Sam Lakha, Manager, Volans Outreach.
Commencement: End of One Journey, Starting Point of Another
Back in the USA after my internship with Volans, I was delighted this week to have received an amazing amount of curious enthusiasm from the audience after my oral defence of my MBA thesis. This focused on the sustainability and social entrepreneurship agendas, seen through the lens of microinsurance.
Having attended various business classes for over a year, I had been slightly on edge about my topic being “peculiar”. And it was, to some degree, very different from the topics chosen by many of my fellow classmates, most of whom were discussing specific areas such as marketing or operation management, their presentations full of matrices, economic assumptions and scenario planning on profits and losses.
Looking back, I had come to the MBA course largely hoping to become more “grounded” in business, but ended up on a quite unexpected trajectory.
The Pareto Law, I now see, applies with considerable force here. For me, at least, the learning that will have the most lasting impact has been condensed in a single course, around leadership and sustainability development. Of the 15 months of the program, the richest learning period was my 3-month Volans journey, where the pivotal moment happened when I met John. At the same time, all the small and seemingly irrelevant questions about the world’s future, the role of business, and the role of myself, which once had lurked somewhere at the back of my head, will now powerfully shape my future objectives and direction.
I do not mean to understate the value of courses such as Accounting (taught in the USA) and Marketing (taught in France), where – in both cases - I happened to top the class. However, at its best, business education can have a more profound impact, touching the mind and heart of future leaders.
As the Irish poet Yeats put it, education – again at its best - is not so much the filling of a bucket, but the lighting of a fire. Hopefully the fire fed at the business schools – despite the gloom of the economic downturn – will fuel inspiration, ignite entrepreneurial spirits, and spark the sort of creativity that equips business talents to push the boundaries and tackle wider societal agendas.
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2009/12/commencement-end-of-one-journey-starting-point-of-another/.
- Jieying ZhengFormer Chinese Google CEO’s innovative cluster attracts 40,000 applicants
Dr. Lee Kai-Fu has left Google China, with the ambition of launching an innovation incubator –Innovation Works (创新工厂)– with the backing of top IT executives and investors, including the CEO of Youtube China, and the President of Lenovo. Dr. Lee said he has already received over 40,000 job applications.
‘Innovation clusters’ come to mind. In a recent conversation with Tim Bunch, Investment Director of Omidyar Network in the US, clusters, like Silicon Valley, which create a development pole for certain industries, play a central role in accelerating the emergence of experimental cultures and innovation support.
No doubt, if there is something to be learned about innovation clusters, China will learn it fast. But key to this development is whether and how China will use innovation clusters to tackle some of the most complex challenges it faces in areas such as energy and climate, food and population growth, and cities.
Dr. Lee’s ambition with Innovative Works is to “empower world-changing innovation”. A connection to clean energy entrepreneurs in China might be just what’s needed to accelerate the type of ecosystems that we talk about in our Pathways to Scale Program.
– by Jieying Zheng and Alejandro Litovsky
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2009/11/former-chinese-google-ceo%e2%80%99s-innovative-cluster-attracts-40000-applicants/.
- Jieying Zheng“The Power of Unreasonable People” reaches global Chinese speaking (中文繁体) community
Harvard Business School Press, the publisher of “The Power of Unreasonable People”, published on its Taiwanese website a Chinese (traditional) transcript of John Elkington’s interview on the key traits of social entrepreneurs. It was the only book outside school that I managed to read from cover to cover in the first half of the year 2009 due to class schedule , and it served as a catalyst on my journey to Volans. Now it is uplifting to see the global Chinese-speaking community being embraced.
Brief transcript:
http://www.hbrtaiwan.com/event/video/trans003.pdf
Video:
http://www.hbrtaiwan.com/event/video/index.htm
Also, for those who are interested, here are some Chinese terms to google for related literature in the language:
“The Power of Unreasonable People +社会企业家” (The Power of Unreasonable People+ social entrepreneurship”
“三重底线” (Triple bottom line)
“Elkington +可持续” (Elkington + sustainability)
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2009/11/%e2%80%9cthe-power-of-unreasonable-people%e2%80%9d-reaches-global-chinese-speaking-%e4%b8%ad%e6%96%87%e7%b9%81%e4%bd%93-community/.
- Jieying ZhengWhat does the past tell us about the future?
A recent project at Volans involved developing future scenarios for a major company’s sustainability advisory council, imagining what the world might look like in 2097. John’s guiding thoughts on predicting the future include looking backwards, referring to Churchill’s dictum that the further you can look back, the further you can look forward. Or at least that approach can work if you can spot the underlying patterns that drive the world forward.
When I tried to look backwards 88 years, specifically through the lenses of my own family history, it was very interesting to think about the shifts of mindset, national culture, and what this meant for my family—and, at another level, what it has meant for politics and for entrepreneurship in China.
The lens that came to mind first was that provided by my grandmother, my mother’s mother. She was born in the early 1920s and, as was the way then, at age 5 was arranged to be married by her family. Incredibly, she dug a hole into the ground outside their house and saved enough coins to buy a single ferry ticket to Chongqing, the closest major city to her hometown. She escaped from her family at such a young age, and later became an activist for the Communist Party when she was working as a child labourer at a local textile factory.
The more I think about this story, the more I have come to appreciate her extraordinary entrepreneurial spirit. Embedded in a profoundly challenging historical context, the mindset of subsequent generations in the last 60 years of the Chinese history has been much more tightly controlled and heavily influenced by the mainstream powers.
I sometimes wonder whether the level of courage that enabled my grandmother to take her escape, —as well as prompting some of the historic movements such as the May Fourth Movement in 1919— would be beyond the wildest dreams for most people today. Whatever the answer, my grandmother’s choices have been an ongoing inspiration for me as my own journey took me to Singapore, the USA and now the UK.
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2009/10/what-does-the-past-tell-us-about-the-future/.
- Jieying ZhengHappy Birthday, PRC—and here’s the challenge for the next 40 years
Today—1 October—marks sixtieth anniversary of People’s Republic of China. This year is also the tenth anniversary since Chinese rural villagers, representing more than 60% of the population, started to directly elect their village councils, an important political effort to involve the masses in new forms of democracy.
Yu Keping, deputy chief of the Central Compilation and Translation Bureau, and author of the widely-discussed work Democracy is a good thing in 2006, recently reflected on the Chinese democracy evolution for the past 60 years.
He had previously argued that “democratic politics will not operate on its own; it requires the people themselves and the government officials who represent the interests of the people to promote and implement.” This time, when asked “what is China’s biggest achievement, and the biggest failure since 1949”, he pointed to economic reforms since the 1980s and the 10-year Cultural Revolution in the 1970s respectively.
It is interesting to ponder the political forces behind these historical events, and look at the economical, social and environmental consequences they have brought to the country. The controlled opening up of the domestic market has fuelled the economical expansion of the Chinese economy. In retrospect, extremist Maoism, applied by centralised political powers on the assumption that the Party always new best what was in people’s interest, led to environmental disasters, a huge waste of natural resources, devastating famines and—paradoxically—population explosion.
Some people argue that a completely democratic environment is a necessary condition for sustainability development. However, the short-term interest of so many western politicians often conflicts with the long-term agenda of system change. By contrast, an authoritative political culture may become quite effective if the centralized power is exercised in the right way and the right direction.
Again, take China as an example. Another important figure in the country is Pan Yue, the Vice Minister of Environmental Protection, described by BusinessWeek Online as “a courageous voice for a greener China”. He was able to “take on some of China’s biggest industries over their pollution records and forced them to clean up”, although some initiatives he is advocating, including the adoption of new measures to calculate and improve ‘Green GDP’, will take longer than expected, given the various powerful interest groups potentially impacted.
People like Yu Keping obviously play an important role in catalyzing new forms of democracy, in ways that hopefully would better represent the true interests of the masses. Meanwhile, strong authoritative figures like Pan Yue are also vital in exercising influence from the top—although few would argue that Minister Pan remains a rare example of a green voice in the world’s biggest superpower. Ultimately, China will benefit when appropriate forms of democracy is adopted—while democracy worldwide, plus the cause of sustainability, desperately need a more democratic, greener China to bring its power and influence to bear in pursuit of a global ‘Harmonious Society’ and a better future for all.
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2009/10/happy-birthday-prc%e2%80%94and-here%e2%80%99s-the-challenge-for-th-next-40-years/.
- Jieying ZhengInnovation from both ends: linking the government with social entrepreneurs
Last Friday, Volans organised a workshop on social entrepreneurship at the Hub King’s Cross London, bringing together representatives from both the UK government and social entrepreneurs based in London. The government participants came from the UK Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). The social entrepreneurs were founding members of Project Dirt and My Bank, the former a creative online community of environmental projects, the latter a forerunner in financial education for the youth.
Charmian Love, COO of Volans, led the dialogue by firstly offering an overview of the social entrepreneurship in the UK. Then, the contributors from the entrepreneurial side shared inspiring stories of their organisations’ missions, key activities and connections with the local authorities. The officials presented BIS strategy toward capacity building and innovating thinking within the government. The discussion was highly interactive, covering a range of key issues around forming meaningful partnerships, promoting media engagement, enabling knowledge sharing and capturing best practice.
What struck me the most was the enthusiasm from the both ends to connect, to understand and to continue the dialogue with each other. A theme throughout the discussion was around building effective channels to connect social entrepreneurs with the government, and vice versa. It was undoubtedly uplifting to see government’s interest in getting engaged and wanting to maintain the conversation moving forward.
The session featured only at the beginning of a potential series of rich and complex discussions between social innovators and the government. To make paradigm shifting come to pass, collaboration as such will, without a doubt, need to continue.
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2009/09/innovation-from-both-ends-linking-the-government-with-social-entrepreneurs/.
- Jieying ZhengSome reflection at the beginning of my Volans journey
Further into the second week of my Volans journey, I am taking John’s advice and jotting down some bits and pieces around the “soft” side I have experienced so far. I am planning to echo this write-up when it approaches the end of my internship and look back at the way in which my thoughts and reactions have evolved.
Here are some initial thoughts, more or less as they came.
Does intuition work?
The answer is YES… well, at least here.
The Myers Briggs profiling exercise (MBTI) tells me that I am a rather intuitive person by nature. But I was raised in Chengdu, China, a rather rigid education system, and can well remember that answers prompted by intuition, rather than derived from reason, were almost embarrassing to admit at school.
Later, when in Singapore and during my years with Aviva, intuition and testing again formed an interesting combination for my answers at work. While I found intuition often led me ponder upon the established assumptions which the management might have been comfortable with, I did not feel able to raise them unless they had been rigorously tested — or I had been given permission from management to do so.
At some point, I was even wondering if intuition featured only at the beginning of the journey toward maturity, and, along the way, would and should be substituted by “rational processes”. Therefore, I said in my personal statement for MBA application that one reason for my pursuing an MBA is to “get more grounded in business, because currently many of my thoughts are intuitive…” Whilst time will tell how much I have achieved my goal of getting more “grounded”, I certainly had more chances to fight against the intuitive waves in my mind on the MBA course.
Interestingly enough, here I have met John, who scored almost off the scale for “Intuition” in taking the MBTI process. Also, I can well imagine that many bold ideas that Volans deals with daily are coming from the like-minded entrepreneurs. Part of me is excited about the possibility for unleashing my intuitive nature again, while part of me is unsure how this will be well blended with all the metrics I have learned up to date.
The divider and the “boss”
Sam (Lakha) found a cubical divider with a joking smile last Friday, which made John exclaim “get that thing out!” We all laughed. I remember the first day I walked into the office and was slightly shocked that everyone sat around the same table! Quite a contrast with what I have previously experienced, where I would sometimes hear moans that the dividers were not high enough.
Admittedly I am still adjusting to the fact of sitting literally next to the “boss”, who would pop his head around for occasional (yes, only occasionally!) jokes or offer tea or, later in a special day, chips and wine.
…yet, ACTION!
Collaboration by no means equals a slow pace. Things happen very fast here. The first time I wrote John before met him, I got his reply within 15 minutes. The other evidence of speed is reflected in the jump of thoughts in the intellectual “heavy lift” among group discussions, which require independent critical thinking expressed in a quick manner. This level of agility, again, is quite different from what I had been previously experiencing, where analysis, review and thoroughness were a common theme.
Not hurrying to generalise conclusions, I cannot help but wonder about the cultural clash of different styles and their impact on the world we operate.
On intuition …
At Volans, we tend to see ourselves as experimentalists, referring out to the work of David Galenson on the quality and valuations for the work done by painters, film-makers and composers at different stages of their lives.
I imagine tolerance for mistakes in new ideas, for example, would be quite different in the entrepreneurial world than elsewhere. However, to what extent are mistakes tolerated at Volans is one question I will be interested in learning. On the other hand, to what extent should mistakes be “reasonably” tolerated in the corporate world, in order to create a more secure environment for innovative intrapreneurs, while maintaining a comfortable level for all, is another question that I want to answer.
On collaboration …
The word “clustering” has occurred a lot in discussions lately in the office. We aim to break barriers. To me it features not only the integration of various sectors in the ecosystem, but also potentially in the collaborative nature of group dynamics among the Phoenix Economy players on both the institutional and individual level.
Some players may be entitled to exercise more authoritative power than others by the common social expectations; however, in reality all are potentially contributing – pushing or pulling– to the same goal of sustainability. Systems cannot sensibly be viewed separately any more. How leaders can foster an effective, collaborative dynamic in order to shift the paradigm before it is too late is another million-dollar question.
On hierarchy (or the lack of it) …
Funny enough, my Chinese culture and my professional background in a large multi-national both engrained in me a certain way of responding to authority. Taking risk and taking trust naturally have come more from other sources of influence in my life. I keep wondering about the entrepreneurs in China and countries of similar culture e.g. South Korea. How does the entrepreneurship leadership style work under such strong national cultures? On the other hand, how do intrapreneurs within large multi-nationals work their way through the hierarchy in order to make things happen? Undoubtedly there are countless success stories, which I would be very interested to find out more about.
In the final analysis, I just started peeling the onion of my “cultural shock”. Is it due to the clash of entrepreneurial vs. corporate culture, or Asian vs. English mindsets? Looking for answers has allowed me to view these styles across a spectrum, rather than trying to categorise them into boxes. I very much look forward to discovering more in the coming three months.
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2009/08/some-reflection-at-the-beginning-of-my-volans-journey/.
- Jieying ZhengDoes social entrepreneurship exist in China?
…was an interesting question that I was recently asked. This reminds me of a field study in China with my MBA classmates in May where we visited 19 organisations – both domestic and foreign, big and small. Some of the feedback we received was quite thought-provoking:
For instance, the Chinese host of one major venture capital firm, when asked to give an example of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs that they have carried out, told us that their CSR initiative is “doing what they are doing” (investing in China-centric technology companies).
Another example would be the CFO of an IT company, which accounts for over 50% of the CDMA chip market share, pointed to the company’s donation to the recent Sichuan earthquake when asked the same question.
Interestingly enough, both of these two companies are, at least partly, funded by large US venture capital firms. I cannot help but wonder about the influence that the foreign firms exercise, or lack exercising rather, on the Chinese management teams of these organisations. When the Chinese domestic market was opened up to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) 20 years ago, one rationale was to import the “latest expertise in modern business management”. While CSR has become a common term in the mainstream business in the western world, I wonder how much of the concept has been transferred into the Chinese mindset in these two cases.
However, the picture is not all gloomy. China-crossroads has just published a list of Chinese social entrepreneurs who can be found on Twitter. The length of the list is uplifting, given the rather short period (5-6 years) since the concept and related studies formally entered China (for further reading, see the British Council report).
And, looking back, what about the time before 1949? I recently came across an article (in Mandarin by Wu Xiaobo) on the life of Yan Yangchu, a Chinese farmer who started the largest education and anti-poverty movement which involved people who returned from studies abroad in rural China in 1929.
The history of social entrepreneurship in China, therefore, has long roots in my opinion. Yet, not surprisingly, it disappeared for half a century when all enterprises went government-owned after the Revolution in 1949. Recently, however, social enterprises in China have mushroomed. Time will tell how quickly they will become impactful again, especially in terms of their impact on mainstream business.
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2009/08/does-social-entrepreneurship-exist-in-china/.
- Jieying Zheng