Speed Mentoring and Facilitated Networking Over Dinner Reception/ Second Fall Event: Hosted by Mr. Jon Mills and Ms. Mable Chan Victor and William Fung Foundation Limited
The first half of the evening was filled with a networking simulation exercise over a dinner buffet. It began with a list of ice-breaker questions written on index cards prepared by Mable Chan, founder of One in a Billion Productions. Fung Fellow Abbie Liu also guided an informed and interesting conversation flow among the Fung fellows. They picked up quickly and the impromptu networking was fun. They each remarked how much they’d gotten to know one another through simple language and genuine curiosity about one another. The second half of the evening was with Jon and Mable conducting what’s popularly known among university students and young professionals as Speed Mentoring sessions. Jon talked about the importance of leveraging one’s college platform and developing relationships with professors during class and after hours, as well as tapping into alumni networks in fields and industries that appeal to them. He emphasized that this was one of the most overlooked yet critical steps students should take before graduating and launching one’s career. University professors and fellow alumni, more often than not, are happy to serve as mentors
and counselors after they get their degrees. Mable gave a five-minute talk about “Finding Your Voice” which was a topic that appealed to many Fung Fellows - males and females alike. She started with the example of Madeline Albright’s (former U.S. Secretary of State) personal journey of finding her voice that even high-profile and outstanding political figures struggle with finding their voice and speaking with confidence before, during and after they rise through the ranks. Mable gave practical takeaway tips on how they could develop their voice by reading, listening, and watching people they admire in public life as well as writing daily journals and reading out loud. By all accounts, it was one of the most impactful and intimate gatherings with an audience from Harvard, MIT and Boston College. Several fellows gave instant feedback about how they wished that more people were ought to be there that night to experience the high-quality connection as a network community. They also described the evening as “packed with a lot of advice to take home to unpack” and they felt much tighter as a group.
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