曹成博士英文主旨演讲全文（KEDGE商学院上海交大EMBA学员毕业暨新生开学典礼）

国际MBA2016级毕业生毕业合影（via.KEDGE）

国际MBA2018级新生合影（via.KEDGE）

法国KEDGE商学院 - 上海交通大学2016级国际MBA和EMBA项目学员毕业及2018级国际MBA项目新生开学典礼，于11月30日在上海隆重举行。

2016级国际MBA毕业学员、EMBA毕业学员、及2018级国际MBA新生及其家属等100多人齐聚一堂，见证了盛典的隆重举办，共同庆贺学员们人生的重要时刻。现场来宾包括：法国KEDGE商学院校长José MILANO，上海交通大学文化创意产业学院副院长姜进章教授，法国KEDGE商学院国际发展与战略总裁、中国区总经理Guy MARCILLAT博士，法国KEDGE商学院MBA项目主任Hervé REMAUD教授，学术项目主任、副院长Pascal VIDAL教授，法国驻上海总领事馆文化教育合作处高等教育合作项目官员Jean MACREZ，中国法国工商会副总监Anthony LOPEZ等。

品牌几何董事总经理、法国KEDGE商学院工商管理博士项目校友曹成博士荣幸受邀发表了闭幕主旨演讲。以下为英文演讲全部内容：

Speech on Kedge-SJTU EMBA & Global MBAOpening & Graduation Ceremony

Cao Cheng

Dear Professors, dear 2016 EMBA graduates,dear 2018 Global MBA intake students, dear Kedge Shanghai Jiaotong University Alumni, Ladies and gentlemen, Good afternoon!

I’m honored to deliver this speech here with great gratitude and proud.

First, I’d like to congratulate all the EMBA graduates and Global MBA graduates, it is such a big day for you to be remembered today and you have completed a long journey with the final victories. Also you harvested great memories, friendship and knowledge for everybody to treasure in the living years. No matter how much midnight oil you have burnt, no matter how much alcohol you have drunk together, no matter how many excuses you’ve found to delay your papers, you somehow finally made it. Congratulations on your fantastic achievements!

At the same time,I would like to express the warmest welcome to the new students who are going to participate into the 2018 EMBA and Global MBA study.A great adventures and fabulous experiences are waiting for you,I wish you all enjoy the exploration. Welcome to the Kedge family!

I am an EMBA graduate from other business school,but it is so lucky to be a Kedge DBA graduate finally with a Doctor degree fortunately. 3 years hard working,long long dissertation, glorious ceremony in France, it just happened to me, it is like just yesterday.

This gave me the opportunity to be entitled standing here, talking as an Alumni Shixiong. Thus,I would like to take this precious 10 minutes of your time to share my stories, experiences and dots of the thoughts.

3 years ago, I was an advertising guy who have spent many many years in agencies, I worked for so-called 4A agencies like J. Walter Thompson and D’arcy and Bates, later I was running my own agency. I experienced the golden days of the industry as you could imagine by watching the famous American Soap Opera Mad Men. Don Draper like figure, Concepts and Ideas are my loved products.

However, as the economic situation changed dramatically in the past decade,the industry context changed, so have the business model disrupted. It’s somewhat like when you climb the mountain following the industry pioneers’ steps with tremendous efforts and finally reached a huge flatlands at the end, I was suddenly puzzled,confused and somewhat lost the direction as many industry veterans are all confronting. The future was foggy,with 180 degrees of directions,with so many rosy or dark choices uncertain, the pioneers are gone.

The professors told us there is no right or wrong but your choices, I was struggling for a choice since there are so many choices. At this time, all the knowledge and skills could not help you but made the situation more complicated, what I desperately need was an navigation system for the captain, that is me,to cross the difficult waters. So I decided to take a DBA study, I wanted this study to give me methodology for the system building by myself, since nobody could help you on system.

Fortunately, It really worked and this DBA study helped me cleared my mind, forged the original model as starting point and gained back my happiness. There are so many people to thank, my dear professors, dear classmates and dear Kedge teachers. Thank you all and for all the efforts you devoted into this Euro Asia DBA Program.

In my opinion, the EA-DBA is a very unique and extraordinary DBA program in the world. Three outstanding business schools collaborating together, five international cities for experiencing diversified cultures, seven knowledgeable professors teaching in the seminars,and one dedicated advisor guiding each of us all the way through.

We have been sailing in the ocean of knowledge with the guidance of our professors and advisors, and with the encouragement and applause of our fellow doctors. And thus, we feel humble, inspired, and enjoyable throughout the voyage.

This is a great program which I keep recommending to people who are willing to challenge themselves as I used to do.

The program taught me 4 things.

The first one is to Focus always. The world is so big while we are tiny, the universe is so profound while we are just a second in the history. We could not be everybody, we are just ourselves,so focusing on a specific area, focusing on several small contributions and make them really happen, this could fulfill our career and our life. It took me one whole year to decide my study topic, finally the topic became what I loved and what I am doing now and in the future.

Brand Resonance in Digital Marketing Environment was my dissertation title and it is now the core of my company service offering,no matter it is consulting for big companies, coaching for marketing professionals or great articles output as a vertical media platform. Do what you love,and love what you do is the best solution in this turbulent environment.

The second is to chase the very substance.We are in a fragmented world even there are augmented reality and virtual reality. Too many fancy things and fancy ideas, too many flashes that make us dizzy easily. The old Zen Buddhism story told us, the dog chases the stones thrown to it and the lion chases the guy who throwing stones. We need the wisdom to keep calm and quiet, we need the mind to find the substance and we need the capabilities to solve the fundamental problems.

The third is to Keep Exploring. Once we focused,once we are disciplined our mind, there is a vertical tunnel opened to us and finally will lead us into a new horizon, a new world. The adventure thus begins. There will be so many things to explore and there is no end, and we could be the explorer and pioneers. It could be so-called blue oceans and we could be the Jack Sparrow,the captain in this water.

The fourth is to Connect. This is a wired world already and everything is connected, the people are connected,each of us focusing on different area are connected for co-creating,to make something bigger, bigger than our area and bigger than life. Here in Kedge, we are connected by the name, by the campus, by professors, by knowledge, by the shared value. We could make more things happen by our connection and cooperation, so be connected with the Alumni and the bigger world could make us create, share more value, and make us care.

Create Share and Care, sounds familiar? Exactly, these 3 words are Kedge’s value statement and they bring us together.

Everyday is a new day, let’s make ourselves better, let’s make Kedge better, let’s make our lives really count.

Do you know that the name Kedge refers to the navigation of difficult waters using anchors? So I would like to say: The future is Kedge, the future is bright. Thank you for your time and Congratulations to you all!