There's no place like home!
May labour week, and I'm away in London. The week coincides nicely with my sister's birthday, most fortunately.
As the captain announced that we were just 200 miles away from London and would soon be beginning our descent, my heart panged. That feeling of coming home is quite quite special.
Working in the UK, living out of hotels, I used to have that homeless, nomadic feeling. I was more familiar with my car than I was to my apartment. Living in China though, feels like home when I'm there, but at the end of the day I realised, it's a departure from my normal life. An excursion I suppose, albeit a long one.
The Sunday Times just did a supplement dedicated to Consulting. It described a bouyant market, growing in staff numbers and salaries. There were a number of companies advertising well paid vacancies. Tempting, tempting I admit.
Giving up isn't easy though. Not because I'm stubborn, which of course could be a factor, but because there's still a lot of potential gain I can get from being in China. The trick for me is not to convert talk of potential into tangible experience. I hope timing and opportunity will be on my side in coming months and years.
I know I'm through the 'hardest months'. Learning and suffering. But now I'm waiting for the good times to begin. Maybe the waiting game is worse than a steep learning curve.
posted by Kai @ 4:49 AM
1 comments
1 Comments:
Thanks for your comment una lenteja. It marvels me that 'strangers' can take time to lend their thoughts and well wishes. This part of my very basic blog surpasses my expectations.
What you say is indeed true, and what I like to hear and believe. I don't know who Kotler is (one for wikipedia in a second), but clearly a wise chap / chap-ess.
Trouble is, now I can guess that Kotler is writing as a philosopher, even writing a profound statement. It's a little theoretical. In applying the theory to real life, I can see intepretation.
What I am doing is in theory, investment for the future, and suffering opportunity cost along the way. The theory is that the effort and experience will pay off in some undefined and probably unexpected way. In the very least, broadening and challenging myself should lead to greater self-awareness.
A question is 'what is indeed strategically right?'. Is it really to grow with China, or is it in fact to come back to the UK consulting market and regain equitable comfort and security (the kind you need to upkeep a family).
Hearing that UK consulting salaries are going up, makes my decision harder to make. Push the UK salaries and demand even higher, and the decision becomes easier. The truth I realise is that I have a choice of paths, and each one has its definite pros and cons. Trade-offs, as Dr Farhoomand teaches.
On recognising that I am sitting on the cusp of two good paths (both of which could be deemed strategic, depending on your strategy), I am left with a decision and an open question. The decision would be, is China still my preferred strategy, given the new information I have learned since being out there, versus my original expectations. For now, I will continue. The open question is then, what can I do to better carry out my strategy.
I'm thinking... self-marketing in the China office to our new managers, handling the politics within our manager mix, networking with the UK office, perhaps picking a sector or solution as a hobby subject to make my own specialism, and of course working hard on Chinese. There's also keeping an eye open for jobs in other consultancies, or opportunities outside consulting.
Non-consulting is quite appealing to me - in many ways, simpler than working for a consultancy. (In consultancy, getting the job is just the first step. After that you still need to find work, even good work.) Finding a suitable job outside consulting in China isn't as easy as I would like to be. I suspect that when applying for jobs, HR will screen me out due to lack of relevance to your run of the mill 'product manager' 'marketing' 'sales'
etc. type jobs. So my strategy on this one for now is to keep an eye out for jobs where I can demonstrate relevance, and more long term, to continue networking when and where I can, in the hope of personal referral into a position.
Una Lenteja - you asked about what I expected in planning to come to China. To be honest, I knew that for the first couple of years I would be treading water, that the consulting market (in the sub-area that I am in - actually carrying out major business change) would not yet be ready. Logically, I was prepared. I wasn't so good at predicting the emotional response to this however. So... it's all in line with my expectation so far... but living through it is harder than I had imagined.
I was stubbornly prepared to put myself through whatever it took. With that kind of stubborness I can get through most things I think. It's like sleeping on the floor of a tent. Anyone can do it, and it's a character building experience. But to do it, when nearby you've been offered a bed at a 4* hotel with air conditioning... and where the hotel is Cheaper than the campsite! Well, you have to be a little twisted. Am I that twisted? With the story only just begun, I think only time will tell.
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