July 8, 2018. Shanghai – As part of the “CEIBS Insights 2018” series of events aimed at celebrating the 15^th anniversary of the China-EU Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, CEIBS today hosted its third Master Class of the year. The event was headlined by former Prime Minister of France Jean-Pierre Raffarin, who is also the Charles de Gaulle Chair in Global Leadership as well as Distinguished Professor at CEIBS. Mr. Raffarin, well-known by many Chinese people as a “good friend” of China, took the opportunity to share with the more than 400 attendees some reflections on his own personal leadership journey.

In opening the event, CEIBS Vice President and Dean Ding Yuan highlighted Mr. Raffarin’s numerous contributions to Sino-European and Sino-French ties. “A veteran statesman, Mr. Raffarin has paid more visits to China than any other French politician and continues to make efforts to reinforce China-France cooperation. He was also previously appointed as the Special Envoy on China Affairs by French President Emmanuel Macron when the latter visited China,” he said.

In addition to his insights on leadership in general, Mr. Raffarin offered some thoughts on “Chinese leadership”, which he described as a “leadership of wisdom”. Quoting Confucius, as well as Chinese Warring States-period political philosopher Master Han Fei, Raffarin explained that compared with a typical western leader — who positions him/herself at the centre of an organisation with his/her followers surrounding him/her — a wise Chinese leader is more like an orchestra conductor, playing a role which both harmonises and coordinates.

Following his talk, Raffarin was joined by Dean Ding for a discussion and Q&A session on how to improve one’s leadership at the individual level.