Czhang Lin

What made you decide to do an EMBA?

After many years of managing my family’s business, I wanted to learn and discover more things out there and see what are the other kinds of management style out of the family business that we were running. I wanted to find out more about other business sectors and how they run and manage the company. That's why I started looking around for EMBAs. 

Why the Tsinghua-INSEAD EMBA (TIEMBA) programme?

It was a tough choice, honestly. The thing is, even though I was born in Taiwan, I lived most of my life out of Asia. Though I have been travelling around Canada, Poland and Europe, I always wanted to come back and continue my career in Asia. That's why when I did my research, I found TIEMBA. It is a combination of east and west, and I found it a great fit for me.

How has TIEMBA helped transform and upgrade your family's business, organisation, and management?

TIEMBA helped in many aspects and many parts of the business transformation. The company went through phases: pre-IPO and post-IPO, and I learnt how to manage people differently even though we are in the same team, provide different kinds of incentives, and re-structured the organisation so that we can expand further.

A big part of my knowledge came from the textbook or the professor's lectures. But another part of it came from classroom discussions with classmates who have different backgrounds and viewpoints. Many of them were senior to I was, so they were able to provide very constructive suggestions of how I could lead my team further. My classmates played a big role in shaping my management style and helping me grow.

Do you still remember how you felt on your first day in class?

I was so excited that I had a hard time falling asleep the night before. I was very happy to join the class and engage in all these different discussions. I felt I wasn't alone anymore. I was able to talk to people with similar business experiences and we got along very well.

Once I got to know a few classmates better and on a deeper level, I was able to share more – both personal and professional issues. As most of the time, people are able to accept the problem and provide their perspective from different angles without judgements, it created a very nice and friendly environment where everyone could share your thoughts openly. That is really the unique TIEMBA culture.

Can you share more about the networks you found during the TIEMBA programme?

This is actually of great value that is within the programme. For example, when I face some troubles or if there is something I want to check around, the first thing that comes into my mind is to just a message to my classmates. I give a short description of the situation and a quick question of what I want to clarify. Within a couple of hours, despite different time zones, I will get a lot of feedback! My classmates will evaluate the task or they would ask more questions. Even after we have graduated from the programme, whenever anyone is in trouble, we do feel free to drop a question or render help within the group.

In one word, how would you describe your TIEMBA experience?

Game-changer!