The Role of Education

Since I became a loyal customer of Netflix, I have watched a ton of movies. The latest one I watched was “An Education” about an Oxford-bound schoolgirl in London in the early 1960s getting a different kind of education from engaging in a relationship with a much older man. Of course the wide-eyed Jenny realized that in the end the man David was not what she thought he was. While she said to him that her life was incredibly boring before she met him, she eventually realized that she wanted that “boring life” back and willingly went back to that old and boring life – and got into Oxford.

As I reflect on my own education, I feel as if I barely dodged bullets at several points in my life. There were times when I also felt rebellious and wanted to do wild things like Jenny, and there were times when I did not feel like applying myself any more. There were times when I started risky ventures, without truly understanding the odds against me. There were times when I made rash decisions, without fully digesting the potential consequences.

From reflecting on my own education, what have I learned the most from each period of my education, that hopefully my son Winston will learn in each step of his education?

• from elementary school on until high school, I sure studied a great deal. But much of that has already been forgotten. What I learned from that period is the habit of working hard, and the notion that hard work is not only necessary, but also completely doable. That was my foundation.
• from college until graduate school, it was a rather confusing period of my life. I think I could have made much better use of the resources available to me at Peking University, Harvard and MIT. But I was overwhelmed by the possibilities, the options and the ambiguitiies associated with making any typpe of choices. I was a bit lost throughout that period. Fortunately I had retained that hard-working habit that sustained me throughout this period, so that I could finish my formal education and move on with my life, albeit a bit uncertain about what I truly wanted to do.
• at my first job out of school at Genzyme, compared to Harvard, it was like a two-year long vacation for me. I learned about biotech companies; I learned about real working people and learned that what concerened most of them often was not work; I learned biology, economics and finance by taking classes after work; I chatted with friends and met with friends often; and I finally decided that I wanted to give business a try by applying to McKinsey and getting a job offer from The Firm. In a way, I did not learn too much, but this two-year hiatus gave me some time to recuperate from the previous arduous academic journey.
• at McKinsey was my second postgraduate education. I never used a PC before joining McKinsey; I never used Excel before; I had no systematic schooling in economics or business before; I had no experience. It was very tough, and I hated every minute of it. Now, almost 10 years later, I reflect on my McKinsey experience with immense gratitude. Unbeknownst to myself, that intensive period at McKinsey was like a military boot camp. While I whined and complained, afterwards I emerged as a soldier. I then knew how to talk and do business.
• At Syrrx and DPI, the two biotech companies where I did business development, I learned a great deal about the biotech industry in general, but overall it was an easy ride at both places. Perhaps the most important learning from both places is to identify mentors wherever you are, because they are much more helpful and important than any textbooks or classes you can find.
• At LEAD, the company which I started from scratch, it was my real practical education. I learned about starting a company; I learned about raising money; I learned about people and what drives them; I learned the essence of those principles taught at Havard Business School or written in best-selling business books such as “Good to Great”; I learned to be philosophical and yet action-oriented; and I learned about setbacks and heartbreaks. It was a risky education pathway for me, as I could have turned out bruised and bitter. But at least for now, I hope that I have turned out “older and wiser”.

I sometimes find myself fretting over how I could help Winston get the best education, live the best life, make the fewest mistakes, etc, etc. But I also know at the same time that it was not only an impossible goal, it is probably the wrong goal. The role of education is to teach one how to think, and how to live our lives, in the context of the society and the world in which we live, knowing full well at the same time that the only thing that is constant is change.