Page 21 - CCFA Journal - Second Issue

人物专访 Interview
Yicent: 考虑到您经常出差，有各类业务，您如何平衡好学术和
商业活动？您觉得学术和商业运作的怎么样？
Seco 教授: 从学术和商业的角度来看，工作都是不寻常的。正
如我前面提到的，重点是学术界和实际商业之间的领域。这是
价值创造所在的领域，新的想法浮出水面，并做出改变。我总
是让自己投入其中，这就是为什么我没有任何冲突，也不必在
这两个区域之间切换思维的原因。感谢我从事的商业活动，给
我了解行业发展的好视野。我也可以将其带到大学。我想向学
生提供可以帮助他们获取成功的知识，这些知识来自当今的行
业而不是过时的行业。我们培养学生准备明年而不是 10 年后的
工作，所以这个视野非常有用。同时，大学的研究基地让我知
道何时进入行业环境，来了解在其他人行动之前可以做什么。
我感到自在的另一个原因是，我经营一些可以帮助我处于“领
跑者”地位的公司，因为我知道未来几个月将会出现哪种技术
和方法。我真的很享受我做的事，可以为大学和公司增加价值，
因此没有冲突。
Yicent: 所以可以肯定的是，这对于 MMF 项目来说是一大优势。
这是一个进行中的项目，您可以使其保持最新状态。这对学生
有帮助。
Seco 教授: 你说的完全正确。我想举一个例子。我很高兴多年
来与安大略省教师退休金计划保持良好联系，该计划有利于
MMF 项目，我们的学生可以为退休金行业做出贡献。对于加拿
大而言，也许我们拥有世界上最好的养老金行业。 MMF 项目
比其他任何项目都更能为养老金行业提供良好的支持和人才。
许多量化金融项目并未对养老金行业给予太多关注，而是更多
关注银行。当然，我们也想让学生进入高盛，但考虑到拥有大
量资产基础且需要人才的养老金行业，我们想要重点关注它。
这就是 MMF 项目可以保持领先地位的原因。
Yicent: 现在您的业务遍布全球，北美、欧洲和中国，在疫情期
间限制旅行的情况下，您如何进行管理？有什么挑战？
Seco 教授: 当然，挑战非常多。我认为与人建立联系非常重要，
特别是对于业务发展和维持业务关系。建立新的人际关系对我
来说是一个巨大挑战，因为一切都在网上进行，很难面对面地
自由聊天。所以，这是我有点痛苦的地方。我期待着回到飞机
上。我期待和我共事的人之间的联系能够继续发展。假设所有
这些事情都没有发生，那么我应该在两周内到北京。这次疫情
也影响了 GGSJ。这学期有来自中国江苏的 23 名学生。他们不
得不比原定计划多停留一个半月，因为他们无法回去。我已充
分意识到了这些挑战。
Art of Work-life Balance
CCFA JOURNAL OF FINANCE
加中金融
Yicent: With many different initiatives, how do you manage to
balance well between academics and businesses, given that you have
travelled a lot in the past? How do you find your academics and
businesses work so far?
Professor Seco: From both the academic and business perspective,
the work is unusual. The focus is the area between academia and real-
world business as I mentioned earlier. This area is where the value
creation is, and the new idea comes up and makes a difference. I
always let myself dive in and that is the reason why I don’t have any
conflicts and I don’t have to change my chip between these two areas.
Thanks to my activities in business industries, they give me a very
good view of where the industry is going. I can also bring this back
to university. I want to provide students with the knowledge that can
help them succeed in today’s industry not the industry from yesterday.
We are preparing students for jobs next year not 10 years from now,
so that vision is very useful. At the same time, the university research
base allows me to know when I get into an industrial context to
understand what can be done before others do so. Another reason
why I feel comfortable is that I run some of the businesses which can
help me to have the position of “front-runner” since I know which
kind of technologies and methodologies are going to come up in the
next few months. I really enjoy what I am doing by adding value to
the universities and companies, so there is no conflict.
Yicent: So definitely, it is a big plus for the MMF program. It is an
ongoing program, and you keep it up to date and up to the current
situation. It is going to be helpful for the students.
Professor Seco: You said it, and it is completely right. I want to give
an example. I am glad to see good connections over the years with
the Ontario Teacher’s Pension Plan which can bring benefits to the
MMF program and where our students can contribute to the pension
industries. For Canada, perhaps we have the best pension industry in
the world. The MMF program is a good support and source of talent
to the pension industry more than any other programs. Many
Quantitative Finance programs do not pay lots of attention to the
pension industry and instead put more focus on the banks. Of course,
we also want to put students into Goldman Sachs, but considering a
pension industry that has a large asset base that needs talent, we
would like to put focus on that. It is how the MMF program can stay
ahead of the curve.
Yicent: Now with your business around the globe in North America,
Europe, and China, how do you manage them in this pandemic time
with restricted travel? Is there any challenge?
Professor Seco: Of course, there are a lot of challenges. I think
having connections with people is really important especially for
business development and maintaining business relationships. It has
been a great challenge for me in terms of developing new
relationships, since everything moves online, and it is hard to deliver
a free chat face to face. So, that is the area where I am going to suffer
a bit. I am looking forward to getting back on a plane. I hope my
personal connections with the people I am working with can continue
to grow. I was supposed to be in Beijing in two weeks if all this did
not happen. This pandemic also affected GGSJ. There were 23
students from Jiangsu province in China who came here for planned
because they could not go back. So, I am fully aware of these
challenges.
DECEMBER 2020
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