EMBA Interview

After the press conference, traditional mainstream media and online media clarified the truth about the rumors in their follow-up reports and apologized to Murong Feng for publishing false rumors without verification. Although there were still many dissatisfied people posting and venting on various forums and threads online, most netizens viewed the matter rationally.

Indeed, rumors end with openness and rumors end with the wise.

Murong Feng couldn't be bothered to deal with this matter anymore. After the press conference, some leaders from the Federation of Industry and Commerce called him to express their concern, fully indicating that the impact of this incident had been greatly reduced.

It was still unknown who the mastermind behind this rumor-mongering event was. Murong Feng decided that since he couldn't find out for now, he would respond to changes with constancy. If someone really wanted to deal with him, they would eventually make a move and reveal some flaws. As long as he acted righteously, just like in this rumor incident, he wouldn't fear those dirty tricks.

For now he was concerned about another important matter, which was the admissions interview for the EMBA program at Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business.

That morning, perhaps due to a foreign leader visiting China or some other major event, traffic on Chang'an Street was controlled from west to east. Chang'an Street, which normally had only 4 lanes including the bus lane, suddenly had 2 lanes closed. Police officers stood in the middle of the road on guard. Guo Yong and Murong Feng, who had originally planned to avoid the morning rush hour by not taking the Second Ring Road and instead going via Chang'an Street, could only inch forward in the queue.

Murong Feng sat in the back seat resting, his mind recalling Tang Qing's admonitions during their dinner together yesterday.

Tang Qing had invited Murong Feng to dinner last night to celebrate his successful resolution of the rumor incident after the press conference. During the meal, she tactfully offered him some advice about charity.

Murong Feng clearly remembered the hidden worry in Tang Qing's brow as she spoke.

"Murong, do you know why so many extremely wealthy tycoons in China are low-key about charity? That's because doing charity is not as simple as just donating money!...Murong, I can understand your thoughts, wanting to help those in need, to the best of your ability, but I still want to advise you that your approach of donating on the spot at the press conference today wasn't very good."

Murong Feng asked curiously, "Why? I thought it was a powerful way to counter the rumors?" To be honest, this was something he was very satisfied with today, feeling it was very gratifying and relieving.

Tang Qing smiled and shook her head, saying, "Donating is a good thing, but your method of donation is problematic. For example, you so readily donated 30 million, which will unconsciously make others think, 'How can this Murong Feng treat money so casually? Is it because his money comes easily?' Since you can donate to the Poverty Alleviation Foundation, what about other organizations? They will soon come knocking on your door hoping for donations. Also..."

She suddenly pursed her lips in a smile, looking at Murong Feng teasingly, "Your donation antic today was also very nouveau riche1!"

Murong Feng broke out in a cold sweat, realizing it was like this, feeling somewhat embarrassed.

Seeing his embarrassed face, Tang Qing couldn't help but smile charmingly, continuing to tease him, "The China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation is still quite good, but some charitable organizations have chaotic fund management, not to mention at the local level, especially at the county level, members of charitable organizations lack compassion themselves and handle things in a crude and rough manner, unable to truly convey the donor's charity and love to those who need it most. That's why many people will conduct on-site inspections before choosing trusted foundations and personnel to directly help those in poverty, so that the charity work can be truly implemented."

Murong Feng was already looking dejected. He forced a smile and said, "I still believe in the Poverty Alleviation Foundation. I will ask them to provide relevant reports on how the money is going to be used." Seeing him unhappy, Tang Qing inwardly regretted speaking too much and hurriedly took his hand, smiling to comfort him, "Hey, Murong, I'm just saying this. It's good if you can pay more attention to these things in the future. The China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation is a very good charitable organization, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with your donation itself!"

Seeing her concerned look, Murong Feng's dejected mood couldn't help but lighten, and he smiled, "Thank you for the reminder, Qing'er." This sentence immediately made Tang Qing's heart sweet, and the smile on her face became even more radiant.

Thinking of this, Murong Feng sighed deeply in his heart, realizing he had been thinking too simply! Tang Qing's words made a lot of sense. It seemed that even with money, how to spend it better and make it count still needed careful consideration.

It was already 9:50 when they arrived at the Oriental Plaza, and the interview time was for 10:30. Because they were required to arrive half an hour early, fortunately, they weren't late.

As soon as they entered Building E3 of Oriental Plaza, they saw a prominent sign with welcome words and directions for the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business EMBA interviews. Murong Feng inwardly sighed that they were very thoughtful.

Because the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business EMBA interviews were conducted in batches, Murong Feng was led to a waiting room by the staff. Murong Feng looked around; the waiting room wasn't large but was arranged very cozily, with drinks, sandwiches, and fruits laid out on one side for people to help themselves. The overall feeling was heavily business-oriented, very different from the style of business schools on campus.

Soon, a lady came in to invite Murong Feng to a small conference room.

As soon as he entered the conference room, Murong Feng looked up and was surprised to see seven to eight people already seated. What's more, at a glance, he recognized two of them! One was a friend he fenced with at the "Yitian" Fencing Club, whom he remembered was called He Yajun. The other was a member of the Beijing Club, who had participated in club activities with Murong Feng before, and they had chatted quite a bit. His name was Su Zhong.

Seeing Murong Feng enter, He Yajun and Su Zhong stood up simultaneously, smiling and greeting him. He Yajun even walked up to shake hands with him, smiling and saying, "Oh, Murong! You're also here for the Cheung Kong interviews!" In his impression, Murong Feng was a mysterious tycoon-level figure, so seeing him here now was somewhat strange. Murong Feng shook hands with him while also greeting Su Zhong, then smiled and said, "I'm here for further studies, to learn management knowledge."

After the three exchanged a few words, the others in the conference room looked at Murong Feng with some surprise, sensing from their conversation that he seemed somewhat different. At this time, one of the women in the conference room, wearing glasses and a business suit, smiled and said, "Alright, all the friends for today's interview have arrived. I am the manager of the Cheung Kong EMBA admissions department. First, welcome everyone to the interview for the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business EMBA program. Now, let me introduce the interview process."

Murong Feng, He Yajun, and the others quickly found seats and listened to her introduction.

"First, please introduce yourselves, then according to the names I read out, go to the adjacent conference room for individual interviews from the admissions committee. After the individual interviews, you will be divided into two small groups for team interviews. Finally, there will be a reception where the dean will give a small speech. This is basically the entire process."

She closed her folder and began asking each person present to introduce themselves, starting from those next to her. Hearing this, Murong Feng realized that indeed, the people applying for this EMBA interview were of a high caliber. Among them were private enterprise owners, vice presidents of construction companies, human resources directors of state-owned enterprises, fund managers, etc. He noticed that He Yajun was the marketing director of a well-known domestic IT company, while Su Zhong was the vice president of the China region for a foreign company.

What truly commanded everyone's respect was Murong Feng. After all, his news had been on the front pages of major websites just these past two days, and his reputation as a young millionaire was well-known to many. Everyone enthusiastically exchanged business cards and started chatting and laughing without any awkwardness. During this time, people were called in turn for individual interviews in the adjacent room.

Murong Feng's individual interview wasn't as complicated as he had imagined. Among the three members of the admissions review committee, one was acquainted with him - the CEO of a certain company with whom he had attended cocktail parties before. Seeing Murong Feng enter, he had a constant smile on his face. The other two were professors from the business school. The interview process merely consisted of asking Murong Feng a few questions about his current business achievements and his understanding of his industry before concluding. Judging from their expressions, they seemed clearly satisfied.

Perhaps it was because he had truly reached a certain level, but Murong Feng didn't feel any difficulty in this type of interview. In the subsequent team interview, he was naturally chosen as the group leader to summarize and answer the interview question: "What do you think are the gaps between China's top enterprises and international ones?"

Such a broad question inevitably led to simple conceptual answers like culture, management, process execution, talent training, branding, etc. Murong Feng believed that anyone present could sit in the main seat and talk eloquently for 1-2 hours on this topic. If the renowned Cheung Kong EMBA interview process was just this, he was a bit disappointed.

Fortunately, the subsequent reception was quite good. The dean of the business school, Shang Bin, introduced the world-class professorial team from Harvard, Wharton, Stanford, Yale, Chicago, Columbia, University of California, INSEAD, and other top institutions in the Cheung Kong EMBA program. Cheung Kong's uniquely innovative emerging markets module and humanities management module were also deeply attractive to Murong Feng. What satisfied Murong Feng most was the simultaneous Chinese interpretation for foreign professors!

Murong Feng had no worries about passing his interview; he was already looking forward to the courses.

After the reception, Murong Feng, He Yajun, and Su Zhong made plans to drink at the Beijing Club. Perhaps in the near future, they would become fellow alumni. Thinking of this, the three looked at each other and smiled.

Late at night, the excitement waned, half-drunk, they returned home.