Growing my Career with Internal Mobility

I joined Palo Alto Networks in May of 2016 as a Major Account Manager. I was so excited to join the cybersecurity industry, one that drew me because of its global mission and vision. The leadership team in this region was compelling, looking at how the strong management team in Greater China would help my professional career and knowledge. Building my reputation, gaining experience, and deepening my knowledge under the tutelage of Adrian Chan’s and Wickie Fung’s leadership has provided me with so many opportunities. It’s hard to explain how grateful I am for this opportunity, and how much I have learned from them since joining almost four years ago.

It wasn’t just about learning new things when I joined here. My managers and support system know both my strengths and weaknesses, helping me develop my strengths, and mitigate weaknesses to make me a stronger sales professional. With Wickie’s advice, I built my industry knowledge, while he partnered with me to close deals that supported our client’s infrastructure and goals for protecting their data.

It wasn’t all work, though. The leadership team builds an environment that created a sense of fun, momentum, challenge, and appreciation. All of us are work-hard play-hard, but underlying this is our commitment to integrity and execution. When I was working for HK team, Wickie also assigned me to be “CEO” of the team – Chief Entertainment Officer. If you focus too heavily on work every day, especially in an industry as high pressure as ours, it becomes heavy. The burden can be difficult – the threats we face each day get bigger, more difficult. But that doesn’t mean we stay serious – in fact, it’s so important to create an environment that lightens the burdens we all face in our drive to the mission. After every quarter, we find a way to connect more personally with each other, and my role as Chief Entertainment Officer is to find a way to connect us on this level more often.

Apart from working for the Hong Kong Team, the leadership team with individuals like Adrian Chan help us build momentum within Greater China. Because of the retail industry and customer business needs, I am often pulled across Greater China and surrounding APAC countries. It’s given me exposure to new cultures, experiences, and professional capabilities. I’ve been driven to collaborate around the region, identifying the best possible solutions for our customers seeking answers to the complex cyber threats facing them around the world.

Starting my 16th quarter at Palo Alto Networks, with management support, I joined the Globals team here, now working as Regional Global Account Manager for Greater Chinese global accounts. In this transition, I can feel our company’s commitment to inclusion, knowing that they care about our career development, progression, and incorporation of more voices at every level and background. Each new opportunity I earn, I feel as though there’s an entirely new job to learn. This position is a lot different from my previous role, giving me exposure to new opportunities and people who can build my own capability and development.

Today, Palo Alto Networks has already been an industry market leader and I’m proud to be a part of the team. It’s truly a disruption driven environment, and it’s amazing what we can accomplish together, with our incredible coworkers and products.

But my success wasn’t an accident. I have been successful for a lot of reasons – and some of the keys to my success are many. For me? It comes down to communication and collaboration. These skills are so important to the team, and through that comes the feeling of inclusion, and the opportunity to identify the best strategy and solution. No solution is created without contributions from different perspectives. Success is never attributed to an individual, instead, it’s the strengths of a team that create the best result.