Date: November 22, 2003

I felt good after the first exercise of jotting down my idea, so I decided to continue. I have a long list of topics that I want to write, such as Allstream IT outsourcing, sales approach, RFP response, solution selling, and so on. Without further analysis on each idea, I seem to complain that I have better ideas than someone else, which obviously is not an applaudable attitude. Here comes the question raised to myself, what is the right strategy for me? what shall I do in a most logical way to achieve the best result?

It is not easy to answer the above question. First, I need identify my own long term goal. Say, in five, ten or longer years, what shall I be? John Wellwood, the salesman with whom I have been working for the past three years, was so kind to ask me and guide me for such a thought process. When two of us drove to Montreal in a business trip, John suggested that I spend time to think of the life goal once in a while, which can be adjustable when things are changing.

Have I done anything yet? Just a little bit.

I happened to watch the movie About Schmidt by Jack Nicholson yesterday, and I was moved by the story: when you retire, what will you do when you come across similar crossroads. This accelerates the urgency to build my own strategy and clarify my own long term goal. I know what I want to get, that is the life security: family, health and wealth are all part of the goal. I don't have to highlight the importance of each component. Without further due, I have to roll down the right strategy step by step to achieve the goal.

Let me start with my career development. Having been a pre-sales engineer at Sun for six years, I have worked with many salesmen. The salesmen own the overall the customer approach strategy, and the engineer acts as a supportive role to help the salesmen implement the strategy. Sometimes I am lucky, because John is tolerant and open and is willing to listen to me. While at other times, I had to confront the salesmen who were either tough or incompetent. Unfortunately I had to adapt my style to work with those persons. I need a change, a change to be the lead.

For the past few months, I have pondered such an idea over and over. I believe it makes sense to continue the career path at Sun on product management or product marketing. This move would leverage my Sun knowledge; moreover, my years' experience at Sun China and Sun Canada would be a valuable asset. In the past ten years, as a Sun customer or Sun sales engineer, I have gained first-hand knowledge about the market segments of Asia and North America.

I have to make thorough preparation for the move. The language is the first challenge. It is a good start to write the diary. Catching good ideas and writing them down, I am sure I will improve my writing skills. Meanwhile, speaking aloud and behaving confidently, I am progressing in my oral communication.

After setting the goal and the priority, it becomes clear for what I do to fulfill my work related duty. It's my integrity to do everything professionally, which I won't never downgrade.

While still working diligently with passion for Sun, I won't place too much personal emotion to the sales approach, which obviously belongs to the scope of the salesmen. I have to back off a little bit, and I'll follow the game rule between the engineer and the salesman.

In the past, I worked as an engineer, but had too much personal emotion toward the entire sales process, this won't happen. I respect John Wellwood's role as the account manager, and offer my opinion whenever appropriate. But most importantly, I will follow my priority that is to streamline my competence in communication, business acumen, and technology advancement, then I'll be ready for the next move.

Honglin Su

2003-11-22T21:25:49