new opportunity

I went out to dinner with a former colleague and a former boss of his who has started up a consulting firm's Shanghai office last night. We talked a little bit about a potential opportunity for me which sounded intriguing. It would be back into my old quant world with lots of crunching, heaving lifting, spreadsheet jockeying and other physical metaphors for geeky math pursuits. I think I'd enjoy it from an academic perspective, but I need to figure out how it would fit in to my long range career goals. I think I'd gain more in-depth operational experience, but I'd lose some of the management/strategy/business scope that I deal with and enjoy while doing strategic ventures and basically starting-up new businesses.

He also raised the real question about balancing my coursework for TRIUM with my job. Something that I've thought long and hard about. I know that sticking here means not balancing the schoolwork with the learning curve of a new job, but I don't see this as a significant risk. While I know that it will be a challenge, and will require even more diligence and hard work, I have full confidence in my ability to rise to the occasion. Plus I've got an amazing friend in Angie who is making these kinds of life challenges easier.

To be honest though, my favorite part of the night was just the great conversation with two really sharp guys. The talk spun around Shanghai real estate, the EU constitution, extreme corporate cost controls, the China auto service market and more. Whether the discussion about linking up goes further or not, I hope we can still keep in touch to share more perspectives on China and more.