"Business Today" International Conference- Insights

By: Shaked Nissimyan

There are not many opportunities, where you get to fly to the business capital of the world, meet some of the most successful CEO’s and network with elite students. This was definitely a unique one.

At the begging of November, I’ve had the honor to participate in the prestige Business Today IC led by Princeton University students that included key note speakers such as Douglas Peterson, until recently the president and CEO of S&P Global, Paul Griggs, US senior partner at PwC and a fantastic woman panel including Janet McCooey, Executive Director at Morgan Stanly and Christina Shim, Chief Sustainability Officer at IBM.

I’ve learned some amazing insights from these top row managers:

• Douglas Peterson spoke about the importance of understanding different cultures in order to achieve global success. When asked about the most important traits of a leader, he emphasized: resilience, humility, decisiveness, and having a vision. He also pointed out that “people” decisions are the most critical ones.

• Paul Griggs shared his insights on management, the importance of communication, and building relationships

• Many have spoke about the importance of communication amongst pears, superiors and the team you’re in charge of, as well as the importance of knowing how to make tough decisions.

One of the most inspiring sessions, was the one where our fellow attendees presented their startups: from an atom clasher that creates green energy to a smart device that helps Epilepsy patients identify an upcoming seizure. It was really inspiring seeing young students solving some of the biggest problems in the world. 

This entire experience has really left me inspired, eager to learn more, meet new people and have many more meaningful conversations. At the same time, my friends and I have had the greatest honor of representing our country during these difficult times and show the extraordinary people we’ve met what the Israeli people are really made of.

This was an amazing opportunity that I would have never been exposed to without the help of Reichman University.