Immortalized in a textbook. But not just any textbook.

Very proud to be immortalized in Paul Hoang's IB Business and Management textbook (3rd Edition, IBID Press). Everyone rush to your nearest bookstore and buy every copy in stock!

I'm in unit 3.7 

Paul Hoang is the man responsible for publishing some of the highest quality learning resources for what may well be the most important high school subject being taught in today's classrooms:  IB Business and Management.

This rigorous two-year course is arguably the one which will have the most real-life application once the children graduate and are released into the real world.  Teachers around the world currently face a daunting task: preparing children to solve problems that may not even currently exist.

Political, economic, technological, and societal factors are shifting tomorrow's landscape beyond anything we can imagine today.

I find the approach of the International Baccalaureate brilliant in that it dissects something as vast as Business Management into five succinct, digestible morsels:

1: Business organization and the environment - learners get to see the bigger picture here, understanding industries, as well as basic principles of economics.

2: Human resource management - here the most important resource is at the center of business. IB students are exposed to the human dilemmas in the workplace, fostering empathy, towards both the employees and the shareholders.

3: Accounts and finance:  students learn that all of those numbers actually tell a story.  That is what an account means, after all. Numbers do not lie (accountants do, buddumpsh!).  Learning that numbers by themselves are almost meaningless, and that we must study their relationship to each other in ratios, is an invaluable lesson.

4: Marketing: the economic engine that propels business.  Creativity, ethics, and so many other important factors are seen here.

5: Operations (production): thinking systematically.  Efficiency, reducing waste.  It is not about resources, but resourcefulness: this unit essentially puts all the moving parts together and looks under the hood of what business is and how it works.

What a beautiful area of knowledge.  It was a privilege for me to teach IB Business and Management while living in South East Asia.  I am humbled to have been included in the work of someone whom I respect as much as Mr. Paul Hoang.  

To all teachers of this wonderful subject - keep doing the wonderful things you do.

To all students - may your insatiable thirst for knowledge usher you into self-realization, happiness, and being a better human being for yourselves and those around you.

Never stop learning.