[Hanoi] Business Talk: Managing your career to reach fulfillment in life

On 18th July, Solvay hold its 2nd series of business talk on “Managing your career to reach your fulfillment in life” in Hanoi, after the first successful one in HCMC on July 14. We were very lucky to have all three inspiring guest speakers are our alumni from different intakes and various experience to join our Dean of Solvay School – Prof Michel Allé and our Scientific Director, Dr Trung Dinh.

The event was an occasion for more than 60 alumni, students, friends and colleagues of Solvay Network to get together in warm & friendship atmosphere.

We’ve shared, learned experience and knowledge and heard so many stories about failure and success from speakers, guests and participants. Please find below some recaps of the event.

 

1. Sharing from Dr. Trung Đinh, Strategic Mentor & Scientific Director of Solvay Vietnam

• Should start managing career by understanding yourself first, to define core values, passions and your own advantages.
• Try to find a motivation for getting up every morning, which makes you never give up.
• Observe changing with the world and society, to equip yourself with knowledge & skills, create strategic relationships, find and get ready for opportunities.
• A good job is the one: you have passion, reflect your values +(x) bring  to society +(x) you have the ability, expertise, skill +(x) you get paid. You can read more information about “Ikigai”., 
• Let’s take strategic steps, with broad vision, and detailed goals and milestones.

 

2. Sharing from Prof. Michel Allé, Dean of Solvay Vietnam

• As the world is changing, business model, management methods are also changing. For example, Deutsche bank, one of the top banks in Europe, announced to cut 18,000 jobs.
• Essential skills for current and future career are Communication skills, individual and team work, personal leadership style development, interaction and interpersonal skills.
• Teaching also needs to be practical and provide great experience for students. The lecturers, besides expertise knowledge, need to have working experience, practical management and updated information.

 Sharing from Ms. Phan Hoang Hoa, Director of Operations, Apollo

A business can nurture employee and help them develop their career by many ways:

• Internal training or hiring experts from outside as demand of departments.
• Clear career paths and orientation for employees. 
• Rotation and Promotion in both vertical and horizontal development creates challenges and motives for employees.
• The programs need to be personalized based on demand and characters of departments, individuals and under 360 degree support of line manager, training development, director & buddy.
• The business need to define core values as direction for selecting employees.
• Company culture is a flow for both formal and informal activities such as story sharing, competitions, internal exchange, outing trip, etc. This also takes a lot of time to execute these activities. 

 

4. Ms. Ngo Minh Anh, Partner of MCG Consulting Company

• With SMEs, business owner should have her or his own passion and motivation in order to inspire and motivate employees.
• Career at SMEs does not only mean promotion. Here, employees can find passion, favorite environment, opportunities to acquire more knowledge and skills, as well as get pay as desired.

 

5. Dr. Nguyen Trung Dung, CEO of BK-Holdings

+ New trend in education:

• Trends in education will be Edutech, using smart technologies, virtual reality experience, etc.
• Start-up is not for everyone, just for particular people. It is the top of the pyramid, while the base is Creativity and Innovation.
• What is Innovation? 
• US Style: Innovation = Research Results + Commercialization (Stanford’s definition)
• Jewish style:  Innovation = Research Results x Commercialization

+ Ability will have 3 parts: ASK (Attitude, Skills and Knowledge). The schools now focus too much on Knowledge, and forget AS. In foreign countries, after school program or life-long education is highly recommended.

+ Choosing a school should be based on sustainable values, base, infrastructure, modern technology and qualified teachers.

Finally, the most asked questions are “Who are mentors? And how to find them?”

Mentor is different from coach & consultant. Usually, coach & consultant have a clear mission in a short-term period. They will show you what to do and get paid for it. On the other hand, mentors usually help you as they feel happy when you grow, not with purpose of money. They will ask questions and let you freely find your own answers. And they commit to go with you in the long-term. 

As mentor is hard to get through money, so they are priceless. And where to find them, let join our next event. Stay tuned!