In his novel A Tale of Two Cities, the immortal Charles Dickens said that it is “a wonderful fact to reflect upon, that every human creature is constituted to be that profound secret and mystery to every other.” I believe this sums up what psychology is pretty succinctly. All of us are exposed to the same world, the same events, the more or less same set of circumstances, yet we all act and react in a completely different, personal manner to this outward stimuli. What is it that makes us tick, so to speak? What makes us who we are? It’s simple. It’s psychology.
Organisational and social psychology is a fundamental discipline in comprehending the very quintessence of human existence, such as human interaction and communication - especially in the area of problem solving. Man in a social being, and as such, cannot function on an efficient basis alone for a longer period of time. He needs other people around him, for love, aid, support, even hate and arguments. That is the manner in which human kind develops. Similarly, concerning any business, whether it is banking, consulting or industrial, there is the mandatory element of human participation. For instance, in the banking or consulting sector, social interaction is a vital constituent. In consulting, it is required for people to operate in groups to resolve the clients’ predicament and proffer them a sustained solution. In addition, the contemporary fast- paced and ever-changing global world demands any properly serviceable structure to be in possession of fully operational rudiments, in the form of people whose social interaction, aptitude to function well among other people and problem solving skills operate on a level high above the average one.
Since my plan is to be employed in the banking or consulting industry, analytical banking and finance background is not the only buttressing component I shall have need of, to present effective elucidations and solutions to clients. Social skills are also a stipulation to profoundly cognize that structural complications are embedded in a complex environment, replete with people, government bureaucracy and various other organisations. Consequently, it is my wish to study organisational and social psychology to increase my knowledge of the financial industry, since I believe that analytical finance background alone is deficient in today’s tumultuous world. As this is the case, I have devoted my education up to this point to gathering information and learning how to utilize it in practice. During this time, my education and work experience have shown me that organisational and social psychology are ubiquitous elements of human existence. I shall always fondly reminisce about my lectures on “strategic management” and “organisations and leadership,” where social interaction - between clients, employees and teammates - was repeatedly a basic conversation point. This in turn, augmented my curiosity of human and organisational interactions, as well as my desire to pursue a Master’s degree in organisational and social psychology.
As a brief but succinct introduction, I offer the following information. I enrolled for Bachelor’s studies in Business Administration at the University of St. Gallen. My Bachelor’s degree comprises of two parts: the compulsory subjects/ core electives and contextual studies. Constituting the first part, the compulsory subjects I completed successfully were courses related to my major, Business Administration. For the second part, I signed up for classes in the field of leadership skills, critical thinking and cultural awareness. I have always been an erudite person, who focuses all his strengths on attaining his goal, and after a short while, most of the professors knew me by name, as the one who always had additional questions and suggestions. Consequently, in March 2012 I received my Bachelor’s degree, following which I continued on to graduate school, where I studied Banking and Finance (also at the University of St. Gallen). By summer of this year, I will have completed my final Master exams as well as my thesis in the field of family offices.
For the duration of this time, I have also partaken in extensive extracurricular activities, such as helping with the organisation of the Sino-European Business conference. I was responsible for communication, commodity session and speaker acquisition. This experience taught me quite a lot about working in a team, solving issues, as well as punctuality and going one step further than everyone else in an effort to accomplish better results. In 2010, I started to work part time for a consulting firm: Anstalt für Unternehmensberatung in Liechtenstein. My position was that of an associate consultant and I worked on several, dissimilar projects. My main contribution though, was to brainstorm new approaches, ideas and viewpoints from a more theoretical background, and mostly, these ideas were accepted with appraisal. Also, in the summer of 2012, to improve my English skills, I enrolled in the American Language Program (ALP) at Columbia University.
On thinking back, when I was 10 years old, I attended special dinners with my father, where thought-provoking and controversial discussions focusing on different fields took place. These events involved people from sectors such as banking, consulting, and medicine. During these conferences, my curiosity evolved into experience with the topic and I began to cultivate an entrepreneurial spirit. These experiences roused a great deal of interests and my desire was, and still is to gain a more profound insight into them. For this reason, I commenced to study Business administration. After I acquired a solid knowledge base in the world of business, I worked part time in the consulting industry, for a short while. The experiences I generated during the above-mentioned discussion rounds as well as my undergraduate studies facilitated me immensely through engagement with many efficacious and knowledgeable people. In addition, these experiences helped me immeasurably when I was in the organisation committee of the SEB Conference, especially when I had to connect with high profile speakers from the financial world and to support my team in the most efficient manner. As a result, now I aim to obtain a more thoughtful awareness of economic aspects of organisational and social psychology than a regular person with a Master’s degree would be in possession of.
Moreover, I am fascinated by new cultures and the identities of people from across the globe. During my graduate school, I took part in the “Asia Compact” class in Singapore, where the content was primarily finance, but also focused on Asian culture and habits. To acquire a deeper insight, I contributed to organise the SEB Conference to see how the Asian and European cultures interact in a business context. A significant facet of discovering novel cultures is grasping the art of that culture. A culture conveys itself through art, exhibiting habits and traditions. Thus, I visited art exhibitions in numerous countries and formed relationships with many painters all over Asia and Europe.
