[Prompt: Describe what you feel to be your two most substantial accomplishments to date (at least one must be professional), explaining why you view them as such.]

While working for Holcim, the second-largest cement producer in the world, I found myself on a team of disparate individuals with varied backgrounds and motivations. Sent to one of Holcim’s Mexican subsidiaries to lead this team, I realized from the start that the project would not be easy.

Directed to bring savings to the subsidiary of about $29 million, my strategy team consisted of two Swiss senior colleagues from Holcim, four local subsidiary managers, and five McKinsey consultants from Mexico and Switzerland. We faced problems right away. Still, I was determined to encourage team unity by organizing social events and fostering open communication.

Unfortunately, there was local resistance to reforming the subsidiary. Learning Spanish by night and running meetings by day, I worked extensively with local managers to understand their concerns and integrate their suggestions into our plan. Ultimately, the project was successful: we surpassed our savings objectives, and I received an early promotion.

Despite the rewards of working for Holcim in Mexico, my most challenging -- and fulfilling -- accomplishment came in my work as a leading consultant to a taskforce group of eight experienced production and finance managers from a worldwide specialty chemicals company. Assigned by McKinsey as an expert in working capital (W/C), I was charged with helping the client managers identify $20 million in W/C improvement actions and ensuring that these actions were implemented within two months to prevent a default on debts.

When I started the project, I was terrified. With over 35,000 product references in inventory, the business was extremely complex. I was expected to lead a group of skeptical, experienced managers in identifying improvements for their own business. I had no idea where to begin. After much mental debate and inevitable trial and error, I eventually learned that by focusing on the fundamentals -- my analytical abilities and my strong grasp of finance -- I could convince my superiors at least to listen to what I had to say.

The managers realized that I was young and inexperienced, but they also saw that I was focused on performance. As I began to introduce innovative and methodological approaches to problem solving, they grew eager to teach me what I needed to learn. Ultimately, we implemented twice the targeted improvement, saving the company from a potential bankruptcy. The CEO personally asked me to accept broader consulting tasks within his organization, and I was promoted to associate just a year after joining McKinsey.

點評：

這篇文章可以說是一氣呵成，先描述了自己的困窘之處：自己比較年輕而且缺乏一定的經驗，但卻要管理一個由一些專業知識和工作經驗都非常豐富的經理所組成的團隊，而且要承擔起削減Holcim公司墨西哥分公司將近290萬的開支的責任。然后敘述自己在執行管理的過程中遇到的種種難題，首先是當自己提出公司改革建議的時候立刻遭到了當地公司管理層的反對，其次是經理們不信任自己，懷疑自己的能力。這些無形之中都給了作者很大的壓力，但是作者并沒有退縮，而是運用自己較強的分析能力、溝通能力和專業的財務知識來解決實際的問題從而打破由經理們對自己的偏見所導致的工作的局限性。而分析能力、溝通能力以及扎實的專業知識都是成為一名出色領導者的主導因素。

但明顯作者犯了一個比較大的思維錯誤，在解釋自己為什么覺得這一次工作能帶給他成就感的時候，他只是單純地對一些客觀條件進行了描述，例如他所管理的團隊是由一些經驗豐富的經理們所組成的，還有此次任務多么地艱巨，作者嘗試借助這些來突現自己出色的表現。但事實上一篇好的描述成就類的文書應該把重點放在自己所做的和自己完成任務后的感想。只有這樣，讀者才能從中發現你所具有的個性特征和領導能力。而這篇文章的作者只是通過一種直述的方式告訴讀者自己是具有很強的分析能力和溝通能力的，這樣的一篇文書是絕對不能給人留下非常深刻的印象的，所以總體來說，這篇算不上一篇好的文書。

譯文：

提示：描述至今為止你認為最有成就感的兩件事（至少有一件是比較專業的），并解釋為什么你覺得他們是最有成就感的兩件事。

在全球第二大水泥制造商Holcim公司的時候，我是與一群有激情和有著不同背景的同事一起工作的。被派遣到Holcim在墨西哥的分公司去管理這樣一個團隊，我意識到這份工作的艱巨性。

我們這個策略規劃團隊是由兩個瑞士分公司的高級員工，四個當地分公司的經理和5個來自墨西哥和瑞士的McKinsey的咨詢師組成，而我們要完成的目標是要使這個分公司節約開支將近290萬。當時我們就遇到了一些難題，但是我仍然希望我們這個團隊能團結起來，于是我組織了一些社交活動以促進彼此間的交流。不幸的是，改革分公司的建議立刻遭到當地工作人員的反對。于是我晚上學習西班牙語，白天就和組員們開會，希望能通過與當地分公司的經理們進行交流從而了解他們所擔心的問題并把他們的意見整合到我們的計劃當中去。最終，這個計劃成功地實現了：我們超額完成了指標，而我也被提前晉升了。

這個目標的完成使我覺得很有成就感并不是因為我在此分公司獲得豐厚的酬勞，而是在那里我作為一名首席的咨詢師，管理的是有8名來自世界各地化學制品公司的富有經驗的生產和財務經理所組成的一個團隊。由McKinsey委任的身為一名企業周轉資金方面的專家，我的任務是協助分公司客戶經理完成節省開支200萬的目標以及確保目標在兩個月內完成以避免公司陷入負債的困境。

當我開始接手這個任務的時候，我是比較擔心的。因為從有關存貨的35,000條記錄中我發現這個分公司的業務極其復雜的。而我需要管理的是一個由比較挑剔的富有經驗的經理們組成的一個團隊，任務是幫助這些經理們實現他們所管轄的業務的改進工作。一開始我根本不知道該從何入手。在經過無數次討論、試驗和出錯后，最后我認識到要說服我的上級或至少讓他們聽我的建議的話，我就必須較好地運用我的分析能力和我專業的財務知識。

雖然經理們都覺得我比較年輕和缺乏經驗，但是我在公司的表現他們也是有目共睹的。當我開始引進一些能解決實際問題的創新方法的時候，他們就迫不及待地教我必須學的東西或是我不懂的東西。最后，我兩次達到了預期的目標，成功地挽救了這間面臨破產的公司。公司的董事長親自叫我負責公司里面更多的咨詢工作，而在加入McKinsey的一年后我也如愿的當上了公司的副經理。