People inevitably take some detours when they’re young.
Shang Zhitao’s first detour was buying that cup of coffee for Luan Nian. Later, she felt she had been too foolish. She should have put in effort without reservation instead of trying to take shortcuts.
In this world, very few people successfully take shortcuts. Those who have shortcuts available are heaven’s beloved favorites. Most people must work hard step by step, though the outcome remains forever unknown.
Moreover, Luan Nian clearly wouldn’t approve of people taking shortcuts—to him, that would be opportunistic.
She left the elevator, sat at her workstation, and seriously considered Luan Nian’s words, feeling he was right. Work truly tempered people—in such a short time, it had stimulated her potential for learning and summarizing.
She genuinely and carefully summarized her work. Previously, she had been too busy rushing around and hadn’t done such a systematic review. As she typed out her work on the computer, wow, she realized she had done so many miscellaneous tasks and learned so many things.
Later, she would often review her work. This rational way of thinking would accompany her throughout her career.
So Luan Nian was a very, very good mentor.
That day, after work ended, the genius colleagues gradually left, but Shang Zhitao didn’t. She carefully drew up an improvement plan for herself.
Everyone has made improvement plans before, or perhaps wish lists.
Shang Zhitao carefully thought about the gap between herself and her colleagues, wrote down her improvement plan, and even wrote a wish list for before turning thirty. She didn’t want to show it to anyone, so she wrote it and locked it in her drawer.
Suddenly, her goals became clearer, and this feeling was truly wonderful.
Sometimes, communication between adults can be surprising.
The next day, she arrived at the company early and started working. Even when someone walked up to her, she remained oblivious. Today was her first time hosting the marketing department’s supplier meeting, and she needed to familiarize herself with the process again.
An iced Americano was placed on her desk. She looked up in surprise to see Luan Nian standing beside her table, saying lightly: “Returning a cup to you.”
“You’re too kind…” Shang Zhitao was a bit at a loss, remembering the embarrassment that yesterday’s cup of coffee had brought her.
Luan Nian didn’t speak, picking up her notebook to look at it. Shang Zhitao had beautiful handwriting, the most beautiful of anyone he knew. If one day LUMI fired her, she could make a living selling calligraphy copybooks. This beautiful handwriting was truly pleasing.
“Supplier meeting this afternoon?” Luan Nian asked her.
“Yes, I’m preparing for it.”
“Among these suppliers, which one has the highest execution efficiency? Which one has the highest level of cooperation? Which company has the longest period for advance payment? What’s the maximum amount of advance payment they can accept? What areas do they each specialize in?” Luan Nian asked her: “Have these materials been organized?”
“I…”
“There hasn’t been this information before, right?” Luan Nian asked again.
“Yes.” Shang Zhitao nodded. When the marketing department used suppliers, they just randomly found several companies to bid when work came in, and whoever won would get the job. Most companies operated this way.
Luan Nian raised his eyebrows and turned to leave.
Shang Zhitao was stunned for a long time, suddenly realizing that the marketing department didn’t have a unified supplier parameter database. She stared at the coffee for a long time, then called Yao Bei: “Senior, I’d like to ask for your help.”
“What is it, Taotao?”
“I remember you mentioned that state-owned enterprises have strict supplier management. I’d like to see your supplier database parameters.”
“I can only show you the headers; other sensitive information isn’t possible.”
“The headers are enough. Thank you, senior.”
“No need for thanks, three minutes.”
Shang Zhitao suddenly experienced the joy of work.
Before, she had been too rigid. When work was placed in front of her, she executed it precisely, but her vision was narrow. She had never stood in a higher position to consider these issues. She felt somewhat grateful to Luan Nian, picked up the iced coffee, and took a sip—not bitter at all, with syrup added.
“Thank you, Luke. I’m preparing to urgently organize the supplier information.” She sent Luan Nian a message, sincerely thanking him. Luan Nian didn’t reply to her, of course, he wouldn’t. But he raised his eyebrows, feeling that this student he was personally training, perhaps wasn’t so bad after all—after some guidance, she could barely present herself professionally.
Luan Nian had already considered Shang Zhitao his student, though he hadn’t noticed this change in his consciousness.
The marketing department’s afternoon meeting also invited Luan Nian. His appointment was about to be announced, and all the bosses knew it. Some accepted it, some didn’t. But whether they accepted it or not, they had to maintain appearances.
Alex didn’t care; he had worked on some projects with Luan Nian and was more familiar with him. Inviting Luan Nian to such an external meeting also indicated his attitude.
As the meeting host, Shang Zhitao had done a lot of homework in advance. Before the meeting began, Alex somewhat proudly said to Luan Nian: “This morning, we prepared something special to set a precedent for the professionalization and systematization of the company’s external management work.”
“Looking forward to it.” Luan Nian didn’t say anything else.
At the beginning, Shang Zhitao was a bit nervous, with a few strands of hair stuck to her face with sweat. Both Alex and Lumi were anxious, and Luan Nian heard Alex ask Lumi: “Are you sure there’s no problem?”
“No problem,” Lumi said, but she still sat up straight, feeling nervous for Shang Zhitao.
Shang Zhitao saw Luan Nian’s seemingly expected expression as he sat in the center, and suddenly felt motivated. She wasn’t entirely useless. After Alex spoke, she gradually relaxed.
The meeting had several agendas: introducing past project progress; introducing the main projects and bidding plans for the second half of the year; Q&A; and finally, the LUMI marketing department’s agency scoring system.
Yes, in the morning when Shang Zhitao received Yao Bei’s materials, she suddenly felt that LUMI’s agent inclusion and termination should have a system, like an exam—how many points to pass, how many points to retake, and at what poor score level to advise withdrawal. She told Lumi her idea, and Lumi widened her eyes and patted her shoulder: “Well done, Shang Zhitao! This kind of system is rare in the market!”
Alex also praised Shang Zhitao: “Flora is truly excellent.”
The entire marketing department spent the morning brainstorming this system in the meeting room, not even eating lunch.
The market needs fairness; big-name suppliers need supervision, and small companies need opportunities. When everything has a systematic framework, management will get on the right track. It will also prevent many economic problems.
Luan Nian was smart and also adventurous.
He was about to take over LUMI China and hoped the company would change. But not all changes should happen after he took over. At Monday’s weekly meeting, Alex synchronized the marketing department’s supplier conference, and on Tuesday morning, an iced Americano with syrup was placed on Shang Zhitao’s desk. Luan Nian casually picked up Shang Zhitao’s notebook and specifically asked her a few questions.
If Shang Zhitao didn’t understand, Luan Nian wouldn’t be surprised.
But Shang Zhitao did understand, and she acted quickly. Her efforts and determination to change the status quo helped her survive a desperate situation. When Luan Nian saw her message in the morning, he felt that her understanding of his meaning was enough to achieve his goal, but she had submitted a beautiful test paper, which was somewhat surprising.