One morning, the boss posted a case for an international beverage brand in the group chat: "Who wants it?" Sharon, already serving as team assistant manager and about to leave for a two-week trip overseas, immediately jumped in without hesitation. She listed out why she wanted this project and how to achieve the goals. This wasn't a case she needed to win for herself anymore—her reputation was already established—yet she still fought hard for it. However, the boss rejected her proposal and instead tagged one of her teammates in the group chat: a junior colleague with only half a year of experience, but with particularly outstanding performance.
"Yes, and her!" Sharon spoke up again, saying she would teach her colleague how to secure the client meeting opportunity, and that they could execute the plan that very morning. "Since I fought for this project, it's meant to be for my team, so it doesn't matter who it goes to." Most managers probably wouldn't think this way. They'd prefer their teammates to complement their own glory rather than bringing in major projects for their subordinates to shine on—especially not for someone who just joined the company half a year ago.
▲Shiseido, Global Shopping Mall, and Nestlé are among her clients
With long hair and striking beauty, Sharon Pan Hsuan-wen is turning 30 this year and serves as Assistant Manager of the Consumer Business Group at Bourgeois PR Consultants. With 4.5 years of tenure, she was actually promoted twice within 18 months to reach her current position. Starting from the ground level, she has a distinctive philosophy in team leadership: "Everyone knows I'm particularly strict, but that's the client's standard, not mine."
This statement is striking because during every event planning process or simulation exercise, she anticipates problems that others would never think of—like "What if the talent can't find the right route to the backstage changing area?" These minor details that others would handle on the spot are things she proactively prevents. So even if any small incidents occur during an event, the team has solutions ready and can handle them without panic.
From her way of speaking, you can feel that her strict standards are a responsibility to both herself and her clients. She understands that through these experiences, she wants her teammates to learn and grow, to understand what they're doing rather than blindly following without thinking.
As a manager, my responsibility is to help my teammates achieve their ideals.
Honestly, hearing this statement really moved me, because encountering such a compassionate manager is something many people can only dream of. After successfully winning the bid, Sharon's team manager told this colleague: "You absolutely must thank Sharon—she really worked hard to win this for you." After all, such opportunities are rare. Sharon believes that managing good clients often brings tremendous sense of achievement. Moreover, the younger colleague was initially intimidated by client interactions, but he was also eager to seize this opportunity. So Sharon taught him, guided him, and gave him a good start without expecting him to get everything right immediately. This example shows how the company maintains fluidity—pushing teammates forward while managers support from behind, giving everyone real-world experience and creating the perfect team.
From Teacher Training Background – An Unconventional Workplace Survivor: Entering PR Was Completely Unexpected
Based on her background, you might assume Sharon studied communications or marketing. But she actually comes from a teacher training background and had completed her teaching internship. However, after that, she decided to take a different path to gain additional expertise. That's why she applied for a master's degree in communications management, which meant she entered the workforce later than most.
Sharon says she didn't have such an "ideal-driven" mindset back then. She didn't have a long-term life goal like deciding to become a PR professional or determining how far she wanted to go in PR. Instead, she believes many things are accumulated over time. By maintaining flexibility and accepting new experiences, you can adapt to environmental changes. This kind of maturity is rare among young people today, because many give up and leave when they encounter setbacks. But maintaining an open mindset allows you to understand your limits—or realize you might not have any.
"Life is really long," Sharon says this with both confidence and a sense of reflection, in contrast to young people who anxiously chase the "future." She believes you really "don't need to rush to master everything in one or two years." Regarding her views on careers: "Many people only think about what they want, without considering whether they can stay at a company for three years." A three-year period allows for three stages of verification.
First stage: Learning – Through grassroots work and frontline experience, learn the skills needed in the industry, such as sponsorship acquisition, report writing, proposals, and planning.
Second stage: Doing – After one year, you're already quite proficient and should apply the above work skills to actual practice, adjusting as you go and developing your own style.
Third stage: Performing – Once you can comfortably apply the above skills, you should be able to view your work from a larger perspective and broader vision, gradually verifying whether you meet market demands or if your abilities far exceed your current position.
Top Performer Loses Major Client Mid-Project—But Didn't Get Defeated: Because We Don't Just Sell Relationships
▲Sharon is a consistent top performer in company revenue
At the company, Sharon excels in nearly everything, consistently ranking first in performance. After completing a pitch with all follow-up planning prepared, she was suddenly informed during her overseas trip that the project was being cancelled due to internal factors. Later, after the team boss took the initiative to understand the situation and both sides communicated, they learned that the client genuinely supported the team's proposal—internal timing considerations were the only reason they wanted to revisit cooperation in the future.
But losing such a major project you were so eager to take on was extremely painful for her. Colleagues were even whispering about it. Many people would fall into a prolonged slump, but Sharon instead internalized this experience into her own growth. Only by going through such a significant setback can you handle other challenges in your career.
Regarding Sharon's philosophy in choosing a company, she doesn't believe you must rush to join a large corporation. Sure, big companies let you create interesting budgets, but on the flip side, it's hard to innovate because clients already have fixed perceptions of the brand—changing that is difficult. Sharon chose an agency because she didn't want to lock herself into one industry. Whether managing large or small clients and budgets, there are opportunities at agencies of various sizes. She also considered that the company was initially small with sufficient innovation, flat organizational structure, direct communication, and great flexibility for teams to shine. Even now that the company has grown to four or five times its original size, it still offers more flexibility and creative space compared to large conglomerate PR agencies.
Therefore, both the company and team maintain a flexible mindset to overturn the stiff SOP impression that existed in past event operations. Sharon says her events over the past year have had "zero negative feedback." Even if small issues occur on-site, they don't impact the overall event. "As long as we do well enough, when the client's supervisors and other guests praise how great the event was, it naturally weakens any critical impressions." This key factor absolutely isn't about "being good at talking"—it's about demonstrating your professionalism, thinking ahead about things clients didn't anticipate. Maybe it's just thoughtfulness and perspective-taking, understanding clients' confusion, solving their pain points. That's the responsibility every professional practitioner must fulfill.
"Only when you respect yourself do others respect you."
One PR task is calling journalists and media to invite them and ask "Will you attend the event?" For many junior PR professionals starting out, this is an extremely intimidating challenge. Journalists are busy and pressed for time—they usually don't have much availability. Some newcomers fear being scolded by journalists or disrupting them.
Since Karen herself is a journalist, when Sharon mentioned this to me, I said I could understand the PR person's desire to confirm attendance—they need to calculate KPIs—but honestly, sometimes we really don't have time. However, I wouldn't scold a PR person, though perhaps some journalists can be impatient. Sharon said, "Exactly right. Journalists don't actually look down on PR people, but I've met newcomers who are terrified of making media invitation calls. You don't even respect yourself—why would you expect others to respect you?"
This is what makes Sharon special. She can step outside her own role to think about industry relationships rather than blaming problems when things don't go smoothly. Instead, she has a fundamental understanding of why PR exists. Journalists are a tool PR can utilize, and maintaining these relationships requires hands-on effort.
As Sharon puts it: "Even after organizing two or three hundred events, people think I've gotten it down pat, but honestly, every single event makes me nervous. Many vendors ask me at the venue why I bother showing up in person. I still really want to see the actual reactions and challenges on site, to discuss with my team how we can improve. I chat with consumers and feel their genuine feedback. Gradually I realized I don't just enjoy the satisfaction of seeing creative ideas come to life—I can understand market dynamics through these field observations."
About Interviews—Never Say "I Want to Learn..." When Applying
▲Sharon frequently shares experiences with college students
"Did you pay us tuition?" In recent years as Sharon started conducting interviews, certain impressions stuck with her from candidate examples. There was one woman with an excellent educational background and attractive appearance, but her interview answers clearly showed she'd done no research—she didn't even understand the job posting. "The company has lots of public information available. That's the bare minimum for an interview."
At the final interview stage, managers usually ask "Do you have any questions?" Most people get nervous at this question. Sharon thinks asking about "company benefits" is really not okay—that information is already clearly listed on 104 (a major job site in Taiwan). It makes people feel "You weren't prepared!"
What she finds most unacceptable is when candidates present themselves earnestly, repeatedly saying "I want to learn..." or "I'll study hard." These good-student types mistakenly believe this shows initiative and seriousness, but the workplace isn't school. Companies pay you to solve problems, not to learn skills.
Sharon has also identified several common interview types she encounters. People answer very "vaguely," saying things like "I'm very efficient" or "I'm very responsible." These answers lack specificity and don't show differentiation. If you want to say you're efficient, you should explain what results you achieved in a short timeframe, letting people discover and feel the meaning in your words.
If you want to show you have strong abilities, you should give a concrete example. Sharon mentioned one job candidate who told her about helping their family business find partnership opportunities. Having no experience, they made over a hundred phone calls, visited companies one by one, and eventually secured resources. Sharon immediately understood this person had initiative and execution ability—they didn't need to tell her what kind of person they were. Their actions already said everything.
