帮助联想走向全球的中国女性

    2005年，联想（Lenovo）全球人力资源高级副总裁乔健飞赴美国。她离开北京前往协助联想并购IBM个人电脑业务，而她当时认识的英文单词不到一百个。

    上个月在香港举办的《财富》（Fortune）最具影响力商界女性国际峰会（Most Powerful Women International Summit）上，乔健表示：“当我们公司决定把英文作为公司官方语言时，我就想，或许我应该辞职了。”

    乔健并未离开联想，该公司的员工数量现已超过60,000人。相反，她开始一头扎进联想和IBM的谈判之中，并迅速学会了大量英文单词，包括一些商业术语——比如“固定收益计划”。

    这位科技公司高管，《联想之路：管理一个多元化全球公司以求最佳表现》（The Lenovo Way: Managing a Diverse Global Company for Optimal Performance）一书的合著者，在24年前加入年收入现已达到390亿美元的联想公司，担任创始人的秘书，之后她一步步进入高层，曾负责公司的市场营销，并领导过公司全球战略与规划团队。她说，“许多人问我：‘一直在一家公司不觉得无聊吗？’我说：‘不，我从来不感觉无聊……我依旧感觉紧张。’”她还表示自己喜欢挑战自我。

    乔健还在台上分享了这家全球最大的PC制造商在2005年与IBM完成交易后得到的教训。该公司意识到，它的领导层没有国际经验——与乔健一样，许多人也不懂英文。她回忆称：“我不知道如何与具有不同背景的人一起共事，而且当时，我们公司的业绩也没有如今这么出色。”

    最近，联想收购了IBM的低端服务器业务和谷歌（Google）的摩托罗拉移动（Motorola Moblity）业务，该公司已经将文化整合列为首要任务。这一次，联想制定了一套标准来评估横跨多种文化的领导者。此外，它将首先从摩托罗拉的供应链开始整合，随后将整合销售与市场营销部门。

    在访谈结束时，乔健向观众们提出了一条建议：“最好的学习方式是从错误中学习，扩大你的舒适区范围。”（财富中文网）

    译者：刘进龙/汪皓

    Gina Qiao, senior vice president of global human resources at Lenovo, moved to the U.S. in 2005. She left Beijing to help with Lenovo’s acquisition of IBM’s personal computer business—and, at the time, she knew less than 100 English words.

    “Our company made the decision that English [would] become our official language,” Qiao said at Fortune’s Most Powerful Women International Summit in Hong Kong last month. “I thought maybe it’s time for me to quit.”

    Qiao didn’t leave Lenovo, which now has more than 60,000 employees. Instead, she dove into negotiations with IBM and quickly learned a plethora of English words, including business jargon—like “defined-benefit plan.”

    The tech exec, who is also the co-author of the book The Lenovo Way: Managing a Diverse Global Company for Optimal Performance, joined the $39-billion-revenue company 24 years ago as the secretary to the founder. She moved her way up, working on marketing and then leading the firm’s global strategy and planning. “Many people ask me, ‘Do you feel boring just working at the one company?’” she said. “I say, ‘No, I never feel boring… I still feel nervous,’” adding that she likes to challenge herself.

    On stage, Qiao also spoke of lessons the world’s largest PC-maker has learned since that IBM deal in 2005. The company realized its leadership team didn’t have global experience—nor, like Qiao, did many of them know English. “I didn’t know how to work with people with a different background and at that time our business performance was not so great,” she remembered.

    Lenovo recently acquired IBM’s low-end server unit and Google’s Motorola Moblity unit—and it’s put a priority on cultural integration. This time around, Lenovo has developed a standard to assess leaders across cultures. It’s also prioritizing integration, starting with Motorola’s supply chain and leaving sales and marketing merging for later.

    At the end of her interview, Qiao offered the audience a bit of advice: “The best way to learn is to learn from your mistakes. The best way to learn is to expand your comfort zone.”