No one gets there alone: a parting message from the Dean
Professor Li holds that wise people understand success is not solely the result of their own efforts, but the outcome of many factors, including luck, the groundwork laid by predecessors, and the support of others.
In an address on education delivered at the State University of New York at Albany in 1931, the great scientist Albert Einstein (1879-1955) argued that it is wrong to cultivate the notion that success is a personal matter and the prime purpose of life. He said: “...the desire for approval of one’s fellow-man certainly is one of the most important binding powers of society. In this complex of feelings, constructive and destructive forces lie closely together. Desire for approval and recognition is a healthy motive but the desire to be acknowledged as better, stronger, or more intelligent than a fellow being or fellow scholar easily leads to an excessively egoistic psychological adjustment, which may become injurious for the individual and for the community.”
While I am in no way comparable with the great scientist, I share his view that too much ego will hurt both the individual and those around them. This is also a challenge I observe many people facing, academics included, as they advance in age and progress in their careers. An academic career is a journey of building authority and confidence. As professors acquire knowledge, refine their analyses, establish their viewpoints, and meet challenges from opponents, they grow more assured in their capacity for prediction and judgement. They build themselves into an authority. The pride that comes with such authority, if left unchecked, will breed arrogance. Arrogance, however, is dangerous: it distorts judgement and leads a scholar to dismiss criticism rather than use it to improve.
Throughout history, ideas have seldom evolved because of a single person’s work.
Human beings are fallible. We are susceptible to many trials, and among them, fame is one of the greatest temptations to resist. An antidote to the toxicity of fame is to see our success and achievements not merely as a result of our own talent and diligence, but as a collective work involving those who came before us and those who work alongside us. If one traces the development of human ideas, one arrives at the same truth. Throughout history, ideas have seldom evolved because of a single person’s work; they have advanced through the continuous and collective efforts of great minds expanding the frontier of human knowledge and imagination.
While Einstein received enormous praise for his epoch-making work on relativity, there are arguments that even had the great scientist never existed, the special theory of relativity would likely have been discovered. The scientific community might simply have needed longer to achieve what Einstein accomplished in his twenties. Mathematicians and physicists such as Henri Poincaré (1854–1912) and Hendrik Lorentz (1853 – 1928) had already developed the mathematical transformations that Einstein drew upon in formulating his special relativity theory. Without doubt, Einstein’s work was ground-breaking: he took the bold step of establishing the speed of light as a universal constant. Yet the scientific world of his time was already pushing physics in that direction.
Professor Li credits his PhD supervisor, Professor A. Ian McLeod, his PhD external examiner, the late Nobel Prize Laureate Sir Clive Granger, and his mentor at HKU, Professor Howell Tong, as inspirations who have guided his research in time-series analysis.
In my own field of statistics, I have had a similar experience of understanding personal achievement as part of a collective endeavour. It was Professor A. Ian McLeod, my PhD supervisor, and the late Nobel Prize Laureate Sir Clive Granger, my PhD external examiner, who inspired me more than forty years ago. It was Professor Howell Tong, a world-renowned scholar in non-linear time series analysis, mentoring me during my time at HKU. Their intellectual brilliance has shaped my inquiries in the field ever since. Over the past four decades, it is the solid foundation laid by my predecessors and contemporaries on which my later ventures in time-series analysis have been built. I am grateful for the opportunities to engage in rigorous intellectual exchange with my teachers, peers, colleagues and students. I feel truly fortunate to be a member of the academic community, and to have made a contribution, however modest, to the development of statistical science alongside them.
In emphasising that success is very often collectively achieved, I hope I will not be misunderstood as suggesting that we should avoid challenging old ideas, leave questions unasked, or refrain from proposing new ways of understanding. Quite the contrary: true humility is the willingness to be corrected by evidence and refined by criticism, without losing the courage to think independently and critically. True humility empowers us to chart the uncharted; it also enables us to remain level-headed. By staying calm when we discover we are wrong, we can avoid overreacting and letting our ego drive us to defend positions we know to be flawed.
Professor Li holds that, as stewards of what we have been given, we shoulder a responsibility to use our gifts wisely and righteously for the well-being of others and His Kingdom.
Being stewards of what we have been given, we shoulder a responsibility to use these gifts wisely and righteously.
In the same speech, Einstein said: “A successful man is he who receives a great deal from his fellow men, usually incomparably more than corresponds to his service to them. The value of a man, however, should be seen in what he gives and not in what he is able to receive.” My beliefs have always taught me that I am small before the Almighty, no more than a humble servant, guided to learn, to improve, and to do my best. Luke 12:48 says: “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” For those of us who follow this teaching, all our talent, fortune, and high position are bestowed by Him. Being stewards of what we have been given, we shoulder a responsibility to use these gifts wisely and righteously, for the well-being of others and for His Kingdom.
Whether as a steward or a pioneer, our enthusiasm for knowledge drives us to reach for the stars in our research. Yet we must also keep our feet on the ground, for the higher we rise, the humbler we should be. In the vast ocean of knowledge and along the long river of human civilisation, we are bound to be humbled by the different layers of facts, by our limited intellect, by the complexity of human nature, and by the great tide of history. As I prepare to step down from the deanship, I hope this message, and my previous Dean's Messages, will offer some inspiration, whether you are a faculty member, a research colleague, a member of the administrative staff, a school administrator, a policy maker, or beyond.
Lastly, I wish to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt appreciation to all academic and support staff of the Faculty. It has been a true privilege and honour to work alongside you over the past seven years. It has been a memorable period, rich in professional support, friendship, kindness and happiness. I will always treasure the memories we have created together.
I hope you enjoy reading this newsletter, as you have with previous issues.
Professor Li Wai-keung
Dean of FLASS
30 April 2026
Reference: On Education by Albert Einstein
Read related interview about Dean to understand what motivated him to become an academic, his management philosophy for higher education institutions, and his words of advice to young scholars. Read related article for the send-off gathering organised for Professor Li.
