

Each phase of life is filled with confusion. What do I know about this world and expect in the future? Listen and follow to your heart: what do I want to do? What can I do? What do I enjoy to do? The more intersection of the three, the near to success.

Career Journey of discovery：

1. First step of career journey is to know self and discover self. Success depends on know ourselves although it’s difficult. They are divided into 4 steps:
   
   
2. Then, know our strength and weakness. We should do our best to know our strength, for example some people are diligence, careful, independent. And our opportunities, for example, know clearly about the current social economics context and adjust thinking and behavior to new challenges. Chinese managers require for global or international talents, which have international thinking、higher view and vision. We believe Chinese will lead the world in the near future.

Be your best self:

1. Be a best person is to be a best self.
   
   1. Know current diversity society context , maintain supplement、understanding and tolerate.
   2. Set a positive goal and persist to be determined to the goal, oncentration, ability to resists pressure and frustration.
   3. Enjoy happiness; review successes and failures and reverses.
   4. Integrity and trust.
   5. Learn at all times to improve yourself
   6. Enrich and gain more knowledge and experience. With diligence and kindness, the Chinese nation created a splendid civilization.
      
      
2. Get the goal set by self is seen as to be the best self. Improve self constantly around my own heart that can make a perfect one. Angela shows a three-dimensional growth concept, we should try our best to all these three dimensions, or extends as not far as the success.
   
   
3. At last she advice three processes to success in career:
   
   1. Clear: A good conscience
   2. Compliance: conform to rules and laws. Behavior on right process of finance business usually guides and moves a right result.
   3. Flat organization, do the best.

Questions and answers to Angela?

1. What is the difference between managing a business and family? How to balance family and life？
   The difference: managing a business is rational, but family is sensitive. Family is a place full of emotion but don’t mind rationality.
2. From CCBC to MasterCard International, what are the difference between them and your feeling?
   I think it’s a wrong transfer insentimentfrom a state bank to international bank, but it’s right in rationality. CCBC establish a good value for me, I feel successful in CCBC and always keep the best condition. As an international organization, MasterCard International is a Payment Card Industry, direct customers are big financial organization and bank, and terminal customers are cardholder. It offers a global network，global operation，global view and experience to know more information and people, gain more skills. It is much more different in the manage methods, company culture, business models from state bank. Work together with colleague from different countries; adjust to different language and culture in. Get away from a pyramid, well defined power and responsibility, and Conservative state bank, I only take 3 months for language adaptability, but more than 2 years to fit to Multi-structure and Multi-culture challenge.
3. Do you consider going back to CCBC?
   I’d like to go bake to CCBC if there is a suitable position for me. Because I am a realistic idealist, in case it can make my dream true I’ll come back.
4. So far we regard you as a success woman, what do you think most regretted?
   It depends on one’s personality. I'm rather pessimistic about that, so there are more regret things than success. Some people may be positive and optimistic. Although I would rather review failure and frustration than success, I am also looking forward confronting frustration optimistically. Now I’m engaging in strategic business development and talk about special market with senior management. What is the trend of market development? What are our potential customers? Where is the market motive force? What are the external factors? What are product marketing channel? What results? How to keep core value and so on? Business to business customer relationship is established steadily based on a written contract. I should do better contract in make sure the time, extension, structure to maximum the profit.

As a successful women leader, there is nothing but bitter before her splendid career. Family and career, success and failure, it takes someinspiration for us all to know a true self.