Marc Allen – the President of Boeing China, was the latest among a string of corporate captains to speak at Hunan International Economics University (HIEU) as part of the university’s continued efforts to bring the industry to the classroom.
The special speaker from Boeing spoke on the personality traits and skills required for success to over 2000 HIEU freshmen that attended the session at the end of their orientation week. This was part of a skills development initiative aimed at honing the skills, attributes and talents of students at HIEU in an effort to strengthen graduate outcomes and help students become global citizens. Corporate leaders from across a spectrum of fields have spoken at HIEU since 2009 when the institution became part of the Laureate International Universities network. Graduate outcomes and academic innovation aimed at developing students for global employment has become a key pillar at HIEU, and every student has an opportunity to listen to inspiring leaders in person among the many initiatives in place.
Mr. Marc Allen - a young and dynamic leader at a leading global Fortune 500 company, shared five characters of success and elaborated on each point with interesting anecdotes and analogies which kept every student in the audience captivated. The Q&A session was equally dynamic with enthusiastic students posing questions ranging from
“the difference between Chinese and American students”, “how to manage fear”, “how to overcome self weaknesses“, among others.
The highly charged and interactive session energized all the students as they were inspired by the real-life experiences and anecdotes shared by Mr Allen. He also shared what he perceives as being important for employees seeking career advancement, how he defines and identifies talent and how major corporate decisions are made. Engaging responses to every question kept the students glued to their seats and students were seen taking notes of the precious advice given by the dynamic and successful young CEO.
The parting advise from Mr. Allen resonated well with the entire audience, as he said: “While we cannot choose our country of origin, our families or our background, we can establish the right and positive connections with the friends and contacts we make.” He ended his session by encouraging the freshmen to take a leaf from his book and pursue their dreams.
Marc Allen, who spoke at HIEU for the first time, said that he was impressed with the quality of questions asked by the students as it reflected a keen interest in learning and self-improvement. “I hope my session helped open the minds of the students about the endless possibilities in life and help them develop the necessary personality traits and attitude required for success in their chosen fields.”
