Lisa XIONG

Associate Professor, emlyon business school
Research Assistant,Cambridge Judge Business School

In the workplace, "choice" is an eternal question. Whether the individual seeks for more sense of belonging and recognition by making proactive decisions or has to choose passively in the face of industry distress, it always means changes in the work environment and job description as well as psychological stress derived from such changes.

Each choice of Prof. Lisa XIONG, Associate Professor at emlyon business school, sets a higher and more challenging goal for her, evolving from international project manager to senior consultant and strategist, through to co-founder… And eventually, Lisa chose to serve as an educator, not only due to her interest and ideal, but also stemmed from her rational planning and deep reflection about "choice".

emlyon Global DBA Focus on the Further Education of Senior Professionals

Lisa’s interest in international trade and corporate strategy can be traced back to the beginning of her career. During her undergraduate years, she acted as an intern and was part of the interpretation team at Jiangxi Foreign Affairs Office, offering simultaneous interpretation services at international conferences. After graduation, she became a faculty member in English, while continuing to play the role of a simultaneous interpreter, who built up the bridge between government authorities and SMEs and facilitating SMEs to establish and develop their collaboration with international companies.

During this period, Lisa started to approach and soon became attracted by the world of international trade and macroeconomics. As the boundaries of her career kept on widening and the ideological framework was gradually shaped under her international vision, she not only gained more in-depth insights on the globalization of the world economy, but also rigorously reviewed the association between further education, in particular a DBA program, and career transformation of professionals from the perspective of a senior executive.

"I think that further education of professional is a process of improving and reshaping the existing knowledge system and the way of thinking. Due to the dynamic changes in the world economy and worldwide industries, there are inevitable gaps between the actual demands for professional skills and campus education. Further education helps people in the workplace better adapt to the changing business environment, keep the career curve upward and achieve the integration with the economy. "

Lisa found that compared to other program, emlyon GDBA not only teaches the research methodologies in business management, but also focuses on the practicality and prospectiveness of research topics, thereby helping students build industry perspectives, discover new problems and explore problem-solving capabilities. "Therefore, DBAers can go beyond their organizations to explore industry issues and beyond existing positions to look at the transformation with a better open mind."

Know yourself and know the counterparty. Before applying for emlyon GDBA, Lisa spent 4 months doing a full research to understand the fitness of the program and the degree. During this process, she determined that emlyon GDBA was highly compatible with her and also contacted many like-minded DBA alumni. Through exchanges and discussions with her predecessors, Lisa realized that DBA is more a program of "academic coexistence". Because of the social attributes of the participants, there is often a deeper relationship of "business coexistence" between the students. Both kinds of "coexistence" are essential to either the continuation or the transformation of the original career roadmap.

"Studying a DBA program is of course stressful and challenging. But in fact, the pressure is far less than the future uncertainties it guides me to reveal. It is gratifying that emlyon GDBA helped me find more possibilities through such uncertainties. It allows individuals feel the possibility of realizing higher social value, and in turn practice the unity of your own value and the social value in future career." Lisa heartily described her decision of enrolling in emlyon GDBA an "extremely correct choice".

Take the Podium and to be the professor of management practice

Over four years of study in emlyon GDBA, Lisa deeply perceived that DBA education highly focuses on applying theories to practice, thereby forming influential management ideas and turning academic findings into real-world productivity. She could have continued her hard work on the road to business leadership, but she was determined to come to emlyon business school to become a “gardener” who spread the seeds of knowledge.

"I have had the experience of managing an organization, and like many professionals, I have encountered setbacks at various stages of corporate development and felt confused. So as a graduate of emlyon Global DBA Program, I strongly hope to play a role as a bridge to share what I have learned to more executives and professionals and provide them with the assistance and support they need." And Lisa chose emlyon after careful consideration,

"First of all, I have a strong interest in the historic city of Lyon, and I also recognize its economic development. Second, emlyon business school has a world-class reputation and has always been on a healthy track of development. Most importantly, I learned that emlyon has launched a number of new research institutes concentrating on cutting-edge research topics, which is the most appealing to me."

emlyon has a smooth and complete system of talent recruitment. Whether the Certified B-School Lecturer (CBL) Program launched to help business executives realize their teaching dreams, or the comprehensive evaluation of faculty diversity of the Faculty Director, including the subsequent training of new lecturers, all highlight emlyon’s people-oriented philosophy and the international management mindset of value co-creation.

As one of the most historical business schools in Europe, emlyon business school has stringent requirements on its faculty team. Lisa advised, “If you want to be part of the faculty team at emlyon, a degree of DBA or Ph.D is the priority, completed by certain academic achievements. What distinguishes it from traditional business schools the most is that it highly values the international background and industry experience of the faculty.”

As Liu Yu points out in his book Send You a Bullet, "the essence of university is not to make individuals become esoteric, but to restore human innocence". Lisa’s in-depth research on the topic of "the emerging model of value creation in the recycling economy and sustainable luxury” happens to convey the “innocent” desire of an adult with higher education, hoping to “help the world become a better place”.

Lisa concluded, "As a new model of economic thinking, the recycling economy is characterized by resource conservation and recycling, emphasizing the ubiquitous availability and the harmony with the environment to achieve closed-loop flows of resources and materials. Meanwhile, it has also been included in the integration strategies of economic development, economic efficiency and environmental protection in many countries. The recycling economy is closely related to our lives, which makes it so attractive."

At emlyon business school, the omnipresent international atmosphere is reflected in not only the weight of international faculty, but also the nationalities and cultural backgrounds of the students, which challenges Lisa's teaching. She responded, “Teaching is about dealing with people. Communicate more with my peers..., while investing energy to understand the learning behaviors and curiosity of the students and the knowledge and cases they expect."

She added, "Students who are deeply influenced by American culture are usually more proactive and have more interactions, while students from France and Germany are good at philosophical thinking, who are quiet and reluctant to speak out their opinions. Therefore, I will pay attention to make tailored adjustments when preparing for the courses. "

Elaborate Feminine Power with Love and Tenderness

In life, Lisa is a girl who is passionate about life and remains innocent. But her innocence derives from her tenderness, tolerance and compassion with all these insights, rather than indifference and concentration on literatures. When a successful woman still has sparkles in her eyes, her innocence is especially precious. "At emlyon GDBA, I did the same thing as what I did when I was an undergraduate. And I am doing the same thing in France as what I did in China."

During her undergraduate years, Lisa would spend two hours every Friday to serve as a volunteer at Nanchang Orphanage and taught two disabled girls, whose passion for life deeply moved Lisa.“ Although I couldn’t find a suitable classroom at that time, I managed to teach them English outdoors. Sometimes I would visit them when I dropped by the supermarket where they work.”

In France, Lisa regains her role of a volunteer. At women's shelters in Paris, she will paint the nails of homeless women, make friends with them, listen to their stories and try to understand and respect them while releasing goodwill in the context of exotic cultures.

There are countless multiple choices to make in one's life, and Lisa chose the road of education via emlyon GDBA and love the world with her "innocence" heart. Today, she is moving firmly along the path of her choice, with warmth and strength.