The rewards of determination
By Yayu Wu & Enid Chen
Photos by Yao Fan


Name: Shen Fengzhen
Position: Manager of Canned Food Department, Justus & Co., Xiamen Office

初次见到德国加斯特斯公司厦门代表处罐头部沈经理的时候, 她给我们留下的第一印象是一个干练的外企白领. 然而, 谁也想不到, 她进入公司的时候, 只有一张初中文凭, 只是在公司负责打扫卫生的一个乡下女孩. 她花了七年的时间利用业余时间自学了高中. 大专和本科课程. 如今, 脱胎换骨的她身居要职, 每年经手几千万美金的业务. 而这一切的改变源于她自身不懈的努力, 惊人的毅力和一个特殊"伯乐"对她职业生涯的影响.

Ms. Shen Fengzhen handles orders worth tens of millions of US dollars every year, as the manager of the Canned Food Department of the Xiamen Office of Justus & Co. Justus is headquartered in Hamburg, Germany. Ms. Shen was the second employee of the company, and has been working there for 14 years. When we met her for the first time, she was the image of a professional modern manager, at home in the office and skillfully dealing with customers over the phone in her fluent, accented English. What we did not expect to discover was that while her subordinates at the company are all university graduates, Ms. Shen had only received a junior middle school education, and had never even gone to senior high school. We were fascinated by her story, and after the interview, an old saying occurred to me: "Where there is a will, there is a way."

An appetite for knowledge

"When the office had just opened, I needed someone who could clean up the office and serve the customers tea. A friend therefore recommended Shen to me," says Mr. Zhu Linong, the Chief Representative of the company. "Before working with me, she had only been to junior middle school. However, she was very hard-working and ambitious. I said to myself that keeping her as only a ‘housekeeper' would be a waste of her talents, and was holding her back in her career. One day, I asked if she wanted to learn some new things and her response was a definite ‘yes'. I told her that she could learn whatever she wanted and the company would pay for the tuition. From then on, Shen began to take middle-school courses, junior college courses and university courses. Her determination was unshakeable, and she kept on studying during her spare time every day for more than seven years. She was so eager to learn. She even learnt to speak English and play the piano. I couldn't help being moved by her perseverance."

It was indeed incredible for a person to find the time to study every day for seven years. Her eagerness to learn and to make progress was the spur that kept her going. She went through times of adversity that we could not imagine. During the day, she had to work harder than her colleagues. At night, she had to study the textbooks that others had already learnt at school. The effort she put into her career was much greater than the people around her. "At that time, I kept saying to myself that I must work hard to learn more because every other employee in the company is better-educated and more capable than me. I had to catch up with them," Ms. Shen says.

Shen's extraordinary boss

Fortune helps those who help themselves. Thanks to her diligence and strong will, Ms. Shen caught up with her colleagues, and surpassed them. Her great efforts allowed her to succeed in remolding herself from a country girl into a professional manager.

However, her transformation was also partly due to her extraordinary manager, Mr. Zhu Linong, who has an eye for raw talent. "As an old Chinese saying goes: when you drink water, think about its source. He is the guide who is a model for me, and the one who offered me opportunities to grow and to reinvent myself. He is a very democratic leader who allows you to make mistakes and learn from them." Ms. Shen says with gratitude. "I still remember vividly one time when he asked me to fax one Chinese sentence to a customer. The sentence was only a few Chinese characters long, and I had written four of them wrong. Mr. Zhu wasn't mad at me. He just pointed out where I'd gone wrong and continued to offer me tremendous chances to try new things and to learn from my mistakes. After working for three years in the company, I began to get involved with the trading business and to talk to the customers, which was a very significant step in the development of my career."

"She is now in an important post, the second most important in the company here. I have absolute confidence in her. When I'm away on business, I can entrust everything to her and let her take charge of the office." Mr. Zhu added, "I feel that sometimes I have to rely on her in the business. For example, she has a very good memory and can remember almost every contract number, the terms under that contract, and the customers' telephone numbers. It's really amazing."

Ms. Shen has set a shining example within the company. Whenever new staff join the company, Mr. Zhu tells Ms. Shen's story to the staff to inspire them. The key to her success is a combination of intelligence and willpower.

About Justus & Co.

Justus & Co. is a German trading company which was founded in 1922 in Hamburg. The company specializes in the trading of textiles and canned foods. The Xiamen office was opened in the early 1990s.

Vocabulary
subordinate 下属
appetite 欲望
ambitious 有抱负的
tuition 学费
spur 鞭策
remold 重塑
democratic 民主的
gratitude 感激
entrust 托付
willpower 毅力
unshakeable 坚定不移的