Contributed by Winnie Cheung (Class of 2019)
In GLOBE, we meet not only new people, but also new ideas. In the Chicago study trip tailored for the GLOBE students, I was inspired by the sharing given by different entrepreneurs which have changed my view on opportunity and failure and informed my long-range future.
“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity”. To stay ready for the opportunities, we should equip ourselves with a curious mindset. In the sharing of Eric Becker, the Founder of Caretta Partners, he mentioned the importance of “looking for patterns” and “understanding people’s behavior”.
Curiosity fuels growth. With a curious mindset, we are more aware of patterns and behavior. This helps us to stay current in the market and identify new opportunities. This inspired me a lot as a marketing student. Take the brand management function an example, it always involves tasks such as identifying consumer, shopper and customer insights and executing marketing tactics accordingly. Equipped with a curious mindset, we can observe patterns in the data set through Artificial Intelligence (AI) and generate new consumer insight. This helps us to better prepare for future opportunities – and to make our own luck.
Entrepreneurship is often associated with the word “failure” as we always hear that nine out of ten startups fail. Before the Chicago study trip, I saw “failure” as a negative term as it implies loss. The sharing of entrepreneurs and speakers of Ideas Day, however, has renewed my understanding of “failure”.
Failure is not permanent. It can bring us positive change if we expect and overcome it. For instance, the business downturn shaped Eric (the Founder of Caretta Partners) to be a humble person; the failure of the previous start-up allowed Erik (a Chicago tech entrepreneur) to know more about himself. Their stories teach us a great lesson that “failure can be a great source of learning” if we perceive it as temporary. In our future career, we must encounter failure at some points. To avoid making it permanent in our lives, we should accept and learn from it. Applying positive thinking to overcome failure, we can better equip ourselves for the future with enhanced knowledge, experience and skills.
To me, GLOBE is about diversity. We meet new friends from different countries, and we also learn new ideas from around the world. I believe the diversity and chemistry we have in GLOBE have shaped us into a global citizen which can easily adapt to the culturally diverse environments!
