Marketing experts like to classify people into different generation groups, believing that people of the same age share similar value and attitudes. I agree with those experts'' theory in that it emphasizes the connection between the circumstances of one''s upbringing and one''s later outlook on life. My personality, talents, values, even career choice have been profoundly influenced by my family life and upbringing in Taiwan.
My name is Peter Huang and I’ve grown up in Ten-Mou, a multicultural neighborhood in suburban Taipei. During the early years of my childhood, my parents exerted a profound influence over my development. Though neither of them was involved in business, by watching their integrity and hard work, I learned more about the true meaning of success than I would ever have in any classroom.
My father is an Air Force colonel. He joined the R.O.C Air Force at the age of 14, struggling to achieve his personal best as the supply division chief of the R.O.C. Air Force Academy. Unlike some officers in the military, who depended on family relationship and privilege to get promoted, my father gained his position by hard work and assiduity. He thus emphasized the importance of industriousness when it came to my education. When I was 10, I attended a speech contest. During the week before the contest, my father and I spent two hours a day together, organizing the lecture content, adjust my rhythm, and rehearsing. I was a shy, soft-spoken child, and found speaking in public difficult at first. But through my father''s patient efforts and his believe in the rewards of hard work, I gradually became an excellent public speaker and won many of the contests that followed. As a result of the experiences such as this, I learned a very strong work ethic and emulated some of my father''s best characteristics - perseverance and dedication.
These qualities served me well as I entered mandatory military service in Taiwan and faced many difficult situations. I once led a squad to enact the typhoon disaster reliefe action in Nan-tou. We had one week in which to salvage a factory that was half-buried in mud. As the squad commander, I not only supervised, but also participated in the demanding and seemly endless digging work. And each night, after an exhausting work when all other soldiers were asleep, I spent extra hours checking if there were sufficient supplies and making plans for the next day''s reliefe action. When I finally laid down to sleep, I could not help but reflect on how much I had developed, as both a person and a leader, since that first speech contest.
My mother has a warm and kind personality, and has always reached out to the expatriates in our neighborhood. She organized a language exchange club with the American students in local colleges, hoping to increase understanding of Taiwanese and American cultures through the exchange of language. I took part in the club when I was still in elementary school. This childhood multi-cultural experience instilled in me an active personality and willingness to interact with people of different cultures. In particularly, it strengthened my interest in American and my desire to work and live there one day.
My mother’s emphasis on international exchange and cooperation has led me to work for the Fulbright Foundation in Taipei as a research assistant. This position allows me to interact with educational associations in the United States and to take part in international conferences. I once participated in a venture capital seminar in Hsin-Chu, working on the issue of graduate level technology management education with representatives of major high-tech companies and academic institutions. Last November, I represented the Foundation in an international Tele-conference in Taipei. The conference was conducted both in English and in Chinese and was hosted by the Prime of Ministry of Education. My work has also given me the opportunity to know and become friends with exceptional Fulbright scholars from the United States.
While my childhood years shaped my character, it was my high school and college years which led to my interest in business. 1988 was both a determining year to my career choices and a turning point in Taiwan''s economy. As people familiar with Taiwan''s modern economic history know, the exchange rate of the New Taiwan Dollar to U.S. Dollars moved from 40:1 to 25:1 in that year under the overwhelming pressure of American government. Thus meant that the traditional advantage of Taiwan''s economy, low labor costs, was no longer our strength. People everywhere were talking about the future of Taiwan''s economy. Out of a young man''s passion, I wanted to contribute my talent and effort to my country. That was the time at which I made up my mind that someday, I will make Taiwan-made products famous world-widely, like those produced by IBM, Intel, or Microsoft.
This teenage naive patriotic dream transformed into an interest in business administration and economics after I graduated from Taipei First Senior High School. I focused my college study on manufacturing administration and economics. From four years of lectures, seminars, and in-factory study in the department of Industrial Engineering at National Formosa University, I acquired skills in quality insurance, manufacturing planning and control, and factory improvement and diagnostic methods. In my economic class, I learned how prices, preferences, and incomes affect people''s demand of goods from the microeconomic. I also acquired knowledge of how various factors - government policies, currency exchange rate, and balance of international trade - affect a country''s economics growth. My interest in business, however, is not limited to industrial engineering and economics. In my junior year, I also took 6 credits of accounting courses and learned the knowledge of basic accounting principles, financial statements, and managerial accounting. To acquire a more thorough understand of management information systems, I chose "Alumni Association Database Management System for Department of Industrial Engineering" as my graduate activity project. From each step of developing the database system, I learned solid skills in FoxPro programming and enterprise demand analysis.
I am thankful that my parents provided me with an environment that encouraged me to develop my personality and an intellect for which I am remembered. With a deeply-instilled work ethic, strong interpersonal skills, and a high level of motivation, I believe I will enrich the professional and social environment at your esteemed Buchman School and continue to grow as a expert in high-tech industry.
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