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.
Petra Cassandra BRÜGGEMANN from the 2021 BBA shared her story of participating in a reciprocal student program and coming to China, followed by studying at the Asia Europe Business School. At the Asia Europe Business School, she and her classmates organized and planned activities such as "French Soiree" and TEDxAEBS, and also joined the Student Union. Her motto is: never give up, embrace ideals, and be brave in action.
Most of us students here today probably came to China to study or for an exchange semester, but that was not the case for me. When I came to China I originally planned to stay here as an AuPair for 6 months, before going back to my hometown to study. At the start of this journey I could have never foreseen that I will be where I am right now.
I handled my nervousness by telling myself that I had the full 6 months planned, so what could possibly go wrong? Actually, nothing followed the plan. But that held a great opportunity for me to become the person I am today. After signing up for an AuPair program in late Autumn 2019 I arrived in Changsha in late January 2020. Excited to meet the family I will stay with for the next 6 months, and with a dream of getting to know the Chinese language and culture, I was eager to form new friendships and explore the city.
If you keep my arrival time in mind you can already assume that that didn’t go as planned. Instead the COVID-19 pandemic started and we all moved to the countryside. Being stripped of constant water supply and WiFi was the first unforeseen challenge this journey offered me. We celebrated Chinese new year there and stayed for about 2.5 months. This first challenge is still very impactful full for me because it really makes you value being able to take a warm shower and not needing to drown a duck in the morning for food later on.
Now you might think that our life is so much easier with technology. This is true, but only until your phone breaks. This might seem like a tiny challenge but did you ever try to buy a new phone in a foreign country without speaking the language? How do you find the store without Amap or Baidu? How do you communicate without translation app?
While make it to the shop by drawing the way on a piece of paper I quickly relished that u might not be lost in the city but definitely lost in translation. So I went back home, and wrote down the translations for everything I could possibly need. The next day, I tried again and succeeded. Once again I realized how technology simplifies our life’s.
After 6 months my time in Changsha was over, but my journey in China continued. One thing that didn’t continue was the validity of my passport. Instead of staying in Changsha and going back and forth to the embassy I decided to back my bags and move to Shanghai. While I had a place to stay for the first few days I had a lot in my ToDo list. I needed to find an apartment, apply for a new passport, get a new visa, a Chinese bank card, set up online payment which I wasn’t able to use before moving to Shanghai and so on. The time to figure out all these things was very limited. Nevertheless with good time management and self leadership I was able to navigate myself through these tasks successfully.
Fast forward to June 2021 I knew that I want to stay here, that I want to keep growing and that I am ready to navigate more unforeseen challenges.
I applied at AEBS shortly before the deadline. I signed up and passed IELTS within a week and finally started my studies at AEBS. Now I’m in my 3rd year, I’ve grown more and extended my personal leadership skills into group leadership in and outside of the classroom.
The first event I planned at AEBS was the "French soirée" last summer. Due to covid my class had less opportunities to connect and form intercultural friendships. The French evening aimed to bring students together before some of us went to France. With the help of a small team we made the best out of the given budget and time. After finding caterers, switching menus, organising decorations, activities and speeches everyone was happy about the great success. Even a year later, we enjoy the memories and friendships formed that night.
This amazing experience motivated me to lead the TEDxAEBS marketing department and to join the AEBS student union to create more positive impact for AEBS students.
Now I’m standing here today, thankful for the opportunities I took, things I’ve learned and connections I’ve made. Nevertheless, I am sure that this is just the beginning of a great journey ahead of me. Sleep with a dream, wake up with a purpose and live with action.
