The 5th Day
By Lin Zhihong, Beijing Class 1, EMBA2001
After my 4-day studies, it is on the 5th day that I can go back to work and show my EMBA abilities.
The very next day after completing my CEIBS EMBA course on Production and Operations Management, I sent my production assistants to all our workshops to calculate the production capability of each process because I wanted to find our bottleneck. In addition to this I was motivated to improve and revise the company's investment plan.
A month later, I calculated how much I had improved our company's production capability. On the very day after I finished the Organizational Behaviour course there was a long list of activities on my desk since I wanted to know how my time was wasted. However, I later found that most time-killers were what I liked to do. On the very day after I finished the Chinese Economy course, I was in low spirits, wondering whether I should initiate my own enterprise before it was too late since Prof. Wu remarked that the future of China rested with private enterprises. After I finished the Human Resource course, I applied the "Golden Triangle" to everything in the company.
It happened that I received a letter from the President of our company's Asia-Pacific region to congratulate our remarkable perfor-mance. At once I said to myself that it was out of his consideration for our mindset that he sent us such a con-gratulation letter. After the Marketing Management class, I argued against the strategy of seizing the market by lowering price. After the Management course, I doubted that our company's 7S was unbalanced. Though it sounds like a bit of an exaggeration, on the 5th day after my CEIBS' EMBA classes, I really have a different mindset and mood after.
To be frank, on the 5th day, I don't want to work. How I wish the briefcase in my hand was a schoolbag! I know that my 4-day study is to make me a better manager, but sometimes I still forget why I am there to learn. I very much enjoy my 4-day study at CEIBS since I can meet profound professors and intelligent classmates. When I attended the Business Law class, I knew that Prof. Jiang Ping had participated in the enactment of many laws; when I attend the Chinese Economy course, I know that Prof. Wu Jinglian is a very famous Chinese economist with a very high reputation; when I attended the Financial Accounting class, I know that Prof. Biddle was one of the best professor in Asia. How many people are there that can have the opportunity to attend such high-profile courses?
Something that I enjoyed during class was being able to show our weaknesses before these experts. There were times were my classmates would challenge these brilliant professors even before fully understanding the professor's opinions. I remember there was one example from my classmate, he had fired 300 of employees all at one time and was very happy with the results. We always feel a little nervous when making group presentations before the desk because very few of us believe that there is no weaknesses in their opinions, of course those "experts in presentation" are not included. Where is there any other place where you can find a room-full of 50 elites? Therefore, we cannot always be classmates. On the 5th day, I always wish the four days can be longer.
On the 5th day, I will return to my family, while during the 4 days, I feel as free as a bachelor. When I read late into the night, I can turn the pages as loudly as I like; I can engage in a sports activity whenever there are others playing without worrying that someone may question who is with me; when I have dinner late in the evening, I needn't worry there will be an evening call asking me whether I know how late it is. I have asked my family for a 4-full-day leave and told them to only call me if an emergency arises. When we have no activities, I will invite my college classmates and former colleagues to have a cup of coffee or tea, over which I may seem to be a little beside myself since I need to replace my entrenched ideas with the much knowledge I've learned in the daytime. One day, when I called back home, my son reminded me not to forget to take an umbrella with me when I went out. I told him Beijing was so far away from our home that it was not raining in Beijing. In a blink of an eye, the 5th day comes. It comes so quickly that I hardly feel accustomed to my daily life all of a sudden. Again, I read textbooks for primary school students with my son and report my whereabouts to my husband. However, at the moment when I step into my home, I know that I have looked forward to the 5th day, because it marks the beginning of my favorable daily life.
With the elapse of most of the 22 "4 days", the 22 "5th days" are also running out. I think, in each stage of our life, we need such "4 days" and such "5th days" so that our common daily life may become uncommon. One's endless learning is only a way of life.
