In 2024, PETRONAS launched the new "PETRONAS Open Class" .

In this session, three mentors—Lisy Lee, Chief Representative of PETRONAS Beijing Representative Office; Julian Zhu, Commercial Head of PCM (China) Co., Ltd.; and Chuah Cai, Head of Corporate Service, PCM (China) Co., Ltd.—shared their insights on "team collaboration power." They discussed topics such as "Leveraging Personal Strengths," "Finding the Right Team Role," and "Team Collaboration Challenges and Solutions," providing practical career advice, experience sharing, and case analysis to inspire the children attending the class.

Due to the richness of the content, this article will be published in two parts. Please stay tuned.

Lisy believes that everyone is an individual and must create a long-term self-improvement plan. This reminds her of the time when she was choosing a major in college and gave up her preferred field due to family advice.

Lisy Lee

Chief Representative of PETRONAS Beijing Representative Office

Later, Lisy realized that true personal passion cannot be swayed by others. During her junior and senior years, she interned at three different companies. These internships not only supported her living expenses but also provided valuable practical experience, laying a solid foundation for her future career.

After graduating and starting her career, Lisy discovered that the experience she had initially accumulated couldn't quickly form a comprehensive system. Therefore, after working for a few years and gaining some experience, she decided to pursue an MBA.

Lisy admits that everyone has a phased plan for self-improvement, which needs to be adjusted and executed based on their actual situation and needs at different stages. Of course, from a corporate perspective, there are often good resources and internal training courses available for employees. However, Lisy still believes that personal career planning is more important than the training provided by the company.

Lisy jokingly remarked that as PETRONAS employee number 001, Julian has worked at PETRONAS for nearly twenty years, yet he shows no signs of fatigue. Like Julian himself, his team members also have relatively long service periods, but the spirit and energy of the entire team remain consistently high, as if they never experience burnout.

Julian Zhu

Commercial Head of PCM (China) Co., Ltd.

Julian has a lot to share with the students about maintaining career passion. He recalls that after graduating, his parents advised him to avoid aiming too high at the start of his career and to gain exposure to different jobs, seizing every opportunity. He deeply agreed with this, believing that each job offers valuable skills and experiences.

Reflecting on the past twenty years, Julian jokes that he has never refused any task assigned by his superiors. He eagerly accepted all assignments and challenges, aiming to learn the differences between various roles. Throughout his career, Julian has worked with different supervisors and embraced new assignments and challenges with each organizational change, always achieving success.

Julian emphasizes that as a team leader, you must first have a firm belief in yourself and then influence your team members to maintain the same mindset. On this basis, you should continuously communicate well with your team members and achieve mutual resonance, thereby maintaining ongoing work enthusiasm.

Chuah believes that in seeking and maintaining career passion, it is crucial for both individuals and teams to establish correct values. For a team to sustain its enthusiasm over the long term, it must maintain consistent values.

Chuah Cai

Head of Corporate Service

PCM (China) Co., Ltd.

Additionally, Lisy believes that an essential skill in the workplace is the ability to "embrace change." Most people dislike change in their busy daily work. To view change calmly and impartially, one needs a positive mindset, correct values, and clear goals. This helps people understand the reasons for change, integrate it into their work, and adapt to it effectively.

Lisy stated that this perspective and approach are also valuable for teenagers. While their current living and learning environments are relatively simple, they will need to embrace change as they enter the more complex social environment. This is a gradual process of personal growth.

Julian shared a vivid work-related case based on his and Chuah's personal experiences, to address the question of how to identify team roles. Julian explained that within the large team at PETRONAS, he holds a marketing role while Chuah holds a finance role. In other companies, these two roles might not have many opportunities for collaboration. However, at PETRONAS, Julian often seeks Chuah's advice and assistance on marketing issues.

Julian recalled a time when he faced an issue with exchange rates between USD and RMB during client payments. He needed Chuah's financial expertise to help mitigate the risks. Julian, representing the client, and Chuah, representing the company's finance team, worked together from different perspectives to develop an optimal solution. This solution was accepted by the client, saved them a significant amount of money, and earned high praise.

Julian called this a prime example of successful cross-departmental collaboration, demonstrating the effective combination of different roles within the team.

Chuah added that many people think finance work is limited to the office, but it can go far beyond just numbers. Finance doesn't directly address clients' needs, but if marketing colleagues can clearly convey these needs to finance, finance can provide effective solutions. This approach addresses clients' issues and benefits the company, creating a win-win situation.

Julian believes that the key to achieving such successful team collaboration lies in PETRONAS's culture of honesty and willingness to cooperate. In PETRONAS's corporate culture, "collaboration" is extremely important.

Lisy believes that the successful collaboration between Julian and Chuah not only demonstrates functional cooperation between different roles and departments but also highlights that PETRONAS's business is not just about providing products but offering a series of integrated solutions for clients.

Lisy also believes that regardless of one's current role in the team, different roles should be adjusted according to different projects and common goals.

For example, last year marked PETRONAS's 20th anniversary in China, and the PETRONAS China team led the campaign while the group headquarters provided support. This year, for PETRONAS Group's 50th anniversary, the roles have reversed: the group headquarters leads major projects, while PETRONAS China takes on a supporting role.

Lisy reiterated that different projects require different roles, and leading and supporting roles should always complement each other, switching based on needs. Adjusting roles between teams according to projects and goals is crucial for achieving the best results in a company.

Chuah agreed with Lisy, noting that defining team roles can be confusing. He emphasized that during times when the company's overall interests are at stake, individuals may need to make sacrifices. In some projects, team members must determine their roles from a big-picture perspective to achieve the best outcome.

Regarding this perspective, Lisy was reminded of a similar issue during this year's Student Voices competition. In the semifinals, each outstanding team had many members with great ideas and abilities. During the team competition, these members had to face the challenge of how to collaborate effectively.

Student Voices Outstanding Teams

with F1 Driver Lewis Hamilton

So, Lisy concluded that truly remarkable individuals are those who know when to step back and give others space. She also hopes to encourage outstanding "top students" to learn to adjust their roles within the group and change their "self-centered" mindset. They should be able to see the bigger picture, seamlessly switch roles, and collaborate with the team to achieve success.