|
Meet the Alumni
Bing Xie, President of TI China, lives in Shanghai, China with my wife Jane and two little boys. When did you graduate from CIMBA?I graduated in 1994. Before joining CIMBA program, when it was associated with Clemson University, I had been a Technical Sales Engineer at Hewlett- Packard China for six years. Upon graduating in 1994, I took a marketing position with Bay Networks in Boston, a pioneer in internetworking, later acquired by Nortel. I returned to China and got married in 1995. I joined Texas Instruments in 1999. Since then I have taken different positions in China, Vancouver, and Canada. I became President of Texas Instruments China in 2006, overseeing TI's multi-billion dollar operations in China.
How has CIMBA affected your life, professionally and personally?
I have enjoyed the time at CIMBA and learned a lot not only academically, but also have experienced so many cultural differences that I have never even thought about. Working as a team with people from Italy, Slovenia, Belgium, Russia, the U.S., Canada, Mexico ... it makes CIMBA so unique and special. I gradually understood and then appreciated the differences among people with different backgrounds and cultures. Having benefited from this aspect of the program, I now have a habit of putting myself into others' shoes when making any business decisions -- this helps me to effectively lead a team with people from eight different countries. I could spend days to talk about the impact of CIMBA program on my personal life and professional career. It certainly broadened my perspective, gave me skills to work with people with very diversified backgrounds, taught me how to handle pressure and how to work hard and still enjoy life!
If you had to describe your best memory at CIMBA, what would it be?
I have many fond memories in Pordenone. It was my first time living and studying in a foreign country. I remember the beautiful landscape, the small, quiet town with friendly Italian people, the wines, the language that I did not understand a thing in (except for "Ciao"), the papers, the case studies, the deadlines of more-than-I-could-finish reading assignments, the room mates, the classmates, the strangers on the streets, the pilots from the nearby airbase, some lifelong friends from the program, Venice, Florence, Rome, Bologna and Egypt... and, of course, time to get away on the weekends or during a break. Whenever I look back, it is one of the most valued experiences of my life.
Anything else you would like to add?
My only regret is that wish I had spent more time on my Italiano! |
New job? Moving somewhere new? Getting married? Other life changes? Want to volunteer your profile for the Meet the Alumni section?
Keep your fellow alums in the loop! Send your news items to info@cimba.it and they will appear here the following month. |
Calendar of Events:
April 2010
Executive
9, 10 Apr.: KT Problem Solving & Decision
16,17 Apr.:Operation Management and Supply chain, with professor Simone Bigolin
MBA
9, 10 Apr.: Managerial Economics with Prof. Gerald Lynch
17, 18 Apr.: Managing Information Systems with Prof. Pierre Majorique Leger
19, 23 Apr.: SAP Seminar with P.M Leger
24 Apr.: MBA and Executive Certificate Presentation
Undergraduate
12 Apr.: Final Gourmet Dinner
15,16,17 Apr.: Final Exams and check out
| |
|
|
Greetings!
Greetings from CIMBA! Spring has finally sprung and both CIMBA campuses are enjoying the beautiful colors of the spring vegetation. Spring -- and spring breaks -- also brought back quite a few alumni that took advantage of their holidays and stopped by to visit us. We always enjoying seeing you all, so please let us know if you are in the area! To keep the alumni in touch, in addition to our LinkedIn group, there is now a Facebook alumni group. We are doing our best to create opportunities to network across countries and programs in our effort to create regional alumni groups. So please make sure to join both the LinkedIn and Facebook alumni groups (links can be found on the left column).
Happy Easter!
The CIMBA Staff
|
|
CIMBA MBA
The MBA student project teams are past the mid-point of their projects. All of the teams have developed detailed project plans and are in the execution phase of their plans. They have gathered and analyzed client data and are working on their final recommendations to the client. MBA team practice and final presentations are expected to be completed by the end of April. The students have done a wonderful job managing their teams and client expectations. Client feedback to-date has been extremely positive regarding each of the projects.
This year the projects include: The creation of internet-based marketing strategies for an aircraft company;the review of a company's organizational structure; recommendations for improvement and the preparation of a global marketing strategy for a fruit juice manufacturer; and, scrap reduction and manufacturing performance improvement for the maker of dessert products. Under the supervision of CIMBA consultants, professors, and certified process and leadership development coaches, students test and develop their analytical and process abilities by resolving real-time company issues. Alumni and companies interested in hosting a consulting project are invited to attend the Consulting Project presentation on Thursday April 22nd at 5:30 pm -- or contact us at lago@cimba.it.
MBA RecrutingWe are currently in the recruiting phase for both the full-time and part-time MBA program. If you are interested or have someone to refer please write to info@cimba.it. Like every year we are also looking for Campus Life Program Coordinators. This is a two-year commitment as the candidates will attend the part-time program in Asolo while assisting at the CIMBA Undergraduate campus. | |
|
CIMBA Undergraduate
It's been quite a busy month at the CIMBA Undergraduate campus. We've hosted a resume workshop, a series of career workshops, a gourmet dinner at Villa Palma in Mussolente, a History of the Veneto seminar, two Kepner-Tregoe Certification workshops, an Expatriate Panel discussion, and a series of company tours for all of the students at CIMBA Undergraduate this semester (including such companies as Northwave, Hausbrandt, and Glass).
Megan Voichoski, one of our students this semester from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, has written a commentary on the Expatriate Panel discussion that each of our undergraduates attended:
On Tuesday, March 2nd,
all CIMBA students had the opportunity to interact with a panel of five expatriates
who have left their home countries to live and work in Italy. Three of the
panelists were from the U.S., one was from Ecuador, and another was from Japan.
Many of them have lived abroad before in such countries as Saudi Arabia,
Switzerland, Venezuela, Thailand, and the United Kingdom. With such a wide
background of experiences, the panelists were able to offer many insights into
the difficulties and benefits of living and working abroad-along with tips on
how to adapt to local cultures.
The
panelists said that the biggest differences they have noticed about living in
Italy are the importance of food, family, and community in everything they do. Work
life is more formal than in the U.S., but the Italians stay in the office and
to eat with their coworkers over a sit-down lunch rather than run errands as
many Americans do. The panelists also said that they knew very little Italian
before coming here, but said that making the effort to learn the language was
the best way to help them fit in both within their businesses and in the local
area.
Overall,
CIMBA students learned a lot of interesting and helpful tips from the
expatriate panel that will help us if we decide to work and live abroad in the
future.
What's next? On the 12th of April, the undergraduates will enjoy their third and final CIMBA-hosted gourmet dinner at Hotel Fior. From the 15th until the 17th, students will be taking their final exams, and then heading back to their homes for the summer.
We'll miss you, CIMBA undergrads!
|
|
CIMBA Executive Programs
April 9th & 10th: Kepner-Tregoe PSDM Workshop
As you may have read in the previous newsletter, CIMBA has become the official and exclusive KT licensee for Italy. To celebrate this important step, a Problem Solving and Decision Making seminar will be held on April 9 and 10. The intent of this workshop is to provide participants with systematic, rational-process thinking tools for making the right decisions and solving problems in a more rational way, translating information into actionable managerial activities, and providing common language and common guidelines for their effective communication. The workshop will be held in English and is open to the public. For more details, or to apply, please contact lago@cimba.it.
In-Company Training & Coaching
Several companies are getting tangible benefits thanks to CIMBA's in-company leadership development training and coaching. If you are interested, give us a call or send us an e-mail and we will show you what your ROI could be.
| |
|
A-B-C: Al's Book Club
When we began this column some years ago, there were
relatively few books encompassing the subject of  neuroscience as it relates to
personal intentional change and development. While the number of published
"brain" works has increased significantly -- more than 300 new titles are
scheduled to come out just this year, surprisingly few are pulling relevant
pieces together with the intent to create an effective leadership or personal
development system or process. The primary emphasis is largely on presenting
the science -- which I will readily admit is very, very interesting and thought
provoking -- with less placed on
systematic practice and applications of the science for the purpose of
promoting personal growth and development.
Through
our experiences we are finding that, when guided by an understanding of the
functions of the brain, mindfulness (which assists in enhancing both self and
social awareness -- Emotional Intelligence) supported by coaches and
technologies to provide development guidance through incremental assessment
provides students and executives with a highly-effective foundation for
personal growth and development. To this end, we have found that mindfulness
and thus self and social awareness are significantly enhanced through the use
of technologies measuring and transmitting neurofeedback data. Neurofeedback
involves the use of technology to detect subtle physiological measures of
bodily functions and amplifies them so they are readily perceived by both the
coach and the coachee. Heart rhythms, respiration rates, skin conductance,
and blood flow are core neurofeedback measures -- all providing robust proxies
for neural activity. When you have a limbic response to a stimuli (think
feedback or a SCARF response), both an fMRI and neurofeedback will make that
response observable I very similar ways. Neurofeedback data a the advantage of
being wireless, transportable, and inexpensive.
In
this frame it is not difficult to see the future of personal growth and
development. Within the next decade ee fully anticipate that technology will
enable people to carry around their "personal development network" with that
network providing medical, lifestyle, wellness, and sport neurofeedback
functions for the user. This network would comprise a series of miniature
sensor nodes, each with its own energy supply, consisting of storage and energy
harvesting devices. In addition to carrying out its own task, each node would
be able to communicate both with other sensor nodes and with a gateway node
worn inconspicuously and unintrusively on the body. The gateway node would
communicate with the outside world using a standard telecommunication
infrastructure such as a wireless local area or even a cellular phone network.
Coaches could provide direct performance and stress management inputs to the
coachee wearing the personal development network based on data algorithms
quantifying sensor data into metrics on the individual's physical, cognitive
and emotional states. I am sure to those of you with intimate knowledge of the
CIMBA leadership development system the reality of this system is readily
apparent.
It
is in this spirit that I found Dr. Patt Lind-Kyle's Healing Your Mind, Rewire
Your Brain to be interesting. While not as sophisticated as the leadership
development system outlined above, the book understands the importance of
understanding the functions of the brain, mindfulness (as a vehicle for self
and social awareness), and neurofeedback technologies to a successful personal
development journey. The book meets my basic criteria of being well referenced
(including citing a number of scientists with whom we have been working). I
particularly like the cite to Jeffery Schwartz: the mind is what the brain
does. She understands neuroplasticity and in fact makes it central to her
personal change model: [Y]ou can change your brain and ultimately your
behavior ... as we pay attention to a positive thought, it grows in our brain.
The CIMBA leadership development system from Genesis to LIFE and through the
Leadership Competency workshops emphasizes the importance of explicating
emotions, through self awareness making yourself aware of emotions, moving
yourself away from an emotional to a more rat0onal part of your brain to better
elicit more productive, appropriate behavior: [B]y being conscious and aware
of your emotions and then verbalizing the feelings aroused, the neocortex will
make the connections and bring about mental clarity.
I
found the book to be interesting in the way she has adopted the research in
creating a personal development model. Her adaptive use of the concepts of flow
(something we call "green-zone emotions") and the things that detract from it
(something we call "red-zone emotions") and intention (giving
your brain direction and purpose) are necessary but often overlooked
ingredients in an effective development system. The book is worth a look. Happy
Easter!
| |
|
