my greatest crucible In the scorching hot summer of 2009, I graduated from college and struggled to land a job. I majored in international trade and economics, which was usually thought to be perfect for finding work in the international trade market. However, a financial crisis broke out in 2008 in the US, and then swept the globe, producing a huge negative impact on international employment markets. My major, in which I always took pride, suddenly became my shortcoming. I found myself in a crucible of landing a satisfactory job, a difficult situation where my character and will were to be tested. Facing the arduous condition, I tried to calm down first. Actually, I was undergoing huge pressure at the time, since my family had been working so hard to pay my college bill. I could not let them down! After a sober consideration, I decided to maximize the possibility of landing a job through a portfolio of channels, including delivering resumes, attending interviews, and referrals of friends. Most of my efforts failed until a Hongkong-based foreign trade company extended an offer to me in July. I was crying with joy when it arrived, not only because my efforts paid off, but also the offer itself got my wish with lucrative bonus. In the next one month, I was travelling across China with relaxation, when suddenly a notice from that company took me by surprise that the offer was cancelled. The reason lied in the fact that their business strategy was changed and the mainland branch offering the position of mine was correspondingly to be cancelled! What a big Joke! Just like a prank of April Fool’s Day! I felt frustrated and even desperate at the time.

Would you please offer a sample report of a campus party? I am a MBA student. Yestoday my class held a party where some senior students sharing experiences and having fun with us. I want to write a report on that event and get it published on our campus website. Would you please provide some sample reports on that kind of activities? Many thanks.

My Best-self Portrait and Action Plan (continued...) (continued.....) My creative spirit will be ignited, when I am pushing myself to be the best of the best. A typical scenario is that when tomorrow comes the deadline, I tend to come up with fantastic new ideas tonight. Anyhow, creation is easier said than done. It is based on daily accumulation of knowledge, experiences, skills, etc. My recent Business English Presentation is mentioned by my classmate Mr. Li to exemplify my creation. My inspiration stroke when I was struggling with my lecture slides, as the deadline was around the corner. I coined a new word happibility from a combination of happy and ability as a new ability to meet the requirement of future workforce. During the presentation, when the new word was presented, each audience was enlightened to rethink the meaning of work, study, and life. I can see lights from their eyes. My English teacher spoke highly of this presentation and gave a very high score. My Action Plan Since I have gone over so many best-self stories and drawn a best-self portrait, it is time to make a detailed plan to maximize the potential for my best self in the future. The plan goes as follows.  Put creation as my competitive edge I am going to tap into my potential of creation through pushing myself hard into participating in academic competition, giving presentation, and doing creative research. My future career plan will hinge on the extent of my creation. Generally, I will choose creation-based jobs.  Show empathy with relationship and foster leadership I will bear empathy in mind when dealing with relationship with my classmates and family, especially when something negative happens with interpersonal relationship. In current case study and group discussion, I will show more concerns on team members’feelings when disagreements arise. Meanwhile, I will attach importance to fostering my leadership through uniting others to accomplish common tasks.  Be resilient and unswerving facing challenges I will set periodical goals in my study and then reach them one by one. In case of any difficulty or emergency, I will go out of my way to overcome it. For instance, I have decided to take national law examination next year and I have made a detailed study plan. In the next half year I will set priorities and be persistent in learning a distant course.

My Best-self Portrait and Action Plan My Best-self Portrait As the saying goes, where there is a will, there is a way. I believe in working toward excellence and will work through any difficulty to realize my dream. During this process, I am willing to take hardship and ready to rise to challenges. One example to prove my resilience is the story of my applying for a position of Guangdong provincial government after graduation from college, which has been told in my three best-self stories. Another one is on my efforts in internal competition for secretary of the department chief, which has been mentioned by my ex-colleague Mr. Xu in his feedback on my best-self performance. In his eyes, I am focused on outcomes and persistent in pursuing my dream. Whatever happens will not distract me because I am self-motivated. Apart from pushing myself to get things done, I am always ready to unite others to finish a common task. I believe an Afican proverb—if you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go further, go with your friends. In today’s work environment, it is almost a mission impossible to accomplish a task totally on your own. In a feedback from my ex-colleague Mr. Wang, my leadership is mentioned on a basketball game held in my department. Before that game, I tried to persuade two skilled colleagues to join our team. The problem was that they did not get along well with each other, and consequently refused to play in one team. As the game day was round the corner, I visited them respectively three times a day to make a meditation. Finally, it worked and we won the first prize. In getting along with others, I tend to show empathy. That is to say, I not only show sympathy but also resonance. I try to understand others assuming that I walk in their shoes. In return, I often get understood and make an increasing number of friends because of that sense. My ex-colleague classmate Mr. Wang talked about my empathy shown in a tough negociation with a demanding client. Mr. Wang had went through more than 4 rounds of fierce bargaining before I stepped in, but no agreement was reached. In order to make a friendly atmosphere, I tried to talk with the client on his family instead of the vey business. Gradually we found some common topic and naturally transit to business. We eventually signed a contract worth ¥10 million. Make friends first and then do business! That is exactly how my empathy is shown in business partnership.

What does " live their brands" mean? Today’s marketers want to become a part of your life and enrich your experiences with their brands—to help you live their brands. --the sentence from the book pinciples of marketing

“All behavior is a function of its consequences”. What does it mean? This sentence comes from my MBA course of Leadership.

my job-landing story It was the year 2009, when I was graduating from college and struggling to land a job. I was majoring in international trade and economics which was usually thought to be a hot major tailored for international trade market. However, a financial crisis broke out in 2008 in US and then swept the globe, producing huge negative impact on employment markets. My major, from which I always took pride, suddenly became nearly useless. I felt frustrated and even desperate. Fortunately, one of my best friends went out of her way to comfort me and advised me to take the state civil service exam. I took her advice and gradually adjusted myself to the preparing work. That was really a demanding task! Since I had wasted too much time in looking for a major-related job, I fell far behind most of civil service candidates. I had no choice but work hard day and night. There was a time when I slept only approximately five hours a day. I was so immersed in preparing for the exam that I was almost cut off from outside. As the saying goes, where there is a will there is a way. I eventually passed the exam and got a position in Guangdong provincial government. Anyway, those hard old days would be highly appreciated forever!

Narrative of a listening material Here is a narrative of a program of business night. In this edition, Mariella Kinsky, an occupational psychologist who had just written a book on stress was invited to talk on stress. The first question thrown out by the hostess was who is most likely to be affected by stress. Mariella said it was not easy to answer, because stress was quite a subjective thing. Generally, he suggested housewives suffer the most from fatal combination of boredom, isolation and low status. The people statistically come on top were routine office workers. Apart from that, stress was shown that it had its positive and negative sides.