On Wednesday, 18th April 2018, Dr. Dipak C. Jain Honorary President of Woosong University delivered a Platinum Lecture at SolBridge on ‘Lessons Learnt from a life of Teaching.’

With over 35 years of teaching experience, Dr. Jain shared his educational journey from the USA, Europe, and Thailand to South Korea and the factors that have contributed to his successful career. Dr. Jain spent 25 years at Kellogg School of Management including 12 years as a professor and 13 years in the Dean offices. He then moved on to INSEAD as the Dean and later Chulalongkorn University in Thailand. Last year, Dr. Jain was appointed as the Honorary President of Woosong University.

During his lecture, Dr. Jain highlighted some of the global trends including the hyper-competition due to technological evolution; increased transparency as a result of social media; the burden of the aging population due to demographic shifts. He shared the impact and challenges of these global trends both to individuals and governments.

Besides, he outlined the five driving factors that have led to his accomplishments: Education, Hard work, Feedback, Aspiration, and Performance.

“There are no shortcuts in learning, we all go through the process, people who take shortcuts also shortcut their life” – he said as he highlighted education as a key differentiator. “Remember one thing; we are all smart, competencies can be outsourced, what cannot be outsourced is trust. Your degree will not be your only differentiator rather than your sincerity and trust” he added.

He emphasized drivers of reputation including leadership initiatives, innovative thinking, and career progress. “When you receive feedback, take it positively and not personally, we all want to improve,” he said. “Failures are the pillars of success” he added. He also encouraged students to speak up and provide feedback to their professors and dare to go beyond what is expected of them including taking up more leadership roles. “If you think of an idea that can help future students, discuss it with management,” he said.

And finally, he concluded the lecture by iterating SolBridge’s responsibility to the students by providing a good education and a suitable placement.