Full Transcript for Play hard, work hard @ CEIBS

to the school to share zero border experience and also carbon related topics  [00:03:34] Archie: Yeah that's right as everyone in finance knows the golden rule is fake it until you make it And I was going out and telling people that I was finance club leadership before I was actually the leader and trying to bring them into CEIBS I think being part of the leadership of a club is is quite a fun thing to do And that's mainly because you can go out and you have a reason to speak to leading people within the field that you're focused on And so it means that [00:04:00] I've been working in finance in in Shanghai for the last three .Years And it means that I can keep my relationships going with a lot of the private equity and the bankers and other people here by inviting them to the school. As I'd mentioned before we got started we got a an M and a focused cross-border lawyer to come and give a speech And then when I invited him he said Hey why didn't I bring the the chief China representative of the London stock To come and he can join and give a speech as well And so that's quite a nice example of by organizing and arranging these events how you can also expand your network and get access to a lot of people by being the leadership of these clubs So it's a fun thing to be part of I think Edwards done similar thing  [00:04:41] Edward: Yes while we have a little bit of similarities but my part is also different one different thing is the Archie is always focused in the finance industry from his past career but for me I'm currently leading the Steve's consulting management club but my past career has no connection or no relationship with any consulting service or consulting industries So this is very Interesting for me Because the opportunity for everyone is the same and you can just take the lead for the topic you are interested in are you are going to transform to and this is a great things for me and for everyone is really interested in going to CEIBS the opportunity here is huge  [00:05:33] Agnes: So what would you say is the biggest takeaway being on the leadership role clubs Is it only the connection or is it also having the autonomy to decide how the events should be run and fulfilling the vision  [00:05:50] Archie: I think it forces you to be really on top of things and to really know your stuff because people will come and ask all sorts of questions within for [00:06:00] in my case the finance industry And so it sort of incentivizes you to keep on top of all recent news and things that are going on so I'd say that's one thing and number two is simply the experience of organizing events managing people coordinating things like that. And I think that's a good experience to have events management or organization is certainly not something I'd really ever done before And luckily I've got a very good three person team and and they helped me a lot And so we worked together quite well but it's a new experience to be trying those things out  [00:06:33]

Agnes: Yeah I think a past from working within the club membership for one club the finance club also co-host events with the tech club And I remember joining one of the events on the crypto currency as well as the metaphors And there were people Discussing with me how controversial the topics would be And it's really surprising how we have the guts around that event  [00:06:58] Archie: You're not supposed to mention that Agnes you're not supposed to mention that event it was a discussion on global NFD and metaverse use non region specific  [00:07:09] Agnes: Yeah so the content itself is really very legitimate and  [00:07:14] Archie: Correct As my lawyers have advised  [00:07:18] Agnes: So how about Lily I know that you have joined the family business club it's surprisingly a very coherent and United club within the school so what are the events that you have in that club and how do you find them  [00:07:32] Lily: Talking about the family business club we have a very wonderful club leader Dami and she figured out many family business club members And I think they have different background However they have the same feeling because they are family business they got the pressure from their family and they need to know what kind of [00:08:00] business the family is doing. And I still remember that in the very early stage Dami arranged a dinner in the family business club and all kinds of people coming in including Edward I found that people are the same especially when they have the similar background and you can understand each other's pressure and you can understand why your father or your mother pushed you to do so because they have the purpose for you And we also know some club member they are not willing to take over the family business in the future And there is a different way to do the family business and just broaden your eyes with different Ideas So this is the main idea of family business club  [00:08:53] Agnes: I know that actually both Lily and Edward have family business background and also Archie is working on your own ventures I wonder is having your own business or family business is one of the reasons that drove you to come to CEIBS  [00:09:08] Lily: Just to be Frank with you When I apply for a CEIBS my father said I have two little friends and I didn't get married at that time So he said you may have a place to make more friends However after I applied for CEIBS I'm going to merit So it's a joke that I don't necessarily need to go here but after I enter CEIBS I found that it's a nice place for me to form a real business sense and to know how the business words works And previously I worked in my family business for more than five years and I have some experience in management. However there is no framework to support me on my decisions after learning you find some of the decisions [00:10:00] Maybe totally wrong If you have the basic knowledge of that kind of things And for other decisions you may also have the confidence to act it

because there is a supportive knowledge on this kind of decision  [00:10:14] Agnes: So you came here to find friends but then you realize that you don't really need  [00:10:17] Lily: that  [00:10:18] Agnes: many friends and then they add on that the good thing too to keep you in C plus that you found the knowledge that you want  [00:10:26] Lily: instead of friends I found them knowledge  [00:10:29] Archie: You must've made a few friends  [00:10:30] Lily: I mean you know that kind of friends  [00:10:34] Agnes: That's very geeky How about you Edward  [00:10:37] Edward: Um totally different very different because the main reason I came to CEIBS is my previous academic background and the my career background is not very related to my family business I came to CBE ease to find a place a time to learn and pick up some management and operations related knowledge so is therefore later I can get my hands are more on the family business but it turns out I'm here to pursue the knowledge but I'm here to make you friends  [00:11:17] Archie: Edward has too many friends so  [00:11:20] yeah I wouldn't say I had my own ventures but I have a few things that I'm working on and I think having studied a non-business nonfinancial related degree undergraduate I despite having worked around eight years I still felt that there were things that I did not understand and did not know and so again for me I think knowledge was a pretty key part of wanting to come and actually understand some of the theories working in finance you talk a lot about businesses and strategies and directions but a lot of that talk is just talk And so I wanted to strengthen [00:12:00] my foundation in actual knowledge. So I think that's part of it. And then part of it working in any industry in China but particularly finances is about knowing people and about meeting people and having a large network of friends really and that was also part of it. So maybe me and Lily are the same looking for friends and seems I've been in Shanghai for three years now but expanding the network here I thought An attractive proposition  [00:12:26] Agnes: Yeah so do you guys have found what you want in terms of the knowledge after a term and a half already especially that we'll have covered a wide range of courses be it financial accounting be it data analytics as well as organizational behavior do find any of the knowledge that we have learned so far can be applicable to the business or the ventures or the ideas that you have in the future do you have this moment where you think that oh I wish I knew this earlier so that I could apply that in mind  [00:13:01] Archie: I don't know about you guys I remember in the first marketing class we sat down and the professor started by saying look I know that there's a real range of knowledge about marketing in this classroom Some of you have worked in marketing for several years and you have a very good understanding of what marketing is Some of you may be all that is that marketing is not the same as advertising And then I sort of sat there and thought Ugh I thought marketing was the same as advertising so I remember that day I went and found a classmate who would be in a we work in the marketing team Four or five years and we had lunch and he sort of spoke me through the basics I realized that I was actually below the baseline of what the professor was expecting but certainly there are things that I'd never looked at data analytics sounds an extremely boring course but it was actually really interesting I found and so having not had a lot of the kind of basic business studies in undergrad there there were quite a lot of things for me that I found very interesting [00:14:00] and I expect will be pretty applicable going forward  [00:14:03] Edward: For me the microeconomic at me a lot of impressions It's very different Zen what I have learned before my academic background is engineering and it's very different to Economic background but I took macro economic 1 0 1 seven years before And my grade was the worst grade ever Let's see something So that day I talked to my parents I would never ever go to finance industry but the macroeconomic course here is a core course So I have to take I have no choice so I have low expectation on the course but it turns out that the professor teach us the same way he teach the EMB or even gemba students And the way he teaches micro account is very different He goes very practical and give us a lot of new ways to think So these way of thinking ASHRAE turns out to be a business strategy plan for you to manage your own venture manage the department go settings or the the strategy plan how to set up your competitive advantage while you are in a competitive market or while you are in a new markets So that's very impressive  [00:15:33] Agnes: I totally agree I think even though being born and raised as a Chinese even after so many years my parents asking me to save money is not as effective as professor one lecture during which she taught me that saving is really important It's because it's bigger than myself Not only for myself but for also for the family and for the society How about you Lilly  [00:15:58] Lily: First I would like to say I [00:16:00] totally agree with Edward about Bala's class I really enjoy Bala's vivid story to explain the whole theory And it kept me remembering how everything works for myself actually when I first come to CEIBS I always took the knowledge and the stores back to home every time I have the chance to meet with my father or walk with him I will tell him what I learned But every time I remember he said so how to use it he always give me the question how to use it And from that point of time I start thinking yeah I need to apply this knowledge Otherwise I cannot remember after one year or two. [00:16:39] I still remember at the time I learned the organization behavior I was having quite a bit client and it's a new client and they have different departments

and we send a lots of people to serve them However the more people I give to them the more messy So I finally start thinking why it's like this that day I had the OB class and I remember Emily said if just one person do the job they will give 100% effort However if it's five or six people they will only give 20 or 30% of their efforts on the whole assignment Later I figure out it's true Cause they didn't have a very clear job assignment So after I figuring out the whole list what they are going to do and separate to the middle level management and they do different function assignment everything becomes smooth and this is the first benefits or take away from CEIBS O B class.  [00:17:40] And the second one really saved my money it's da class the data analysis we do optimization I had the kind of products it's called slam ball it's a kind of fitness ball and you slam it to work out we usually have three different raw materials inside this ball And due to the limitation of [00:18:00] the supermarket shelf the ball's diameter is limited to 20 centimeter you need to have this three different materials inside the ball and they are having different costing level previously we just do it by experience like how much we can get to and calculating the costs and if it's okay then we just do it after having the optimization idea we can do it on Excel we got a hundred SKU solve this kind of item so I can quickly solve it And I still remember the biggest cost I save is about eight RMB per ball And we are producing Southern millions of balls everyday So it's really saving money And after term one I found Christine in the class and I said thank you to her because it's really a help  [00:18:50] Agnes: So with the cost saving you have achieved already, that means that tuition already pays off  [00:18:56] Lily: yeah it could say so  [00:18:57] Agnes: Or you make friends in addition to that  [00:19:00] Archie: I hope professor Christine got a big Hong Bao [00:19:03] Agnes: So the other thing that your employees like you better or they're not like you because you aren't making the work a very scientific  [00:19:11] Lily: I say if you have the knowledge and you explain to them why I do so they will understand and they will accept because it's reasonable However if you say nothing and just applies these kinds of rules and regulations I learned from CEIBS there will be quite offensive why you do and totally don't understand it's how you express and let them know  [00:19:32] Agnes: Yeah So it's like a whole package thing You have the da knowledge to teach her how to run the business better but also the organizational behavior knowledge to help you communicate the ideas  [00:19:43] Lily: how to use the power  [00:19:45] Agnes: Very impressive Indeed so how do you find the workload so far Is there enough time for social for drinking for other activities making friends  [00:19:57] Archie: the only opportunity we have to drink [00:20:00] is when we're recording podcasts  [00:20:01] Agnes: so we should do this more  [00:20:05] Edward: the only two hours eight years the podcast and the wiser events But the workload is is intensive I will say because my wife and my parents always question me Edward you are here to do MBA but why are you so busy even busier than ever before busier than your previous job. This MBA is very different than what I sought but of course at the same time I'm absorbing a lot and making lots of friends building a fantastic network here..  [00:20:45] For the workload in turn 1, 10, 2 is quite a lot but I will say that departments make this intensive schedule for purpose because a very important skills for a successful future leader is how to manage your time efficiently right So sometimes you need to do some trade off tradeoff obvious the word I heard the most in this term So there is a lot of work  [00:21:18] Archie: Yeah I think from my perspective being a native English speaker certainly helps we read a lot of case studies and naturally I w I'll be reading them quicker than other people so that's certainly an advantage I have also come from an industry where you generally do work pretty long hours and so honesty workload wise it's certainly quite a full schedule but I found that doing that and a few other projects outside of school alongside is still possible and I think actually everyone when they come to do an MBA they want to be busy No one wants to be sitting around in their dorms not doing anything so I would say manageable and manageable even if you want to do a couple things outside of school both Edwin [00:22:00] Lilly are also involved in their family's business as well So I think it's not to say that 24 7 all you're doing is your MBA so I think yeah I would say manageable so far Maybe you'll get a different answer from me later this term  [00:22:15] Agnes: Yeah I'm actually also quite curious about how you guys manage your time because as you mentioned Lillian Eduardo they're also working on their family versus and Archie is also working on some things how do you manage the time  [00:22:28] Lily: When I do my work I only focus on my work and I can do it quickly and correctly And this is what I do since my childhood once I have several different tasks at the same time I know my efficiency will be lower and the accuracy will also be lower So I think just focus on what you do and never think about others This is the best way to balance  [00:22:55] Agnes: So try to be more focused and single-minded when you're working on one task Okay How about you guys  [00:23:01] Edward: In terms of work and study balance I'm more like a triangle like work life and study because I I'm the only one who have kids in this group So I have more varietals to manage Yeah But the good thing is to efficiently manage the schoolwork the work and to manage the family One thing is you need to collaborate very well with your teammates Luckily I have Lily on my side she is my group member this time And in 

[00:23:40] Lily: contribute with you  [00:23:42] Edward: thank you And he work you need to collaborate with your supervisor your colleagues your teams right I have one day a week that is for work And for the other days I work remotely and for family [00:24:00] while I collaborate with my wife and right now she is the key person who is holding the family but I'm the one who is getting her support mostly emotional support But yeah I would say the key thing to keep everything in balance is to collaborate with your teammates  [00:24:24] Archie: Yeah good answer I yeah I guess for me it's more logistical I think when you are busy you just find time to do things So if we've got class nine to 10 30 and then 11 to 1230 so you've got a half hour gap there So maybe most days if I need to have a call then I'll have a call between 10 30 and 11 Then at lunch you've got an hour and a half so that's enough for a lunch And then you've got half an hour one 30 to two where you could have a call or finish off some work that you need to do I think it's possible We actually the more busy you are the more you get done So I think it's it's just a matter of squeezing everything in I want to know I want to know from Edward though who the harshest bosses is that the professor the boss or the wife  [00:25:05] Edward: let let let let's keep it siloed  [00:25:10] Agnes: so find I'll give you an answer We have an  [00:25:12] Archie: we have the answer We have the answer [00:25:15] Agnes: Do you find the expectation management difficult as well Or how do you do that Like by communicating or by managing the expectation from your teammates your work and also your family  [00:25:27] Edward: I would say choose your member smartly I'm lucky the wife for sure You have the free to choose company-wise I luckily have sorta of degree to choose who I work with and for the school I'm quite lucky for both terms I have great team members and to manage the expectations we just keeping the same pace [00:25:54] Agnes: I remember ever since I joined CEIBS I heard from several people [00:26:00] from previous batch or from previous years saying that it's a very good journey and now I know how to do it correctly I think along the a few months I keep having this feeling that oh I know how to do it better now So maybe I really want to press the rewind button and do it again Do you guys have the same feeling or have any tips or thoughts to share to people who might want to start their MBA journey as CEIBS [00:26:30] Archie: We all  [00:26:30] Edward: We are seeking  [00:26:34] Archie: Let's hear what did Agnes need to improve on  [00:26:36] Agnes: I think I could have been more single-minded as Lilly has done I was in Hong Kong for several years and working environment is quite different Everyone says that when you're working in Hong Kong the pressure is very high the the daily life is very busy After coming back to mainland China I found that actually people are way more competitive in mainland China we call it the evolution thing And I was saying to a course mate yesterday that my parents have been trying to teach me how to compete and how to fight for things for the past 30 or so years because I'm the single child in my family So I'm not really trained or accustomed to grab things very quickly because I don't really need to grab But then after joining CEIBS I really learned how to grab things very quickly especially through the speed of internet For example we're bidding for the China module earlier this morning And I didn't get it the last time So this morning I really set the computer and prepare myself early and then try to get the slots Within the first 20 seconds when the bid thing start so that I can grab a spot to join this a module to go to [00:28:00] Shinjin to learn about the innovation culture there I wish that I could have be more adapt to the very fast pace and very competitive environment much early on  [00:28:11] Archie: The one thing I think we should add is the Agnes is actually already very famous in because she has one one of the international business school competitions And so I think we should probably ask agonist how did you prepare for that And how was that experience  [00:28:27] Agnes: I think the whole thing comes down to what at what mentioned choosing the right teammates So I have Lily here one of my  [00:28:35] Archie: sorry I didn't [00:28:36] realize it was Agnes Lily and  [00:28:39] and I say in the  [00:28:42] Agnes: okay Yeah I just want to offer a little bit of backgrounds for this competition is the annual competition hosted by IESE the top business school in Europe and is co-hosted by IESE with Roland Berger the top tier consulting firm the competition. As she just mentioned was just the internal selection round because CEIBS was selected by Roland Berger as the only MBA program in mainland China to participate in this international competition And it was highly competitive I would have 120 students that we have this year. Almost half of them joined the internal selection round to compete for the final round where we need to compete with the top business schools in the world For example Kellogg or Chicago booth et cetera in terms of the preparation I think choosing the right teammates really helped a lot. And that's when I first learned or practice the grabbing philosophy right after identifying the key and very smart classmates, I just initiated the invitation very quickly before they got approached by other people I think that is a key steps in the whole process  [00:29:58] Lily: I think in this [00:30:00] competition I'm really the lucky girl the day we need to present It's my wedding day So only three offers They do the presentation And when we won I remember in the Ikea holding my photo on the phone there we are going to have a formal round in March  [00:30:18] Edward: One more thing to add our IESE RP Roland Berger competition is the top -tier consulting competition consulting club is

responsible to organize and host this event this year it's quite special. We have Lilly get married on the same day but fortunately her team wins two or three days before the competition I'm asking professor Daniel what's the past record for the team of three to be in the global final and professor Daniel was saying that no team of three can wing this and you break  [00:31:02] Lily: this  [00:31:03] Edward: law Yeah you've made it the RB case is very competitive and this year we have 19 All of 120 people which is more than a quarter of the batch. And you only have 24 hours from the time you receive the deck to the time you deliver that back to me How can you guys do it So I'm very curious how you manage such a short amount of time  [00:31:34] Lily: I still have the polio turn we chat moment I pose a moment that I never worked soul I tell two or 3:00 AM and I had just left campers and took the full toll off the campus gate at home phone road And I said working hard is not special today is like a necessary today And this is the first time or really experience how consultant or I'm [00:32:00] not sure if they work like this every day tells 3:00 or 4:00 AM It's quite hard but I think we enjoy it And also in the key his seeing in the mountain and we got the video link and we discuss everything together and it's really nice  [00:32:20] Agnes: Yeah Basically it was the longest conference call the history because and Yaki was stuck in the hotel room with his girlfriend And that was on new year's Eve because the deck was given to us at eight o'clock on the  [00:32:36] Edward: eight o'clock at December 30th  [00:32:39] Agnes: Yeah We found that totally inhuman  [00:32:45] Edward: Whoa that's part of my fault but I already did my best this is another trade-off I would say this is a good memory for you  [00:32:54] Agnes: Yeah So I think the fortunate thing is that we can still finish that on time because the that line was at eight o'clock on 31st of December So we still have time to go home to have dinner and do the countdown with our friends So reflecting back on what we did I really thought that we had to stay overnight because there was only 24 hours to deliver a tack of solutions But we didn't have to because we have the teammate who deliver a really good strategy after a few rounds of discussion and rebuttal and defense et cetera to really iron out the details of the strategy what we need to do is just to get some rest and then come back on the next day to finish the deck and basically just throw in the words and put our ideas on the tech we felt quite confident about that because we have challenged each other and then those challenges either got defendant or we made changes accordingly So it seems quite [00:34:00] well thought through  [00:34:01] Edward: I remember Archie was also in the competition So what's your takeaways  [00:34:07] Archie: yeah we had a great time as well actually very similar to what Agnes and Lydia mentioned we got together Four

of us one of one of the guys was in Macau and so it was me and Zara and Rita we're here at school and it was just a lot of fun I think a very similar process to these guys but we spent most of the evening trying to work out what we wanted to say doing the research. It was an area that pretty much no one had any experience in across the whole year and I think the purpose of all of these is to put you under very pressured situations and see how you perform And when you do People really do show how they perform in those situations. It's probably the most useful picture you can get of someone's working style of anything to give you 24 hours of intensive work like that where really the task that you're being asked to do requires much more than 24 hours because if you're too comfortable then you won't really show what you're about And so only when you're in those pressures working situations does people's working styles come out and it was really interesting we had a lot of fun we were very happy with the final product and I don't know there must've been some problem with the marking system or something and must've been some corruption [00:35:26] one thing we haven't mentioned about CEIBS is W what I really enjoyed And wasn't really expecting as the amount of just sport. You can do teams team sports when you're working it's so difficult to organize things and just to take part in fun little activities And I'm by no means a an extremely good sports player but I'm playing football basketball once a week. We've got a tennis court here I think that for me has been a lot of fun And just taking part in things like this recording a podcast we recorded a a bitty bitty short video last term. And so there's just all sorts of fun little [00:36:00] things going on all the time and people getting involved in all sorts of things we've got two classmates who have already decided to set up a startup in the pork industry there's just all sorts of bizarre things happening but it's a lot of  [00:36:15] Agnes: yeah But coming back to the sport thing I do need to try to exercise more in the first term where the weather was too nice and not as cold as it is now I try to run in the morning And I really find that MBA students are okay But then the E MBA students to really take the morning jogging thing like a cult because the first time that I was waiting at the school gate for another friend to run together there were like 20 something MBA students or in their MBA uniforms or MBA jackets and lining up to run together So it was really a big game and a big habit Of branding in our school Okay so towards the end Maybe each of you can share your favorite slogan from a professor as CEIBS [00:37:12] Edward: Be proactive be calm  [00:37:15] Agnes: where does that come from?  [00:37:18] Archie: All I can think of is battler going guys You with me with me guys  [00:37:25] Agnes: How about you Lilly  [00:37:26] Lily: oh I remember John Franco all these different gestures is quite fun [00:37:32] Agnes: Joe Franco is our financial accounting professor in the first term He's Italian He's marvelously talented So he told us a lot of Italian gestures one each lesson  [00:37:45] Edward: I remember Five whys from park  [00:37:49] Agnes: Professor park is our professor of marketing She is very famous for drooling down the questions and always asking why why we give a [00:38:00] very generic answer but my personal favorite is Christine professor is slogan she's our data analytics professor she has a math background and she's always saying that whatever you can think of I can model it [00:38:22] Edward: Agnes also has a math background  [00:38:25] Agnes: Yeah I wish I have that confidence okay I have had good fun with you guys so thank you very much  [00:38:33] Archie: Thank you  [00:38:34] Agnes: Thank you See you next time