INSEAD – EMBA Programme

Paper details:

INSEAD Essay

Job Description

1. Please give a detailed description of your job, including nature of work, major responsibilities; and, where relevant, employees under your supervision, size of budget, number of clients/products and results achieved. (approximately 300 words) *

My current job title is ‘Financial Solution Analyst’. Financial solutions provide insurers with alternative means of capital management, risk transfer and address regulatory/tax requirements.

One could steer a traditional financial deal as follows:

At first, we provide our client company with a general or situational comparison between existing products.

Should the client company wish to enhance their financial situation and reduce risk in their balance sheet, we review the annual report – in particular the balance sheet and profit and loss account – and arrange a physical meeting.

Through personal talks we can explore details and recommend tailor-made solutions for the client company.

Secondly, once the client company favours a suitable solution, we launch the pricing process and aim at securing a final price.

Thirdly, the client company elects to either or not accept the treaty and ponder additional agreements.

In the pre-final phase we collaborate with the local compliance/ legal team to write the treaty.

We act as reinsurance experts who design, price, communicate and sell treaties to a client’s specific requirements in terms of risk transfer, capital management and protection of the company’s general account.

By leveraging my financial skills in this market, through my knowledge of tax and insurance environments, as well as my communication skills with internal staff through a complex risk management landscape, I along with my team try to respond to our clients’ financial concerns with swift and creative solutions.

In my current job, I do not manage a team directly as we work on a fully transverse management basis so communication remains absolutely fluid and the processing of deals is ensured.

Each year, the number of treaties in the EMEA region is between 10 and 20 and deals range from €M 20 to €M100 depending on European market opportunities.

To sum things up, it is a very transversal, technical and high communicative job which combines commercial strength and technical insurance skills at comparable levels.

2. Please explain your career evolution and career choices since you started your professional life. (approximately 300 words) *

The evolution of my career has been growing and motivating. As I joined AXA France in charge of financial risk perimeter, I spent a long time in a challenging context, learning corporate language, adapting to different situations, and I have eventually been recognized for my strong technical and communication skills. I would like to pay tribute to my former Chief Risk Officer who has recommended me for a new position at AXA Global Life, where the environment was widely international and topics strategic. Equipped with three years of experience only, I was directly affiliated to the Chief Financial Officer to work on one of the main internal acquisitions within Group AXA and led a team of three people with different professional backgrounds.

In my new manager role over the last three years I have been able to start learning how to set a path for future strategy and how to create a real cohesion inside the team. I have always believed success is mainly about people and I have set up a trusting and transparent environment.

We have worked well together in a real partnership, with complementary styles, sharing our views and opinions.

The move from AXA to SCOR has been an amazing journey as I now concentrate more on business strategy on the global insurance market rather than my previous back-office support. Under my new manager’s guidance, we work hand in hand as the Reinsurance Structuring Leadership Team and we develop through the mapping of potential clients and use conferences on Structure Reinsurance topics to promote the SCOR label. This is a demanding endeavor as we should take responsibility for different aspects of planning, negotiations and promotion.

I want to say that I have a real passion, drive and empathy for the role of manager and project planner and I hope to keep on this motivating journey for my leadership skills.

3. Please give your objectives for attending the INSEAD Executive MBA Programme. What would you like to achieve over the next 5 years, and how could the INSEAD Executive MBA contribute to achieving these plans? What are your alternatives to INSEAD? (approximately 300 words) *

I think that the earning of an MBA is a fantastic place to start my own business from. My initial incentive to go to business school is to launch a Montessori School in Paris in three teaching languages: Chinese, French and English. This international school would be equipped with state-of-the-art technology to better comprehend and optimize children’s daily activities.

I have discovered Montessori education when my son was born, I have since realized that the education I had received in China was quite remarkable for the academic part; nevertheless, we were not treated as individuals, but rather as parts of a pack. And in the digital age, we should prepare our children to acquire the skills to succeed in the new world rising. These skills cannot be taught by cheering them for memorizing and repetition. They could be developed through one form of alternate education by focusing on four aspects:  critical thinking, collaboration, creativity and communication. This is the reason why I am convinced by such alternate form of education and I would like to further introduce two subjects in traditional Montessori: Chinese and Artificial Intelligence.

Still unsure as a budding entrepreneur, I believe that an EMBA can really help me in my journey to build success without leaving my current job. To make an organization successful, it is core for me to have a comprehensive look at various aspects of a business practice, from finance to management to logistics, regulation and human resources, which my current position cannot offer me. I will likely interact with a number of highly accomplished peers by building professional relationships, learning about other corporations and even recruiting some close peers in my startup team. One of the overlooked qualities which contribute to the success of a school is communication. If the team could communicate effectively with the sponsors, parents and children, success will be more likely. I would likely acquire better communication skills whilst studying for an MBA.

Motivation Essays

4. Give a candid description of yourself, stressing the personal characteristics you feel to be your strengths and weaknesses. (approximately 300 words) *

Being born as a child of a single mother in Shanghai, I spent most of my childhood in the hotel where my mother worked. I was outgoing already and happy to make friends from a very young age on. I happened to knock on doors of hotel clients with different backgrounds in order to discuss with them. It was the first time that I discovered both fascinating culture and amazing adventure from welcoming people.

At the age of 14, after I had read Victor Hugo’s notorious “Les Misérables”, I decided to go to Paris to learn French.

Sadly, facing the difficult life hurdles in a very concrete way, I was homeless and had little money in my wallet. Some close friends facing the same situation decided to go back to China. After moving at least 10 times within Paris, I found a small studio located upon a public theatre and worked as a salesperson in a computer store to pay for my university studies.

I have learned two major things from this difficult period: adapt in terms of communication and persevere in difficult situations.

So many examples in my adventure in France have shown that every person could inspire me to do the greatest of things if one keeps being open, listening with the heart and adapt to the other person’s perspective.

Every difficult thing is a gift from life presented in a different way if we do not give up the dream.

The idea of starting a real-estate company renting apartments for foreign students without rent sponsorship has inspired me from my moving 10 times as a student.

I believe that foreign students like me, without rent sponsorship, have enough integrity to pay their rent. However, trust in humans can sometimes be considered as a weakness and be taken advantage of by certain people and thus generate some negative and non-anticipated consequences.

5. Please answer either question a) or question b) in approximately 300 words a) Have you ever experienced culture shock? What insights did you gain? b) Describe the ways in which a foreigner in your country might experience culture shock. *

The greatest culture shock that I have experienced could be summarized in part by the difference between Confucianism from Chinese culture and Rationalism from the European culture.

I happened to have had very tough discussions at lunch table or during meetings in France.

In Chinese Taoist/ Confucianist culture, we are taught not to spend energy in a conflictual situation. I chose not to expose my point of view, pertinent though as it may be, to avoid conflicts. I considered such discussions as conflictual even though other classmates treated them as standard.

At the beginning of my career I sometimes did not enjoy some of my colleagues’ manners but I preferred to bear with them instead of explaining why they did not suit me. My colleagues thought that my boundaries were wider than theirs. As a consequence, I continued to work in a way that I did not enjoy.

One day I discovered that people could disagree in a courteous and calm way. During meetings especially, Europeans use rational arguments as a way to convince others. At the same time, I began to learn the different philosophies between both continents through different periods in time. One is based on a moral dimension and the other on the defense of individual envy. And I learned how to negotiate with people from different horizons and cultures. With Chinese people, it is important to maintain a good atmosphere and save the peace at the first spark of conflict. Throughout the discussion, we would then talk about the goal of the meeting whilst keeping a good feeling.

With Europeans, it is better for me to set the process, boundaries and goal of the project in order to have a clear vision. All the discussion and disagreements are not considered as personal attacks if we argue with rational points.