This is an article I published on my public WeChat account Michelle漫谈中美商业 （Wechat ID: zhongmeishangye) 中文

      最近见到一个来自深圳的女企业家，四十多岁，从事传统制造业。她本身很有传奇色彩，二十多年前只身闯荡深圳，从给别人打工到自己开工厂，吃尽了苦头，历经十五年把公司做成了行业老大。

    她有一个梦想，让她的传统产品突破多年的行业壁垒，变成智能+实用的产品，为此她带领团队采用视频的方式把这个美丽而又朦胧的梦想展现出来，然后全世界地寻找能够帮助他们实现梦想的合作伙伴，而这次他们来到了美国，想寻求微软的支持。

     她通过三个朋友才辗转找到我，希望我利用多年在微软工作积累的广泛人脉帮帮她。于是我就召集相关的微软人员开了个会，会上大家听完她激情澎湃的讲述后，马上有人提出：你有时间里程碑吗？你究竟需要微软提供怎样的支持和帮助？你的梦想什么时候可以实现？微软人理性的思维和训练有素的行为方式不断地挑战着这个女企业家。女企业家说，我不知道具体如何实现这个智能化的梦想，但我知道微软的科技能够帮助我们。如果你们愿意合作，我们可以一起一步一步地去实现，无论需要多少年，无论失败多少次，但是我希望尽快行动起来，不要错过商机。

    很多微软人听到后，心里会暗笑，笑她的莽撞和做事方法。即使她在中国是行业老大，但像这样怀揣着一个梦想就来找微软，很少见，也不符合微软这样的公司的行事风格。然而我却很佩服她的激情，她不仅有远大的目标，也有足够的胆识和不屈不挠的意志。

     纵观历史，所有从0到1的转变在世人眼中最初都是笑话，天方夜谭，当年微软的创始人比尔.盖茨也有一个被大家嘲笑的梦想：“每个家庭的桌子上有一台个人电脑”，然而几十年后，他的梦想变为现实！同样的经历发生在“发明之父”爱迪生身上，灯泡也曾被嘲笑为鬼火。马云创建阿里巴巴时，召集了24个朋友讲述他的创业梦想，23个反对，1个说可以试试，不行就赶紧逃回来，可十几年后阿里巴巴已经是全世界闻名的企业了。

    我对女企业家说：“你一定会成功的！”期待着她实现梦想的那一天，我相信那天不会太远。

Shenzhen Global Enterprise Workshop
at Microsoft

Facilitated by Michelle Zou
Oct. 26, 2016

On October 26, I facilitated a workshop to help Chinese companies learn from Microsoft on how to run a global enterprise.  Over 20 companies from Shenzhen in the Global Enterprise Workshop Program visited Microsoft Headquarter in Redmond.  This is part of the one-week event organized by Shenzhen Foundation for International Exchange and Cooperation (SFIEC), and Washington State China Relations Council (WSCRC).

Many Chinese companies are inspired to become a global enterprise as they grow and become to do business with customers and partners outside of China.  They often started with openning an office oversea for sales or business development, then gradually adding more functions.  However, globalization does not simply mean you set up an office in another country, it is how you understand other cultures, how to adapt to other cultures and ways of doing business, and how you do business in a way with customers/partners in a different culture.  It also needs to consider how to structure, manager and operate internationally.  

The delegation from China was leaded by Mr. Ma Weihua, Chairman, National Fund for Technology Transfer and Commercialization (NFTTC), and former CEO of China Merchants Bank.  The workshop participants are CEOs from large companies in China,  Diana Yao, Director for Microsoft Worldwide Sales Strategy, shared her learnings about Chinese companies go global, through her many years experience working in Chinese and Multinational companies.  Sanket Akerkar, Microsoft Vice President of Global Enterprise shared with participants on  Microsoft’s strategies in market prioritization for product R&D and marketing investment,  worldside sales operations, how Microsoft structures its resources to manage and cover global customers, how Microsoft manage and evaluate its accounts, and Microsoft’s view of future opportunities, especially with the trends happening in the market. 

A reporter interviewed me when I was in China as a speaker for the US Speaker Program.  Here is the article published on the US Embassy social media Weibo website  in China.

media.weibo.cn/article?id=2309404037687739850577&from=timeline&isappinstalled=1&jumpfrom=weibocom&luicode=10000370

I was very honored to be invited as a speaker by the US Embassy and delivered a series of speeches and workshops in China in September. The audience were government officials, entrepreneurs, professionals and college students.  Below is one of the Q&A session posts in the US Embassy Beijing social media site after a public speech.