几年前，在印度南部的一个村子里，晓光开始对社会问题有所“觉醒”。他与一批领导、专业医疗人员和企业高管前往当地，帮助当地儿童解决营养不良的问题。到达后，他们很快意识到孩子们营养不良的原因不仅是食物的缺乏，还有糟糕的卫生条件。村民们用手吃饭，但他们的手也常常是脏兮兮的。当卫生条件很差时，你是没法吸收你所摄取的营养的。

Shawn’s “awakening” to social issues took place several years ago in a village in southern India. He flew there with a group of senior leaders, all medical professionals and business executives, to help the local children solve their malnutrition problem. After arriving, they soon realized that the cause of malnutrition wasn’t just a lack of food, but poor hygiene. The villagers ate with their hands, which were often dirty. When the hygiene standard is low, you cannot absorb the nutrition you take in.

所以，整个团队开始策划解决方案，比如发放叉子、肥皂，甚至教他们如何自己制作肥皂。但是所有的方案都失败了。为什么呢？因为孩子们并不习惯这种方式。当他们快要放弃的时候，一位团队成员提出了把肥皂做成玩具的法子，这样孩子们在用餐之前通过玩肥皂的形式就可以清洁双手。这个方法非常奏效！这种简单有效的想法就是一个真正创新的好案例，改变思维方式和行为不是非得需要高预算高科技，你只需要新的视角和想法，就能够跳出舒适区。

So, the team started thinking about solutions, like giving them forks, buying them soap, even having them produce their own soap. But these solutions all failed. Why? Because that wasn’t what the children were used to. When they were on the verge of giving up, one team member suggested that they make the soap into a toy that the kids could play with before meals so their hands would be clean. It worked! This simple, effective idea is a great example of real innovation. And how you don’t need big budgets or breakthrough technology to change mindset and behavior. You just need new perspectives and ideas that go beyond your comfort zone.

当晓光回到德国时，基于这段经历，他开始考虑做一家社会型的企业。他的使命是：用惠及他人的不一般的经历，来造就不一般的领导者。

When Shawn returned to Germany, he started thinking about making a social business out of this experience. His mission: to create extraordinary leaders by exposing them to extraordinary experiences that also better people’s lives

Discovering what matters to you 

找寻你所在意之事

晓光年轻的时候，并不知道这会是他的未来，他没有任何的职业规划。他在山东的一个军人家庭中长大，在大学获得了金融和经济学位。幸运的是，或者说不幸的是，毕业后他很快意识到玩数字游戏并不是他理想的职业选择。

When Shawn was younger, he didn’t know this would be his future. He had no career plan whatsoever. Growing up in Shandong, in a military family, he graduated from university with a finance and economics degree. Fortunately, and unfortunately, he soon realized after graduation that playing with numbers wasn’t his preferred career choice.

几年后，在一家中国船运公司的销售部工作时，他才发现了自己真正感兴趣的东西。当他转进人力资源部门时，他发现跟人打交道才是他热忱的事。于是，他前往英国攻读了人力资源管理和组织发展的硕士学位。回国后，他离开了船运公司并加入埃森哲。在这种高效环境下担任咨询顾问，他学会了如何迅速阅人阅事。

He only found out what he was really interested in a few years later, while working in the sales department of a Chinese shipping company. When he rotated into the HR department, he discovered that people were his passion. This took him to England for his Masters in HR Management and Organizational Development. After returning, he left the shipping company to join Accenture. As a consultant in a high-performance environment, he learned how to quickly read people and understand situations.

之后他去了泰科工作，那里的人力资源副总裁成为了晓光的良师益友。他们的关系非常好，以致当副总裁离职去加入勃林格·英格翰公司时，晓光也跟他一起过去了。两年后，他在德国抓住了机会，在全球范围内重组了公司的整个人力资源部门。

In his next job at Tyco, the Vice President of HR became a mentor and good friend to Shawn. They had such a good working relationship that when the VP left to join Boehringer Ingelheim, Shawn went with him. After two years, he took an opportunity in Germany to restructure the company’s entire HR function at a global level.

但尽管多年来在企业界取得了如此多的的成就，他仍感觉自己必须做的更多。那次的印度之行深深地印在他的脑海里。他决定将自己的咨询背景和他乐于助人的渴望结合起来。

But after years of achievements in the corporate world, he still felt he had to do more. That trip to India stuck in his mind. He decided to combine his consulting background with his desire to help people.

Inspiring and developing leaders through social change

通过社会变革来激励发展领导者

如今，晓光正在创造一些价值巨大的东西。他创立了万杵企业咨询管理中心，他的目标是为顶尖的国际和中国公司提供战略咨询和变革方面的管理咨询服务。现在，他用自己独特的方式，来帮助客户提高领导力，并制定更好的商业战略。

Today, Shawn is creating something of tremendous value. When he started Wan Chu Management Consulting, his aim was to provide management consulting services to leading global and Chinese companies on strategy and transformation. Now, he works with clients who want to improve their leadership and develop better business strategies, but in his own unique way.

“我希望把社会挑战转化为领导力发展和社会创新的机会，”晓光说。“想创造这样的项目，你必须说服企业领袖去接受新的思维方式。我希望他们有机会为真正需要的人解决问题。”

“I want to turn social challenges into leadership development and social innovation opportunities,” says Shawn. “To create these projects, you have to convince business leaders to embrace a new mindset. I do this by offering them the chance to solve problems for those with real needs.”

Turning social challenges into a leadership development opportunities

将社会挑战转化为领导力发展的机会

当晓光解释起他的工作时，他的热情和奉献精神会一览无余。通过体验极端环境，他的项目使更多人感受到了触动和激励。他将人们带入了一个完全不同的现实环境，教他们如何用有限的资源来解决现存问题。他将商界领袖和社会企业家紧紧结合起来了。

When Shawn explains what he does, his passion and dedication shine through. His projects move and inspire people by making them experience extreme situations. He brings people into a different reality to teach them how to solve real problems with limited resources. He connects business leaders with social entrepreneurs.

“社会企业家了解这些问题。我带来了商界人士来帮助解决这些问题。”作为一个促进者，晓光将社会需求转化为一个用来提高策略和领导力技巧的学习机会。“如果你想要员工学习企业家精神，不要只是送他们去培训班。跟我来看看真正的企业家在做些什么吧，”他说。“在这一领域，你讲学会如何更快更有效地提高商业策略。社会项目会迫使你拿出切实可用的计划来解决难题。与社会企业家打交道，你将从他们身上学到乐观积极的态度，以及如何高效产出。”

“The social entrepreneurs know the problem. I bring in business people who can help solve them.” As a facilitator, Shawn turns a social need into a learning opportunity for those who want to develop their strategy and leadership skills. “If you want your people to learn entrepreneurship, don’t send them to a training class. Come with me to see real entrepreneurs in action,” he says. “In the field, you’ll learn how to develop a business strategy better and faster. Social projects force you to come up with realistic plans to solve difficult issues. And through the social entrepreneurs you meet, you learn from their optimism, positive attitude, and how to make more out of very little.” 

晓光举了一个例子，一家大型跨国公司的领导团队为探访的村子制定了一个销售策略。但是村民们几分钟就打消了他们的提议。农民们实际上无法获得这些企业家们认为理所当然的所有资源。

Shawn shares an example of one leadership team from a major multinational company that developed a sales strategy for a village they visited. The villagers demolished their proposal in a few minutes. The farmers didn’t have access to all the resources the executives took for granted.

第二天，他们不得不提出另外一个方案。“一位高管告诉我，他这辈子从来没有像现在这样紧张过,”晓光回忆到。“在乡下，你很快就会发现你的学历和证书没什么用。相反，你要亲自去做事，制定切实的解决方案。”

The next day, they had to present another idea. “One executive told me that he had never been more nervous in his life about a presentation,” recalls Shawn. “In the countryside, you quickly learn that your degrees and qualifications can’t help you. Instead, you need to get your hands dirty and develop real solutions.”

晓光还指出，许多商界高管已经习惯了出行头等舱，住在最好的酒店。但是当他们去到一个人们都一无所有的地方，没人再敢抱怨那里的食物和住宿。“这样的环境让他们的经历更加强烈，充满更多力量。并在每一个参与者心中留下永远铭记的深刻印象。他们更宏大的共同目标，就是让所有人站在一起并肩作战。”

Shawn also points out that many business leaders are used to traveling first class and staying in the best hotels. But when they go to a place where people have so little, nobody dares to complain about the food or accommodations. “Such conditions make what they experience much stronger and more powerful. And leaves a deep impression on each participant that they’ll always remember. Their common purpose, which is so much bigger than them, brings everyone together to work side-by-side.”

Through his consulting firm, Shawn has transformed his philanthropic passion into an opportunity that benefits both social entrepreneurs who want to solve difficult social issues, and business people who want to improve their leadership and strategic skills. It’s gratifying helping people in real need while helping others develop new key skills doing it. With every project he leads, Shawn proves to participants that no matter how qualified you are, what really matters is how much you care to challenge yourself and deliver something of real value to others.