Kevin - the difference a good manager makes
To this day, I still remember all the details when I first met Kevin. My superstar recruiting agency found him at YouKu, who was widely regarded as the No. 1 technical manager there. She spent so much time convincing Kevin about this unique opportunity that she threatened to boost her commission...
Kevin didn't speak English when we talked, that would have been a killer. However, he impressed me so much that it didn't even matter. For each question I asked, he would ask millions of questions back, once he was done with all the questions, he would have the right solution ready. That has since become the recurring pattern for all my interactions with Kevin, I find myself enjoying it so much.
Victor spent a lot of time trying to keep Kevin when he broke the news, while I was thousands of miles away. Due to Vic's iconic status in China's internet industry, I knew I had no chance. As expected, Kevin turned down the offer and told me that he decided to stay at Youku. After I got to Beijing, we met for dinner regardless. We went to 美京锦苑, a Cantonese restaurant at Full Link Plaza. The restaurant is decorated with purple - my favorite color. We had a long dinner, talked about all different topics. I enjoyed the dinner so much, it was a lot of fun talking to Kevin, we had a lot of common values. To my surprise, it didn't stop there...A few days later, Kevin joined, on the first of August.
美京 has since become my favorite place talking to people. At the same purple place, I had dinner with Kevin, Jack, Yang, and maybe others - raise your hand if I forget to mention your name
, before they decided to join.
I have said many times that it was a day-and-night difference to UI team since Kevin started. Kevin is a great manager. There is an old Chinese saying "巧妇难为无米之炊", it translates "even the most talented wife can not cook the dinner with no ingredients". Well, Kevin did, he not only did it, he did a hell of good job. When he started, there were four engineers in UI team, himself included. 75% of them knew nothing about ROR, himself included. September 15th, we delivered our first UI demo to a potential customer, it WOWed the room. And it didn't stop there...
That is the difference a good manager makes.
— Dedicated to Kevin's 6-months "anniversary" at FreeWheel.
Kevin didn't speak English when we talked, that would have been a killer. However, he impressed me so much that it didn't even matter. For each question I asked, he would ask millions of questions back, once he was done with all the questions, he would have the right solution ready. That has since become the recurring pattern for all my interactions with Kevin, I find myself enjoying it so much.
Victor spent a lot of time trying to keep Kevin when he broke the news, while I was thousands of miles away. Due to Vic's iconic status in China's internet industry, I knew I had no chance. As expected, Kevin turned down the offer and told me that he decided to stay at Youku. After I got to Beijing, we met for dinner regardless. We went to 美京锦苑, a Cantonese restaurant at Full Link Plaza. The restaurant is decorated with purple - my favorite color. We had a long dinner, talked about all different topics. I enjoyed the dinner so much, it was a lot of fun talking to Kevin, we had a lot of common values. To my surprise, it didn't stop there...A few days later, Kevin joined, on the first of August.
美京 has since become my favorite place talking to people. At the same purple place, I had dinner with Kevin, Jack, Yang, and maybe others - raise your hand if I forget to mention your name
, before they decided to join. I have said many times that it was a day-and-night difference to UI team since Kevin started. Kevin is a great manager. There is an old Chinese saying "巧妇难为无米之炊", it translates "even the most talented wife can not cook the dinner with no ingredients". Well, Kevin did, he not only did it, he did a hell of good job. When he started, there were four engineers in UI team, himself included. 75% of them knew nothing about ROR, himself included. September 15th, we delivered our first UI demo to a potential customer, it WOWed the room. And it didn't stop there...
That is the difference a good manager makes.
— Dedicated to Kevin's 6-months "anniversary" at FreeWheel.
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