Peter, a user guide

About me

Who am I?

Rewinding the clock to 2016, when I finished my master in hospitality management and went back to Taiwan. I spend literally all of my savings to study for my master, I have a kid that is just 4 months old, for worse, I’m jobless and am looking for a job, desperately!

At the time being, the only skill sets I had were around hospitality and customer service. Needless to say, all my job experience was in the service industry. Hence, most of my options were around hotels, restaurants or so. But the reality is dreadful, none of the options I look for can meet the cost of my family’s living.

That’s when I decided to pivot my mindset, “No, I’m not going back to the hotel industry. But outside of the hotel industry, do I have other choices?” Then I realized that I have customer service experience and know how to communicate with an angry customer. Maybe, it doesn’t necessarily have to be hotels or restaurants, why not try something different?

Why am I here?

I can still recall one of my interviewers asking this question “you have been around in the hotel industry for nearly 4 years, what made you decide to pivot your career?”

I’ve answered without a second thought, “there are always customers out there that need help, my experience in dealing with customers, being empathetic, could be an entry point as long as the industry needs to deal with angry customers”

Eventually, I was fortunate enough to land an offer from a new business that is about to start off in Taiwan, Uber Eats. Though I know I have to scrape most of the things I’ve learned in the past and build everything again from scratch, I’m excited that I finally have the courage to step out of my comfort zone and enter a face pace, unpredictable, or even an illegal (by that time) business.

Years from now as I contemplate, the reason why I’m here is quite obvious - I love to build things from scratch; I love to take on new challenges; I want to influence others to become a better version of themselves. Gladly, Uber is a place where I can meet all of those aspirations.

What drives my passion & what turns me off

How I try to work (my philosophy)

Strive for Win-win situations: Most of the time, I assume positive intent and like to look for win-win scenarios. You will hear “Yes….but” if we have no options but to compromise (either from you or me)
Focus on things that really matter: There is no secret to getting things done, follow the Pareto principle. Focus on things that only cost you 20% of effort but will yield 80% of the results. And then, precursor them to prioritize ruthlessly.
Always start with “why”: I dislike solving problems for the sake of solving the problems. I believe solving the right problems is much more important than solving every problem that pops up. I tend to identify “why” first, then work my way towards “what” is not working for the business before I think about “how” I approach it.
Transparency is the key to trust: I feel anxious dealing with uncertainty, so I always keep my workstream as transparent as possible to build trust. If you feel the same, I would appreciate it if you could keep the conversation/ information transparent.
I question a lot: I am interested in everything. It is a mix of trying to understand everything and thinking aloud. I've noticed people sometimes feel implicitly criticized - not my intent.

Where is my comfort zone

I’ve tried to develop multiple skills throughout my career journey and realize I perform better under things that draw my interest.

I love being organized: Although I’m not a big fan of Marie Kondo, I love to organize things virtually. You can tell that I sometimes become paranoid, but I feel satisfied when things are lined up and look clean.
I trust numbers and facts: I’m glad that Uber speaks heavily in numbers, I could easily be in the zone when I try to unpack numbers and identify the facts. I hope you feel the same.
I value ideas over hierarchy: An idea is worth sharing, especially when the idea is valuable. Please don’t hesitate to toss interesting ideas to me, I might ask questions but that’s because I wanted to learn more. Brainstorming should always go beyond hierarchy/ roles.
I love building things step by step: You sometimes might find me questioning a lot about the process and steps. That’s because I wanted to ensure the approach is logical, progressing step by step. Jumping to a conclusion is easy but at the same time, risky. If you find it hard to picture the way I think, try to imagine how LEGO builds.

Where I fell short

Sometimes, I overcomplicate things: The downside of being too organized means I sometimes make things more complicated. If you happen to find me gibberish around and going into unnecessary details, feel free to call “Elmo” (Enough, let’s move on)
Thinking a lot translates into procrastination: My habit of putting every thought process into logical and structural order might sometimes turn into procrastination. If you feel I’m responding/ reacting too slow, please kindly tap my shoulder.
I become stubborn under pressure: If my brain is overloaded, I will try to find the most comfortable way to move on and get things moving. So I might be a little stubborn if I’m under pressure because I cannot think efficiently and act simultaneously. You might also view this as “overprotective of my own ideas”

Please don’t get me into the following situations

Emotion takes over rationale: Not only because I like to have a logical conversation more, but also because I’m not good at reacting with overwhelmed emotion. Worse case scenarios, my brain shuts down and becomes inefficient when strong emotions are expressed, I don’t trust my own judgment when emotion takes over my brain.
Come unprepared and disorganized: I value both your and my time, so I prefer we are prepared for the conversation. If you are not well prepared (which is ok), you might find me dominating the conversation. It’s not an ideal situation, because communication should go both ways.
Break promises & disrespect of principles: I tend to live by principles and rules. Have a high regard for my own competence and value others with similar high standards. Breaking promises not only diminishes the trust, but also forces me to act against the principle I deeply held, which might break the relationship.