Carlson Scholar·10 — CHEMBA13班 Arrigo VACCARI

【学生感想】

The importance of motivation.

My line of work is in the aviation business since almost three decades, in the specific I am part of the support organization after sale for one of the largest aircraft manufacturers in the world: Airbus. My position requires to manage engineers team aimed to instruct and assist airlines operators to ensure the safely, efficient and economic utilization of their aircraft fleet. Representing my company abroad, my activity has the peculiarity to give the opportunity to live in different countries all over the world hence to get in contact with large number of persons different by culture, languages and faiths but having in common professionalism and passion for their job.
My studies had mainly a technical-scienific matrix with additional skills coming from an aircraft Pilot and Flight Engineer formation, but by the years and the fast evolution of my role in aviation, I started to be exposed to much more complex interrelations existing among the different business models flourishing around the airlines activities.

This condition had maturated in me the necessity to deeper understand the complex international environment in which I daily interact and have better competencies to communicate with expert interlocutors also in the fields of finance, business strategy, marketing management and more. It has been evident that the only path to take was the one of moving forward leaving my comfort zone and learn new knowledges on a professional as well as personal level. The opportunity arrived on the 2012.

Our support office in China Southern Airlines (The second biggest airlines in China) is located in Guangzhou, and I was assigned to manage it. There was a chance that I could rent an apartment situated along the Pearl River on the riverside opposite to the Sun Yat-sen University campus. Thinking now about it I can say that it was probably the view of those students walking around, which brought back memories of my old times as Italian student; the decision to go back to school and accomplish my desire finally became more concrete. It made a lot of sense the famous Napoleon Hill quote “Your big opportunity may be right where you are now”!

Hence I started to look for suitable programs taught on that university; possibly compatible with my job in terms of: time engagement, kind of degree and obviously language (English). The CHEMBA, co-taught by faculty appointed from the Carlson School of Management (UoM) and by Lingnan(University) College (Yat-Sen University) was the answer to my expectation: an Executive MBA in English just beside my place!

So I plunged myself into the preparation for the selection and I successfully passed each steps until (I vividly remember) the day I received the letter from Carlson School about my enrolment to the class 2013-2015 of the EMBA.
The followed two years are among the most intense period of my last 30 years of life and this is said by someone that has worked in more than 10 different countries under lots of different situations and working environments! The seventeen exams that are the CHEMBA program backbone require in terms of time, dedication and mental activity all your motivation and willpower. Hard yes, but after all “no pain no gain”. You realize that it should be this way to appreciate the high value of our degree with his enormous baggage of knowledges, a kind of sacrifice that makes you proud to have achieved it.

If I have to give a flash of what is still impress in my memories about my time in CHEMBA I would say:

I have appreciated and loved the learning formula which is key for the EMBA course; basically the heterogeneous of work and life experiences of the different group of peers; gives the unique opportunity to observe and approach all the class themes of discussion from very different stand points. This is the absolute plus that a curriculum of studies like CHEMBA gives to you. During our class discussions on the readings of cases based on real issue encountered by worldwide organizations or when we were carrying out group assignments, each of us were happy to bring in our own experience that enlighten our minds developing our analytic thinking and forging genuine open minds.

The values of the CHEMBA are based on strong foundations, this course of studies have been among the first international joint EMBA programs to be approved and recognized by the Chinese Government. This pedigree associate to the dynamism to tailor his teaching methods to the fast evolution of our society during all these years, are the reason that makes this degree excellence, and still favorite choice of most of Chinese new generations of managers and entrepreneurs.

The outstanding level of preparation and engagement of every single of our professors, alternatively from University of Minnesota or from Yat-Sen University. They have accompanied our class all along the intense weekends of study and the timeless constructive in-class discussions, this has been indubitably the source of motivation for me and my classmate to succeed. Personally I’ve appreciated their holistic approach to the study of disciplines like: economics, finance, business and operation management proving that, only considering them intimal interconnected, we can master those knowledges to understand our technological, political and social evolutionary times. A formidable tool to be competitive in our jobs and ultimately in our lives too.

The global virtual team project (VTP), another great experience. In times when virtual meetings between group of persons was not such as usual as today due to the pandemics restrictions, we got the experience to create our final project by teamwork virtually interacting across nations: Guangzhou in China, Vienna in Europe and Minneapolis in America. We were able to physically meet our peers only during the USA residency, when we finalize and presented to our fellow students, our business plan. A great instructive and intercultural experience. 

I mentioned the periods of residence: the first was in Vienna and later in Minneapolis. Unmatched times of learning, in spite of my long experience of living abroad, the opportunity to visit so many different companies as a high level university student, it gaves me the privilege to attend presentations performed by different inspiring executive managers introducing the Companies where they operate different business models. This has outmost enhanced the quality of my experience. 

Among the main souvenirs how do not spend words about my class? Just few adjectives immediately comes to my mind: unbelievable smart, highly educated, knowledgeable and even funny group of people I ever had been part of! In spite of the fact that we were only three foreigns among a whole class of native Chinese, since the first day of our teambuilding “orientation” initial week, a special feeling has triggered among us. We felt part of a community, which has accompanied us all along the intense journey of our studies till today that, despite our busy lives, we are still keeping in touch. Nevertheless we all are part of the Alma Mater alumni family. 

Carlson School of management Scholar title. 
I had genuine enjoyment by studying in the CHEMBA XIII program, learning through the many different subjects, some of them really new for me and somehow abstract. I was not really keeping record of the grades received for every exams but I just considered a personal achievement the fact that have been able to pass them! Therefore it caught me by surprise when firstly I was appointed by the Lingnan College “best EMBA student of the year 2013-2014”, and later, at the end of two years of coursework, when I received the letter from Prof. Sri Zaheer, Carlson School Dean. It was with the congratulation to be at the top rank of my class thanks to the high grade earned and therefore privileged to be counted as a Carlson School Scholar (yellow cord over the gown).

The student life flies away fast but what you earned from it remains forever. As soon as finished the entire courses you realize to have a new confidence in yourself that have straightened the consciousness to be able to face any professional challenges even giving the opportunity for many of us, to explore new career as entrepreneur. This is, in my opinion the most tangible sign of the value of CHEMBA program, whatever would be the course of one’s professional life. 

To close this brief excursus of impressions, I would like to recall for the good of my CHEMBA XIII fellows, the three main messages conveyed by the speech of the honor guest at the end of our 2015 class graduation ceremony in Minneapolis. Those worlds were pronounced by the Chairman of Wells Fargo Bank, three sentences that describe in fine words some meaningful and timeless life advices:
-Do not be afraid of the changes but embrace them as opportunities. 
-Stay in love with learning all along your life.
-Invest in yourself.