On traveling-...

While I was going through my old files today, I found this note that I wrote on my south american trip last summer....

I like the way we travel- immersed in the experience by learning the language, dancing to local music and meeting local people. Traveling to me is no longer about sightseeing..it's about understanding the culture through engaging the things that I enjoy. ( in the process I realized how bad I am in learning a new language and how much practice I need to be good at dancing)

I like the conversation we have- on marriage, life, relationship, family and self-confidence. I think I learned more about marriage than I ever did. I know that no matter how happily married you are (and to be quite frank, no one can say they are really happily married..), there are times you will be hurt, unsatisfied and bored with the daily routine. Also, how important it is that you share common interest with the other person so you two can have fun together. Moreover how important your spouse's family impact your marriage. I also came to become a bit more clear about my attitude towards marriage.

As much as I enjoy other people's company, I came to realize that at times I like to have some time to myself. I need to reflect on how I am influenced by my surroundings.

I am getting used to "not planning in advance" and relaxing as much as I can during traveling. Sometimes you will need faith to believe that good things will happen to you. You need to let opportunities enter your life and I realized that having a little faith will go a long way..I will always remember the Casa Sweety example.

I hope I am not addicted to coffee. I've tasted one of the best coffee in my life..I love the smell, the awakening taste, the bitterness and the good smell of the fresh milk. they continue to make me energetic and happy. And the coffee in Bogota are better than those in Paris ( and cheaper prices too). How can anyone in Bogota not addicted to coffee?

I am not sure if I fully believe that the only things that matter in life is your relationship with others, although I am open and delighted by meeting new people during the trip:

Gustov and Nelson are my two first private Salsa teachers. I know they are far from the best salsa teachers but they will always have a special place in my heart since they are the ones who brought the world of Salsa to me

Andres is a mysterious guy who we met in Cali. We were confused with his motives to hang out with us and still a bit angry that we had to pay for US$25 for the cab ride. I think this experience, our standard toward guys changed..as long as the person pays, we think he is cool..That is so wrong..and yeah, I had the most "too much/too close" dancing experience in the club that Andres took us

Carlos is my Salsa teacher at Cali. We had two hours of Salsa each day for three days. He is by far the best Salsa teacher that I had during the trip. Not only he dances well, he knows how to teach. I also loved our dancing studio in Cali. It's simple, and hot at times but I love the full length mirror and watching little kids stretching and practicing their moves

Esmeralda and Andreas: A passionate couple who taught us 6 classes of Merangue, Cuban Salsa and hip-hop. We love to discuss their relationship- How cute Andreas is, How dominant Esmeralda is and how Esmeralda must have been the best thing that ever happened to Andreas. Later we found out how wrong we were and how romantic their relationship must be. Although Shikha and I are still skeptical about their relationship, I cannot help thinking how crazy Andreas must have been and how much courage is required for their relationship to work. I like Esmeralda in so many ways, she is confident, attractive, strong, smart and knows how to have a good time.

Leo and Omar: Two local “musicians” who we met in Cartagena. They could barely speak a word of English. I think they must have thought I was very dumb and boring since I barely speak when we hang out with them. I try to understand the conversion but often I end up wondering stupid things such as why my good friend broke his promise to see us

Tor and Ben: Two Harvard law school student that we meet when we went to Tu Candela in Cartagena. We re-connected and went out for dinner several time when we traveled back to Bogota. Tor reminded me of the "Karl when he was in colleague" for some reason- tall& thin, a bit sentimental, uptight, clean, nerdy.

Reading this little note brough back so many memories and also reminded me how much I want to travel again..

Salsa passion

Hi Ivan,

First of all, Happy Chinese New Years to you and your family. I love the family picture on your facebook profile. It seems you are really enjoying your time with your two kids :-)

Secondly, some news from my side. I re-joined McKinsey ( for the second time) about a month ago. I was really not looking forward to it but at the same time I can't help feeling excited about another year of growth and development. My current project is a somewhat challenging but I am sure I will be fine if I continue to be open, inspiring and focused.

Last but not the least, I want to take this opportunity to thank you for the great advice you gave me when I asked you what I should do for my post-MBA trip. You said whatever I decided to do, I should go for depth, not breath. I took the advice and began to pursuit my love for dancing- I started to take Salsa lessons in Mexico, then in Columbia (where I met the amazing couple Esmeralda and Andreas) , and back in Taipei and Singapore. I feel happy that I am able to fulfill my childhood desire of dancing, and on top of that, made some friends along the way. It's hard to describe why I enjoy dancing so much.- perhaps it's the attention you get when you dace well, or it's how relaxed/sexy you feel when you immerse yourself with the romantic Latin music, or maybe it's just realizing how much I need to improve in trusting others... Whatever it is, I just know that when I dance, all the trouble seems to go away.

It's a great feeling.

No matter how much work takes up my time. I will never stop dancing

(my first new year resolution)

My Haas profile

My profile has been up on the Haas full-time program web page for more than a month now. Since then I've received questions from prospective applicants over the linkedIn. It's exciting to know that there are people out there who are proactive enough to reach out and then share their career goals with me so passionately. At the same time, I also thank them for their insightful questions and for allowing me to share my Haas experience.

Q: What is your most unique learning experience during the two years at Haas?
A: Unlike some of my classmates, I was fortunate to be exposed to various business project as a business analyst so the formal academic/business/student project learning experience was not as "unique" to me. What I find to be the most unique experience is rather personal and intimate-It was the intuitive leadership class I took while I was on my exchange program at HEC, Paris. It made me realized that I still lack much of the the "soft skills" of a good leader. And in order to be better at the"soft skills". I need to "feel" ( as oppose to "think") more by stop being judgemental to my own feelings.


Q: If I had chosen another school for MBA, what would I have missed the most in Haas?
A: I would have missed the entrepreneur spirit and atmosphere. At Haas, everyone is encouraged to take risk and pursue their own success. I never felt there was a "mainstream" nor "majority" field of focus. I never felt awkward or uneasy when I shared my career passion with my classmates. It's still a competitive place where we still strive for excellence but we don't compare . Because of this strong culture, I am now much more open to other perspectives both in my professional and personal life.

How has my MBA changed the way I work?

This is a very serious topic. Because if the answer is no, I wonder what I had been doing in the past two year and why I spent all my money

During the first week of work, I had a strange feeling that the past two years had been a dream. Everything about the office remain pretty much the same: The blue carpet, our receptionist Audrey, the sofa at the pentry, the breath-taking view of the Taipei from the office, and the most helpful IT in the world-Terry. I tried so hard to recall the first day of my MBA yet that day seemed even further away than the last day of my analyst years at McKinsey. It was the first time that I felt my MBA was truly over. I felt sad and scared. I wasn't sure how my two years at Berkeley has helped me become a better associate or a more effective leader.

Something must have changed...
..I must have changed...
But what is it?

And then after one project, I realized that the reason why I don't have the answer to this question is because it was the wrong question to ask. Maybe my MBA hasn't trained me to become the most effective McKinsey associate, but it certainly has taught me something way beyond my career: It simply changed the way I think about my life. I learned to accept things that I cannot change and have more couarge to change the things that matter to me. I know it will take practice before I have the wisdom to know the differernce between the two but I will remain open to this journey

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.