I had a heart-to-heart chat with a close friend on a recent business trip to Seoul.
It is one of those Friday nights when 2 blokes needed a night-cap badly (okay, I confess we had more than one night-cap) after a rough week. I needed one to unwind from a whirlwind week of travel. I believe my peer also needed the same from his equally eventful work week.
Before long, we started to talk about our individual jobs and longer term career plans. The common thread running throughout the conversation was the urgent, pressing, compelling need to get some serious overseas experience. And this is not brought about by the endless quest for more money; it is instead driven by pure survival instincts.
As both of us are working in multinational firms, we had enough international experience to reach the consensus that foreigners are fast catching up with locals and giving us a run for our money (literally).
I also shared with him a conversation I had with a fellow Chinese (national) colleague when I was in Beijing few days earlier. This colleague was leaving the company to pursue her MBA studies. When I (foolishly) asked her if she was going to study locally (in China) or overseas, she completely stumped me by uttering 3 letters … M.I.T.
It was a humbling experience.
So I say, my fellow countrymen, think again if you feel you are a cut above the rest … you are just another government statistic.
