Today was a rainy day, but the drizzle made London look even more picturesque. It was the fifth day of the GMCS in London, another wonderful day for learning and exchanging ideas.
The beautiful day was started by a lecture from Dr. Terhi Rantanen, a professor of global media & communication at the London School of Economics. Dr. Rantanen is a lovely lady from Finland, who presented the topic “Twenty Years of Media Globalization.” She gave us a new insight about the difference between internationalism, globalization, and cosmopolitanism from an academic perceptive.
After the lecture, we had a talk-back session with Northwestern alumnus Thomas Hoegh. Thomas is a Norwegian investor and entrepreneur who oversees a portfolio of high-growth businesses in the creative sectors. In his speech, he addressed an interesting point about “sitting in the customer’s seat.” He indicated that the key way for us to adapt the changing world is to clarify the target audience first and try to put ourselves in their chairs.
As I always believed that transpositional consideration is the key to effective communication, his insight confirmed my faith and inspired me a lot. It works not only in business communication, but also in personal life.
In the afternoon, we went to Working Title Films. A range of Working Title employees introduced their perception of the film industry as well as their working process, after which we watched a trailer for their fantastic new production The Theory of Everything. (I strongly suggest you guys to watch this movie when it comes out!)
The evening concluded with a wonderful dinner at Thomas Hoegh’s home. The dinner was a fantastic experience. The house was beautiful, the food and drinks were tasty, and the saxophonist’s performance was fabulous. Even better, Thomas invited his business partners and friends, according to his own words, “the people who could give you jobs,” to the dinner to talk with us. All of them were very friendly and helpful. It was a great opportunity for professional exploration. Thomas said, “I trust Northwestern so I trust you guys. What I can do is become a channel to help connect talents and business experience.” My fellow MSC classmate Alejandro explained, “It is impressive to see how powerful and supportive our ‘bleeding purple alumni community’ can be.”
After dinner, the MSC London cohort had a joyful chat in a lovely bar near our hotel. We talked about what we learned and exchanged insights and ideas about diversity and globalization. It was a very exciting talk. We gained a deeper understanding of each other’s view. I realized, as a member of MSC family, we are assets of each other. Today, we learned different cultures and viewpoints from each other; tomorrow, we may become business partners, helping each other to develop our careers.
The wonderful trip became more and more exciting; it brought us a wealth of knowledge and experience. Even more important, it brought us a precious opportunity to develop our friendship. It will become my lifelong wealth.
Thanks MSC, thanks Northwestern University for this opportunity!
Dr. Terhi Rantanen’s Biography
http://www.lse.ac.uk/media@lse/WhosWho/AcademicStaff/terhiRantanen.aspx
By Dan Hui, MSC Class of 2014