Amanda Lee

‘Intellectually speaking, I was raised by the public library’ 

I was born in Hong Kong to a lower-working-class family. My mother finished high school but my late father did not. I grew up in public housing, with my parents and younger brother, so, the four of us in a studio flat of around 20 square metres. When I talk about poverty, it’s not from reading books or watching movies, I know what poverty is, because I experienced it. But then, I take a step back, poverty in Hong Kong is very different from poverty in Latin America, South America or Cambodia.  I was never starved or without a roof.  My motto is, I will try to get the most out of what I am given and what I have.  

I went to a local school, and I didn’t study much before high school. My parents were just happy if I was in the top five or so, and that left me with a lot of freedom to play and to read. I ended up liking science and math, because they came easiest to me and I hate memorisation per se.  I would spend lots of time in the public library, not least because of the air con. Fiction was what I enjoyed, and I read about the stories of detectives and scientists going all over the world, which I think gave me my love of travel and adventure. I read a lot of Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie too, which described the way England used to be. I once joked that intellectually speaking, I was raised by the public library. 

‘I learnt perseverance’ from my D.Phil. 

I opted for a DPhil because I could easily learn anything and do exams very well, but research is a totally different thing.  It was tough, and the phrase I heard most often from my supervisor was, ‘I don’t know. That’s research.’  That was frustrating, but I think I learnt perseverance as a result. My thesis was about neuro-fuzzy modelling, so, how to train up a smart sensor to sense the environment better.  An early forerunner of the AI models we see today. 

I spent more time at my college than I did at Rhodes House, because Rhodes House then was not like it is now. It was quite minimal.  St Cross was good because it was a small graduate college.  All the students and fellows sat together for meals, so one day I’d be next to a history student and the next a philosophy professor.  It fascinated me, because I find people very interesting, so it gave me fresh stimulus and fresh ideas.  The societies across the university that would invite prominent speakers gave me the chance to see leaders of different kinds and from different nationalities, to see how they think and how they become successful. And the other thing I loved about Oxford was the green spaces, especially the University Parks.  I’m an extreme introvert, so I would go there to walk and think things over by myself.  

On being an Economist/Strategist 

I started off as a commodities macro strategist, which meant knowing about precious and industrial metals, agricultural crops, crude oil, oil products, natural gas, freight rates, carbon emissions, that is, all exchange-traded commodities.  My job was to give trading and hedging advice to clients about what to buy or sell, so I had a lot of client-facing responsibility. I had to know about issues affecting supply and demand, from weather to industrial action all over the world, so it was quite eye-opening, and that was what I found so compelling. But the travel was crazy.  I remember my record was nine countries in nine days all over Asia. 

On being a Quant 

When I came back to Deutsche Bank from my sabbatical year, I joined the Index Team as the Asia head of Index of Development.  That was a desk job with a lot less travel, and the focus was on mathematical modelling and co-ordinating with many different teams developing and running this platform with over USD100 billion AUM (assets under management).  I would say that it was like being a movie director, working out how to get the best out of the superstars and keep everyone working happily together.  Generally, I think that’s what leadership is about: getting to know everyone’s strengths and weaknesses, their trigger points. And I learned that trust is the rarest commodity.  It takes a very long time to build it up, but once it’s broken, it’s broken.  Sometimes, I had to learn that the painful way, but I think that is how we learn.

 Rhodes Scholarship Selection Committee: ‘They are my future’ 

I got so much from the Rhodes Scholarship, and that’s why I wanted to sit on the selection committee.  I wanted to be sure that we were giving the Scholarship to the most deserving students, because it can change someone’s life.  I enjoy it, because it’s a very enlightening process.  In your day job, things can get routine, but meeting students who are so fresh and have a totally different way of thinking makes you see the world in a new way.  They are my future, and I want to retire into a much better world, one they are running!  I really believe in the values shared by all Rhodes Scholars across the world.