Dear Admissions 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

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