Yesterday I talked about an asset manager. As a first generation immigrant, she realized her American dream in a matter of a decade, an extraordinary accomplishment in this short timeframe!
Yesterday I talked with my children about her and asked them, what's her secret for success? I know there’s no one size fits all formula for success. Still, I'd like to capture one salient feature in her that, I think is essential to her success.
That is her curiosity. She started as an analyst of domestic stocks. She read intensively and extensively stocks in her field, yet she was not content with that. She was driven by her curiosity to read beyond her job description and venture into new fields of knowledge and transformed herself from a novice into an expert in these new areas.
This is how she accumulated knowledge in breath and depth. With this heightened level of knowledge base, she could command a high vantage point and have a broad perspective and a far-reaching vision, and thus was able to make informed decisions. This is how she made herself stand out and advanced from an analyst to a fund manager and to her current position—Director and Portfolio Manager/Senior Analyst.
A Chinese saying describes her like this, "站得高, 看得远" (zhàn dé gāo, kàn dé yuǎn). That is, stand from a high position and see far away. For anyone who wants to rise above the average in her field, she must start with this process of knowledge accumulation. From that high vantage point, she can see farther and be able to think strategically for the future.