Mark Machin, Former President & Chief Executive Officer at CPP Investment Board
Mark Machin is the Former President & Chief Executive Officer at CPP Investments.
Recognized globally as an example of sound pension plan management, CPP Investments is guided by an independent Board of Directors, operates at arm’s length from federal or provincial governments, and is managed independently from the CPP itself.
He has been learning Finance Mandarin 1-1 with Vienne Lee since 2013.
Mark Machin, Former President & Chief Executive Officer at CPP Investment Board
Dear Friends,
I just sent this message to my colleagues at CPPIB and wanted to share it with you.
Tomorrow is my last day at CPPIB. All journeys must come to an end. It has been said that it is better to travel well than to arrive. And we have traveled well.
What an incredible latest fiscal year. When I first sat in the seat as President and CEO five years ago, the assets were $278.9 billion; and it’s wonderful to have seen them grow to nearly $500 billion as of March 31. We generated returns over the last five years that none of us could have thought likely, averaging more than 11.0% per year! And you, we, have achieved this collectively. You have burnished CPPIB’s reputation as a benchmark and model for other pension funds around the world. I am so proud of each and every one of you, and I feel lucky to have worked along side you.
As I look back over the last few years, I am particularly proud of the momentum the organization has developed in a number of key areas: the use of data for investment insights; innovation and venture capital; sustainable investing; a strengthened lead in markets in Asia and Latin America; a deepened presence in Europe; a bolstered bi-coastal presence in the U.S.; greater diversity and inclusion; total fund management; installing a dedicated CIO; and, of course, improvements in all dimensions of risk management.
More important, our organization is not just about investment returns. The returns directly translate into the security and success of millions of Canadian retirements. We have been united in a common mission to serve the Canadian public; and we have delivered through your dedication, talent, and extraordinary work. That’s all the more true during the year of COVID, as we’ve been able to give comfort and confidence to Canadians at a time of intense stress and uncertainty that their pensions are safe, sound, and flourishing. You have outperformed with grace under fire. And I applaud each of you.
From tomorrow, I will be looking on with pride, and with awe, at your continued success. I have huge confidence in your future. I’d like to give a big thank you to my colleagues on the Senior Management Team, to all of you at CPPIB, to the board, and to Canada for having given me the opportunity to have worked with you all. It has been the highlight of my career. My special best wishes to John for a long and successful tenure as CEO.
Best regards,
Mark
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Coaching Business Mandarin for Executive Leaders
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ByteDance IPO Business Chinese Mandarin | Interactive Course
We may attribute the success of ByteDance to Bytedance’ artificial intelligence (AI) application and machine learning. As of November 2018, ByteDance had over 800 million daily active users (over 1 billion accumulated users) across all of its content platforms. The valuation of ByteDance was approaching USD 400 billion in 2021.
As of November 2018, ByteDance had over 800 million daily active users (over 1 billion accumulated users) across all of its content platforms. The valuation of ByteDance was approaching USD 400 billion for private-equity investors in Apr 2021. It was claimed that revenue is mainly generated from Douyin and Toutiao, through advertising by pushing them to the target segment. Keep reading to see how the algorithm works.
ByteDance chose to go for a unique path since its establishment in 2012. Among all Chinese Internet companies, ByteDance is the first startup not receiving support or investment from Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu. In contrast, ByteDance is considered a competitor to those tech giants. Furthermore, ByteDance aims at competing with Google and Facebook.
We may attribute the success of ByteDance to its Bytedance’ artificial intelligence (AI) application and machine learning, which is APPs like Douyin(Tiktok) and Toutiao push news and videos to people “based on their interests”. The founder and CEO Zhang Yiming, who has announced to step down in late 2021, once emphasized that Toutiao was not a news application, but an AI one in the social media business. The innovative ideas can greatly increase the time consumers’ spent on the APPs as all content are tailored for them according to what they have browsed and liked previously. The more the users, the greater the database to generate a more accurate report for choosing which content to be delivered to an individual.
Although all statistic looks good for ByteDance as an IPO, it was denying the rumours of it going public in Apr 2021. With that being said, people still believes IPO is their ultimate target.
Key takeaways in class:
Possible Reasons for ByteDance Founder Zhang Yiming Stepping Down
Business Model of ByteDance from Douyin(Tiktok), Xigua Video and Toutiao
The US-China Trade War
Finance Mandarin offers 1 on 1 and group Mandarin Coaching for Business Purposes with Finance Focus materials. Enrol 1 on 1 session anytime and anywhere. And Group class.
With Harvard-MBA approved case methodology.
Buy your ticket for ByteDance IPO Plan Q&A, over 1300 registration received on LinkedIn!
I can do self-study to learn Mandarin already, what is the point of joining Finance Mandarin?
“ I don’t have a teacher that gives me immediate responses.”
*Alexander Bryan, a C-suite English speaker working in the capital market, frustrated when he first tried to study on his own.
Alex is highly motivated to learn Mandarin even before joining Finance Mandarin. He had tried studying by himself. But soon he acknowledged the drawbacks of it, he did not know whether he is doing right on the pronunciations and usages of the vocabularies. There is no one to correct his pronunciations. Besides, he can only learn a few words but they are not for business purposes!
“ I don’t have a teacher that gives me immediate responses.”
*Alexander Bryan, a C-suite English speaker working in the capital market, was frustrated when he first tried to study on his own.
Alex is highly motivated to learn Mandarin even before joining Finance Mandarin. He had tried studying by himself. But soon he acknowledged the drawbacks of it, he did not know whether he is doing right on the pronunciations and usages of the vocabularies. There is no one to correct his pronunciations. Besides, he can only learn a few words but they are not for business purposes!
The materials he accessed to was not designed for business purposes, not to mention learning the finance terms you will come across in your work. There is also no proper feedback for further explanations. There are usually no cultural aspects taught as well. While there are no interactions between teachers and students, no motivations and no comprehensive lesson plans, Alex finally made his choice:
Coming to 1 on 1 Finance Mandarin focused learning to prepare for his next business trips to Shanghai and Beijing soon.
For absolute beginners like Alex, there will be basic topics at the beginning at Finance Mandarin, and they are all customised. For Alex, we prepared some commonly used wordings in business greetings to start with, with content adjusted according to his position and company. We have been through a joyful lesson time indicated by positive feedback received afterwards!
Resources online lack personalized content for executives. With that being said, Finance Mandarin provides all of them, including but not limited to business context, cultural aspects, interactions with top trainers, motivations and customised learning path. These are also the reasons why Alex come to us.
“Speaking the language helps my business in a foreign country”
Alex considered himself innovative and open-minded. He has been working in different countries and is willing to learn new things. As suggested by his past experience working in a foreign country, he believes learning the local language helps him better communicate with colleagues and clients in the country although English is the medium of communication. Not to say in China, most universities, local companies and press are using Chinese as the major language.
“Very happy to start the work”
We are also happy to have received Alex’s positive feedback!
*Alias
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“Hong Kong Bankers need to Speak Better Mandarin. That's Why they Come to me”
“If an interviewer at a bank in Hong Kong wants to find out how well you speak Chinese, they won’t ask you ‘how good is your Mandarin?’ They’ll just ask…
“If an interviewer at a bank in Hong Kong wants to find out how well you speak Chinese, they won’t ask you ‘how good is your Mandarin?’”, says Vienne Lee, director of language coaching company Business Mandarin. “They’ll just ask a normal question like ‘can you compare Tencent and Alibaba’s business models?’ and see how well you respond in Mandarin.”
Since setting up her company in the late 1990s, Lee has tasked herself with improving the Mandarin skills of some of Hong Kong’s leading bankers at firms such as J.P. Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, HSBC, UBS, and BlackRock.
Over the past year, as Western banks have cut jobs in Hong Kong and Chinese firms have increased their hiring, Lee has seen an uptick in unemployed financial professionals seeking assistance with their job searches.
“We’re also working with more bankers who are on gardening leave or are setting up their own hedge funds or family offices,” she says. “We polish their Mandarin communication skills for the finance sector, and coach them about building networks and interviewing.”
But Mandarin isn’t only important when you’re looking for work. Lee, whose firm focuses on financial services and mainly takes on clients at the VP level and above, helps bankers perform better on the job.
“I recently had an Australian client who was able to complete an opening presentation to 170 people in Chinese – it went extremely well, with applause in all the right places,” she says. “If you can go from nothing to making a speech to a Chinese audience, it also shows your colleagues and clients that you’re committed to doing business in China.”
Western finance professionals operating in China and living in Hong Kong – whether they are complete beginners or already know some Mandarin – make up about 60% of Lee’s students.
Another 20% are Cantonese-speaking Hongkongers whose written Chinese is good but who want to polish their Mandarin pronunciation. “Thirdly, we teach overseas-born Chinese who speak a bit of basic Mandarin at home, but can’t cut it in the Chinese financial world so need help with terminology in areas like due diligence, modeling, and valuation.”
Whatever their background, most bankers find learning Mandarin challenging. “Sometimes they don’t have enough time for classes and revision. And there’s the sheer volume of financial terminology and the difficult tones and grammar,” says Lee.
Understanding the Chinese Business Culture
She also helps Westerners adjust to the different presentation styles they will encounter in China. “For example, they often think it’s necessary to make a joke at the start of a speech and play themselves down,” explains Lee.
“But in China, you need to show people you’re the boss – especially if you’re presenting to them for the first time – otherwise they won’t look up to you as a role model. When we’re coaching people, we show them speeches from Chinese business and political leaders,” she adds.
The growing importance of Mandarin
Lee says she always had a “passion” for the Chinese language. After organizing financial conferences in 1998 – soon after China assumed sovereignty over Hong Kong – she realized that Mandarin would become increasingly important to banking careers in her city.
“The conferences connected me to more than 1,000 people in the finance sector. And I saw a gap in the market: bankers wanted presentation, pitching, and interviewing skills in Mandarin that were tailored to the technical needs of their jobs,” she says. “To secure Chinese deals, you need to understand China – both its language and its culture.”
Coaching Business Mandarin for Executive Leaders
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