Albert Xie
Albert Xie grew up in rural China under an authoritative government that had total control over his career. While he studied aircraft engine design in college, he did not stay on that path. He worked as a teacher, salesperson, green technology expert, and ultimately served as a Vice President for General Motors. He shares his experiences learning English by painstakingly translating aviation maintenance manuals and traces his success as a salesman to teaching himself to ride a bike as a child. He encourages Gen Z to embrace new challenges, live with integrity, and never ever stop learning.
Knowing more than one language is useful in business. Could you share some tips on how you overcame language and cultural barriers to become an effective leader?
All of my career and education was in China. My major was aircraft engine design and maintenance. When I was just getting into aviation, the advanced aviation technologies were outside China, and the documents, maintenance manuals, and aircraft introductions were all written in English. We had to manually translate all those maintenance manuals into Chinese so that engineers and technicians could use them. They were 10 or 20 volumes long, and each volume was very thick. This really helped me learn English. I learned English like crazy. I listened to the radio and read books aloud. Even when I was sleeping, I could see words pop up in my dreams. Someday you realize you can say a complete sentence, then a few sentences, and gradually you find you can have a simple conversation.
How did growing up in China inspire your career?
In my country at my age, we didn’t have many options. During those years in China, we were assigned a job, and the first job I was assigned was a teacher at the university focusing on civil aviation. The first time I stood up facing all the students, everyone was looking at me and I was so nervous my leg was shaking. Over time, I learned that to be a good teacher, you have to be a good learner. I listened to 20 professors’ classes to see how they explained information and motivated the class. After teaching for 11 years, I switched to being a salesperson, which was another significant change. As a salesperson, you’re dealing with all kinds of people. It was psychological training to be tough and able to speak up.
What’s the most important skill you learned through your career?
After aviation, my job switched again to promoting green technology working for General Electric. That was another new challenge and gave me the motivation to learn new things from power generation to plastic, from aviation to lower emission products, from healthcare to green financing. I think the key is to continuously challenge yourself and move into uncomfortable domains. Don’t be satisfied with what you have already learned. Keep learning.
What do you think Gen Z’s greatest advantage is? What about our greatest disadvantage?
In my generation, we all started from very poor situations, which is much different from your generation. Our generation also started out very naive, because we didn’t have a chance to see a lot in the world. Our minds were narrow, always doing things the hard way. In China, people say when you are older than 70, you’re really above the average and have lived a long enough life. I say when you are older than 40, you’re above the average. It doesn’t really mean you’re only going to live for 40 years. It means when you’ve gotten to 40, you’ve probably traveled more distances than those 70 years old. For your generation, with the technology, connection, efficiency, knowledge, and information, the data you possess is much broader. Data is one thing, but you have to personally experience and see those things, and then process the data and information to see what is actually true. In this day and age, there are so many things that are not real. You have to see it with your own eyes. Even if you see it in the media, it might not be the truth. If you have a chance, try to see more places and cultures and get the real information.
What is the most important lesson you have learned in your lifetime?
I will share a story of when I interviewed some fresh graduates from aviation university. I asked them what they would do if the company sent you to a customer who is very old, and they disagree with you. One of the young guys very quickly responded, “I want to share with them that this is new, advanced aircraft technology, and maybe your knowledge and experience is old.” I said he might be right, but these old people watch the aircraft fly out and take off every day, and there’s a lot of things in their minds that are not in a textbook. The other thing I asked them was, if the customer disagrees with you because you represent the company, meaning the customer doesn’t agree with the company’s position, which side are you going to pick, the customer’s side or the company’s side? He said the company’s side. If you stand on the company’s side, your customer is not happy. The company hired you to work with the customer, and then if you have an unhappy customer, the company is probably going to fire you. Then he said, “Do you mean I should stand on the customer’s side?” I said, the company pays you the salary, gives you a job, and you’re standing on the customer side against “the company,” How can you explain this to your boss? You’ll be fired again.” That really made the guy think. There’s no right or wrong answer. You cannot let the company lose and you cannot let the customer lose. Your job is to stand on the front line and look for a win-win situation. That’s the difference. Older people have a lot of experience and know things you learn with time, and learn with mistakes, so show your respect.
How do you think Gen Z entrepreneurs could learn from this story?
The story I shared with you probably won’t be found in a textbook or on the internet, and you can’t simply search for this type of teaching experience. Try to find someone that you think has a rich experience because they’re looking at much broader and higher levels than others. Make friends with them, and don’t be shy about asking them questions. Ask them tough questions.
What was your favorite moment during your childhood, and why do you look back on it fondly?
I can always recall the first time I learned how to ride a bicycle. Back then, we had to rely on bicycles to transport things like buying groceries. I couldn’t ride so I put the things on the bicycle and pushed it back home every time I finished the trip. In those years in China, we had to store Chinese cabbage at home for winter. Once I unloaded the cabbage, I would push an empty bicycle to the shop again. I thought, “How can I go faster? Why can’t I pedal the bicycle without falling?” I started trying and slowly learned on my own to ride the bike. I cannot count how many times I fell and how many times I rode the bicycle into a wall. It was still quite fun for me going through this painful learning experience. Later when I was at my sales job, my company would set a sales goal and a stretch goal. I beat the stretch goal for three consecutive years and that’s the reason they promoted me to the executive level.
