Art by Joel KimmelTen years ago this
month, I found myself at a university in the Chinese megacity Guangzhou. I had
somehow secured an assistant lecturer place on an MBA course run by a UK
university. I didn’t ask twice; off I went.
As I arrived at the airport—a space-age building compared to the one I had left in Manchester—the first thing I noticed was the smog. The second thing was how the endless grey, residential blocks were crammed together. The third thing made the largest impression: the thirst and determination to succeed.
The UK university was, and still is, one of the best in the country, and its alumni are scattered around high finance and industry. But the difference between the two institutions was marked.
On the Sunday night as I, and the other lecturers, sipped Great Wall red wine, preparing for our first day teaching, a stream of students walked past our hotel. It was 10:05 pm. Their bags crammed with books, many conducted intense conversations.
“Does the university run night classes for adults?” I asked one of the hotel managers who was intent on bringing us more wine. “No, the library closes at 10 pm,” he said. “Students cannot get back in until tomorrow.”
The UK staff looked at each other and raised a collective eyebrow. We had seen this many students on our own campus at 10:05 pm, but usually when one of the colleges or societies was hosting a pub crawl.
The following morning at 8 am, we arrived to set up our classroom for an 8:30 am start. The class was already there, waiting. Some practising their English, others re-reading the academic papers we had sent through weeks earlier.
“It seems we’ve underestimated China,” said one of the teaching staff.
These students realised the intense competition they faced to succeed. They knew that hard work and learning from others was the way they would make it to number one—and they would have to continue to do these things to stay there.
China has since powered past many to become one of the world’s largest economies and its stumble on the world stage is—as I type—sending developed nations into turmoil. The students we taught may well be pulling major strings.
In this issue, we look into their mindset: Becoming the best you can be.
Our Interrogation subject, CIO of Sweden’s AP1, has set a course to excel in innovation through collaboration; while our columnist, CIO of the UK’s Environment Agency Pension Fund, wants to encourage fellow investors to make the best possible returns for their funds—and the planet.
Our intrepid Assistant European Editor Nick Reeve has been exploring his own manor this issue to find out how 33 London pension funds intend to pool assets and make efficiencies in a project of a size previously unseen. Will they succeed where smaller ventures have failed?
Finally, in our cover story, I look at how the world’s best sports people welcome coaching and critique, while the supposed “stars” in fund management prefer to go at it alone and make excuses when they end up failing.
We owe it to ourselves to be the best we can. In this industry, we owe it to those to whom we are financially responsible.
The world is changing. If we refuse to accept this responsibility, we may find someone has taken it from us.