Gloria's Blog

Olivia is my teammate, a great friend I knew long before I joined Microsoft. Right now she is presenting at the Microsoft Digital Transformation Academy in Vegas. 5,000 people flew in Vegas for this. She presents about the value and technics of Social Selling in front of hundreds of thousands of MSUS sales and marketing professionals. She is the only Asian presenter that I am aware of. I am so proud of her. --- I am recently reading a book "The Bamboo Ceiling". It's about why and how Asian are underrepresented in the leadership level in the US corp world, and the cultural reasons behind it. Olivia is such a role model in so many different aspects. She is so good at what she does, and she never feels too good about herself. She didn't start living in the US until 20 something, and her English is as good as native speakers. She is so natural hanging out almost with anyone. However, she never ever speaks in English with me, if just between us, in any situations...

It was the last night in Vegas. My team rented a limo and were on our way to the old town Vegas. We were drinking in the loud music. Beside me, was a senior manager. In the office, she always wear decent dresses, sophisticated make up. She graduated from Yale college, is deeply in love with her husband, has two sons who are both doing great. She recently became a grandma. She is on top of everything.  She asked me whether it's hard to move to the US from blue, whether my parents are supportive that I am staying after graduating from grad school, and if they will come to visit. I said my dad will visit me soon, and my mom passed away. She said, "Oh, I am sorry." I hope I didn't make her uncomfortable and said, "No don't say sorry. It's fine." She reacted immediately, "It is not fine. It will never get easy. My mom passed away ten years ago. She was 88. She was old, obviously, and she had a good life. But it’ll never get easier. W...

Today, we were talking to prof Chris Ryan about Chinese parents' expectation on our generation. Chris said, well, they wish you success, they wish you have money and power. Why they wish you have money and power? Actually, they hope you are safe and happy, and they also assume that money and power will buy safety and happiness. That's probably the logic. But money and power are risky. They often don't. We asked Chris what he believes will buy sense of safety and happiness. He said, the belief that what the universe gives you is sufficient. Picture taken on the border of Israel and Syria (Originally posted on Wechat on May 13, 2017)

On my flight back in Chicago, I sit by a 60-year-old gentleman Mr. Rogers. - R: Is Chicago your home? - Me: No I am doing my MBA there. - R: Oh I did my MBA 20 years ago. What did you do before this? - Me: I was a management consultant. - R: management consultant? You did nothing. - Me: what do you mean? - R: I don't wanna be mean. But you really have done nothing. During the rest of the flight, Mr. Rogers shared his dozens of businesses since high school, including selling ice cream, loading luggage for airplane, ship businesses that he has been involved in for 20 years, and his recent 3-year-old start up where he leads 65 people managing private ships. Before we landed, I asked him, is there anything that has big impact on your life?He said, when I was young, I never turned down any job. I learned from it, move on, until I found what I truly love. Being on the ocean. Life is short. Do what you love. And finding ways to make money by doing that is the easy part. (Orig...

About two years ago, I wrote a blog about Why Humor is So Valued in American Culture:  WhyHumorIsSoValuedInAmerica Today I am taking the chance to thank all the awesome people who helped me along the way, to reflect on the significance and breadth of application of #ChicagoApproach, to summarizes my progress over the two years, concluded by a five-minute-talk-show in the Chicago Booth MBA'17 Graduation Celebration. --- I have always been a serious person growing up. No sense of humor what so ever. When I grew up, studying well and working hard are valued in my community. A kid is never judged whether he or she is 'Cool', or 'Fun to hang out with'. When I visited Booth in 2015, I attended classes of Prof Linda Ginzel and Prof George Wu. They say, the essence of education in Booth is "Back to Fundamentals", meaning to understand and learn every and anything from the Fundamental, usually just one or two rules for each domain. #ChicagoApproach Fortun...

This is a speech I delivered in the University of Chicago Booth School of Business when I lived in the US for the first 6 months. I designed a social experiment related to small talk, and was pleasantly surprised by the results. The speech presented the results and insights. It received a standing ovation at the end. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0V2VQZWWdY Transcript as below: 1. Let me ask 2 questions: Who here genuinely enjoy small talk? Please raise your hand. Who here is like me: sometimes not sure what should come after small talk? 2. Today my topic is about: what could happen after small talk 3. When I arrived at Booth, I was taught how to make small talk. They say people ask “how are you doing”, they expect a 10 second answer. They say when you don’t know what to talk about, talk about the weather. I worked hard and almost become a weather expert. 4. But recently, I feel there’s sth wrong. I feel sad that I still only know my c...

I recently start a project "asking simple but hard questions". It was yesterday: Me: Michael, what makes you happy? Michael: What do you mean? What kind of answer do you expect? Me: Specific moments that you feel great. Anything pops up to your mind right now. Michael: (he kept thinking for like forever... That was definitely uncomfortable for both of us) ---8 min later--- When I came home seeing my wife watching a tv show just because I like that show.