That Was an Awkward Moment! I was in a formal meeting with some very high ranking government officials, where my partner introduced me as Dr. C. In Chinese, when people say Dr., they usually refer to PhD. I am a medical doctor and I have an MBA, but I am not a PhD. I was a bit shocked when I heard him saying that. He knew I was not a PhD. I had no idea why he did that. Did he think a PhD sounded better than a medical doctor or what? I was thinking of correcting him, but then what should I say? Tell those officials that he lied about my background? So I didn’t say anything about it and continued with my lecture. After that, the same group of people went to a reception, where everybody kept calling me Dr. C. Since I didn’t correct that during that formal meeting, it seems there was no good time for me to correct them anymore. The whole thing made me so uncomfortable. I’m not ashamed of who I am, and I think I should have told the audience I was not a PhD in the first place. It may make him look bad, but it’s much better than lying who you are. I decided to leave that company after I came back from that trip. There are many reasons, but one most important one is that I can’t trust someone who lies about things like this, whatever the reason is. I prefer an honest and reliable partner.