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Making What Matters Happen Amid Complexity and Uncertainty

Jul 17-2026   



Foreword: On June 28, 2026, the Commencement Ceremony for the Class of 2026 of the National School of Development at Peking University was held at the Peking University Centennial Hall. The following is the speech delivered by Fu Yi, representative of the graduating MBA class, at the ceremony.


Distinguished faculty, honored guests, and dear fellow students:


Good afternoon!


My name is Fu Yi, and I am a member of the graduating 2023 Class from the PKU-UCL part-time MBA program. It is a tremendous honor to stand before you today as the graduate representative and to look back with all of you on this journey we have shared at Peking University and the National School of Development.


This is actually the second time I am graduating from Peking University. As an investor, I have a professional habit: before making any major decision, I always want to calculate the expected return. So when I decided to come back to PKU and the NSD for an MBA, many friends around me asked, "With AI already here, why go back to business school?" On top of that, my undergraduate degree was also in finance. Wasn't I concentrating too much exposure in the same asset class?


But standing here today, I can say with confidence: it was a long-term investment well worth making.


In my work, I deal with high-density information flows every day. The longer I am in this profession, the more I have come to realize that the real challenge has never been about getting more information, but about judging which information is worth trusting; not about finding answers, but about discerning which questions truly matter; not about refining models to greater precision, but about deciding, amid complexity and uncertainty, what is worth holding onto and what is worth taking on.


In recent years, AI has been reshaping every industry at an unprecedented pace. It makes knowledge more accessible and redefines a great many tasks. But precisely because of that, what is truly scarce is being repriced — and that is the capacity of a human being to navigate an authentically complex, real world. When technology systems begin to accelerate their evolution, the human challenge does not disappear; rather, it becomes more concrete and specific.


This is also how I have come to reframe my MBA experience. In the age of AI, why do we still come to PKU, to the NSD? What this place has given us is not just more tools, but a rigorous and repeated training in exercising judgment within real-world constraints, and in facilitating action across divergent standpoints. Peking University reminds us to think independently and embrace diversity; the NSD reminds us to understand business in the context of China's real development, and to calibrate our judgment between an international perspective and grounded local practice.


As the MBA Class of 2023, our experiences have been extraordinarily diverse. The UCL and Vlerick cohorts brought together students from different industries, professional backgrounds, and stages of life — different paths converging to form a shared learning community. Through constant collision and exchange, we gradually came to understand that leadership is not about arriving at the single most correct answer under the assumption of perfect information. It is about, amid all the noise of the real world, maintaining sound judgment, building consensus, and driving action. The truly difficult thing in the real world has never been how smart any one person is, but whether it is possible to bring a group of people with different backgrounds, different standpoints, and different rhythms together to accomplish things that are both important and difficult.


Perhaps what PKU and the NSD have truly taught us is not any particular course, any particular model, or any particular standard answer, but rather a posture — a willingness to keep thinking seriously when confronted with a complex world. No matter how technology iterates or how industries are reorganized in the future, this posture will always remind us: don't merely be a chaser of efficiency; be a discerner of meaning as well. Don't merely be someone who adapts to change; be a responsible participant in shaping it.


Finally, please allow me, on behalf of the entire graduating MBA Class of 2023, to express our most heartfelt gratitude to the faculty who have taught us with such dedication, and to our families and friends who have supported us every step of the way. My thanks also go out to every fellow student — thank you for the companionship, the constructive friction, and the light we have shone on one another throughout this journey.


Today, we graduate from this place. Wherever we go from here, may we continue to carry with us the spirit of Peking University and the compassionate concern of the NSD. May we retain our grasp of reality, our empathy for others, and our imagination for the future — and, above all, the courage to bring the things that truly matter into being.


Thank you.

Making What Matters Happen Amid Complexity and Uncertainty

Jul 17-2026   



Foreword: On June 28, 2026, the Commencement Ceremony for the Class of 2026 of the National School of Development at Peking University was held at the Peking University Centennial Hall. The following is the speech delivered by Fu Yi, representative of the graduating MBA class, at the ceremony.


Distinguished faculty, honored guests, and dear fellow students:


Good afternoon!


My name is Fu Yi, and I am a member of the graduating 2023 Class from the PKU-UCL part-time MBA program. It is a tremendous honor to stand before you today as the graduate representative and to look back with all of you on this journey we have shared at Peking University and the National School of Development.


This is actually the second time I am graduating from Peking University. As an investor, I have a professional habit: before making any major decision, I always want to calculate the expected return. So when I decided to come back to PKU and the NSD for an MBA, many friends around me asked, "With AI already here, why go back to business school?" On top of that, my undergraduate degree was also in finance. Wasn't I concentrating too much exposure in the same asset class?


But standing here today, I can say with confidence: it was a long-term investment well worth making.


In my work, I deal with high-density information flows every day. The longer I am in this profession, the more I have come to realize that the real challenge has never been about getting more information, but about judging which information is worth trusting; not about finding answers, but about discerning which questions truly matter; not about refining models to greater precision, but about deciding, amid complexity and uncertainty, what is worth holding onto and what is worth taking on.


In recent years, AI has been reshaping every industry at an unprecedented pace. It makes knowledge more accessible and redefines a great many tasks. But precisely because of that, what is truly scarce is being repriced — and that is the capacity of a human being to navigate an authentically complex, real world. When technology systems begin to accelerate their evolution, the human challenge does not disappear; rather, it becomes more concrete and specific.


This is also how I have come to reframe my MBA experience. In the age of AI, why do we still come to PKU, to the NSD? What this place has given us is not just more tools, but a rigorous and repeated training in exercising judgment within real-world constraints, and in facilitating action across divergent standpoints. Peking University reminds us to think independently and embrace diversity; the NSD reminds us to understand business in the context of China's real development, and to calibrate our judgment between an international perspective and grounded local practice.


As the MBA Class of 2023, our experiences have been extraordinarily diverse. The UCL and Vlerick cohorts brought together students from different industries, professional backgrounds, and stages of life — different paths converging to form a shared learning community. Through constant collision and exchange, we gradually came to understand that leadership is not about arriving at the single most correct answer under the assumption of perfect information. It is about, amid all the noise of the real world, maintaining sound judgment, building consensus, and driving action. The truly difficult thing in the real world has never been how smart any one person is, but whether it is possible to bring a group of people with different backgrounds, different standpoints, and different rhythms together to accomplish things that are both important and difficult.


Perhaps what PKU and the NSD have truly taught us is not any particular course, any particular model, or any particular standard answer, but rather a posture — a willingness to keep thinking seriously when confronted with a complex world. No matter how technology iterates or how industries are reorganized in the future, this posture will always remind us: don't merely be a chaser of efficiency; be a discerner of meaning as well. Don't merely be someone who adapts to change; be a responsible participant in shaping it.


Finally, please allow me, on behalf of the entire graduating MBA Class of 2023, to express our most heartfelt gratitude to the faculty who have taught us with such dedication, and to our families and friends who have supported us every step of the way. My thanks also go out to every fellow student — thank you for the companionship, the constructive friction, and the light we have shone on one another throughout this journey.


Today, we graduate from this place. Wherever we go from here, may we continue to carry with us the spirit of Peking University and the compassionate concern of the NSD. May we retain our grasp of reality, our empathy for others, and our imagination for the future — and, above all, the courage to bring the things that truly matter into being.


Thank you.