Learn and Share at the Start of the New Year
Apr 18-2013
--- The Speech on West Point’s Leadership and the New Year’s Gathering of the BiMBA/CCER Shanghai Alumni
It was a sunny and warm day in early January in Shanghai. Two drilling officers Todd Henshaw and Brian Wortinger from the Department of Behavioral Science and Leadership of West Point, and Dr. Dayuan Hu , the China Dean of BiMBA, Maria Chai and Judy Zhang paid a visit to Shanghai, the “Pearl of the East”, to experience this classical yet modern metropolis.
At 3pm on January 7th, the speech on West Point’s leadership and the New Year’s Gathering of the BiMBA/CCER Shanghai Alumni kicked off on time in a conference hall of the Shanghai International Hotel. Over 40 Shanghai alumni of BiMBA/CCER attended the event.
Dr. Hu opened the speech by introducing the recent developments and blueprint of BiMBA and CCER, and shared with the participants some major events of BiMBA in the year 2006.
Todd Henshaw, the director of the Department of Behavioral Science and Leadership at West Point spoke next. He gave a comprehensive introduction about the theoretical system and models of West Point way of leadership training. First of all, he stressed the requirements of West Point leadership, saying that a leader should be a creative thinker, a pilot, a warrior, and a statesman with diplomatic skills. And then he emphasized the importance of a role model during the training process. He pointed out that the key to West Point’s success in leadership training depends on its efforts in cultivating a culture, or creating an atmosphere to immerse cadets in the inspiration and challenge of leadership.
The emphasis of the lecture given by Mr. Wortinger, however, was placed on the application of theories in reality. He first introduced five types of power, pointing out that the balance of those powers will effectively improve one’s leadership. Then he showed a movie clip of Gettysburg which featured Colonel Chamberlain’s speech for deserters back into the battle. He even had the alumni discuss in groups how Colonel Chamberlain shall exercise his power to persuade deserters to go back to battle in such circumstances.
The alumni participated actively in the discussion and came up with their own conclusions from different perspectives. At the end of the discussion, the representatives from each group made a final statement. And their creativity and imagination left a strong impression on West Point officers.
The speech on West Point’s leadership and the New Year’s gathering of BiMBA/CCER Shanghai alumni was successfully held with the vigorous support from the BiMBA alumni association — Shanghai Branch. In less than two days, the trip to Shanghai gave the West Point officers a brand new perspective to know about the history and development of China, as well as a precious opportunity for the BiMBA/CCER Shanghai alumni to get together and share their experiences and dreams in the past few years.
