[Prompt: Describe what you feel to be your two most substantial accomplishments to date (at least one must be professional), explaining why you view them as such.]

While working for Holcim, the second-largest cement producer in the world, I found myself on a team of disparate individuals with varied backgrounds and motivations. Sent to one of Holcim’s Mexican subsidiaries to lead this team, I realized from the start that the project would not be easy.

Directed to bring savings to the subsidiary of about $29 million, my strategy team consisted of two Swiss senior colleagues from Holcim, four local subsidiary managers, and five McKinsey consultants from Mexico and Switzerland. We faced problems right away. Still, I was determined to encourage team unity by organizing social events and fostering open communication.

Unfortunately, there was local resistance to reforming the subsidiary. Learning Spanish by night and running meetings by day, I worked extensively with local managers to understand their concerns and integrate their suggestions into our plan. Ultimately, the project was successful: we surpassed our savings objectives, and I received an early promotion.

Despite the rewards of working for Holcim in Mexico, my most challenging -- and fulfilling -- accomplishment came in my work as a leading consultant to a taskforce group of eight experienced production and finance managers from a worldwide specialty chemicals company. Assigned by McKinsey as an expert in working capital (W/C), I was charged with helping the client managers identify $20 million in W/C improvement actions and ensuring that these actions were implemented within two months to prevent a default on debts.

When I started the project, I was terrified. With over 35,000 product references in inventory, the business was extremely complex. I was expected to lead a group of skeptical, experienced managers in identifying improvements for their own business. I had no idea where to begin. After much mental debate and inevitable trial and error, I eventually learned that by focusing on the fundamentals -- my analytical abilities and my strong grasp of finance -- I could convince my superiors at least to listen to what I had to say.

The managers realized that I was young and inexperienced, but they also saw that I was focused on performance. As I began to introduce innovative and methodological approaches to problem solving, they grew eager to teach me what I needed to learn. Ultimately, we implemented twice the targeted improvement, saving the company from a potential bankruptcy. The CEO personally asked me to accept broader consulting tasks within his organization, and I was promoted to associate just a year after joining McKinsey.

點(diǎn)評(píng)：

這篇文章可以說(shuō)是一氣呵成，先描述了自己的困窘之處：自己比較年輕而且缺乏一定的經(jīng)驗(yàn)，但卻要管理一個(gè)由一些專業(yè)知識(shí)和工作經(jīng)驗(yàn)都非常豐富的經(jīng)理所組成的團(tuán)隊(duì)，而且要承擔(dān)起削減Holcim公司墨西哥分公司將近290萬(wàn)的開支的責(zé)任。然后敘述自己在執(zhí)行管理的過(guò)程中遇到的種種難題，首先是當(dāng)自己提出公司改革建議的時(shí)候立刻遭到了當(dāng)?shù)毓竟芾韺拥姆磳?duì)，其次是經(jīng)理們不信任自己，懷疑自己的能力。這些無(wú)形之中都給了作者很大的壓力，但是作者并沒(méi)有退縮，而是運(yùn)用自己較強(qiáng)的分析能力、溝通能力和專業(yè)的財(cái)務(wù)知識(shí)來(lái)解決實(shí)際的問(wèn)題從而打破由經(jīng)理們對(duì)自己的偏見所導(dǎo)致的工作的局限性。而分析能力、溝通能力以及扎實(shí)的專業(yè)知識(shí)都是成為一名出色領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者的主導(dǎo)因素。

但明顯作者犯了一個(gè)比較大的思維錯(cuò)誤，在解釋自己為什么覺(jué)得這一次工作能帶給他成就感的時(shí)候，他只是單純地對(duì)一些客觀條件進(jìn)行了描述，例如他所管理的團(tuán)隊(duì)是由一些經(jīng)驗(yàn)豐富的經(jīng)理們所組成的，還有此次任務(wù)多么地艱巨，作者嘗試借助這些來(lái)突現(xiàn)自己出色的表現(xiàn)。但事實(shí)上一篇好的描述成就類的文書應(yīng)該把重點(diǎn)放在自己所做的和自己完成任務(wù)后的感想。只有這樣，讀者才能從中發(fā)現(xiàn)你所具有的個(gè)性特征和領(lǐng)導(dǎo)能力。而這篇文章的作者只是通過(guò)一種直述的方式告訴讀者自己是具有很強(qiáng)的分析能力和溝通能力的，這樣的一篇文書是絕對(duì)不能給人留下非常深刻的印象的，所以總體來(lái)說(shuō)，這篇算不上一篇好的文書。

譯文：

提示：描述至今為止你認(rèn)為最有成就感的兩件事（至少有一件是比較專業(yè)的），并解釋為什么你覺(jué)得他們是最有成就感的兩件事。

在全球第二大水泥制造商Holcim公司的時(shí)候，我是與一群有激情和有著不同背景的同事一起工作的。被派遣到Holcim在墨西哥的分公司去管理這樣一個(gè)團(tuán)隊(duì)，我意識(shí)到這份工作的艱巨性。

我們這個(gè)策略規(guī)劃團(tuán)隊(duì)是由兩個(gè)瑞士分公司的高級(jí)員工，四個(gè)當(dāng)?shù)胤止镜慕?jīng)理和5個(gè)來(lái)自墨西哥和瑞士的McKinsey的咨詢師組成，而我們要完成的目標(biāo)是要使這個(gè)分公司節(jié)約開支將近290萬(wàn)。當(dāng)時(shí)我們就遇到了一些難題，但是我仍然希望我們這個(gè)團(tuán)隊(duì)能團(tuán)結(jié)起來(lái)，于是我組織了一些社交活動(dòng)以促進(jìn)彼此間的交流。不幸的是，改革分公司的建議立刻遭到當(dāng)?shù)毓ぷ魅藛T的反對(duì)。于是我晚上學(xué)習(xí)西班牙語(yǔ)，白天就和組員們開會(huì)，希望能通過(guò)與當(dāng)?shù)胤止镜慕?jīng)理們進(jìn)行交流從而了解他們所擔(dān)心的問(wèn)題并把他們的意見整合到我們的計(jì)劃當(dāng)中去。最終，這個(gè)計(jì)劃成功地實(shí)現(xiàn)了：我們超額完成了指標(biāo)，而我也被提前晉升了。

這個(gè)目標(biāo)的完成使我覺(jué)得很有成就感并不是因?yàn)槲以诖朔止精@得豐厚的酬勞，而是在那里我作為一名首席的咨詢師，管理的是有8名來(lái)自世界各地化學(xué)制品公司的富有經(jīng)驗(yàn)的生產(chǎn)和財(cái)務(wù)經(jīng)理所組成的一個(gè)團(tuán)隊(duì)。由McKinsey委任的身為一名企業(yè)周轉(zhuǎn)資金方面的專家，我的任務(wù)是協(xié)助分公司客戶經(jīng)理完成節(jié)省開支200萬(wàn)的目標(biāo)以及確保目標(biāo)在兩個(gè)月內(nèi)完成以避免公司陷入負(fù)債的困境。

當(dāng)我開始接手這個(gè)任務(wù)的時(shí)候，我是比較擔(dān)心的。因?yàn)閺挠嘘P(guān)存貨的35,000條記錄中我發(fā)現(xiàn)這個(gè)分公司的業(yè)務(wù)極其復(fù)雜的。而我需要管理的是一個(gè)由比較挑剔的富有經(jīng)驗(yàn)的經(jīng)理們組成的一個(gè)團(tuán)隊(duì)，任務(wù)是幫助這些經(jīng)理們實(shí)現(xiàn)他們所管轄的業(yè)務(wù)的改進(jìn)工作。一開始我根本不知道該從何入手。在經(jīng)過(guò)無(wú)數(shù)次討論、試驗(yàn)和出錯(cuò)后，最后我認(rèn)識(shí)到要說(shuō)服我的上級(jí)或至少讓他們聽我的建議的話，我就必須較好地運(yùn)用我的分析能力和我專業(yè)的財(cái)務(wù)知識(shí)。

雖然經(jīng)理們都覺(jué)得我比較年輕和缺乏經(jīng)驗(yàn)，但是我在公司的表現(xiàn)他們也是有目共睹的。當(dāng)我開始引進(jìn)一些能解決實(shí)際問(wèn)題的創(chuàng)新方法的時(shí)候，他們就迫不及待地教我必須學(xué)的東西或是我不懂的東西。最后，我兩次達(dá)到了預(yù)期的目標(biāo)，成功地挽救了這間面臨破產(chǎn)的公司。公司的董事長(zhǎng)親自叫我負(fù)責(zé)公司里面更多的咨詢工作，而在加入McKinsey的一年后我也如愿的當(dāng)上了公司的副經(jīng)理。