Welcome Letter to New Employees - Ren Zhengfei Issue 257 April 30, 2015
CONTENTS COVER 5G, the Road to a Super- Connected World 1 Welcome Letter to New Employees First of all, I'd like to begin by congratulating you on joining Huawei, and I look forward to our future cooperation. Our work at Huawei is based on the ideals of mutual respect, understanding, and trust. I believe that these elements will bring us together on a mutually rewarding journey. 4 STORIES OF HUAWEI PEOPLE 7 Huawei Fellow Dr. Guozhu Long Receives AAEOY 2015 12 Stay Humble and Do the Basics 18 Going the Extra Mile 10 From Trainee to Employee 20 A Project Called Desire 15 Coffee Time, More than You Can Imagine 22 My Days in Huawei
HUAWEI WORLDWIDE Issue 257 April 30, 2015 Editor-in-Chief Catherine Cao (caoyi@huawei.com) P28 Managing Editor Fred Zuo (zuofei@huawei.com) Executive Editor George Zhang (zhizhang@huawei.com) Jessie Zhang (zhangjunjuan@huawei.com) Olive Xiao (xiaofan@huawei.com) P27 P30 24 The Five Sacrifices of Studying a Foreign Language 28 A Team of Many Talents 30 Spring Story 32 Olympics in Huawei Oman 33 Cycle for Charity 34 BCG Huawei Technologies Huawei Industrial Base, Bantian, Longgang, Shenzhen 518129, P.R.C. Tel: +86 (755) 28562203 Fax: +86 (755) 28562706 Email: hwpeople@huawei.com Available ln-house Free of Charge The information contained in this document is for reference only, and is subject to change or withdrawal according to specific customer requirements and conditions. Copyright 2015 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. Contributions and Feedback An informative and inspiring Huawei People magazine needs your continual contributions and feedback. Please feel free to submit your department's news & events, achievements of your BU, stories of your team and your co-workers, photos, prose and poetry, and your comments, to the editors at hwpeople@huawei.com. If your contribution includes excerpt from other sources, please indicate.
COVER STORY Voice of Top Management 5G, the Road to a Super-Connected World -Keynote speech by Mr. Ken Hu at MWC 2015 The world will become super-connected in the future. The fifth-generation mobile technology (5G) will be critical infrastructure in and the key enabler of that future digital world. HUAWEI PEOPLE 1
Why do we need 5G? In my view, 5G will help us overcome some of the challenges that cannot be fully addressed by existing technologies. First, consider the growing number of connections in modern networks. Although 4G has achieved several thousand connections within each cell, it is not enough to meet the future demand of the Internet of Things (IoT) in a fully connected world. With 5G, the number will reach 1 million per square kilometer. 5G networks will have the capability to reach over 100 billion smart nodes, keeping everything in our lives connected: from our toothbrushes, glasses, watches, and running shoes to industrial containers, forklifts, and even robotic arms the list goes on. Second, the latency of existing 4G networks is less than 50ms, whereas the 1ms latency of a 5G network is 50 times faster. Applications such as self-driving vehicles will require much lower latency than 4G networks can offer. For example, on a 4G network, a self-driving car travelling at 100 km/ h will continue to move 1.4 meters from detecting a failure to applying the brakes. This can be the difference between life and death. On a 5G network, by contrast, that same car will move just 2.8 centimeters, comparable with the standards used for Anti-lock Braking Systems (ABS). Third, consumers always want more speed. Although 4G is 10 times faster than 3G, it is already behind the market demand for video content once 4K becomes the standard. 5G can achieve a peak speed of 10 Gbit/ s, nearly 66 times faster than 4G. This means that the time required to download an 8G byte high-definition movie will drop from over 70mins with 3G, to seven minutes with 4G, to six seconds with 5G. Or take e-health as another example. With 3G, we can store and check health records online. With 4G, we can use high-definition videos for emergency consultation. With 5G, more advanced applications such as interactive 3D brain imaging will be available for remote diagnosis. Connections, latency and speed: these are the things we will rely on to bring the Internet of Things ( IoT ) and the Industrial Internet into reality. What exactly is 5G? Huawei began research on 5G about six years ago. Although the standards for 5G have not been fully defined yet, we believe that 5G will differentiate itself from existing mobile technology in the three ways just discussed: 100 billion connections, 1 millisecond latency, and 10 Gbit/s speed. At the same time, I believe that 5G is much more than a technology upgrade. Instead, it will become a platform that enables new applications, new business models, and even new industries. It will also become an enabler of many disruptions. Although now it is hard to predict how 5G will affect our life, the combination of technological innovation and human imagination will lead us to a brighter future. 2 HUAWEI PEOPLE
COVER STORY How we can get to 5G? To get from our current environment to a 5G world, three things have to happen. First, the development of 5G requires more open collaborations across industries. In the past, the telecom industry has led most of the technology and standards development for telecommunication networks, while other industries and stakeholders have had limited opportunities to participate. When public telecommunication networks failed to meet the needs of vertical industries, many industries established their own standards and rolled out various private communication networks. This has resulted in fragmented and inconsistent standards of communication. For example, I once talked about a joint pilot project for automatic transportations with several leading automakers. Unfortunately, no consensus was reached due to the lack of a unified standard. For example, in the automobile industry there are standards like WAVE from US and Europe s C-ITS. In the telecommunication industry, there is also a discussion on LTE-V standards from 3GPP. The problem is that too many standards mean no clear standard. Regrettably, because of this, we were not able to pursue the joint pilot project. We hope 5G will be developed in a different way. We would like to see the telecom industry open up and collaborate with vertical industries, with other industries getting actively involved in cross-industry dialogue and cooperation. Only in this way can we best understand the shared needs of vertical industries for 5G networks, let business needs drive standards development and technological innovation, and eventually make 5G networks the key enabler of the future industrial revolution. Second, 5G needs intensive technological innovations. These innovations will enable 5G to reach ultra-high bandwidth, ultralow latency, massive numbers of connections, and super-fast mobility. Here are a few areas where innovation is already taking place: New air interface. We believe new technologies will increase spectrum efficiency at least three times from 4G. For example, Huawei has developed a new air interface, which includes SCMA, F-OFDM, and polar coding. Not only does the interface significantly enhance spectrum efficiency, it also allows for more connections and ultra-low latency. Virtualized architecture will create an open and software-defined architecture for 5G networks. This will enable tens of thousands of applications such as the IoV, smart grids, and mobile broadband on a single physical network. That, in turn, will make it possible for 5G networks to satisfy the demands of different vertical industries and become the new infrastructure for the entire digital world. All-spectrum access means 5G access will use frequency bands under 6 Gigahertz. It will allow carriers to build up a single wireless access network with unified access technology, therefore significantly optimizing their operational efficiency. It will also create a more consistent experience for the end users. Third, we need evolutionary commercialization strategies. On the road to 5G, new innovations will emerge. Many of them should be integrated into existing 4G networks to enhance overall performance and user experience. In Huawei, this is why we are working closely with several operators on 4.5G solutions while continuing to invest heavily in 5G research. For example, in LTE-M, one of our 4.5G solutions, we leverage 5G innovation achievements to 4G networks to provide 100 times more connections and fully meet the demands of M2M applications like meter reading. We believe that such evolutionary commercialization strategies will help to maximize the return on investment from 4G, stimulate market demand for 5G, and help mobile operators extend their market leadership from 4G to 5G era. Clearly, the famous prediction that the world only needs five computers was wrong. Likewise, our imagination of the future digital world is quite limited as well. But we know very clearly that the future world is super-connected, and a new round of industrial revolution will make the future world super-intelligent. I am quite positive that this will present enormous opportunities for the telecom industry, and I believe that technological innovations especially in 5G will help us get there faster. HUAWEI PEOPLE 3
Welcome Letter to New Employees By Ren Zhengfei, CEO of Huawei First of all, I'd like to begin by congratulating you on joining Huawei, and I look forward to our future cooperation. Our work at Huawei is based on the ideals of mutual respect, understanding, and trust. I believe that these elements will bring us together on a mutually rewarding journey. Huawei's goal is to establish a corporate culture in which everyone can contribute to society and help create a better world. Our culture aims to be open and inclusive, and incorporate the best cultural elements and management practices from around the globe. If we become closed-off, proud, and dismissive of other cultures, then Huawei is destined to fail. Our corporate culture binds us together as a team that moves forward as one. This culture will allow you to realize your potential and succeed at whatever you set your mind to. Those who have no sense of responsibility, are unwilling to improve, or lack team spirit will not advance at Huawei and will have wasted their time here. We operate under a matrix management system in which you can ask for and receive help. You should be proactive in both requesting and giving help. Don't feel embarrassed about asking for help it's only embarrassing when we don't do our jobs well. Act as part of a team and you'll be able to learn from others, consolidate your strengths, adapt to your new role, and move forward. Practice will help you improve as it enables you to identify your weaknesses. Repeated practice is necessary, especially for young graduates. To advance to a higher level, you need to learn how to summarize the work you've completed. You also need to understand your position and be willing to play a small role. It is by playing a smaller role that you can progress to a larger role later. We encourage our employees to become "heroes". We greatly value the contributions of dedicated employees and reward them accordingly, which in turn creates an environment for more heroes to emerge. 4 HUAWEI PEOPLE
COVER STORY Internally, we refer to this selfless work ethic as the "Lei Feng spirit" after a prominent Chinese cultural icon. The essence of this spirit is dedication and sacrifice. However, remember that there are no fixed standards to measure up to because standards can change over time. At Huawei, performing well at your job represents a contribution, which embodies this spirit. A generation of Huawei-ers has been shaped through practice. To become an expert at something, you have to start at the bottom, develop practical skills, and cultivate a responsible way of working. Your appraisals and rewards are dependent on your contribution if you contribute to the company, we will help you move up the ladder. You will face challenges on the road ahead, but life is about standing tall and moving forward we become who we are by overcoming what life throws at us. At Huawei, you can change your fate only if you work hard and do your part. As a global company, we never favor one country over another. If you are assigned overseas, you must abide by the laws of the host country as well as represent Huawei and its core values. All of our employees must also strictly comply with our corporate policies. If you feel any of our policies unreasonable, you are still expected to follow them until they are revised. We are vehemently opposed to all types of legal and ethical violations such as corruption, bribery, and theft. We must remain disciplined and help others. You may, on occasion, feel that some things at Huawei are not as fair as you'd like. Nevertheless, absolute fairness is impossible, so your expectations must be realistic. There will always be opportunities for hard workers, but not everything can be fair all the time. Sometimes, we must go through tough situations to grow professionally and individually, for it is "out of the ashes that the phoenix is reborn". This is the attitude Huawei employees have towards unfairness and a principle that we use to select managers. Without this resilient attitude, how will you be able to assume a larger role in the future? Everyone holds the key to their own destiny. We need to accept that errors in employee appraisals are unavoidable; however, be assured that we will not allow the errors to become too extreme. Of course there is night, but the sun always shines on a new dawn. If you ever become disappointed and decide to leave us, we will be glad to welcome you back. There are many stories warning us against rushing in blindly as it often ends in HUAWEI PEOPLE 5
failure. Remember that success only comes with time. I hope you come to admire Japanese diligence and German professionalism. Don't be a jack of all trades and a master of none. Instead, realize that mastering a skill is hard and requires a very clear focus. Acquire mastery of your own work and learn to love it then you will become an expert in your domain. Any role you're in is an opportunity to learn and improve. When you improve, you will enjoy your work more. We want a team of dedicated managers who possess practical skills and can see the big picture. Opportunities smile on those who work hard. Based on the principle of progressive advancement, Huawei will never promote people to senior positions if they lack field experience. Each stage of your career is of great importance, so take each step forward with great care. You need to respect your immediate supervisors even if you are more competent than them. If you don't, your subordinates won't respect you in the future. Remember, "every wave on the Yangtze River drives the waves in front of it". In terms of internal communication, make suggestions after you've performed enough analysis to avoid wasting your own time and that of others. For example, if you've just started at Huawei, don't make immediate judgments about what you think is wrong with the company. Instead, find out precisely where problems lie through careful analysis, work out solutions, and gradually implement them. Don't make a big fuss just to get your name known. To help employees improve, we have established many training centers. Training is crucial for our company to execute strategies, improve management, and develop managers; it will also help us move forward. You should fully leverage our training facilities to study science & technology, management, and various methodologies. Training will help you succeed, but you need to meet certain conditions to be eligible. While resources are finite, culture endures. A high-tech company needs a corporate culture to support its sustainable development. Our culture has global roots; we have absorbed the best elements from different countries and adopted the best practices from business partners and competitors. Sometimes people ask me to describe Huawei's culture; however, I don't have a clear image of what it is. But, I can tell you that the two unique elements of our core culture are dedication and sacrifice. In truth, of course, these are borrowed from other sources. For me, impoverished Tibetans battling against poachers in the movie Kekexili: Mountain Patrol and the disabled performers of the dance Thousand Hand Guanyin best embody the Huawei culture. For new employees, integrating into the Huawei culture can be difficult it is vital to digest Huawei's core values in the course of your everyday work. You will then become a true Huawei-er who identifies with our culture and can fully contribute. Our corporate culture can thrive only when it is embraced by all new employees. Ours is a culture of service, but you must be clear about who is serving whom. Ultimately, we serve customers. For you, the customer is the individual or team to whom you hand over a completed task or assignment. Give your best to every customer and create value for them. Remember that Huawei means high quality all the time. The essence of Huawei's culture can be described with one word: integrity. As our most valuable intangible asset, integrity is the key to our survival and the source of individual and corporate growth. When you're not at work, you can take time out to relax, but you should also set aside enough time to nourish your mind through reading. Do not spend your time on valueless pursuits. To be a person worthy of respect, you must exercise discipline. We require all our employees to avoid making politically charged comments. Currently, the world economy faces much uncertainty and the global political environment is complex. We should stay out of politics and accept that the political landscape is an arena removed from the realm of business. As a company, we must focus on business, create value for customers, and contribute to society. Only by doing so can we ensure our sustainable development. We must also sharpen our competitive edge as it is the only way to maintain our advantages in global competition. By joining us, you will become a part of this mission. I hope that you will quickly settle into your new role, and grow confident and strong. Together, we will work towards a brighter future. 6 HUAWEI PEOPLE
STORIES OF HUAWEI PEOPLE Huawei Fellow Dr. Guozhu Long Receives AAEOY 2015 Evidence of Huawei's technology leadership in Wireline Access AAEOY 2015 - the Asian American Engineer of the Year Award 2015 - was held at the Marriott hotel in Los Angeles, California on Saturday, February 28, 2015. This event is a tribute to the most distinguished Asian American Engineers, and is informally regarded as the Oscar for Technology. Dr. Guozhu Long is Fellow of Huawei Technologies and Chief Scientist of Huawei Network Access Lab at Huawei s US R&D center. His AAEOY award marks the first time that a member of a Chinese company has received this honor. Huawei is proud to be the first company from mainland China to have cultivated an AAEOY award honoree. We would like to express our congratulations to Dr. Long for his great achievements in the STEM field, as well as our sincere appreciation for his contribution to Huawei Technologies. Dr. Guozhu Long has led Huawei s advanced copper broadband access technology research and development on innovative system architecture, advanced modulation/coding and signal processing techniques and their efficient implementation, resulting in high-performance, cost-effective products which enabled Huawei to become the global leader in copper broadband access market, technology and standardization. Dr. Long is an industry veteran in the area of broadband access, and the navigator of copper broadband access R&D for Huawei. In the last three decades, he has been heavily involved in leading R&D efforts to create innovative techniques for digital communications systems and signal processing. He s also been active in conducting R&D for international standardization committees, such as ITU-T, ATIS, TIA and Japan TTC. His areas of focus include DSL transceivers, voiceband modems, mobile TV, and other digital communications systems. He has innovated during each step of his career; for example, he led the innovation and product development of HUAWEI PEOPLE 7
unique ADSL solutions for Japan, which dominated the Japanese ADSL market in early 2000. After joining Huawei in 2006, Dr. Long built up a diverse team from around the world, which he has since led on the path to some incredible achievements. His elite team, for example, proposed the new concept and framework for VDSL2 innovation such as SOS and ToDSL, Universal Broadband Access Network, Super MIMO, VDSL2 Vectoring, Giga DSL and Supervectoring. Most of these innovations have resulted in great business success. With a quick view of Huawei s copper technology innovation, we can learn how a Huawei Fellow and AAEOY award honoree can come into being. When Dr. Long s team was established in 2006, some team members were inexperienced in DSL research; however, Dr. Long quickly raised them to a high professional level where they made meaningful contributions. In 2008, Dr. Long s team s research on VDSL2 was adopted in the ITU-T standard for the first time. Since then, his elite team has consistently astonished the DSL industry with their capabilities in intelligence and innovation. In September 2010, at the BBF and Broadband World Forum, Huawei launched the Super MIMO prototype, which achieved speeds of 700 Mbit/s over 300m 4-pair copper loops, greatly impressing the DSL community and boosting industry confidence in copper access. In September 2012, the Huawei vectoring prototype won the InfoVision award for Best Broadband Access Fixed at the Broadband World Forum 2012. Vectoring is one of the latest advances in digital subscriber line (DSL) technologies. It cancels major impairment crosstalk and can increase the VDSL2 bandwidth from about 20 Mbit/s to about 100 Mbit/s on copper line networks. Under the leadership of Dr. Long, Huawei conducted research on vectoring back in 2008, coming up with many innovations that were later adopted in the standard, which helped Huawei s products. The basic concept of vectoring was not new at that time. However, due to its high complexity, it was considered impractical for productization. Dr. Long s team made significant contributions in vectoring 8 HUAWEI PEOPLE
STORIES OF HUAWEI PEOPLE R&D, resulting in technology innovations that spawned an industryleading product developed for super-large scale scenarios and high performance. The bandwidth speed of 100 Mbit/s is not the final destination. In 2009, Dr. Long s team set the next target at 1Gbit/s, and started research. Interestingly, the DSL industry later moved in the same direction. In February 2011, the new standard, G.fast, which targets 1Gbit/s over short copper loops, came into being in ITU-T. Due to our strong early R&D accumulation, Huawei quickly launched the industry's first pre-g.fast technology prototype in November 2011 and a production prototype in August 2013. Two months later, Huawei partnered with a major European operator to conduct the industry's first G.fast live customer field trial. In lab testing as well as the field trial, 1Gbit/s was achieved. Huawei has played a pivotal role as the leading contributor in the development of G.fast standards. The proposals by Huawei adopted by ITU-T cover a wide range, including fundamental modulation, coding and duplexing techniques, powersaving, initialization, and online reconfiguration. Huawei signed the industry's first G.fast commercial contract with Swisscom in August 2014, and the G.fast standard was finally approved by ITU-T on December 2014. The new standard will see an explosion in G.fast product offerings. Huawei is committed to speeding up commercialization of G.fast products based on its experience in G.fast research, innovation, lab testing, and field trials. Under his leadership, Dr. Long s team has grown into a world-class advanced DSL research team. Innovation never stops - Dr. Long s team is continuing research into wireline broadband access technologies to better serve customers around the world. Dr. Long holds 43 US patents and has written numerous articles including for journals, conferences, and standards - in the area of digital communications systems and signal processing techniques. He is also a senior member of IEEE. Congratulations to Dr. Long again. Huawei focuses on providing the best solution for its customers. We wish to enrich life and improve efficiency through a better connected world. Talent is Huawei s most precious asset. We are proud of our global, dedicated employees, without whom Huawei wouldn t be a leading global ICT solutions provider. Attachment as a reference for AAEOY: The recipients of the AAEOY award are role models in every aspect of their professional lives in the STEM fields. The hundreds of people who received the prestigious AAEOY Awards included Nobel Prize winners, leading corporate executives, and NASA Astronauts. AAEOY receives recognition from the president of the United States, congressional leaders across the country, state governors, and local luminaries. Sixteen well-respected Asian American engineers, scientists and executives received national honors as part of the 2015 National Engineers Week program. Over 500 distinguished guests joined the awards ceremony to pay tribute to the honorees and celebrate cultural diversity in the American work place and society. HUAWEI PEOPLE 9
From Trainee to Employee ---Growing with Huawei By Hong Jie/Brazil Here are the successful stories of three former trainees within their trainee period from Brazil. Given the talent they showed while they were trainees, they have been hired as employees. They are excellent examples of hard working, commitment and self-improvement people. On them, we can see Huawei culture and core values fully reflected. Natalia Lopes de Castro Before working at Huawei I wasn t really sure about my future after college because I had no idea what the telecommunications field was like. My only certainty was that my dream was to be an engineer at a great company but I did not know how to make it come true. It was very difficult to find a trainee s position because I had no experience and most companies require it. However, I didn't give up. I was always looking for opportunities, and finally, I got the chance of an interview at Huawei. I was insecure because my counterparts had already worked for companies in the field of telecommunications, so they had the experience I didn't have. To my happiness and delight, Huawei trusted my potential and chose me. So, pursuing my dream, I joined Huawei in June 2014 as a trainee, looking for experiences that would prepare me to handle situations in the future as an electric engineer. At first, I was afraid of not meeting Huawei s expectations and not being able to cope with the pressure, but the work environment and coworkers helped a lot. Everybody is always willing to help each other and they are open to teach what they know. Their support helped me learn a lot in the first months. Teamwork is a company s core values and it gave me a whole new perspective about my professional career. Following all the core values of the company, we can make the work environment more pleasant because we re all going after the same goal. This is the key way to succeed at Huawei: working hard, continually improving, being open and proactive, acting with integrity and always placing the customers first. Huawei is a company that challenges its trainees and its employees. It encouraged me to seek for the best. Here, I had the opportunity to improve the skills and knowledge I learned in college and I grew a lot as a professional. I currently have the chance to continue growing with Huawei as Assistant Engineer. It feels wonderful to be acknowledged because of the good work you do and now, as an employee, I hope I can contribute a lot more to the company. Given that they trusted my work, I will work even harder to make sure I deserve it. Marcelo Franco Abrahão At the end of 2013, work demands in the company s projects were very high, so Huawei hired many people with different professional backgrounds, from engineers to trainees to assist projects. At that time, I was chosen among other candidates to join as a trainee because of my professional attitude and skills. Then, I put my soul into learning the culture of Huawei and the technical skills needed to perform my duties. During that period, I helped my team to achieve very difficult goals. I certainly could not have made it without my colleagues, who coached me all the way through and were very patient with me; they taught me the process flow and supported my work. Teamwork, besides being a core value of Huawei, is part of our day to day life in the company. This was very important to me because I live far from my family, and I found a family in my team. This was one of the reasons that constantly motivated me to continue studying and learning so I could work seamlessly with my 10 HUAWEI PEOPLE
STORIES OF HUAWEI PEOPLE From left to right, Marcelo, Natalia and Jacob coworkers even more. As time went by, my supervisor and tutor recognized my potential and continually challenged me to take on more responsibilities. Because I wanted to achieve more and be a formal employee at Huawei, I was glad they trusted me and I responded accordingly, always meeting or exceeding expectations. Then, one year later, I was hired by Huawei, the biggest telecommunication companies in the world. I am very excited and proud to be part of a company where I am continually given opportunities to show my abilities, to solve problems and overcome difficulties. I am also thankful, because my experience here has led me to discover hidden intelligence and push my limits beyond what I had imagined possible. Jacob Theodoro Rodrigues Junior When the opportunity of being interviewed at Huawei came along, I knew that was the opportunity I had always dreamed of and it was my chance to work at a major engineering company. There was only one trainee vacancy and during the selection process I knew that many good candidates were competing with me. After three interviews I was selected among all competitors to become an engineering trainee at Huawei, and I received the news with great happiness and satisfaction. I started as an infra trainee, like in the other companies I have worked for, but at Huawei I felt my real potential being acknowledged for the first time. Huawei s culture and way of doing things fit my profile perfectly. I got to know the whole process and because of that I was given more and more responsibilities. I got a lot of feedback from the experienced employees because the environment at Huawei is very friendly, and I felt free to get help and ask questions to people. I was learning things very quickly because it was simple to ask and get practical tips from the employees responsible for each area or project and the steps involved in the preliminary services I am responsible for. Since I started working at Huawei I ve always been challenged and then recognized after accomplishing goals, and this process has encouraged me to continually improve my work and be a better professional. After facing and responding well to a wide range of challenging situations, I was selected to become a site solution engineer of the project I was working in. If I look back and compare the person I used to be when I joined Huawei as a trainee and who I am nowadays, I can say that I feel completely different and I am now better prepared and more efficient. Huawei has taught me when facing problems how to solve them efficiently and effectively. I learned how to manage relationships with my colleagues inside and outside of the office, understand the tasks or goals given to me and set priorities when working with short deadlines. I have accomplished my dream to work at a major engineering company, but now I have a new dream, to make a difference inside Huawei, that people can recognize me as an example inside the whole company. I keep challenging myself to do the best at my work, pursuing that goal. Note: The word trainee mentioned in this article is called estagiário in Brazil. HUAWEI PEOPLE 11
Ashraf Fawakherji, who joined Huawei Consumer Business Group (CBG) in January 2013, was awarded Huawei Individual Gold Medal Award for his outstanding performance in 2014. Recently Ashraf was invited to take a photo together with Huawei s CEO, Mr. Ren Zhengfei as one of the representatives of individual medalists, which is considered to be the highest honor for Huawei employees. 12 HUAWEI PEOPLE
STORIES OF HUAWEI PEOPLE Stay Humble and Do the Basics Interview with Ashraf Fawakherji, by Olive & George Ashraf has more than 15 years consumer business industry experience. He is good at understanding the mobile device industry. He demonstrates his strength in channel development. He has good communication and influencing skills, both internally and externally. Q: Congratulations, Ashraf. As we know, it's very hard to get a gold medal award, let alone you ve been working in Huawei for only two years. A: Thank you, but I think this honor belongs to Middle East team. I m just very lucky to be one of them. Q: So back to two years ago, what made you join Huawei since you had been quite successful previously? A: We worked really hard in my previous company. It took a long time to be number one in the market. But a scary point which I saw at that time is called ego. This is more than confidence. It hurt the business and started creating an uncomfortable environment. Meanwhile the business of Huawei two years ago was quite challenging. I am a person who would like to be a challenger rather than a receiver. And I could feel the willingness and the spirit of Huawei people to strive for the business success. Everyone is low-profiled. Everyone is humble. This is what I wanted. Q: So how was the business last year in the Middle East? A: We achieved around 860 million dollars last year. In 2014 only, our business grew by more than 550 %. Year-to-year I think this is just a start and we still have room to grow. Numbers are easy, do the basics, business will come. Do the right thing and stay humble. Q: So what do you think are the key success factors for device business? A: First, we need to understand our customers. Here our customers refers to our partners, distributors, the operators, and the end users. Our competitor s story tells us that device industry is unpredictable; it s very easy to lose. So it s important for us to understand what the customer demands, helping them to make money. We need to be there for our partners. Be there means they have to see you and feel that you understand their needs. Second, always be honest with the customer. We need to get to know the customer s expectation and provide high quality products to them. We re doing a lot of brandbuilding exercises to build the trust, the relationship with partners, and the brand with end users, for instance, we signed a top one singer lady Nancy Ajram as our brand ambassador in the Middle East. Of course, these are all based on the quality of product. HUAWEI PEOPLE 13
If you don't have a good quality, you can t do anything. Maybe the words are simple, but it took us a lot of hard work from every team member, from logistics to service, everyone and everything. Q: So you lead us into the topic for Huawei culture and core values. Talking about Huawei core values or Huawei culture, what point do you agree most? A: Customer first. We are really focusing on our customers. That s in the heart of the people and company. We took very clear direction after we start all the set-up. After-sales service is the most important for our consumers. So we initiated a really solid network of customer service. If you go to any country, you will find at least one or two full-time service centers. We created many collection points so that people feel easy to get the service. If you look at our social platforms in the Middle East, we talk directly to the end users. Whenever we get any inquiries from the Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, we will reply directly to them. Once we had a customer complaining about some technical issues, he posted it on Facebook saying that he went to the Huawei service center without getting any help. We sincerely invited him to the company at the first time, and helped solve the problem. The customer received a very comfortable user experience at last. Meanwhile, we are also doing surveys to get the negative point of views which help us to improve our business. That s the attitude we treat consumers. Q: For consumer business, chain stores seem very important, how is it going in the Middle East? A: There are two definitions of stores. One is called brand store and the other called branded store. Brand store is managed by Huawei or one of our direct partners, while the branded one is one of the current channel partners. So based on studying the returns of any brand shops, we decided to go step by step because it is very dangerous. So whatever the cost is justified, like in Pakistan, Iran, Jordan, Qatar, Iraq, we opened shops. Besides these two, we created a concept in Dubai which is called a hub and now we have implemented it in different countries. A hub is serving as a distribution center in a large market area. This helps us save the cost and provide efficient services to customers. Q: So how could you ensure these branded stores to operate well? A: Well, we are building a good cooperation relationship with our partners and gain the trust from them. They provide the shops and the manpower, and we are responsible for the decorations and operate with Huawei concept. Although it takes a long period to build the mechanism of the whole operation, for instance, what are you going to sell, what kind of quantities can you keep, how to keep, etc... all in all, our business success is attributed to the right market strategy and the execution with our partners. Q: What is your suggestion concerning the business improvement? A: It s important to have the right experts to manage our business. I'm not talking about training someone to be an expert here. Experts are not generated through training. We need to provide more opportunities to let people create values for the company. Q: What is your expectation for 2015? A: We keep developing and creating. Reducing internal friction, just looking at the business as our direction. Two years ago, my boss used to ask me, What's your target? I kept asking him, What do you want? Seriously, I don't see a limit. Don't I mean as long as I do the right thing. There will be another double or triple of what we achieved last year. When we move to five times more than triple, we didn't put that as a target. We say we are here and let's do the business. But don't stop. We are going to look at what's written on our KPIs of our work. Keep working. There is a room and keep filling that room. So as 14 HUAWEI PEOPLE
STORIES OF HUAWEI PEOPLE Coffee Time, More than You Can Imagine By Fred Zuo/CEC One January afternoon in 2015, Li Jun, CFO of the Bangladesh Rep Office, began preparing for something important having a cup of coffee with seven entry-level employees. Inspired by a talk with a customer executive, Li Jun believes that "coffee time" is a good way to deepen communication with employees. After preparing for a week, he sent out an email invitation. Mahbubur had just joined the Bangladesh Rep Office. He was rather surprised to receive the invitation, even a little uneasy about what to say during the talk. Although the email said simply to "talk about anything you're interested in", he turned to his colleagues for help: "Can I say something about my mentor?" "Can I share my happiness about winning the 'high-potential employee' award?" The answer "Of course you can" finally made him relax. Li Jun welcomed the seven employees into his office with a big smile. Steaming coffee mugs were waiting on the table, and the office was filled with warmth as the sun shone through the window. Their nervousness was quickly swept away by the relaxed atmosphere. Though Li Jun emphasized they could talk about any topic, work inevitably initiated the conversation. Moshiar is involved in internal control. His first question was, "What do I do if I have a conflict with another department? Who should we turn to for help if neither my colleagues nor I can resolve it?" Moshiar then gave his own suggestions to these two questions: "The supervisors of my department and the other department should independently formulate a viable solution for their respective employees to execute. However, my supervisor shouldn't publicly praise the other department's solution to avoid setting a dangerous precedent; specifically, the other department's employees wouldn't take our opinions seriously in the future, and would go straight to our supervisor when a conflict occurs." Li Jun encouraged other employees to talk freely about the issue. At the outset, most agreed HUAWEI PEOPLE 15
with Moshiar, but then one employee pointed out that involving both supervisors might complicate matters. After discussing the issue, the seven employees reached a consensus: Solutions should be tailored to specific scenarios. We don't need to draw a clear line in real work situations; after all, our ultimate goal is to resolve issues. Defining roles and responsibilities is just one way to achieve this goal. Shumi, an accountant, provided a management suggestion: "In our department, we have two document administrators who are busy scanning and finding documents. Sometimes, they're both asked to collect customer checks and banking credentials, which slows document searches for business departments. I suggest at least one of them stay in the office." Her suggestion was immediately popular. As a new employee, Sabuj has a strong desire to integrate into his team. He asked something about new employee orientation. He expects to learn more about finance and products, and to receive a wide range of training. Li Jun's reply was this: "The PFC team leader arranges systematic training programs, and each new employee is assigned a mentor. What you can do is study hard, ask questions, and grow through practice. Financial personnel must know about our products to communicate effectively with business departments. Moreover, new employees also have the opportunity to take part in projects. You should use your spare time to learn more and work hard under the guidance of your mentors. The company offers plenty of opportunities and resources. As long as you work hard, you can make a difference at Huawei." Discussions were animated for some time before Mahbubur finally got an opportunity to ask a question: "Why do different accounts have different estimation and budget templates? Can we develop a unified template?" Li Jun replied, "Estimation templates are essentially different from budget templates. However, different accounts should have unified estimation and budget templates. I will communicate with accounts on this to ensure they use unified templates." Apart from business, other topics were raised: "Are we moving from the twelfth floor down to the ninth? Why should we leave such a comfortable working environment? Can we say no?" Li Jun answered, "Most functional departments such as the supply chain department, the Contract Commerce & Fulfillment Mgmt Dept (CCFM), and the administrative department are on the ninth floor. If we move there, we can better communicate with them and the sales department on the tenth floor." Coffee Time Although Li Jun wanted to stay close to the business departments, he understood their concerns, saying, "We can take a look at the working environment on the ninth floor. However, if management ultimately decides to make the move, we must go along with it." Then, he asked admin staff to accompany them to the ninth floor they found that the safety of the seating arrangements wasn't up to par. After thorough discussion, the CEO and Li Jun decided to postpone the relocation. Questions were also asked about commuting: "Can the company provide interim shuttle buses? The rep office is located in downtown Dhaka, which is currently affected by strikes."li Jun responded, "The management team has negotiated with the transportation service provider about this. However, the supplier thought it too dangerous for buses to commute to and from work due to the potential for violence by strikers en route. The supplier said that rickshaws are safer. Our 16 HUAWEI PEOPLE
STORIES OF HUAWEI PEOPLE administration section learnt from our customers that they have ceased providing commuting services for the time being. The customers stated they will ask the supplier to restore such services after the strike ends. As some employees live quite far from the office, it's quite expensive to use rickshaws. During the strike period, I plan to use my money or allocate part of the departmental budget to give each employee a travel subsidy of Tk100 per day. What do you think?" Li Jun thought most of them would say yes; however, they just smiled and said, "It's hard to calculate the distance. Moreover, we don't know when the strike will end. It's a large amount of money. Neither the department nor you should bear the cost. The department's budget should be used for other things. It would better to leave things as they are." The scheduled one-hour discussion overran into two hours but no one wanted it to end. An editor from Huawei People asked the employees present at the discussion, "What do you think of this coffee time activity?" "Upon receiving the email, I felt confused and a bit worried about what I should say." "Li Jun sent an email directly to me without notifying my supervisor. At first I was at a loss about what to say. But the conversation turned out to be very interesting." "I think it's great because I made my voice heard. I hope coffee time can occur on a monthly or quarterly basis." The Huawei People editor continued, "Were you satisfied with Li Jun's answers?" "I think his answers were great. He spoke frankly." "What impressed me most was the office relocation. Thanks to coffee time, we had the chance to voice our opinions about non-business matters. Now, we can wait until the final decision on relocation is made." Generally, managers and senior employees are overwhelmed with work and seldom talk to entry-level employees. This not only hinders transfer of our corporate culture and core values, but it also prevents employees from making their voices heard. In response, coffee time encourages managers to set aside one hour each month to talk to employees from different units in the department. Doing so has two benefits: First, it helps orient entry-level employees. Second, it serves as a medium for entry-level employees to voice their concerns. As CFO, Li Jun stays close to business, and is busy with customers, tax offices, banks, and government authorities. But entry-level employees seldom have a chance to share their opinions. If Li Jun wants to know what the entry-level employees really think, the best way is to meet them face to face. After the first coffee time, Li Jun remarked, "It far exceeded my expectations, and had two major benefits. First, it exposed me to questions I hadn't thought of before, enabling me to understand cultural differences and hone my soft management skills. Second, it offers opportunities for entrylevel employees to deepen their understanding of our orientation and policies." In addition to coffee time, Li Jun has also implemented other initiatives to promote communication and team building. These include the "follow-up wall", the ability increasing plan (AIP), and the monthly customer engagement award. The "follow-up wall" encourages employees to write key tasks on the glass wall in the office, allowing them to share their thoughts and help them monitor each other. The AIP is designed to improve employee engagement. Local employees are asked to develop their own AIPs and vote for the top six. Li Jun approves the budget and designates the developers of the top six AIPs as owners of their own AIPs. The monthly customer engagement award is named after those who interact most frequently with customers, partners, government officials, and subcontractors each quarter. Specific personnel are designated to collect employees' engagement records, analyze weaknesses and strengths, and arrange for them to share their progress. Li Jun also used his own money to set up a communication fund, a dinner fund, and incentive awards. The communication fund is mainly used for informal one-onone meetings with employees or for lunches with employees' families. The dinner fund is used to buy snacks for employees who work overtime. The incentive award aims to give timely incentives (worth CNY100) to highperforming employees. Echoing the rep office's vision of "simple and effective communication", Li Jun's office door is always open. Employees can reach him directly for any issues. Over a cup of coffee, we can absorb each other's thoughts and enjoy the tremendous benefits this creates. HUAWEI PEOPLE 17
Going the Extra Mile By Mohamed Hassan/UK Mohamed Hassan, Network Planning & Optimization level 5 expert of UK Rep Office. He won the honors of 2013 Annual West European Region Outstanding Individual and 2014 GTS Global Excellent Planning and Optimization Service Technical Pacesetter with his outstanding contributions. Going the extra mile is the way of living Going the extra mile, that was my presentation title I gave to my team in Vodafone UK few years ago. Target then was to motivate the team. But it was more than that to me. Today I still remember every word of this presentation; today I believe it is a way of living not just a working practice. Coming from engineering background and being in the telecommunication industry for more than 16 years, I learned that there is always room for improvements, even in those tasks that were done to perfect standards. It is just we need to train our eyes/brains to pick these up and question ourselves what else? How can it be better? That is applicable in having fun as well as having the most complex tasks in hand, it is a way of living. An inspiring journey in Huawei I joined Huawei UK two years ago, moving from big operator environment to quickly growing multicultural vendor environment ought to raise few challenges and more opportunities that I enjoyed going through. My journey is an inspiring one, with my NIS MBB team in the centre of the vastly moving dynamics, learning, delivering, achieving and breaking new grounds in the UK market. My first delightful surprise in Huawei was the huge potential I see and touch in our UK team. Over my relatively short journey I have come across few of the finest technical expertise in their fields grouped together with fresh ideas from our HQ colleagues, GTAC colleagues and R&D. Together we created a huge potential to shine and excel. When I joined Huawei, my first project team was in fire fighting mode, challenges increasing day by day and we needed to turn the situation around quickly with customer not happy in critical moments before first 4G network launch in UK. One of the things I learned during my long career is I shouldn t surrender to fire fighting and start planning to put the fire down and plan to prevent this fire in the first place. That is when we (NIS MBB team) needed to shine, we had to transform the relation with our 18 HUAWEI PEOPLE
STORIES OF HUAWEI PEOPLE class service. We want them to be No. 1 and we want to be the best in the world. We share the objective and vision. That was another extra mile. customer, we had to spend the efforts to recreate and strengthen our bridges with all our stockholders. Just excellent delivery was not enough. We had to deliver distinctive job. That was the vision and that is how I wanted to position the team. That was when we had to take the extra miles to build the confidence. Today looking at the past, I am still proud of how we stood together to meet the CTO challenging targets twice, I am proud of how we managed to overachieve and show how it can be done. I still remember the day that our competitors said in front of the CTO Huawei has shown us what is impossible. I still remember the day that our competitors failed to deliver a major project before a major marketing activity, customer urged us to step in, and we did willingly and delivered full solution ahead of the very tight time scale. Since then we started to build on our strong fortified base, adding more services to our portfolio, stepping in to help when others couldn t or failed. Building stronger partnership ties with our customers that is based on confidence and trust. We became the example for other partners. Today, our customer wants to have the excellent network, and we want to be the excellent team working on the excellent network. Our customer wants to be No. 1 service provider in the UK and provide world What is next We cannot be complacent. History doesn t maintain status that is why we need to keep going the extra mile. It is my team theme and it needs to be that way. We have a lot of competitors and we need to not just maintain our leadership, we need to grow it. Now we are planning and targeting new territories more. But we are keeping a complete focus on distinctive delivery of jobs in hand. Today, Huawei is growing fast in the UK market with our customer s expectation growing faster and thus our responsibility. That why we need to step up and ensure we are well equipped for the future, and adopt values that will just help us to grow and meet our customer expectations. Let s ask ourselves a question today. Have you taken the extra mile today? HUAWEI PEOPLE 19
A Project Called Desire By Ribhu Shadwal/India This is a story about one of the big wins for Huawei in IT/BSS space. Where Huawei was categorized as the underdog and we successfully beat all odds to achieve the impossible. As the lead SA and solution consultant I was part of the pre-sales as well as the delivery for this project. The seed is sown As part of the Consulting team from India, I was asked to provide consultancy on Enterprise Architecture for a Telco Group in which Huawei had minimal presence and was mandated to gain a foothold in the group and breakthrough into an op-co. This is what landed me in Doha for two weeks. Little did I know that I will be spending a better part of the year in this city. In the mean while during an unrelated travel I was introduced to the mesmerizing country of Myanmar where two new telecom licenses were up for grabs. There were two major contenders who the market had bet on winning the license and we being Huawei (having the insight and foresight) were engaging with both in anticipation. Although I was not directly part of these engagements however for some reason was interested in the outcome of the bid (probably it was the thrill of this being possibly the last pure Greenfield project in the world). In July 2013, came the news about award of the license. The punters had scored 50% and there was a surprise in the award of the 2nd license, which went to a mid-east telco group. This was the opportunity to redeem the earlier consulting work done. The RFP (Request for proposal) had bits of surprises, like it was not just a BSS RFP but a full IT RFP and the products had to be from the customer s preferred vendor list. And to top it we were given 18 days to give the full response. And then the fun began The bugle is sounded It was 18 days spent mostly in office with few hours of sleep. Those 18 days went past in a jiffy, and we stitched together a full IT proposal with all required components. It was a demonstration of great team work, with people working from different geographies and time zones contributing together to deliver in excellence. We had people in Doha, India, China, Singapore and Malaysia who had all come together to achieve the unthinkable. As we came to know later, we were the only vendor to have answered every section of the RFP. Also, it was after these 18 days that 20 HUAWEI PEOPLE
STORIES OF HUAWEI PEOPLE we realized we were in the middle of Ramadan (Islamic holy month of fasting) and food was not available regularly. Having submitted the proposal, next step was oral defense, so we began to brainstorm on the presentations and key points to highlight. The biggest discussion point was how much time would be allowed for the presentation. Based on our collective experiences we guessed duration of workshop between one and two days. However, we were in for a surprise. We were informed that Huawei has been shortlisted and there would be 19 workshops in five straight days. This sent us back onto the drawing boards with an additional challenge of multiple overlapping sessions needing more experts on the ground. It was a show of commitment and dedication from Huawei that we had all the required people within 2-3 days. On the day of workshop it was a bus full of people in suite going for proposal defense. Possibly few of those things that you can only experience in Huawei. The elation with which we had gone was all gone by the time we returned. We had been beaten blue and black by the customer on many areas specially for proposing Huawei products when they had clearly mentioned their preferred vendors/ products in the RFP. We had to re-strategize for the next four days. We put our heads together and picked our battles while deciding to forego some of the products and agree to provide partner s/alternate products. Phoenix rises And if it isn t Huawei that rises as a phoenix, the next four days were spent in making the customer understand the value of our proposal and Huawei products. The reasons for selecting the proposed products and how Huawei could be a partner for the win in Myanmar given our extensive presence there for almost a decade. Finally after a marathon of almost six weeks the team had some breathing space and we decided to take a day off on the weekend and go for dessert safari. Just when you thought that things were settling down and we were waiting for the final answer; we received a mail on Thursday (weekend) evening that the customer s team was moving to Yangon and they expected the vendors to be available there on Monday for further discussions. Touchdown in Yangon And of course we had a plane full of Huawei people landing in Yangon by Monday morning. Again one of the few things that can only happen in Huawei. And we had another week of marathon discussions, some starting as late as ten in the night and lasting till 4-5 am. And after all this, there was silence. We were given a few dates when the results were supposed to be announced but those dates came and went and there was no news. Finally the boss decided to dismantle the team and we were on our way back. Since I had gone from Bangalore to Doha and from Doha to Yangon, so I had to take the same route back. It was a long journey of over 12 hours. And this was the defining moment in history that I decided if we win this project I would write an article about it. Not just because I had too much to drink in the flight and at the airport lounge but also because after going through all Shwedagon Pagoda,Yangon,Myanmar the ups and downs in the last couple of months there was a burning desire to just get this project and deliver it successfully. Final stretch Having come back to India, after a few days, on a Sunday evening I got a message to be in Yangon for customer meeting scheduled for Monday morning. Thereafter it was a couple of meetings to iron out the project plan, etc. and we finally signed the LOI in mid-october. After this I continued on the project as the Lead Delivery SA and we have successfully completed the project. However, that s a different story for another day and thankfully I have not taken a pledge to write about it. HUAWEI PEOPLE 21
My Days in Huawei By Ammar Tobba/UAE Over the past three years I have had the opportunity & pleasure to work with Huawei Middle East based in Dubai, UAE. One of my core responsibilities is to handle the planning and implementations of media relations for Huawei on both the corporate level and across all Huawei business groups in the region. That role has been an exciting journey for me personally and professionally; hence my desire to share a few of the insights I have gained over the years. Media relations itself is a growing activity within Huawei globally one that is also still new to most Huawei employees who come from a more technical background. It has been my experience that until a few years ago media relations was a kind of stranger within the Huawei culture. When I started with the company, the reputation of Huawei amongst regional media influencers was of a Chinese telecom equipment giant that may be doing big projects but for no particular reason still kept fairly silent and avoided media engagement. I think part of that was a result of many at Huawei simply preferring to lead their business in a modest manner; a character trait that perhaps comes from our brand s Chinese heritage. However, as Huawei business continued to expand rapidly overseas, this attitude of modesty was at times misinterpreted. It did at times make the brand appear elusive, distant, and out of touch with the local society and economy. I believe that reputational challenge was not just faced in the Middle East but worldwide. As a result, the global leadership of Huawei has set openness and transparency as a key strategic pillar for the company s long-term growth, and has over the last several years invested considerable time and resources in developing the PAC department (PACD) which oversees global media relations. So in comes my role of a PR and media relations practitioner at Huawei. I thought that only my early days at Huawei would be challenging, but every day my team s responsibilities continue to grow! 22 HUAWEI PEOPLE
STORIES OF HUAWEI PEOPLE That is absolutely fine with me as PACD continues to receive support from Huawei leadership and has learned to adapt new ways of working with both internal and external stakeholders. In my early days, for example, I realized that I had to be very patient and create awareness within Huawei about what I do and what PACD actually is. I had to help the people around me understand the technicalities of my job, and then move to the next step of requesting their support. During this time, I have learned that what matters most within our company is not just delivering on the technical work you handle whether it is media relations, customer relations, engineering, or any other kind of work but how you make people around you understand what you do and drive them to support you. It is about being very patient and using a simple approach to show the value of what you do. It is about empowering your colleagues to collaborate with you to deliver better work that positively reflects on the company s image and business. Today I love it when I am asked about what PACD does. I enjoy answering questions and educating colleagues about how PACD activities are relevant to them and support their projects. Even if it takes repeating something many, many times, I know that there are many dedicated individuals within the company doing this same work across the globe. The success path of my own career at Huawei thus started from the way I got along with my internal stakeholders. On a personal level I have gained a lot from these experiences. I have learned a great deal of patience for sure, which I can now apply to activities with my family, friends, and even with new people who I meet. I am also better able to simplify concepts and understand how I can support them to reach their own visions and goals. As someone from the Middle East region, the work of Huawei PACD takes on extra meaning for me. As many of us know, Huawei investments and sales outside of China are increasing rapidly. Today Huawei is not any more the homegrown Chinese brand it was 10 years ago. Today it is a truly global icon with a diverse multinational workforce. A large part of Huawei s overall business strategy for the Middle East thus involves helping our Chinese colleagues to adapt into the local cultures of the countries they are working in. It also requires us to help Huawei explain its vision and mission to the local market in a local way. That cultural exchange is one of the highlights of my job, and I have had the fortune to make many friends through such engagements. Overall the Huawei story is one that is still evolving in the Middle East. I feel both proud and privileged to work with so many extraordinary people that are creating the Huawei success story each and every day. There is a very bright future for our company in the Middle East, and we in the PACD department look forward to sharing that vision with the public in these exciting times. HUAWEI PEOPLE 23
The Five Sacrifices of Studying a Foreign Language By Sean Michael Upton-McLaughlin/USA Note: this article was originally written in Chinese as a guide to studying difficult foreign languages, notably English. The translated version presented here contains several themes specific to Huawei and China such as sacrifice, and Face, along with translations of Chinese idioms and traditional sayings. The stories presented below apply largely to overcoming the differences between Chinese and Western languages and cultures. As a Westerner with a relatively high command of the Chinese language, I find it common for Chinese coworkers and friends to repeatedly ask me: what s the secret to studying a foreign language? It s easy to understand the reasons behind this question if we go back a few decades. Ever since post-mao China first opened its doors to the West and the many new opportunities that came with it, the Chinese people have been engaged in a literal race to lead better and more prosperous lives. As China s development progressed forward, it soon became clear that one of the keys to a better life was a better job with a higher salary. With the entrance of many Western firms into the Mainland Chinese market in the 1980 s and 90 s, many Chinese discovered that while Western firms would pay much higher wages than their domestic counterparts, they almost always preferred to employ locals with a strong grasp of the English language. And thus the collective Chinese quest to study English began. After joining Huawei in early 2014, and many requests for guidance from my fellow employees, I spent a lot of time pondering the so-called secret to studying a foreign language. After a length of time, I hit upon an answer. When studying a foreign language, the most critical element is not what most people usually assume, such as having the best books, studying material, or even a great teacher. It is instead the willingness to make sacrifices. So what do I mean by "sacrifices," especially with regard to studying a foreign language? Instead of trying to explain the concept at length, I will instead offer five short stories as examples, from my own journey studying the Chinese language. 04 1. Sacrificing Your Time: 2. Sacrificing Your Face 3. Sacrificing Your Friends: 4. Sacrificing Your Family: 24 HUAWEI PEOPLE
HUAWEI WORLDWIDE 1 Sacrificing Your Time: In 2002 during my second year in college, my strong interest in China drove me to begin studying the Chinese language. In the beginning, like many others, I only put in a limited amount of time and effort. However as the years went by, and I became more interested in my new pursuit, the amount of time and effort I put in continued to increase. To this day, even after joining Huawei and working every day in a Chinese language environment, I still make time to review Chinese. After work I often find time to review vocabulary, read articles, and speak with coworkers in Chinese. I even take some time during the traditional afternoon nap period to draft Chinese articles and blog posts. What I understand very strongly now is if you truly want to succeed at studying a foreign language, it is inevitable that you must sacrifice time that was previously dedicated to other pursuits. Without enough time, it is very difficult, if not impossible, to succeed. 5. Sacrificing Your Identity 05 2 Sacrificing Your Face: After studying Chinese for two years in college, I decided to study abroad for one year in China s Sichuan province. This was largely based on the suggestion of my Chinese teacher, who had pointed out that I would have the opportunity to significantly improve my Chinese language skills in an environment with few English speakers. As soon as I arrived in Chengdu however, I realized with a sinking feeling that there was a distinct difference between practicing Chinese in the classroom and using it on the street. Everyday life was a struggle; it seemed as though every time I opened my mouth I either said something wrong or publicly made a fool of myself. Eventually, I realized there were two paths in front of me. If I chose the first, I could spend my time with the other exchange students on frequent trips to sightseeing locales and expat pubs, and avoid the anxiety and shame I had come to dread. If I chose the second, I would have to abandon the other foreign exchange students, my last bastion of Western civilization, and commit to a Chineseonly environment for good. Only then would I be able to truly improve my Chinese level and increase my understanding of Chinese society. In the end I chose the second path. Although I made many Chinese friends during that time, I was always acutely aware of the foreignness of my environment, and on many occasions I did not feel completely at home. But to attain my goal of mastering the Chinese language I pushed myself constantly, and made the difficult decision to sacrifice my Face (or pride as some might call it) and make mistakes daily. Upon reflection, my experiences remind me of a popular saying in Chinese: a sword s edge must be honed upon the grindstone just as the sweet fragrance of plum blossoms come only after a bitter winter. When you are in a difficult situation and have the courage to overcome the obstacles in your path, you can do better, and study more than you would have been able to otherwise. Because in order to survive, you must force yourself to grow. HUAWEI PEOPLE 25
3 Sacrificing Your Friends: During the early years of my Chinese studies, my personality began to slowly change, though I was unaware of it at the time. I was the only one of my close hometown friends actively studying a foreign language, and the others always felt my new interest a little strange. Sometimes they would even jokingly refer to me as an egg (white on the outside, yellow on the inside). However I took all this in stride, up until I returned home after my one year of studying abroad. Upon my return, I finally began to realize how much I had changed. I naturally viewed this change as progress and growth, but my once close friends unfortunately did not feel the same. They began to treat me differently, as if I was somehow an entirely different person. Of course I tried everything I could to bring them around, to convince them that I was still the same friend I had always been. However, as time passed they sought me out less often, and responded less frequently to my invitations and messages. In the end, our friendships ended and we went our separate ways. Now I understand that when you dedicate yourself to a pursuit, and those nearest to you do not agree, a rift is often unavoidable. Without common likes and interests, once good friends will in all likelihood leave you behind. 4 Sacrificing Your Family: I have always been very close to my family, especially my parents. For both my Bachelor's and Master's degrees I chose schools close to home. And while I did not feel the need to visit every single weekend, as the family s eldest son I did in fact feel a certain responsibility in the event of an accident or disaster, I preferred to be able to return home quickly and lend a hand. When I was preparing to graduate with my Master s degree in late 2009, I tried to find a China-related job close to home. However, China and Chinese were popular in my home state of California, with many newly returned China expatriates first in line for open positions. I was therefore forced to make a hard decision: in order to make my way in the world and continue pursuing my Chinese dream, I had to leave my family behind and travel to China for work. I now see that if you are set on making accomplishments and growing as an individual, you will often be forced to live apart from those closest to you. 5 Sacrificing Your Identity: When I returned home after studying abroad, I experienced Reverse Culture Shock for the first time. After living in China and becoming used to the environment there for so long, everything in the USA seemed unfamiliar. Not only did my surroundings appear strange, but I did not feel the connection to my fellow Americans I once had. And although I successfully acclimated back into the US life within the next few months, my time in China had left a permanent mark, resulting in changes I was then only beginning to comprehend. The truth was that I was no longer felt completely American from that time onwards I would sometimes feel an emotional disconnect between other Americans and myself, though they were never the wiser. No matter how long I stay in China I will never be Chinese (not that I would necessarily want to be), but I will never again be fully American. Having sacrificed my identity as a traditional American, I have since lived in the grey area between the Chinese and Western cultures, never able to fully exist within one or the other. Now I see that when you make the decision to live or work abroad, change is unavoidable, and there is generally no going back. 26 HUAWEI PEOPLE
HUAWEI WORLDWIDE These five sacrifices detail my occasionally rocky journey to speaking, reading and writing fluently in a foreign language. In modern society, especially in China, I have noticed that people more often than not focus on their aspirations and fears in everyday life. I have heard others express the belief that whoever does something the fastest will also be the one to succeed. When it comes to studying a foreign language, it is therefore no surprise that many, including my colleagues at Huawei, look for any kind of shortcut they can find. But in my experience, these types of shortcuts simply do not exist. The only way to succeed, as I see it, is to resolutely set a goal, and make the necessary sacrifices to achieve it. Granted, my own journey to foreign language fluency may seem extreme to some, but instead of worrying about all of the sacrifices mentioned, instead try doing two things. First, deeply and realistically contemplate your specific goals for studying a foreign language. Second, decide on how much you are able AND willing to sacrifice. Through understanding these two things, it will be easier to understand how many of the five sacrifices are right for you. There is another Chinese saying, where there is gain, there must also be loss at any time when we succeed or improve ourselves, something always must sacrificed. While it is often only time, sometimes the sacrifices must be greater still. But so long as you study diligently, remain resolute, and make sacrifices, I am confident that when you gaze back upon the tomb of your former self you will see a brilliant phoenix has risen from the ashes, blazing its way across the sky toward a new horizon. That, dear reader, is you - the result of diligent study, commitment, and sacrifice. Sacrifice is bitter, but success is sweeter. Best of luck to you! HUAWEI PEOPLE 27
A Team of Many Talents By Eden Chan/Kuwait The Kuwait Rep office is a melting pot comprising of employees from over 35+ countries around the world. As with other Huawei offices, there are teams of engineers, sales staff, solution managers, platform department support staff etc but behind the scenes of their every day professional life, our employees harbor a hidden trove of talents from contemporary dance and ballet, to traditional Arabic dance and solo singing so let s find out more! An RF engineer who has been in Kuwait since September 2013, Helina has delighted our team with two public dance performances which ranged from a traditional Chinese national dance last year, to a funky, upbeat and modern dance this year-both of which turned out to be real crowd pleasers. Helina s interest in dance stemmed from some classes which she took as a high school student some years ago and since then, she often practices dance and watches dance competition shows. Helina s dance idol is Ms. Yang Liping, a famous director, choreographer and star of a performance art show called Dynamic Yunnan which is highly popular all over China. Turning to another employee with hidden talent, Lovella Mendoza is business support secretary for the AMS team and has been with Huawei Kuwait since June 2008. At an annual ceremony in 2014, Lovella blew the crowd away with her lovely soothing but powerful voice. According to Lovella, singing is relaxing and very enjoyable and is something she can do anytime, anywhere! Her childhood memories included herself at the age of 6, climbing onto a chair, comb in hand and belting out Hopelessly devoted to you by Olivia Newton- John. At the age of 7, she experienced her first public performance at the town fiesta where she sang in front of a large crowd. In terms of her musical idols, Lovella said she has many, but in particular, she admires the voices of Tina Arena, Maureen McGovern, Irene Cara and Jordin Sparks. So if you like singing, maybe you should check out some songs from these divas too! 28 HUAWEI PEOPLE
HUAWEI WORLDWIDE So far, the talent scales appear to be tipped with female employees, but luckily there is no shortage in Kuwait of male talent too! Amongst our team of VIVA ITO engineers, we found a skilful group of Dabke dancers who enthusiastically performed their national dance for us all. Marwan Kastero (VIVA AMS FO Manager) coordinated the group with members consisting of 3 dancers from other local companies in Kuwait, and his work colleagues Nabeel Nayfeh (AMS FO team leader), Nazeeh Elewat (technical support engineer) and Ahmad Salah (systems analyst engineer). Some amongst the team are actually professional dancers, so with their expert guidance and some help from internet videos, the group managed to choreograph a very entertaining show in the end! Now.who would have thought amongst our finance team in Kuwait that we would find a graceful and elegant ballet dancer, but indeed we do have one! Zhangkai, who is a PFC in Kuwait office since June 2014 recently performed a ballet dance to the song Le Carnivals Des Animaux composed by French Romantic composer Camille Saint-Saëns. She mesmerized the crowd with her flawlessly artful movements and showed us that number crunching is not the only thing she s good at! Zhangkai began ballet dancing at the tender age of 10 years old and nowadays in her spare time, she practices dance whenever she can. Dance idols that she looks up to, include Chinese national Ms. Yuan Yuan Tang (a principal dancer with the San Francisco ballet), Natalia Osipova (a principal dancer with the Royal Ballet in London) and Audrey Hepburn (an accomplished ballet dancer as well as renowned actress). Last but not least, other male talent in Kuwait included a very impressive demonstration of Chinese employees shaking and grooving to the rhythmic tunes of Bollywood! There was Gaolin (an account manager for Ooredoo Kuwait), Chenwei (Account Manager), Wangshuo (Service Solution Sales) and Hussain Khanji (from CSO dept), who were coached and led by Bipin Narively (Network Solutions Manager). The team wanted to enjoy a fun performance whilst entertaining others, so a mixture of cultures and work roles were considered in forming the group. Gaolin admitted that initially, it was a bit difficult for him and his Chinese counterparts to learn the Bollywood dance since none of them were familiar with Hindi songs, but with guidance from native Indian colleague Bipin, they soon began to pick it up. As their coach, Bipin had words of praise for his colleagues, as he thought they were quick learners and relentless practiced to ensure they could perform the whole dance without any mistakes. During the entire performance, the crowd cheered loudly from the start to the end of the dance and this spurred them on to perform brilliantly, much to everyone s delight! We hope to see more of this type of cultural exchange, with different nationalities embracing each other s cultures and traditions to make Huawei a truly international company! HUAWEI PEOPLE 29
Story CEE&Nordic Region Employees Photography Competition 2014 Huawei 10 Years in Poland By Qiu Chunnan A Normal Working Day By Victor Dragnea The picture was taken during Electric Castle Festival in Cluj, Romania, which is the biggest electric festival in Europe. Rainy Day By Miroslav Nikolic 30 HUAWEI PEOPLE
HUAWEI WORLDWIDE Magic Forest, Magic Team By Wang Xinwei A magic Huawei team from two regions and three departments met in the Magic forest. It looks like Twilight. Are You Ready By Huang Yajun The world's largest relay race - Holmenkollen Stafetten 2014 in Oslo, Norway's capital. Huawei Norway office showed a healthy and progressive corporate citizen impression. The picture is taken when OEC members distributed energy food to Huawei players. Huawei Ladies in VårRuset By Nadia Zabehi Huawei Technologies Sweden participated in VårRuset. Huawei Telecom Seeds for the Future By Wang Weijing 28 students from Poland, Romania, Serbia joined the 2 weeks great advanture in Beijing and Shenzhen. HUAWEI PEOPLE 31
Olympics in Huawei Oman By Stephen S/Oman Recreational and entertainment activities, more than ever before, are becoming highly important for organizations at present and in the future. Despite economic downturn, acknowledging and responding to personal needs of employees continue to be significant. Presence of funfilled activities such as games, picnics, celebrations of special events not only help the employees get engaged with each other resulting in better interpersonal relationships but also lighten up the traditional work environment while making workplace comfortable and a less stressful place. Taken from the Title: Effects of Recreational and Entertainment Activities on Employees Job Satisfaction: A Case Study (Spring 2011), Journal of Management and Social Science. It is true what the research has found. Recently Huawei (Oman) has participated in a sport event coorganized with our local customer. It involved number of sport games, such as Football, Cricket, Beach Volleyball, Table Tennis, Go-Kart racing, Bowling and Chess. This sporting event has chance to our employees to participate in teams under the name of Huawei. Some used products names in a creative way like Huawei Honor, and others were enthusiastic enough to name their teams Huawei Raptors. We all saw the effect on employees gathering together and teaming up to compete with other teams and try to win, which reflected their ability in working together the same way they do in projects by cooperating with each other, good tactical skills and believing in one another. 32 HUAWEI PEOPLE
HUAWEI WORLDWIDE Cycle for Charity By Phil Little/UK In September 2014 I had the chance to take part in a 100 mile (160km) charity cycle ride in support of Huawei s Vodafone Account Department, our customer Vodafone and their charity - Moyo Lesotho Challenge 2014: The Huawei Vodafone Account Department became a proud sponsor of the event a global fundraising campaign focused on getting young people living with HIV in Lesotho onto treatment. Under the sponsorship, Huawei supported Vodafone s corporate team of 100 employees in the campaign s UK leg, during which over 800 cyclists travelled across Britain from Land s End to John O Groats over 9 days. I was very proud to be asked to represent Huawei and the Vodafone Account Department, however I had only ever cycled about a quarter of the distance before so knew it would be a serious challenge to complete it. However I thought about the honour of being asked and the opportunity to help people, and these things increased my determination to cross the finish line. I took many long rides in preparation to build up my strength and endurance, and obtained some new clothing and equipment to minimize discomfort and protect against the risk of bad weather. My ride was 100 miles between Bath and Ludlow on Monday 8th September. I travelled down the previous evening then made a very early start, getting up before dawn. As the ride started and the sun came up, it became a great day with very good weather and great scenery. The ride was divided into 3 parts with 2 pit stops en route. As I completed the first section, I felt my rear tyre losing pressure and was worried about getting to the first pit stop, however I made it and the support crew fitted a replacement tyre. However about 10 miles into the second section, the gear set on my bike failed, rendering the bike unrideable. I felt so disappointed that I might not be able to complete the ride, so called the event support team who were able to lend me a spare bike so I was able to continue. The next section was very challenging with many steep hills both up and down, and at the second pit stop I was getting very tired. One rider told me the last section was quite level, so I set off with renewed energy and crossed the finish line feeling very exhilarated and proud. Excluding pit stops and waiting for my replacement bike, I completed the 100 miles in 7.5 hours which I am really pleased with. This was a great opportunity to combine support of our customer Vodafone and their chosen charity. I also raised over 300 for the Moyo charity. Vodafone also presented Huawei with a framed event cycle shirt, so I can look at it with pride every time I am in the office. HUAWEI PEOPLE 33
BCG Pictures by Dajian Staff X is an experienced trainer from Huawei. He uses Huawei resources to give training to people outside the company. He produces the certificate to trainees without Huawei official certification. Trainees get the fake certificates and Staff X makes a secret profit. This is strictly prohibited by Huawei BCG. 34 HUAWEI PEOPLE
HUAWEI WORLDWIDE Huawei is dedicated to innovating around the needs of our customers, continuously pushing the boundaries of ICT. We develop networks, solutions, and devices, serving one third of the world s population in over 140 countries. We are connecting systems, businesses, cities, societies and people around the globe; improving efficiencies, transforming industries and ultimately creating better experiences for everyone. And now, we re inviting you to join us in building a better connected world with 12 themes. HUAWEI PEOPLE 35