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（From A Professor）
Dear Addimissions Officer:
I am writing this letter to support the admission of Wenli Lee
to the Harvard Business School. I was Mr. Lee＇s teacher and advisor
for several years between 1993 and 1995. We have met and talked
several times since.
Mr. Lee＇s academic credentials are truly exceptional. He not
only knows how to reason with numbers, but how to render incisive
and imaginative arguments in English. Unlike most of the students
I have taught from China(about 60 over the past 20 years) Lee
immersed himself in American culture. He composed a joke as part
of his first presentation analyzing a local plan. It worked. His
classmates laughed and I was witness to masterful culture spanning.
Lee came to us a confident individualist uniquely suited to cultural
cross fertilization. He earned straight A grades in all my classes.
Whether rendering a spread sheet analysis, crafting a graphic
or writing a report, Lee always demonstrated uncanny mastery combined
with critical wit. While many of the Chinese I have taught performed
excellently in class, Lee alone has composed essays and talks
that met the sensibilities and tastes of American classmates.
Even more importantly he offered new ideas which they (and myself)
could comprehend and even assimilate.
Lee has a deep reservoir of talent and ambition. He has already
accomplished a great deal in the face of considerable challenge.
He has worked hard bridging the cultural gulf separating the Chinese
and American ways of life, and produced an impressive record for
one who has enjoyed no special privilege. Lee possesses and uses
an easygoing manner and spirited conviviality to put people at
ease. He can make small talk, but quickly moves conversation toward
more challenging and interesting topics. Lee＇s group leadership
combines small "d" democracy, intelligent judgment and
gentle persistence. He learned early on the painful lessons of
coercive collectivism, and has learned how to anticipate and even
tame adversarial relations. I have every confidence that he will
use these considerable skills to tackle organizational problems
on a larger scale.
While a student in our graduate program, Lee took a job helping
recovering drug addicts in the suburban community of Harvey. Harvey,
an aging industrial suburb with an impoverished African American
population, does not usually attract the interest and attention
of foreign students from Asia. Lee swam against the strong currents
of racism and fear associated with minority neighborhoods. Furthermore,
he did so in a manner that added value to the community. Lee has
labored for the ABC Authority, a large public bureaucracy, and
currently works as a private marketing and research firm. This
diversity of experience represents a crucial resource for Lee.
He does not simply take jobs, but weaves these experiences together
into a framework for understanding American institutions from
the inside out. Finally, Lee plays with Americans. He does not
hide out in Chinatown or the Chinese cultural center. He rock
climbs and sails. He can tell hip from hoopla.
Lee is smart. But more important he has acquired wisdom in the
culture of both China and the U.S. He wants to expand his considerable
fund of wisdom and use it to provide cultural scaffolding for
commercial ties between the U.S. and China. Lee＇s ambitions and
abilities are in sync. He is poised and prepared to take this
next step in an exciting journey. Not only will faculty and students
thank you for admitting such a fine candidate, but so too will
those employees, customers and citizens who will benefit from
his future employ.
Sincerely,
David Smiths
Professor of ABC University
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