Kenneth Yang, GMBA Class of 2018

This year’s installment of the Tsinghua Global MBA Alumni Mentorship Program (“AMP”) officially began on October 17, 2016. Following the immense efforts of the Tsinghua MBA Office, 57 alumni mentors from a wide range of backgrounds and industries had selflessly agreed to dedicate themselves to sharing their knowledge, experiences, and insights with the Tsinghua Global MBA Class of 2018. For a class of 101 students, the number of committed alumni mentors this year represented an impressive ratio of less than two students per alumni mentor.

The AMP adheres to core concepts of “sharing, inheritance, and win-win.” The program is designed to help students in learning and career development as well as to provide alumni opportunities for sharing alma mater resources by inviting MBA alumni to act as mentors for MBA students. In addition to developing a relationship with an alumnus or alumna in their field of interest, students can also receive technical advice on interviewing and résumé-writing along with career guidance to help them envision an achievable career trajectory and manage career transitions. After nine years of development, the AMP has logged an impressive 1,100 alumni and 3,200 student participants, and the program continues to play a key role in learning and career development for Tsinghua MBA students.

As Chinese New Year approached in 2017, the AMP closed the first semester of the 2016-17 school year with 13 events, including formal speaking events, a company site visit, and informal gatherings. These large and small events saw more than 200 students in attendance and helped connect many students in the Global MBA Class of 2018 with our alumni mentors.

New AMP Format                                      

The 2016-17 academic year marked the launching of a new experimental format for the AMP that was different from past iterations. The new format aimed to create an environment in which students and alumni mentors had more freedom to self-match in initiating a mentoring relationship. Based on industry backgrounds, the AMP grouped the alumni mentors into five different groups, allowing each student to join up to two groups based on his or her personal and career interests.

Student leaders from each industry group and AMP representatives then arranged optional activities with the alumni mentors, affording both sides opportunities to connect in a relatively organic fashion over industry discussions, career sharing and counseling, project cooperation opportunities, business visits, professional skills training, and formal lectures.

Kick-Off Event

On November 12, 2016, a majority of the alumni mentors attended the formal kick-off event to introduce themselves to the new GMBA class. The event was hosted by 2016 GMBA class alumni relations representatives Kaifu Han and Kenneth Yang, who introduced the new AMP matching opportunities and expectations for both students and alumni mentors.

 

Kick-Off Event Student Hosts.

Alumni mentors were placed into five groups based on industry background: two separate PE-VC groups, General Finance, TMT, and Other Industries. Each alumni mentor gave a brief two-minute introduction for all attendees. Several alumni mentors shared fascinating stories that filled the auditorium with laughter and offered salient personal insights.

 

Alumni Mentors and Students.

At the conclusion of the event, students signed up for groups according to their personal interests and based on the most compelling introductions. Many students stayed behind to have further discussions with the alumni mentors and to start building future mentor relationships.

Kick-Off Event Group Picture.

Formal Lecture Series

Over the first few months of the school year, the AMP arranged five lectures from six alumni mentors that covered a variety of topics ranging from private equity to healthcare. We are tremendously grateful to each of the alumni mentors who dedicated themselves to preparing for the speaking engagements and sharing their wealth of knowledge with the GMBA class.

The AMP lecture series started off strong with our first speaker, Cynthia Cai (蔡小嘉), sharing with more than 30 students her personal experience of making the transition from an engineer to businesswoman. Her talk especially touched a number of our female classmates in attendance as she candidly and openly discussed the difficulties that women face in the workplace and offered some strategies for women to increase their chances of success. She also shared the challenges that she faced as a Chinese female professional in a white, male-dominated industry. She credits her positive outlook and persistence in the face of adversity for her success today.

 

Students Engage In Conversation with Alumni Speaker Cynthia Cai.

The series followed a great start from Ms. Cai with an insightful lecture into the venture capital and private equity industry from another distinguished alumni mentor, Tong Yu (于彤). She was gracious to take time from her busy schedule during a business trip to Beijing to share her experiences in the industry with our class. She presented the detailed inner workings of each of the different functions of the investment process, from the angel investment round all the way through to project exits. In addition, Ms. Yu highlighted the importance of finding a function that suits the personality of the individual. Since there are many different functions that require different skill sets and personalities, joining the industry does not exclude specific types of people. Everyone has a place in the industry; the critical question is that of discovering what suits you; this, in turn, she suggested, will translate into a higher chance of long-term success.

Ms. Yu encouraged our classmates to pursue a career in investment, noting that the industry is always looking for talent in this fast-changing environment. She stressed that banking or consulting is an unnecessary prerequisite before joining the industry, recommending getting one’s foot in the door and working hard to learn everything possible when accepted.

 

Group Picture After Speaking Event with Ms. Yu Tong.

Alumni mentor Yong Zhang (章勇), based in Hong Kong, visited on December 20, 2016. He shared his personal experiences and insights from the investment banking industry, advocating the pursuit of a career in the industry.

 

Alumni Mentor Zhang Yong Sharing His Personal Experience and Insights.

On December 22, 2016, two of our alumni mentors from the healthcare industry, Rui Pang (庞瑞) and Meng Liang Wang (王梦良), held a joint discussion panel on the state of the healthcare industry in China. Mr. Wang gave a detailed overview of the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries, complete with concrete statistics, detailed explanation of the current regulatory situation, insights on profit generation, and a future industry outlook. Coming from a media background with specialization in the healthcare industry, Mr. Pang held a lively discussion on branding and marketing strategy for the industries and dissected a few well-known cases with the participants to demonstrate the role of public relations in the healthcare industry.

 

 

Group Picture After the Healthcare Industry Discussion Panel.

The formal speaking series closed strong with alumni mentor Tao Zhang (张涛), who held a large information session on the topic of mergers and acquisitions on January 2, 2017. Mr. Zhang shared two real-life acquisition cases with over 40 students in attendance. During the session, our fellow classmates learned the inner workings of the actual deals as well as strategic considerations from behind the scenes. The informative session gave students insight into the nuts and bolts of a real megadeal.

 

Alumni Mentor 张涛 Sharing with a Full Classroom.

Site Visit

Company visits are valuable experiences for students to gain exposure to the internal mechanisms of different industries. No matter how brief that exposure is, it can nonetheless be a source of deep insight about the company and the industry. For example, a manufacturing sector visit can offer a glimpse into different processes, machines, and best practices. Site visits also provide opportunities to interact with company employees and managers and prove especially useful for students who wish to pursue related careers.

On November 25, 2016, alumni mentor Ning Yang (杨宁), together with the Tsinghua MBA Office and Tsinghua Career Development Center, organized a site tour of the General Electric (GE) Beijing Technology Park. Thirty-three Global MBA students were invited to join the tour where the participants were given a window into state-of-the-art research facilities and equipment.

 

Global MBA Group Picture at GE Beijing Technology Park.

In addition to the tour, GE Tsinghua alumni held six informational lectures for students. The lectures covered an overview of existing businesses and the newest developments in aerospace and medicine within GE.

 

Information Session at GE for Visiting Tsinghua MBA Students.

The site visits concluding the first semester included not only established firms like GE but also technology startups like Chumen Wenwen (出门问问). Led by alumni mentor Xin Liu (刘昕), 20 students attended the visit to Chumen Wenwen, which translates to, “go out and ask around.” The company is a rising startup specializing in AI speech recognition and voice search. Participants were able to get a glimpse into how a startup functions in the cutting-edge technology sector.

 

 

Alumni Mentor Xin Liu invited 20 students to visit Chumen Wenwen on December 16, 2016.

 

Students Listening Intently to the AI Demonstration.

Informal Gatherings

Small and informal gatherings presented another great venue for building meaningful connections. Throughout the first semester, many alumni mentors arranged intimate lunch and dinner gatherings with students from their respective industry groups. Although the gatherings were informal, the alumni mentors shared personal experiences and deep industry knowledge with those who attended.

 

 

Lunch Gathering with Alumni Mentor Xu Zheng (许挣) on November 12, 2016.

 

Dinner Gathering with Alumni Mentor Xu Shao Bo (许少波) on December 23, 2016.

 

Lunch Gathering with Alumni Mentor Dai Yong ( 戴永) on December 4, 2016.

 

Dinner Gathering with Alumni Mentor Liu Ji Lou (刘继楼) on December 11, 2016.

 

Lunch Gathering with Alumni Mentor Wu Qiang (吴强) on January 2, 2017.

Conclusion and Outlook

The Fall 2016 semester marked the launch of the new AMP selection process, and we have witnessed a tremendous amount of activity between alumni mentors and GMBA students throughout the semester. The exchanges took various forms that included formal lectures, panel discussions, site visits, and private lunch and dinner gatherings. The entire first-year GMBA cohort was grateful for the commitments that our alumni mentors demonstrated and the meaningful mentor relationships that resulted. The abundance of resources that Tsinghua provides is remarkable, and we are fortunate to have a caring and passionate MBA staff working tirelessly to make the AMP a reality.

Moving forward to the second semester and into the second year of our MBA journey, the AMP will continue to arrange activities with alumni mentors to offer our class increasing opportunities to get to know our alumni mentors. Ultimately, we hope to further strengthen the AMP for future Tsinghua MBA classes. The AMP mission is to encourage and cultivate strong relationships between alumni mentors and students, and I have been encouraged to see efforts from classmates and alumni participants alike demonstrating that we are on the right track to achieve that mission.