SRAS-like virus originated from Wuhan is spreading in China now. As it’s the Spring Festival holiday season, most of the people in China are on holidays.
To control the spreading of the virus, everyone is encouraged to stay home, as public transportation has been cancelled in some of the cities.
I am visiting my parents in China and get home-bound because of the virus situation.
After four days, I started felt a little bit restless. And so are my parents.
What can I do to make my time with them more enjoyable?
We played some games. Then we started to chat… somehow I wanted to learn more about my parents, especially about my dad. This is because my mom said the other day that my dad has secrets. My mom learned one secret about my dad last year after they have been married for 57 years!
She thinks my dad has more secrets.
This certainly draws my attention. I became very curious and my dad is happy to share with me about his past.
I chatted with my dad this morning about his past: how did he change his jobs, what did he do for each position, what were the biggest challenges, how did he handle his challenges, what are his views on the Chinese history, and what is his believe, how did he deal with people having different capabilities…
I learned so much about my dad in a couple of hours than the last 30 years!
My dad never thought about how to be more successful in his whole life. He was assigned or appointed for each position by his organizations. However, for every single position he had, he always strived to do his best.
He had technology education. But he was appointed to be a young leader to do social management work because of his capabilities.
He had to learn everything from the scratch when he began to do the job – as we currently called public relations. He has innate talent for building up network and relationships. He worked hard to teach himself in theory and then taught others.
For each position he had, he was grounded to do his job with focus, with his principles and believes.
These are his secrets for success. And he is a successful man, respected by many.
Some secrets he told me are that he payed attention to his environment: what was the primary focus, what is more important, use storytelling to influence people.
My dad is a good story teller. He is very proud that he never asked others to write his speeches.
I told my parents that we should learn these stories about my dad years ago. They say, well, may be now is the better time because you appreciate them more.
I do appreciate these stories about my dad. I am very appreciative that I have such a wise, smart, diligent, kind and soft heart dad.
If I can summarize the biggest secret for my dad’s success, it is:
Do the best with what you have.
WE-FIVE 