What really impressed me was the faculty.
Josh Halpern
What made you decide to do the TIEMBA?
The diversity with a focus on Chinese business strategy and led by the top Chinese business school.
How would you describe your TIEMBA experience?
Lots of hard work, heartfelt and sincere engagement, great people and powerful connections.
What do you think is the value-add of TIEMBA’s dual-degree curriculum and faculty structure (50% INSEAD, 50% Tsinghua)?
We live through the “joint-venture” experience from the client-perspective while also learning how to do this for our businesses, so it is a great experience in cross-cultural management. The dual-degree is also remarkable because I can be in India and everyone welcomes me as the INSEAD guy and in China, I am the Tsinghua guy. So it plays well wherever you are. I remember someone found out I was a Tsinghua alumnus in Lanzhou during a work trip and sent a driver to pick me up. I didn’t know him but he knew I was one of the community.
What was one module that made an impact or was exceptionally useful for you?
Strategy was extremely helpful not just because of the content but also to hear our Chinese counterparts talk about what drives their decision-making process.
How has the TIEMBA helped you in your career?
It has given me a profound understanding of how to do business across the world without the common blind spot that many other “global” MBA programmes experience in terms of understanding the Chinese culture and market.
Any advice to prospects who are considering the TIEMBA?
A school programme is only as good as its participants so make sure you evaluate whether you are aligned with the entrepreneurial, global and out-of-the-box thinkers that attend this programme. If you ask what you can contribute to the programme and find yourself coming up with a long list, then you will be in good company.
