3 lessons that I learned at my MBA Orientation.
28th Aug marks the calendar as my Day 1 @ HKU — MBA. It was the Orientation day, and for the first time, I saw an event invite which said 9.30 am (Sharp). Time is precious and having that discipline to show up precisely on time is essential for MBA candidates.
I walked in on time at the Renaissance Harbour View Hotel all dressed up.
A lot of credit has to go to HK Government for managing the Covid-19 so well, we were able to attend this in-person event and exchange smiles with 120 MBA admits of HKU this year.
Our Dean and Programme Director welcomes us to the HKU family. I feel so proud to be part of a batch where we have ppl from all walks of life join this program.
They asked us to remember these 3 magical worlds and make them part of our MBA journey:
- Ownership: Take ownership in life and at work. Be responsible and stay there to help others and achieve the desired outcomes. No matter how tough things get, stay strong and lead.
- Accountability: Fulfill your obligations. Own your actions.
- Fun: Be adventurous, get out of your comfort zone to try out new things, widen your networks, learn, share & smile
No matter how intense and challenging my program gets, I promised to take Ownership, Accountability and have fun in my MBA journey.
We heard some beautiful, inspiring stories, one that stuck with me was about handling adversity. So there was an egg, a carrot and coffee beans.
They were all set in different containers with water to boil. After few mins we see:
> The hard carrot had softened.
> Soft egg had got harder
> Coffee beans become coffee giving it an aromatic flavor
The moral of the story is, we have the choice to let adversities get us, or we can come out of it much more robust and more thoughtful.
We had our Networking lunch. If you ask me — my classmates are much more colorful, sweeter, and exciting than these desserts that I had :)
We jumped straight into the team-building workshop. My team was as diverse as it could get :) We had a Dentist, Ex-pilot, Finance, PR, Scientist, Engineers putting our heads together to accomplish a project together.
We demonstrated excellent coordination, leadership, and execution as a team.
So proud of my team as we gain 5k+ points, which will help few kids in Nepal get to school. With the support of all the team, we managed to get 162K points in total; as a result, 82 Kids can now go to school.
In life, we create limitations and little rules for ourselves. As a leader, it is imperative to be aware of this tendency and to overcome self-made constraints.
I can go on and on and share everything else I learned that day about teamwork and approaching challenges. But one of the big takeaways I would like to leave you with is this: Everyone’s MBA journey is different; Life will surprise you, it will challenge you, and it will change you.
