"The task we were given for the two weeks was challenging and interesting, I really enjoyed it. I no longer think that all businessmen are economists and that you need to be good at maths to succeed. I realise that people who work in business are not all selfish and hard-nosed. The Fellowship has made me want to look into a possible future in global business"

Fellows spent two weeks with Jones Lang LaSalle in China. Below Tom shares some of his thoughts and experiences.

Tom

My two weeks spent at Jones Lang LaSalle (or  仲量聨行 as they say in China) were definitely one of the highlights of my PMGF experience.  JLL is the biggest real-estate firm in the world and its operations are truly global.  I was given a project for the two weeks which was to write a piece of JLL literature to be given to potential clients about the prospects of Business and Knowledge Process Outsourcing in China and how JLL could meet clients' demands for real-estate in this area.  I was given this task on my first day of the office and it was quite daunting given that I had no idea what these terms meant!  I had to become an expert in under two weeks!

Challenging though it was, I really enjoyed my project and I found it genuinely interesting.  This surprised me as it was an area I had no previous knowledge of and hadn't really imagined myself doing.  I found that research and essay-writing skills I had learnt at school were transferable to what I was doing.  Whilst I was more or less independent on my project I was also helped by a great team of people who were prepared to take some time out of their busy schedules to sit down and discuss

things with me.  Throughout my time at JLL I was always treated like an adult and the people I worked with were always prepared to explain things if there was something I didn't understand.

The highlight of my placement was when I interviewed a high level manager from one of the top Knowledge Process Outsourcing companies in the world in order to improve my report.  I had to be very independent for this as I wrote all the questions myself and had to negotiate the Shanghai Metro system and find his offices on my own.  I was kindly given an hour of this busy man's time and I found the task very interesting and rewarding, even though it had seemed difficult at first.

Working at JLL did give me a real insight into global business.  It was something

that I had no idea about until I came on the Global Fellowship and I always had assumed that it was only for people who were very good at maths and economics and at being ruthless.  However, my perceptions of business changed the more I learnt.  I learnt how a big company like JLL has to stay interconnected with all its employees across the globe and how it has to adjust the way it does business depending on which country it is operating in.  For example in China when JLL are investing in a construction project they have to respect the advice of Feng Shui masters with regard to whether the building's design and location is correct in terms of energy.  This may sound crazy but I was informed that by ignoring their advice JLL would risk no-one wanting to have office space in a building which contradicted Feng Shui principles.  I was also impressed by how hard-working, motivated and friendly the people I met were.  The insight I gained from the Global Fellowship has meant that I now see global business not as an unknown but as something that I could imagine myself being involved in in the future.