The Path to Finding “Your” Job— Dinner with Evan Auyang, Managing Director of GLG

Sometimes the most meaningful and inspiring conversations happen over casual meals. The Time Auction Blog is a snippet of our meetings with people who have found passion in their life and career, where we get a glimpse into their mentality behind their ventures.

The journey to find the job that’s right for you is a lengthy and daunting one. Evan Auyang, Managing Director and Head of Asia-Pacific GLG, talked to us about his journey and what led him to make specific key decisions in his career.

Before arriving where he is today, Evan went through multiple industries — ranging from transportation at KMB, consulting at McKinsey, and even to banking at CitiGroup. He has also worked extensively to make Hong Kong a better place — restructuring bus routes at KMB, and contributing his expertise to Civic Exchange, Green Monday, the Urban Renewal Authority and more.

Over dinner, Evan told us about his eventful career life and what he values most when choosing a direction in life.

What’s your life philosophy?

Be very conscientious about your place.

Know where you stand in work and in society. Always be a hard worker. I believe I am a very lucky person and in general, I think many of us should be more appreciative of the opportunities afforded to us. Don’t get cocky and believe you deserve everything just because you worked hard for it or that you are smarter than others. Give back to society and the community around to show your appreciation — in doing so you will gain even more!

Is there a habit that significantly improved your life?

I keep a multi-tab spreadsheet to help me analyze my life, where I stand and where I am going. One of the tabs is about my goals. I go back to review these goals every month and give myself feedback. I am trying to teach myself by self-reflection. I am a bit of a goal setter. Some people say it doesn’t work but it does for me.

Goals give you something to work towards

and that gives me drive. In another tab, I analyze people — who are the people around me, who I need to engage, what are they motivated by and how I should best engage them. I go back to this spreadsheet often and that helps me plan goals and review myself.

What is one thing you want to teach everyone here?

Explore your passion.

I really believe in that, but not the cliche advice of just “follow your passion”, as that can turn out to be rather dangerous. Especially when you have an unstructured way of going about it or when you go for your passion when you don’t have the right skill set for it, that might cause the entire thing to backfire at you. You have to be mindful. You don’t just blindly follow your passion but instead, you build towards it, always being powered by your passion.

Also, be careful of fake passion. Fake passion is usually driven by momentum. If you suddenly make a lot of money, then you would believe you want to make more money. If you suddenly get a lot of attention, you might think you want more attention. But that may not be who you are and what drives you. There may be something else that drives you, something that the world values!

Thank you Evan for donating dinner and raised 109 volunteer hours to Action Asia Foundation, KELY Support Group and more!

These awesome photos are brought to you by Tony Lau from Freehunter — an online marketplace for reaching freelancing talents in Hong Kong

For more amazing opportunities, visit Time Auction to volunteer and meet inspiring mentors!