Enjoy life

It's April already. This means that we have about 6 weeks remaining in our MBA. People have started to plan what they want to do for their last long break before they get on with their busy career. I wanted to get some advice from my mentor on what his thinks about this last long break since he was the same shoe as me years ago. And here is what he told me:

Ok, seriously, I say you should spend the time to see the world. I know you have been to many places, so see the world may have different meaning. If I have visited most places I'd like to see (like you), I would spend a whole month in a city I really like and live like a local. I will shop at farmer's market and learn local cooking. I will spend weekend at where the locals go. And I will take pictures and write notes to make sure every bit of experience is kept and remembered.

Alternatively, you can pick one thing you are interested in and make yourself a real expert (not McK type of expert). If you like ramen, you can travel through Japan and taste 100 top ramen in 10 cities in a month. If you like architecture, maybe you can wander across US or Europe or Japan and visit all the great architect works. If you like music, go follow the live tour of your favorite artists. Be a groupie. This is your last chance.

Or go scuba diving like crazy in some random islands. You will dive in same location for so many times that even fish there get to know you. But only when you do that you will see the details.Or follow a book you really like. Live the story, not just read the story.I can go on and on. The point is, you may want to build a "spike" at this moment. Go for depth, not breadth. It's not about how many cities you have visited on Facebook.

Be creative. Be crazy (take a train from London all the way to HK, for example). You can afford that (not just financially).Or maybe you are embarrassed about some really simple thing like you can't swim or can't ride a bike or can't cook. Then learn it.It's a luxury to have seen the world already before you start b-school. You should know much better about what you can do and want to do in the very last summer break. Don't waste it.

And last he told me to enjoy life.

Maybe the only way to live your life is to enjoy it.

L’elegance du herisson

I just finished reading the book L’elegance du herisson. This is a book about Parisians, Japanese culture, philosophy, wealthy people, beauty and kindness.The book reminded me of my past 4 months in Paris, where I was doing my exchange program. To be frank I barely studied at HEC. If you ask any of my friends back in college to describe me, they would probably say something like "discipline, determined and always strives for excellence" But at HEC I was a lazy student who likes to surf on the internet for cheap flight tickets, paintings of Van Dyke and definition of "avant-garde". I did whatever i felt I wanted to do, not what I think I should do. The change can be traced back to the first class I took at HEC…

The class is called intuitive intelligence and innovative leadership. Some people might think this kind of “soft skill” classes is too fluffy but for a person like me who is interested in psychology, the class is fascinating. The professor began the class with a little game. After the game he asked me how I felt about the game in front of 30 students:

Me: Well, I noticed that everyone has their own rhythm when they are playing the game so throughout the game I was trying to figure out their rhythms so we could win.

The professor: May I ask you, were you a consultant or a banker before MBA ?

Me: (amazed yet a bit embarrassed by how quickly he could see through me) : Yes, I used to be an analyst at a consulting firm. (Even worse, I was both if I counted my miserable summer experience..)

The Professor: I am not asking you what you were thinking when you play the game, I am asking you to share how you feel when you were playing the game.

Me: (OMG, OMG, OMG how did I feel? ) Well..... it’s weird because I felt both relaxing and uneasy at the same time.

The professor: (Smiling) In French there is a saying “ When John cries, John laughs. ” Theoretically speaking, it makes perfect sense for a person to experience contradictory feelings at the same time. What I find more interesting is how you described your own feeling. You said “It’s weird”. Do you notice that you were making a judgment and generalization about your feeling? and by doing so you are distancing yourself from your actual feeling and experience?

It wasn’t comfortable to be analyzed by the professor in front of 30 strangers but what he said had a deep impact on how I wanted to spend my precious 4 months in Paris. Instead of ”thinking ” what my exchange experience should be, I want to simply “feel” it. I know I cannot change the fact that I love to think and reflect but for the first time in my life I wanted something more than "trying to figure out why and how".

I wanted to be closer to my heart.

And I could not think of a place more beautiful and elegant than Paris for me to do so.

Just before the summer internship

Today is the last day of my summer vacation. Starting from tomorrow, I will be working 16 hours per week. I am less concerned about the specific skill that is required to do the job but worry more about how I will manage to make zero mistakes when I only have less than 5 hours of sleep per day. It may sound funny but for some reasons I find it hard to articulate to people why I had chosen investment banking for my summer. Perhaps it's the challenge? the money? the desire to go to PE post-MBA? my curiosity? or a little bit of everything?


Then a document saved me. While I was going through some old folders on my laptop, I found this career leader report that was analyzed for us before we came to Haas. It was very interesting to re-read it since it gave me a logical answer to my previous question: I chose it because it's pretty consistent with my interest. My #1 interest is " Influence Through Language and Ideas" so the report suggests that " sales is a natural fit for you. Deal-oriented financial-services positions may also appeal strongly to you if you also have an interest and some skill in Quantitative Analysis" Who knows, I might end up enjoying the hectic IB job


For whatever reason you decided to try something new, don't assume what your experience will like beforehand. Embrace it with an open mind and I am sure you will be fine in the end

The land of smile, massage and Tuk-Tuk

My summer trip to Thailand marked many of my “firsts” traveling experiences: It’s the first time traveling with just guys and no girls; first time no accommodation booked prior to the trip; first time not having a plan where to go on a daily basis; first time traveling with people I barely know before the trip and first time time traveling with non-Asian.

Initially I wasn’t too worried about it and was convinced that whatever comes to me, I will be able to adopt and deal with it. However, as each day passes by, I began to feel a little uncomfortable about the lack of planning and common topic between the 3 of us. ( The only common topic was Haas and we sure didn't want to talk about it on vacation) I decided to just take it easy and tried not let those thoughts bother me. One of my mentor once told me " If you feel frustrated, remember to lower your standard. " Except the fact that I insisted we fly to Chiang Mai instead of taking an overnight train, I pretty much just went with the flow.

Thailand is a place full of color. From its temple to its food, even the taxi cabs are in many colors: Green, pink, yellow, blue.. We did the touristy stuff such as visited the Grand Palace in Bangkok, rode the elephants in Chiang Mai and spent an afternoon at the Maya Bay in Phuket. We also experienced the out-of-ordinary things such as getting nearly attacked by a group of monkey, a set of tailored suit and several shirts in a tailor shop recommended by Nok and traditional Thai breakfast at Nok's house.

Although there were compromises and surprises, it turned out that we got along pretty well and I had a good time. In the land of smile, massage and tuk-tuk ( an unique type of taxi), I learned that

1. I hate lonely plant tour books ( I am already 29, backpacking? please..)

2. I prefer to get up and do things instead of just relaxing on the beach all day long for 3 days?

3. American culture is more on the rough side as described by my travel buddy

Here are some pictures on the best of Thailand

The land of massage and tuk-tuks

Imperfection makes the beauty

The way I think about my MBA experience is one that you need to focus more on your inner self rather than pursuing outer achievements. In the real world, it's so easy to get into the habit of evaluating what you've gained through a set of achievements (promotion, bigger bonus, higher title , recognized company brand etc) rather than through understanding how the experience has changed you into a better or stronger person. I suspect that if one doesn't fully understand what has made him/her achieved his/her goals, it would be hard for him/her to replicate the success. In my view MBA (particularly the Haas environment ) is a perfect environment for you to think about how all the extra-curriculum activities, study group discussions, group projects, speaker series and lectures have changed you. After all, MBA is a life changing experience. If you cannot articulate how the experience has changed you, you haven't open yourself up

Recently I was involved in the Challenge 4 Charity cheerleading competition. Before our final practice, we were taking things very easy and slowly. Initially I was a little frustrated at how uncommitted people were towards the practices and was beginning to regret that I signed up for the competition. But in the end we pulled everything together and I had a great time. We put our 100% effort during our performance and that was all it takes to be good enough.

I learned that although practice makes perfect, perfect doesn't make you happy. Imperfection is what makes everything funny, cute and beautiful

Watch our funny/cute cheer leading on you tube!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhJv39zg6P0

"We are here

It's clear

We are too good to stop

Charging in at full speed

Reaching to the top. Go Bears!"

Innovation and business

If you have the chance to browse through the recent business books there are many out there that talk about innovation. Innovation indeed has become a popular word in today's business world. However, a very famous retired marketing professor, David Aaker , recently gave a speech on innovation. He said "Innovation without branding reduces its potential business impact." His whole idea was that once you brand your innovation/technology, it won't matter if the competitor comes with a copy because you own it. In other words, branding allows the company to own the innovation. For example, Apple cannot claim they own the MP3 technology but they can certainly say that they own iPod (imagine what would happen if Apple did not brand this user-friendly MP3 player!) So here is the bottom line is: Competitor can copy the technology in a relatively short period of time but not the brand. Aaker's speech has led me to explore further the relationship between innovation and impact on business. The question I have in my mind is: How does innovation impact the way company does its business? As my marketing professor, Rashi Glazer, have once said: Innovative technology might have provided new solutions to the customer but it has not changed the fundamental business question: What is the core benefit that your innovative technology is providing to the customer? What problem are you trying to help the customer solve with your new technology?

Once again, I am convinced that technology is not the answer to the business question, the passion to improve human being's life is.