On April 22nd, the "Unlimited Future, Boundless Imagination, Sino-France Innovative Leadership Speech Contest", organized by the Asia Europe Business School of East China Normal University and emlyon business school, was successfully held in the Meng Liu Auditorium of East China Normal University (Putuo Campus). More than 30 students from Asia Europe Business School and exchange students from emlyon business school jointly participated. Isabelle HUAULT, Executive President and Dean of emlyon business school, Nicolas PEJOUT, Executive Vice President and Executive Board Member of emlyon business school, William Hua WANG, Associate Dean of emlyon business school, Dean of emlyon business school Asia, Meixu HUANG, Director of the International Education Center of East China Normal University, Jiaxun HE, Chinese Dean of Asia Europe Business School, Nikola ZIVLAK, Academic Director of the undergraduate and master Programs of emlyon business school Asia, and Joniko CAO, Direct of Asia Recuitment & Operation of emlyon business school attended the event. The speech competition was judged by Meixu HUANG, Director of the International Education Center of East China Normal University, Sai LAN, Associate Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Management at emlyon business school, and Wenting CHEN, Secretary of International Affairs of Asia Europe Business School. It was hosted by Huangjie ZHENG, a 2023 HEBM student.
The Asia Europe Business School was co-founded by East China Normal University and emlyon business school in June 2015. Since its establishment, it has not only made significant contributions to academic and cultural exchanges between the two schools, but also become a shining gem in international exchanges between China and France. Holding this innovative leadership speech contest on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France is a good opportunity to showcase the charm of students under cultural integration, and also provides students with opportunities to strengthen mutual communication and understanding.
Hereby，the script for the speech of the winner is published as follows，and we hope the innovative leadership practice would inspire all students, exercise themselves in various activities such as speech contest, as well as the way of thinking.
Keqin LIU from the 2023 BBA shared her story on cross-cultural cooperation. She believes that becoming a leader means inspiring the potential of others and considering the overall interests of the team. She shared an experience of cross-cultural group collaboration, which prompted her to start thinking about how to handle conflicts caused by cultural differences as a leader. She firmly believes that no one is born with leadership skills, but needs to constantly learn and improve in daily life.
2 years ago, I was the head prefect of my secondary school. What I thought my life as the head prefect would be, was being that most popular girl at school, having hundreds of followers on my Instagram account, and being the representative of my school during important events, such as the joint school high table dinner. What I did not expect was the countless of meetings I have to hold when preparing for events, endless logistics and the numerous phone calls I have to make with teachers from different departments.
It is from this experience that I learned the word “leadership”, and being a leader isn’t as easy as it sounds like. Its not only about holding a position of authority, demanding those in the lower levels to work for you, assigning any jobs to them. It is about motivating the others, inspiring them to achieve their fullest potential, fostering collaborations between different individuals, and aiming the very best for the group as a whole.
In the interconnected world today, the importance of cross-cultural leadership cannot be understated, and I just realized this a few months ago when I was doing a group project. There were a few international students and a few Chinese students. After the allocation of work, the international students asked whether we can find a fixed time every day to work on the project together, so that the communication between all the group members can be facilitated, and this was what they have done during their past years in their home country. However, the Chinese students believed this would only lower their work efficiency and they prefer to complete the project bit by bit during their free time.
As the group leader, it was a very difficult decision to make, how can I balance the opinions between the two sides and make everyone happy when the major contributing factor is due to the difference in the culture and education, we have been exposed to in our past 18 years of lives?
This project really highlighted to me the importance of cross-cultural leadership, and I am exposed to new perspectives, new methods of cooperation and ways of thinking.
In the current world today, working with people from diverse cultural backgrounds are unpreventable, and that is when cross cultural leadership steps in, cultivating the individual’s open-mindedness, adaptability, empathy, and most importantly the communications skills, how can we accurately deliver our thoughts and opinions, to communicate with clarity and sensitivity, to bridge the cultural gap, build trust and foster collaborations across borders. Also having the willingness to stand out and make the final decision.
In my belief, there is no thing as a born leader, it is through the daily life practices that these leadership skills slowly form and develop, it is a journey of continuous learning and growth. Cross cultural international exchange serves as a strong catalyst in this journey, which is exactly what our school, the Asian Europe Business School is providing for us right now, the valuable opportunity to be able to cooperate and communicate with people from diverse regions on Earth in the 4 years of our university journey.
Let us embrace and be grateful for the golden opportunity our school and professors have provided for us, and strive to become visionary leaders of the future. Thank you!
