Professor Zhao Shuming in Australia's Newcastle University graduation ceremony speech

Speech at the graduation ceremony

University of Newcastle, Australia

在澳大利亚纽�斯特大学毕业典礼上的讲演

Shuming ZHAO, Ph.D.

Professor and Dean

School of Business

Nanjing University

Nanjing, P.R. China

�京大学商学院教授�院长

赵曙明�士

 

Good morning, Chancellor, Deputy Chancellor, Academic Colleagues, Ladies and Gentlemen and Graduating Students:

尊敬的校长�副校长�学术界���女士们�先生们和毕业生们，��早上好�

It is a great pleasure and privilege for me to be here today, on this very special occasion, with the newest graduates of the Faculty of Business and Law, of the University of Newcastle. I would like to thank the university and the faculty, and in particular, the Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the faculty, Prof. Stephen Nicholas, for inviting me to join you and share with you this joyous occasion.

今天能与纽�斯特大学商学和法律学院的��毕业生，一起�加这个特殊的场�，我感到�分的�幸和高兴。�常感谢学校和学院，尤其是副校长Stephen Nicholas教授的邀请，使我得以�加毕业典礼和��分享这快�的时光。

Let me first congratulate the graduates. To reach this milestone, you have overcome many challenges and worked very hard on your studies.

首先请�许我�贺��毕业生。你们在学习中付出了许多的努力，克�了很多的困难和挑战�到达了今天这一里程碑。

Today, as you start the next stage of your life journey in this fast changing world, I am very happy to have a chance to share some thoughts with you based on my own experiences. When you leave this university and enter a new environment, you will confront many challenges and opportunities. Please allow me to share with you my views on three matters: life-long learning, cross-cultural capability, and social responsibility.

你们将��入人生新的旅途，步入日新月异的世界，在此之际，我很高兴和��分享我的�历和感�。当离开校园，走进新的环境�，你们会�到很多的挑战和机�。请�许我和大家分享我对终生学习�跨文化管�能力�社会责任感这三个方�的看法。

First, Life-long learning. You need to understand that learning is a life-long task for everyone. What you learn may be different at different stages of your life, but you can never decrease or stop your commitment to learning. If you do, you soon will lag behind the more dynamic members of society. Today we live in a knowledge-based society, and learning has never been so important for each of us. Whatever you do, you are often expected to be a learning member, in a learning team, or a learning organization or learning community, and you are required to keep learning new knowledge and skills, and keep pace with the fast development of science and technology. Here, I would like to introduce two great scholars’ ideas on how to learn. One is Professor Peter Drucker, who is honored as the father of “modern management.� I was fortunate to learn a lot from him while I was studying for my master’s degree in 1981-83 and then a Ph.D. in 1987-1990 at Claremont Graduate University. His advice of managing time effectively is very useful. As you know, most of you will not dedicate full time for learning after leaving the university, and your time for learning will be limited. By managing your time effectively every day, you can, however, find enough time for learning.

首先是终生学习。你们应该懂得，学习是陪伴大家一生的任务。或许人生ä¸�å�Œçš„阶段，学习的内容也ä¸�一样，但我们任何时候都ä¸�能å‡�慢甚至å�œä¸‹å­¦ä¹ çš„脚步。如果这样，你将很快在这多å�˜çš„世界里滞å�Žã€‚我们生活在以知识为本的社会里，对于æ¯�个人æ�¥è¯´ï¼Œå­¦ä¹ éƒ½æ˜¾å¾—å‰�所未有的é‡�è¦�。无论å�šä»€ä¹ˆï¼Œå¤§å®¶éƒ½å¸Œæœ›ä½ èƒ½æˆ�为学习的团队ã€�学习的组织和学习的社会中的一员，ä¸�断学习新的知识和技能，跟上科学技术飞速å�‘展的步ä¼�。在此，我给大家介ç»�两ä½�è‘—å��学者的学习ç�†å¿µã€‚一ä½�是被誉为“现代管ç�†ä¹‹çˆ¶â€�的彼得•å¾·é²�克教授。我在克莱蒙特大学1981年到1983年硕士研究生阶段å�Š1987年到1990å¹´å�šå£«ç ”究生阶段，曾有幸跟éš�教授学到了很多。他的高效时间统筹的建议让我å�—益匪浅。离开学校以å�Žï¼Œä½ ä»¬ä¸�å†�能用全部的时间æ�¥å­¦ä¹ ï¼Œå­¦ä¹ çš„时间将会很有é™�。如果æ¯�天能有效地统筹好时间，那么无论何时何地，你都能有充分的时间æ�¥å­¦ä¹ ã€‚

The other scholar is Confucius, an influential Chinese teacher, who lived more than 2,500 years ago. One of his famous sayings about learning is that one can always find a teacher for himself or herself from whoever he walks together with. That means you can always learn something from the people around you. I hope the two wise scholars’ ideas on learning can be helpful for you.

�一�学者是生活在2500年�，具有深远影�的中国�师--孔�。他有一��言：三人行，必有我师。这��说明，你总是�以�周围的人学习。我希望，这两�智者的�想�以在学习上对你们有所帮助。

I have worked for Nanjing University, the People’s Republic of China since 1977, more than 30 years. Some students for whom I served as an academic advisor, have become senior government officials, well-known professors, and successful CEOs. One of the questions I always asked them is ‘what the most important criteria for the people who they are hiring?’ They told me learning and critical thinking abilities. You are about to enter society. You should continue to learn and train your analytic abilities. We must develop the capacity to think analytically, think critically, think creatively, think across time and space, think across areas or fields, and have the ability to encourage and motivate others. Those are the qualities of my successful graduates. They succeeded because they continued to learn after graduation, think deeply and thoughtfully, and think before act. .

自1977年以�，我已�在中�人民共和国�京大学工作超过了30年。我所指导的一些学生如今已��为政府高级官员�知�学者��功�业家。有一个问题我常常问他们：“你们�用�员时最��的标准是什么？�他们的回答是学习和�考的能力。你们�将�入社会，�继续学习和培养自己的分�能力。我们必须�展分�性的�维能力�批判性的�维能力和创造性的�维能力，�能跨时空，跨领域进行�考，并能鼓励和激励他人。这些是我的那些�功的毕业生们所具备的素质，他们之所以�功，是因为毕业�还继续学习，深�熟虑，三�而�行。

Second, Cross-cultural management capability. It is well recognized that globalization today involves everyone in an international or multi-cultural environment. Hence, cross-cultural management capability, the ability to act in a cultural context different from his or her own, is extremely necessary. Studies of many multinational enterprises support the conclusion that one important reason for the high failure rate of expatriates is that they lacked cross-cultural management capability and could not make their management behavior adaptive to the local cultural context. Now, cross-cultural management capability is taken as one of the core competences in the selection criterion of expatriate staff in many multi-cultural organizations. The University of Newcastle is strongly committed to an international focus on teaching, learning and research; I believe that you have obtained a great deal of cross-cultural knowledge and skill at this university. Still, I hope you will continue to enhance your cross-cultural management capability because you will confront more complicated cross-cultural challenges in your future career. Sensitivity to and tolerance of different cultures are crucial elements for forming cross-cultural management capability. What you can do to acquire this perspective is learn about other cultures, really understand them, respect them, and only then you can increase your cross-cultural management capability and be able to perform better in a multi-cultural environment.

其次，跨文化管�能力。众所周知，在当今全�一体化的形势下，�个人都身处国际化或跨文化的环境之中。因此，跨文化管�能力——这一在��于自己文化背景下工作和生活的能力�得��或缺。对多个跨国�业的调查�明，许多外派管�者的失败正是由于其缺�跨文化管�的能力，�能使自己的管�方�适应当地的文化背景。如今，跨文化管�能力已��为许多跨国�业挑选外�管�者的核心指标之一。一直以�，纽�斯特大学注�于国际化教学�学习和研究，我相信在这所大学里，你们已�具备了许多跨文化的知识和技能。在将�的�业生涯中你们将�临更��的跨文化挑战，我希望你们能�断�高跨文化管�能力。�有学习他国的文化，真正的�解并尊�他国文化，�能�高跨文化管�的能力，并更好的应用于跨文化环境里。

Third, Social responsibility. As a human being, the essential thing is that you should accept responsibility for the society. People and some media often ask me the same question: “What drives you to act successfully as a scholar, as a dean of a school of business, and as an active professional at the same time�? I reply: “The strong feeling of the responsibility and deep love for my country.� Here, I would like to give you my personal experience. In May 1990, I received my Ph.D. in Higher Education and Human Resource Management from Claremont Graduate University in the United States; three American universities offered me jobs. And because of the Tiananmen Incident, George Bush, the former President of the United States, offered a green card to all Chinese students who were then studying in the United States. I thought that I needed to return to China to contribute the knowledge that I learned in the United States and train more Chinese students. At that time, there was actually no human resource management (HRM) in China, no one was even familiar with the term HRM. My family and I returned to China in 1991 after I completed my post-doctoral fellow program at the College of Business, Florida Atlantic University, in the United States, in order to introduce advanced western theories of management and HRM into China. After working together with my colleagues at School of Business at Nanjing University for more than 18 years, and having done everything we could do to develop HRM in China, my dream has come true. To tell you the truth, Nanjing University is ranked No.1 for HRM research and study in China. Western HRM, applied to China’s environment, has spread rapidly and been accepted widely in Chinese enterprises and non-profit organizations during the past decade. My dream is to establish HRM with Chinese characteristics. I have been a called “workaholic� by people who know me. (It seems not a good thing; definitely I do not want you to be a “workaholic�). Personal happiness and a high quality of work-life are closely related. I feel very happy when I can contribute to society. I always think that society has given me more honors and awards than the value of my contributions to society. Please remember, service to society is not your burden, but your honor and responsibility. I strongly believe that the more you contribute, the more your life will be enriched. I have tried to live my life according to that preception and urge you to consider this as a guiding principle in your own future.

第三，社会责任感。作为一个人，很关键的一点是�对社会富有责任感。人们和一些媒体�常问我�一个问题：“是什么驱使您�时�为一��功的学者�商学院院长和活跃的教授？�我回答：“是强烈的责任感和对祖国深深的爱。�在此，我�和你们分享我的人生的一段�历。1990年5月，我在美国克莱蒙特研究生院�得了高等教育和人力资�管�的�士学�，三所美国大学�我�供工作机会。�时，由于“天安门事件�，美国�总统George Bush先生给所有当时在美国学习的中国留学生�放绿�。我觉得我需�回到祖国，把我在美国学到的知识贡献给国家，培育更多的中国学生。当时中国没有人力资�管�，甚至没有人熟悉人力资�管�这个�语。为了把先进的西方管�和人力资�管��论带回中国，在美国佛罗里达大西洋大学商学院完�了�士�研究�，我和我的家人于1991年回到了中国。与�京大学商学院的�事们�过了18年的共�努力，我们竭尽我们所能�展中国人力资�管�，我的梦想终于实现了。事实就是，�京大学在中国人力资�管�研究中�列�茅。西方的人力资�管�被应用于中国�，在过去的�年中快速广泛地被中国�业和公共部门所接�。我的梦想是建立有中国特色的人力资�管��论。认识我的人都�我“工作狂�，（其实这�是什么好事情，当然我�希望你们也�为“工作狂�）。个人的幸�感和高工作�生活质�是紧密相关的。当我能为社会有所贡献的时候，我感到�分的快�。我总感觉到社会回馈给我的�誉和奖�远远多于我对社会的贡献。请��铭记，�务社会�是你的负担，而是你的�耀和责任。我�信贡献越多，你的生活就会越充实越丰富。我曾以此为准则生活，也强烈地希望你们以此为未�生活的信�。

Finally, I sincerely hope that all of you will have the five C abilities: confidence, competence, communication, creativity, and collaboration.

最�，我诚挚地希望��都能具备5�能力：自信�能力�交��创新和�作。

I wish you all a great success in your careers! Again, Congratulations to All graduates!

我衷心地�愿大家事业�功��次对所有毕业生表示�贺�

Thank you!

谢谢大家�