María Loreto Jiménez

Conducting Business in China - CMIX

Civil Engineer and MBA Universidad Católica de Chile

In 2013, while doing the MBA at the PUC, I participated in the China Immersion program CMIX which allowed me, in an immersive way, not only to understand and know how business is done in China, but also that country’s culture, which explains the way they are related.
Thanks to Luksic Scholars, it was possible to take a two-week trip to China, meet Chilean companies with operations there, Chinese companies interested in doing business in Chile, and large companies such as Lenovo. It was a great experience, which I recommend a 100%

In August 2019 I had the opportunity to participate in the conference about The Future Of Work, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, carried out by the MIT.

Although machines will be able to perform increasingly complex tasks, they cannot replace men / women in everything that requires empathy.”

Before attending these conferences, I had an idea of ​​what technological advances could mean in automating tasks, and in solving more complex problems, but I wondered if, at some point, machines would succeed in replacing us.

Throughout the conferences we saw how, rather than replacing people, technological advances have improved the way work is performed, achieving better and better results in less time. In this way, according to MIT experts, the competencies and skills that we must learn are: critical thinking, complex problem solving, creativity, people management and constant learning.

Other issues on which most of the experts agreed were that, although machines will be able to perform increasingly complex tasks, they cannot replace men / women, in everything that requires empathy, for example, things related to caring for people. And, on the other hand, what entails creativity since, the latter, is not based on creating solutions based on previous patterns, as Machine Learning does.

The opportunity to listen to these presentations by world-class experts allowed me to see from the front row how the future is being built, and to reflect from my side on how I can contribute to make it more equitable and inclusive. I hope that many more have the possibility to be part of these experiences that connect us with the best researchers in the world, and that without being part of the Luksic Scholars community, I would not have had the opportunity to attend.