CAREERS: Q&A with ..

<p>Name Pauline Wong </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Number of years in marketing Seven </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Job title Regional marketing manager, North Asia, Yahoo </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>What is your greatest achievement? </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Heading up market research at Discovery Channel Asia and helping it </p><p>become one of the leading international TV channels in Asia. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>What is your dream brand to work on and why? </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Yahoo, otherwise I wouldn't be here. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>What would you do if you weren't in marketing? </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>I always wanted to be a vet, and sometimes still regret not becoming </p><p>one, but I think the time to make such a dramatic career change has </p><p>passed. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>What was your big break? </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Turning my back on my engineering degree and coming back to Hong Kong to </p><p>forge a career in marketing. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Who was your mentor and how did this person influence you? </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Susan Ho, head of Tech TV Asia. I worked with Susan at Discovery Channel </p><p>where she was the VP of marketing and communications and have kept in </p><p>close contact ever since. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>She is a wonderful, kind, intelligent person who has always had the best </p><p>advice for me and has helped me develop my marketing skills. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Is there a secret to your success? </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>I think it is a little presumptuous to talk about success at this stage </p><p>and if there is a secret, you would have to pay me to find out. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>How do you handle difficult clients? </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>I put myself in their shoes and always try to be flexible and work hard </p><p>to accommodate clients' needs, making them happy, and getting money in </p><p>the door! </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>What advice would you give to the next person to do your current </p><p>job? </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Regional roles are very challenging. One must have the interpersonal </p><p>skills to communicate effectively and must listen and respect local </p><p>offices' input to derive the best value for the company. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>What are you currently reading that will help you in your job? </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Most of my reading material does not have a direct bearing on my work. </p><p>I'm reading about the Ottoman Empire which I find fascinating, but would </p><p>struggle to find too many analogies between managing one of the greatest </p><p>empires of the last millennium and running regional marketing at Yahoo </p><p>Asia. But it does help keep the size and scale of my job in </p><p>proportion! </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Who is the business person you most admire and why? </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Sir Martin Sorrell, chief executive of WPP, who is visionary in seeing </p><p>the value in bringing marketing, advertising and PR companies together. </p><p><BR><BR> </p>