N.Depoorter:Those who keep learning will keep rising in life 原创 欢迎萌新的 北京大学光华管理学院

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在近日北京大学光华管理学院2021年开学典礼上，高级管理人员工商管理硕士新生代表Nicolas Depoorter分享了对燕园生活的憧憬和对求学之旅的规划，以下为发言全文。

Today is a memorable day for me: I am entering a new family. I feel very honored, proud and excited to have been selected to enter the Guanghua School of Management.

Entering the Guanghua-Kellogg EMBA is an honor and it might surprise you, but not every person thinks that way!

Being French with a PhD in mechanics, having worked 20 years in several countries for the Bosch Group, the biggest automotive supplier in the world, some believe I really don’t need an MBA. They told me: “You are experienced enough”, or “Have you ever thought all you could buy for the cost?”

By looking into our business environment, I would like to share why I believe on the contrary that I need an MBA and why I chose that program.

1. Firstly, the business world is dominated by 2 superpowers: the US and China.

The US is still the biggest economy and leads in the academic business field.

Personally, I am currently lacking global business knowhow, and if I want to understand business at its core, I need to understand the American view on it.

Kellogg, recently nominated the best business school in the US, is one of the reasons why I chose this program.

With its unprecedented economic growth in human history, China is on the way to becoming the biggest economy in the world. A leader cannot ignore China, and after 4 years, I still don‘t really grasp how the business works here.

What place would be better to understand the complexity of China than the Guanghua School of Management?

Having the possibility to learn from distinguished professors, who are even helping to shape China’s newest policies: this is definitely a unique chance, which is unmatched by other programs. This is the main reason why I was so motivated to enter Guanghua.

2. Secondly, our world is changing at an accelerated speed, driven by several mega trends, like: Globalization, Trade wars, disruptive technologies, new business models, digitalization, …

Clearly, the world is having more and more Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity. We call it VUCA. In such a chaotic environment, a person alone cannot be smart enough to understand it, no matter how deep his experience is.

The only way is to keep open and exchanging regularly with different people from different backgrounds. Learning and networking are crucial nowadays.

This program offers opportunities for lifelong learning and connects us to a huge network spread over various industries and expertise.

In our VUCA world, this is an outstanding and priceless advantage.

Looking back now, do I really need an MBA?

Clearly yes, but not any MBA. I needed the Guanghua-Kellogg EMBA, as this unique program will provide us the key enablers to be global leaders, fit for the future.

If being admitted to this MBA is a great honor, as responsible leaders, we must be aware of the chance that we have and be ready to give back to society.

We have to contribute to a better world by our ideas and actions, by caring about people and bridging different cultures.

As an example, I wish we could create together meaningful projects, to impact positively people’s life and fight against bias, while using our new learnings.

Charlie Munger once said, “Those who keep learning will keep rising in life”.Being here today is definitely the right choice, and I am looking forward to meeting and learning from you all, so that we can together keep rising in life.

Thank you!

原标题：《N.Depoorter:Those who keep learning will keep rising in life》