On October 8, 2018, Mr. Zhen Cheng, founder and Chairman ofBeijing Success Edu. Group and President of MBAedu (http://www.mbaedu.cn) wasinvited to the MBA Education Center of Central University of Finance andEconomics (CUFE) to deliver a speech titled “Winning Formulas for Workplace Success:Making Best of MBA Education.” Associate researcher Kong Weiming from theStudent Affairs Office and Luan Tian, a teacher from the Project DevelopmentOffice of the CUFE MBA Education Center, as well as a number of MBA students,attended the seminar to learn how to secure workplace success.

A scene from the event

Zhen Cheng, founder andChairman of Beijing Success Edu. Group and President of MBAedu

Associate researcherKong Weiming of the CUFE MBA Education Center

Kong Weiming made opening remarks at the beginning of the seminar.He expressed thanks to Mr. Zhen and highly commended and recognized Mr. Zhen’sprofound expertise and success in management science in China. Kong suggestedthat all students use career planning methodologies and principles to improvethemselves and engage in suitable career development activities, so as tofacilitate the sound development of their careers.

Seize theopportunities by making the best of extracurricular activities

At the seminar, Mr. Zhen first elaborated on the importance ofextracurricular lectures in MBA education. He noted that the value ofextracurricular lectures makes up one third of MBA program tuition. Therefore,students should attend extracurricular lectures as much as possible and in a skillfulway: they need to make preparations beforehand, be courageous to raisequestions to speakers during lectures, and sort through and reflect on ideasderived from lectures afterward, so as to ensure that they can reap benefitsfrom these lectures and make their learning more effective.

One’sability to think is more important than his/her choice

Mr. Zhen held that those who lack self-control are in no positionto work hard. MBA education is actually a mine of resources, and its valuedepends on whether students can make full use of it. Choosing the rightdirection is more important than hard work, as what really matters is that onecan get well-grounded results when working toward the right direction. At theseminar, Mr. Zhen got students thinking deeply by asking two questions: “Whatcan you gain from MBA education?” “What else can you learn from studying incollege, besides knowledge?” He then enumerated direct causes of the failure of70% of MBA graduates, including the lack of goals, deep thinking and devotion,and failure to follow standards for future business leaders, professionalmanagers, or general managers.

Studentsenthusiastically raised questions during the interaction session

Work hard toimprove your level rather than get wrapped up at a low level

“It is how you allocate your energy that truly decides your socialclass; how much you are paid is proportional to how irreplaceable your work is,rather than to your work per se. Therefore, please work hard to improve yourlevel, rather than get wrapped up at a low level. Power and opportunities aresomething you have to strive for, not the offerings of others. You need to takeone step forward so as to move closer (toward the center of power and interactwith great people).” At the seminar, Mr. Zhen generously shared his “winningformulas for workplace success” which were accumulated over the years, and toldstudents that they can only work toward the right direction and improvethemselveswhen they truly understand these principles.

Highlights at theseminar

Identifyyour goals, stay focused, and do things over and over again

How to achieve academic and workplace success? What is the pointof receiving MBA education? According to Mr. Zhen, MBA students can improvethemselves by gaining a number of benefits, such as cross-sector upgrading ofprevious careers, business opportunities and professional advantages enabled byforward-looking perspectives, integration of various groups, methodology ofthinking, and problem-solving ability.

Get well-groundedresults to forge core competitiveness

How to plan your MBA study? Mr. Zhen pointed out that MBA studentsmay attend 18-22 courses during the two-year program. MBA education actuallyencompasses three levels, namely learning knowledge, learning how to think andsolve problems, and learning ideas. He hoped that students can make trade-offsbetween various elements, stay committed to the core task to reach their fullpotential, master T-shaped skills, and improve their core competitiveness.

Choose asupervisor and make friends to expand connections

Mr. Zhen believed that seniority is not the only criterion of agood supervisor. In choosing a supervisor, one must take all factors intoconsideration, such as the correlation between his/her future career andspecialty and a supervisor’s areas of research. Meanwhile, MBA students shouldmake more friends to expand their connections.

Presentation of asouvenir to Mr. Zhen Cheng

Group photo