Background
I came across a video on Bilibili posted by “CCTV” titled “Trump Frankly Discusses Dollar Hegemony,” and it suddenly struck me how vast the cultural differences between China and the United States are. Americans have always openly pursued dollar hegemony. International politics has always been about power politics, and they have always played this game openly without hiding anything. In contrast, we Chinese find it unbelievable when we see them openly discussing “dollar hegemony” and “acting from a position of strength” in public. Most Chinese are influenced by Confucian culture, which values “benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness,” and we feel uncomfortable talking about “power.”
Reflecting on this, I also thought about my work. I find it hard to understand what the people over at hz are doing; their actions continually challenge my understanding. I feel this is a difference in mindset. Perhaps their environment naturally makes things like “empty talk,” “packaging,” “reporting,” and “deception” commonplace. Things that are unacceptable to us seem normal to them.
Promotion
During the recent performance review, my performance wasn’t great. They mentioned that I was among the lower ranks at my level and suggested that I learn from lh from hz, who is doing quite well. Personally, I felt quite unhappy about this and my initial reaction was to leave.
However, after much consideration, I decided to stay for three main reasons:
- I have built this team from scratch and have a great relationship with the team members. Moving to a new team might not give me the opportunity to lead a team again.
- I dislike being labeled as suitable for one thing and not for another, so I don’t want to return to my comfort zone and do only what I want to do.
- I look down on lh and cannot accept being outperformed by someone like him. I want to outdo him.
Considering all these factors, I have decided to stay and beat them at their own game.