Yuting Chu | MBA | Product Manager

I always try to make decisions and live my life consistent with my values.  Sometimes it's easy - and sometimes it's not.  I haven't always succeeded but then I usually end up learning a lot about myself in those circumstances.  

For me, referring back to my values helps me make difficult decisions in ambiguous circumstances.     

I prioritize Trying over Talking. My experience has shown that you can be logically, intellectually, and academically correct - but still wrong in the marketplace.

aka “The Real World“

Protracted and endless debates taking days and weeks is expensive, energy draining, and saps morale. Build a mockup, test it out with customers, and see what happens.

Build. Test. Learn.
It really is that simple.

Our lives are short and we need to make the most of the experiences that we can have when we are able to have them.  For ourselves, our family, and for our friends.  We only get to spend 6 halloweens with our kids before they realize that we're really not that cool.  

I tend to say Yes! to experiencing new things or new ways of experiencing the same thing. 

Yes to:

- moving from Vancouver, BC to Halifax, Nova Scotia for my undergrad

- living in Nunavut for 2 years

- moving to India

- attending Burning Man(and living in the scorching Nevada desert for 7 days!).  

I believe that greater civic engagement and dialogue is necessary in our society to:

- bring people closer together

- understand each others perceptions and realities, and to

- initiate change at a systems level

I make it a goal to appreciate and welcome the individual uniqueness and the differences that people bring to the table and to my life.  Enriching our society and our common humanity is important to me so you'll often find me giving back more than I take.  

I find myself often choosing to respond with compassion first instead of contempt and to assume the positive first.  This is not the same as being naive or a doormat.  It is about trusting people unless you have reason otherwise.  It means you trust trustworthy people.  And it means you become appropriately assertive when your interests are harmed.

The places I’ve traveled to such as Nunavut, the US, Burning Man, and India have shown me  so many different ways humanity is capable of living and experiencing the world.

The people I’ve met have shown me that our differences don’t have to divide us, it's how we choose to interpret those differences and how we choose to interact that determines our collective future.  

My colleague Isaac Gould made the insightful comment that "People act to what they know and what they trust".

“Don’t criticize them; they are just what we would be under similar circumstances.” - Abraham Lincoln.