Dear Brothers and Sisters,

You feel you need money, a house, a vehicle, a famliy, food on the table everyday, good health and good education for everyone in the family, and a good job to support all those. So, the most important focus is probably the job – that is the financial foundation on which everything else is built.

This common sense about living, everyone already knows.

But, how are you going to have a good job? Or a little broader, how are you going to have a good career?

Too many people with very high degrees have neither good job nor good career. Have you seen PhDs and Masters complain all the time that they don’t like their job and they hate people they work with? Many older professionals complain constansly that the stupid BSers keep being promoted to be their bosses, merely by good BSing.

Your career has 20% to do with your degree and intelligence and 80% with your ability to work well with others. “Work well” means (1) you work smoothy with everyone and (2) your coworkers respect you and (3) love you.

These three things could be harder than they seem.

To begin with, you don’t choose the people you work with. That is your company’s selection. If the company has a corruption culture and you don’t do corruption, it would be very hard for you to work there. Chances are you will need to find a clean company to work. Don’t sell your soul to the devil.

Suppose now you’re in an ethical company that you’re happy with. It would be much easier for you to blend in with your work team.

I. Working smoothly with all the team members would require you to (1) know the team culture and habits, (2) know each teammate personally, (3) communicate well with the team and with each teammate, (4) support your team well, (5) support each teammate well when s/he needs your help, and (6) be nice and sweet to each teamate.

II. To gain the respect of everyone, you need to have high integrity. Integrity is a broad and vague word. I would simplify it by using “honesty”- be honest, with your word, your info, your promise, your clarity. Untrue, vague or misleading information means dishonest. Honest people have high integrity and are respected by others.

III. Have genuine love and care for peope, your team and teammates. They all will love you for that.

In summary, working smoothly with everyone, talking honestly to everyone, and loving and caring about everyone will ensure the respect and love of others around you. And that is your guarantee to have a suceesful career.

You are successful in life because you are respected and loved by others. Jobs will come knocking on your door. You don’t need to look for jobs.

So, don’t count on your intelligence or degree. Count on your ability to work well with others. That is what you need in life.

Wish you all succeed in life.

With compassion,

Hoành

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Trần Đình Hoành
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