In the blink of an eye, three months have passed since I arrived in Shanghai to begin my MBA at Ceibs. As I look at the rays of the warm evening sun through the library windows and procrastinate over studying for final exams, I ponder a frequent question that has been asked of me of late: ‘Why did you choose to do an MBA in China’?
One of the most commonly known facts about working in China is the importance of interpersonal relationships – connections with people – ‘guanxi’. What is less known is that it is a far more complicated concept than it first seems.
I believe the complication begins with integrating into Chinese culture which is highly diverse. People have their respective local dialects and their way of thinking can sometimes be as varied as the language they speak. I came with the hope of ultimately starting a business based in greater China. I felt that one of the most suitable places to connect with like-minded individuals would be within an established business school in the region.
My first school term has mainly been spent integrating with the diverse student community of 203 individuals. Over one-third are international students, mainly from the US, Korea and India. I have learnt a great deal from one particular member of my project team who was a serial entrepreneur before he decided to enrol in business school. He chose Ceibs because he wanted to learn more about the western approach to management as well as the opportunity it provided to meet potential business partners – both elements he considers vital to further his portfolio of business ventures in the future.
It has been one of my most rewarding experiences to hear about and learn from his experiences (for example in working in a B2B environment in China), as well as getting the opportunity to build a strong relationship based on mutual respect and working together on assignments.
As with most MBA programmes, the significant amount of hours you spend in intensive discussions with your project teams and classmates is a rewarding yet exhausting experience. I cannot shrug off the mental and physical toughness that has been required to balance my new life (integration) and the old one (family and friends). Yet I believe the gains from this 18-month programme will be more than enough to justify all the hard work: strong friendships and a solid professional network, plus the knowledge and skills that will help me start my own business.
As I look around the library, I see classmates working hard to meet their respective aspirations. Each of us understands that the decision to come here has empowered us to change our lives. Now, our destiny is of our own choosing.作者: auroraliu 时间: 2012-12-21 19:17
Arrival in Shanghai
There is one week until school officially starts but more than half of the year group has already settled into campus lifestyle and is occupied with an array of activities: intensive language studies, networking events or getting a feel for the city we will be calling home for the next 18 months.
For me, the first few days have been occupied by the little details required for settling into a new place. Setting up a bank account, health checks, getting to know the transport system and interacting with the local people in the food malls and supermarkets. You soon realise that it is really getting to grips with the intricacies of living in Shanghai – the culture and the way people interact – that is the first step to successful execution in any endeavour in China.
On top of that, I attended an event organised by the Consultancy Club – a talk by a Ceibs alumnus who is working as a consultant at Mckinsey. It was a good opportunity for me to hear first hand about working life in an elite management consultancy (in particular in the greater China region) as well as the interview processes.
This has made me more aware of the intake requirements compared with the European standards I was used to. This mainly comes down to the higher level of language proficiency requirements, being able to speak native and/or business level English and Mandarin Chinese. The requirement is understandable given the prospective client base of the consultancy firms in the region and subsequently language skills are definitely an area which both international and domestic students at the school are working to improve.
On top of this, some practical advice and available resources were highlighted to help us prepare for the case study type of interviews required as part of the management consultancy interview process. The talk concluded with the alumnus saying that for those who are keen problem solvers and great storytellers, management consulting may be the career for them.
My first few days here have been a good first step into my life as an MBA student. It is often said and remains true that there is an extensive mix of people on an MBA programme. I have had the chance to meet an eclectic mix at the school and will no doubt talk more about them in future blogs.
Our programme this year began earlier (in July), giving us a chance to interact with the 2011 students who have remained on campus to take elective courses or are working on their summer internships in Shanghai. This gave me a chance to hear more of their stories and advice, as we dine over a vast selection of Korean and Chinese cuisines and travel into the depths of Shanghai.作者: auroraliu 时间: 2012-12-21 19:20
The Road to Becoming Responsible Leaders
Two weeks of orientation has come to an end and there is finally time for some long overdue reflections.
Our orientation programme was a combination of case method lectures, talks from external guests from the likes of BP, Costa and GE, personality and leadership tests, business simulations and presentations – all which allowed us to explore our respective cultural differences, to know our classmates and, perhaps more importantly, to know ourselves.
The one thing that stood out most was the opportunity to participate in an integrated learning experience. MBA programmes in general provide a unique learning experience primarily because of the flexibility for students to choose which personal qualities they want to develop for themselves. In our example, some students chose to maintain their own business ventures, whilst others are fully committing themselves to develop new business ideas.
For the more traditional career paths, I have seen students forming groups to practice case interviews in preparation for a future consultancy role. Many others are focusing on language fluency, an essential part for all those who want to pursue a career in the Greater China region.
Much of my personal focus was on integrating with my classmates, getting accustomed to the school schedule and getting a feel for the opportunities to refine some leadership abilities. I get the feeling that each of us is walking our own paths to reach the ultimate goal to become responsible leaders in whatever endeavour we choose to pursue.
Moreover, cultural sensitivity is a key learning component in these early days. In particular, having been more familiar with more expressive (high context) communication styles in the UK, I often find the need to adjust to the more implicit (low context) style that is far more prevalent in China.
A first step to show my respect for my fellow local students and their culture has been to immerse myself in some intensive Mandarin study and generally talking ‘the language of China’ which often goes beyond spoken words, in the sense of appreciating their values and personal circumstances.
As for what lies ahead for me at Ceibs, I recall what Martin Luther King once said: “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter”.
It is with this spirit that I have decided to participate in the upcoming Student Committee election in order to do my part, should I succeed, in voicing new ideas and attempting to bring positive impact to our student community. As orientation draws to a close, a new chapter begins作者: auroraliu 时间: 2012-12-21 19:21
The perils of obsession with the grade point average
I would say that deep self-reflection is a core part of the MBA curriculum. This is because maintaining your personal perspective is potentially one of the most important things during a MBA – to keep your sanity if nothing else!
It is key as there are so many things going on which make it is easy to lose sight of your own path.
This is particularly true at the start of the programme where the academic work generally consumes most of your time and where one of the most commonly heard problems is the over-obsession with grade point average or GPA.
Students are all graded relative to each other (“like a horse-race” as our marketing professor would say) and this naturally leads to a highly competitive environment. Getting a bad grade does not necessarily mean you are not producing good work, but the quality of your work is just not as good as, say, the person next to you (at least in the eyes of the grader). It also means that if the majority of the class is eager to get a good grade, then others need to work hard at the same time to maintain a satisfactory grade.
There is definitely a variety of reasons for wanting to perform well academically. For example, people who have never studied a business or finance-oriented discipline before their MBA would naturally want to put extra emphasis on that part of their learning.
There are also very good quality learning aspects from the course material and performing well relative to your peers in this respect can be very rewarding.
For example, I have greatly benefited from the ‘case method’ of studying. It really helps me to develop a systematic approach to solving real business problems and to present the solution to a wide audience for a wide range of disciplines ranging from marketing, corporate finance to economics.
It often feels that there are too many cases to complete within a given week. However, I believe this is one of the most valuable learning elements of the course as it really simulates a competitive working environment in terms of the time pressure and teamwork, as well as the process of picking up a business problem, solving it and then presenting a final, executable solution.
On the other hand, there is a negative side to the academics structure as well. Many people put a lot of pressure on themselves to obtain a better grade purely because of peer pressure.
Some professors regularly remind us that the GPA is only one element of the learning experience, but there are still many instances where people are trying to adjust their grades and complaining to the professors.
In this context, I believe it is important to reflect on questions such as ‘What am I trying to achieve? What can I do better to improve on the current situation?’
After all, the journey is different for everyone and we should all aim to walk our own paths.作者: wanghongliang 时间: 2012-12-21 19:51
中欧软文不断啊，不俗都不行了。作者: auroraliu 时间: 2012-12-21 21:17
Wing 的本科和Master都是在 University of Edinburgh 读的，之前在英国做Banking，目前在中欧的Student Committee 担任treasure。
以下是他的邮箱：lyat.m12@ceibs.edu 有问题的同学可以和他联系。作者: 星星点灯2010 时间: 2012-12-21 22:10
中欧掉价呀。楼主害了你的母校作者: auroraliu 时间: 2012-12-21 22:17
FT 上有很多B-school students 的文章，有心的只要注册都可以看到。
