Asia Mobility Experience is a program that MSLGROUP created to develop well-rounded, globalized employees by broadening their experience and knowledge of other cultures and business practices through short-term, medium-term and even permanent mobility programs. Every year dozens of employees get a chance to fly to their . This year, Karan Bhujbal from our Delhi team was selected to fly to MSLCHINA for a learning visit to experience the industry and cultural diversity across MSLGROUP Asia offices.
Before you read further here is a short video on the MSLGROUP Asia Mobility Experience Program
‘3 days in Beijing? Seriously! What can one learn just in 3 days!’ That was my first thought, as I got selected for the AME 2013 visit. I was happy that I got selected out of all the others who applied, and that I’ll be travelling abroad, but I grumbled over the super small visit. But that all changed very soon, as I put foot in Beijing!
OK, LET’S REWIND
I sat on a plane to Beijing, with a set of apprehensions in my mind. Now, China isn’t exactly promoted as a tourist destination for Indians, so I didn’t share the same fascination as I would have had, if I were visiting Singapore, Dubai or Europe. Add to that, the people sitting beside me on the plane kept complaining about the language issues they’ve always faced.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Then I landed in Beijing, as it was all out there for me to discover. The roads were clean and the traffic was very organized. People followed traffic signals, didn’t honk despite long jams and followed all rules. All roads had trees planted on either sides of them, and in such symmetry that if you viewed one of then head-on, you wouldn’t realise others were also there in cue. The city has so many skyscrapers too. I was amazed!
THE MSL CHINA OFFICE
The MSL China office is huge and amazing. There are 2 sides to the office, one that’s MSL China and the other that’s the erstwhile Eastwei MSL. Both have their own personality, which is different from that of the other. What’s common though is the overall lounge kind-of-look that the office has maintained across all corners.
The office was quiet at most times, yet, people in the office were very friendly. Sean Wu, my buddy for the AME visit, was especially a great host. From introducing me to everyone at the office, to organizing a schedule so I could achieve my agenda, to planning my evenings to see all that’s remarkable in Beijing (history and food-wise) was done by him immaculately. A BIG thank you to him! I’ll say everyone visiting Beijing should have Sean as his/ her buddy.
WORK RELATED LEARNING
My discussions, work wise, largely revolved three things. Two of these were client specific – Adobe and Jack & Jones and the third, was digital in general.
- These discussions helped me understand the vastness of the China media. It’s double the size of English media here in India
- The quantity of events done in a year for Adobe was eye-opening, because I personally deal with clients who don’t have too much of an event led approach
- The consistency with which key opinion leader management programs were done across clients was inspiring, as that’s something we’re increasingly doing for our clients here
- On the digital front, the transfer of the popularity baton from WeChat to Sina Weibo, was very interesting, as it has some commonalities with what’s happening in the social media/ digital universe here in India
CULTURAL EXPERIENCE
Culturally too, the experience was mightily rewarding. I visited the Great Wall of China, which was the top highlight of my AME visit. This is a monument that we’ve read in history books! And it’s massive! It really awed me! And having climbed it (a bit of it really!), puts a proud once-in-a-lifetime kind of smirk on my face even now.
I got a chance to see the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square and the Ming Tombs. Each were as unique as the other.
My buddy Sean treated me to some lovely local food too. Be it the ice noodles or the Hong Kong style Chinese, it was just great.
LAST, BUT NOT THE LEAST
The people at MSL China in Beijing were awesome! They treated me to a night-out of some amazing Mexican food, drinks and dancing. You won’t believe, but I played a Honey Singh track, and taught them to do some bhangra too!
Xie Xie Beijing! (Thank you Beijing)
This blog was originally posted on the 20:20MSL blog here.
No comments:
Post a Comment