Emerging leadership series - In conversation with Jinjun Huang

How would you introduce yourself?

Hi everyone, nice to meet you. 

My name is Jinjun Huang. I am from Wuhan, China. I am a product manager of the Digital Platforms team in Thoughtworks.

I have 2 kids, an 11-year old daughter and a 5-year old son. In my spare time, I like to take them for a trip by car, playing basketball and computer games as well.

Can you tell me a bit about your career journey? What inspired you to take on the leadership role?

I graduated from Harbin Institute of Technology in 2008 with my bachelor degree in the major of Computer Science. 

Then I worked as a software engineer for over 10 years in multiple companies. 

I joined Thoughtworks in 2018 as a Tech Lead, then switched to a product manager in 2020.

At the beginning, it was very natural for me to take the role as a technical lead because I was more senior than the other team members. But after taking the technical lead role, I found it challenging to leverage the team to achieve the team target instead of working individually and finishing my own development task. I started to enjoy my leadership role when I found my leadership can amplify the team's performance.

What were the top challenges you faced during your journey and how did you overcome them?

The top challenge for me was the mindset change. I used to think about a product from a pure technical perspective. But when I found technology was not the only determinant to make the product successful, I started to learn what business success means from different perspectives.

My MBA courses helped me a lot during this progress. I learnt a lot from some failed business cases, even some of them were amazing from a technical perspective.

What motivates you everyday?

I am motivated by the sense of accomplishment of my daily work. 

My clients and target users’ daily life can get easier with the products and support of my team.

My organizational leaders are confident that my team is working on the correct things and in the correct way.

My teammates enjoy their daily work and feel their hard work is meaningful to the organization and the whole world.

Do you have a role model in your life? Can you name a few people who you look up to?

I look up to my father-in-law as my role model in my life. My father-in-law is a farmer. He raised 4 nephews and nieces after his elder brother passed away, even though he had 3 kids already. He works really hard to feed the big family. He keeps studying as a great wireman. He can handle all kinds of difficult conversations in his daily life with his great emotional intelligence.  

I learnt a lot from him including responsibility, hardwork and optimism. All of them helped me a lot during my career journey.

I look up to Dewang Cao, a Chinese entrepreneur, the founder of Fuyao Group. He is a very successful businessman, a very famous charitarian. At the same time, in his biography he admits some personal mistakes, including some very sensitive parts. I learnt what courage and introspection means from him.

I look up to Shijian Chu, a Chinese businessman. He brought his first cigarette company to top1 of Asia, and then was thrown in jail for some reasons when he was 71 years old. When he got out of jail when he was 74 years old, he started his new undertaking and became the King of Orange in China when he was 84 years old. I learnt what gritty means from him. 

What does leadership mean to you? How would you describe your leadership style?

Leadership seems like a catalyst to me, which can enable the whole team to achieve something they didn’t look forward to. I think all of my team members are really talented. What I need to do is accelerate the chemical reactions happening in the team, enable all of them to be a better team player, a more professional employee, a better person.

I’d like to build my leadership style as a visionary and coach. 

On one hand, I think it is really important to be a visionary as a leader. When the whole team can be united with the same vision, and all of the team members think it meaningful for themselves, for their clients and end users and even for the whole world, they can make great decisions by themselves to achieve it. And they can benefit a lot during the process.

On the other hand, leaders need to stand with their coworkers daily. Leaders need to coach the team members not only to do the correct things, but also do the correct things in the correct way. With the coach they can be cultivated to handle more complicated scenarios by themselves in the future. Only in this way, the team can grow organically in the business style of a professional service company.

What would be your advice to other leaders?

Pay special attention to be a visionary. Be confident of the subjective initiatives of the team members. Believe they can make great things happen when they believe what you believe. At the same time, help them in the operation level in the coach way. Day by day, they will grow naturally until they surprise you.

Chinese version

你会如何介绍自己？

 大家好，我叫黄进军，来自中国武汉，是 Thoughtworks 的数字平台团队的一名产品经理。

我有2个孩子，一个11岁的女儿和一个5岁的儿子。 闲暇时，我喜欢带他们出去自驾游，偶尔也会跟他们一起打篮球，玩switch游戏。

你能告诉我一些你的职业生涯吗？ 是什么促使您担任领导职务？

我2008年毕业于哈尔滨工业大学计算机专业，获学士学位。此后在多家公司担任软件工程师超过10年。在2018年，我作为技术主管加入Thoughtworks，然后在2020年转职成为产品经理。

一开始，因为我比其他团队成员都更资深，所以担任技术负责人是一个很自然的事情。但是在担任技术负责人之后，我发现带领一个团队来实现团队目标远比单打独斗地完成开发任务要困难得多。 当我发现我的领导能力可以提升团队的整体绩效之后，我开始喜欢上了我的新角色。

你在旅途中遇到的最大挑战是什么？你是如何克服这些挑战的？

对我来说最大的挑战是心态的改变。 我曾经习惯于从纯技术的角度来思考一个产品。但当我发现技术并不是使产品成功的唯一决定因素时，我开始从不同的角度了解商业成功意味着什么。在这个过程中，我的 MBA 课程对我帮助很大。 我从一些失败的商业案例中学到了很多，其中一些如果从技术角度来看甚至是非常先进和超前的。

你每天的动力是什么？

激励我的每天的工作所带来的成就感。可以把它们分为三个层面：

    第一，借助我们团队的产品和支持，我的客户和目标用户的日常生活会变得更加轻松。

    第二，我的组织领导者相信我的团队正在以正确的方式做正确的事情。

    第三，我的队友享受他们的日常工作，并觉得他们的辛勤工作对组织和整个世界都有意义。

你的生活中有榜样吗？ 你能说出几个你敬仰的人吗？

我的岳父是我生活中的榜样。 我的岳父是一个普通的农民。 他的哥哥去世后他养大了4个侄子和侄女，尽管他自己已经有了3个孩子。 他非常努力地工作来养活这个大家庭。他一直在学习并成为一名出色的电工。 凭借高超的情商，他可以应付日常生活中各种棘手的谈话。

我从他身上学到了很多，包括责任感、勤奋和乐观。 它们在我的职业生涯中对我帮助很大。

我敬仰中国企业家、福耀集团创始人曹德旺。 他是一个非常成功的商人，一个非常有名的慈善家。 同时，在他的传记中他也承认了一些个人错误，包括一些非常敏感的部分。我从他身上学到了什么是勇气和自省。

我敬仰中国商人褚世建。 他将自己的第一家卷烟公司成功的经营成跻身亚洲第一，却在71岁高龄时因故入狱。74岁出狱后又开始二次创业，直到84岁成为中国橙王。我从他那里学到了什么是坚韧不拔。

领导对你意味着什么？ 您如何描述您的领导风格？

对我来说，领导力就像是一种催化剂，它可以让整个团队达成他们不曾预想的成就。 我认为我团队里的所有成员都非常有才华。我所需要做的只是加速团队中发生的化学反应，让他们都成为更好的团队成员、更专业的职场人、更好的人。

我想建立的领导风格是成为有远见的人和教练。

    一方面，我认为作为领导者，成为一个有远见的人真的很重要。 当整个团队能够以同一个愿景团结在一起，并且所有团队成员都认为这对他们自己、对他们的客户和最终用户乃至整个世界都有意义时，他们就可以自己做出伟大的决定并实现它。 他们自身在此过程中也会受益匪浅。

    另一方面，领导者需要每天与同事站在一起。 领导者不仅要指导团队成员做正确的事，还要用正确的方法做正确的事。 有了教练，他们可以培养自己在未来处理更复杂场景时的能力。 只有这样，团队才能在专业服务公司的经营模式中有机成长。

你对其他领导人有什么建议？

成为一个有远见的人。 相信团队成员的主观能动性。当他们相信您所相信的愿景时，他们可以成就伟大的事情。

同时成为一个好的教练，在操作层面帮助他们。日复一日，他们会自然生长，直到让您大吃一惊。