How a distinguished group of CEMS students at LSE are channelling creativity into a student conference designed to provide answers to the biggest questions engulfing the business world.
The question of Europe’s political and economic future has never been more pertinent. As new economies emerge and assert their influence, the West’s position of dominance is starting to crumble as power becomes concentrated in other pockets of the world. For Europe’s leaders, the challenge is to initiate closer cooperation and communication among the ever-growing interplay of actors and strike a balance to retain a seat at the table. For CEMS students and alumni, the ability to understand and respond to the political and economic climate of the day will have a significant impact on the way the world operates.
Inspired by the motto of the London School of Economics, – ‘to understand the causes of things’, the second annual CEMS RCC Conference brought together current and future leaders of Europe to debate the pressing issues and impending challenges faced by the continent. The conference, which is open to all members of the CEMS alliance, was founded in 2014 by CEMS students at the London School of Economics, and is designed to be an enriching experience by enhancing business acumen and understanding of current events through a varied programme of workshops, skill seminars, presentations and panel discussions. By creating an environment where business leaders, influential political representatives and world-renowned academics interact with students and alumni, collaboration ensues enabling solutions and best practice to germinate.
Daniel Von Janowski, Pre
sident of the 2015 CEMS RCC Conference and a member of the 2013-15 LSE MSc Management and CEMS cohort, headed up this year’s event, which attracted 200 international management students for three days over 28-30 January 2015. As President of CEMS Club London, Daniel inherited the conference from its founders, along with numerous other London-based activities hosted by the Club, but quickly realised the magnitude of organising such a large event while balancing his studies at LSE and HKUST Business School. A committee of motivated LSE MiM students were assembled to oversee the organisation of the conference and coordinate the planning with LSE.
For a large part of the organisational period, the committee were scattered around the globe undertaking their CEMS exchange term: “One of the biggest hurdles we faced in organising the event was coordinating the team across different locations and time zones”, explains Daniel. To overcome this challenge, the team scheduled virtual conferences via Skype and adopted GoogleDrive, which facilitated the planning process across various countries including Denmark, Canada, Sweden, Switzerland, Hong Kong, and the UK. “Often people perceive being creative as doing something new and completely out of the ordinary,” continues Daniel. “I agree with this, but the creativity must be matched to the challenge you are trying to overcome. Being creative (to us) meant being practical and thinking goal oriented. Using GoogleDrive and Skype is not a very “colourful” solution, but it was the crucial backbone of the project that allowed us to communicate and work effectively as a team, despite the significant geographical differences.”
Each member of the organising committee, a diverse group of first and second year MSc Management students accumulating understanding from six different European nations, adopted distinct roles in the run up to the conference including corporate relations, speaker liaisons and finance, that Daniel admits exposed the team to new and complex business situations: “The team were constantly negotiating, interacting with international leaders and managing stakeholders with varied interests.” For Daniel, this experience of a real-world project made him and his team more resistant to pressure while offering a blue-print for life following graduation: “Organising this conference made us gain a deeper understanding of corporate structure, such as the acceptance of hierarchy and the division of labour”, he continues. “Interacting with Europe leaders provided us with inspiring insights into successful behaviour which can be applied to our own jobs.”
The Managing Director of A.T. Kearny UK and Ireland agrees that involvement in projects such as the RCC Conference can have a positive impact on a student’s future career: “Almost any employer wants to see some evidence of leadership and initiative on top of the academic programme”, claims Mark Page. “At A. T. Kearney we are open-minded about how that is demonstrated – leading a conference definitely fulfils our expectations.”
As platinum sponsor of the event, A.T Kearney led three workshops that provided delegates with insights into structuring cases as well as practical sessions designed to be transferable to the workplace. Speaking about the conference, Mark said: “For the 2015 RCC Conference at the LSE, the organisation and support on logistics and branding in particular, given to us as lead sponsor, provided a great platform for us to interact with a very talented set of students. The conference itself was marked by very active participation by the student attendees, excellent dialogue and student presentations.”
The attraction for students and alumni from the CEMS community was the stellar line up of high-profile speakers and the variety of skill seminars offered by CEMS corporate and social partners, which the LSE CEMS programme team accredited to a candidate’s CEMS profile, contributing towards the 2 ECTS credits of skill seminars required to graduate from the programme. LSE academics, including the esteemed Professor Saul Estrin of LSE’s Department of Management, a expert on entrepreneurship, and Dr Robert Falkner, an Assistant Professor in International Relations, specialising in climate policy, risk regulation for emerging technologies and the role of business governance, blended theory and academic rigour with insight from Europe’s senior business leaders, including Directors and CEOs from Lufthansa, Goldman Sacs Italy and Ripplewood Holdings, to answer the burning question of what’s next for Europe. Their messages were distinct, but clear and concise that resonated with the founding principles of the conference – Rerum Cognoscere Causas – in which success lies in the understanding of the causes of actions, whether that is being open to both sides both sides of an argument; considering the incentives of stakeholders; or grasping why people believe in what they do. For the next generation of Europe’s leaders, many of which will be born out of the CEMS network, having the opportunity to engage and learn from the experiences of those in power and applying these situations to an academic framework, may provide Europe with the strength in leadership it requires to overcome these turbulent times.
Looking ahead
The 2016 CEMS RCC Conference aims to discuss and share knowledge about the sometimes forgotten importance of people in the business world. Over the 27-29 January 2016, the conference will address the topic of creating value through human assets. For more information, contact RCC 2016 President Frederick Brandis on F.G.Brandis@lse.ac.uk
By Lucy Porter, Events & Communications Officer. LSE Department of Management.
About Faisal Khan
Faisal Khan is the Digital Marketing Officer for the LSE's Department of Management.
