In the busy Hong Kong rush hour, walking in the crowds of business people in Central, you often see tourists who have chosen the wrong time and are struggling to take photos. I saw lots of tourists trying to cram themselves into a certain spot from where they could get a good view and angle. They were eagerly hustling with each other to get into the spot. If one didn't know better, one would have assumed the Starship Enterprise was going to be visible from that spot! I was facing toward these tourists, so I could not see what they were trying to take a photo of, and so I turned around to see. It was the ICBC Tower, one of the most well known buildings in the Hong Kong skyline, and an icon of the City’s financial prowess and link with China. Because I see it every day on the way to work, on weekends when commuting to most places, and also from my living room window, it doesn’t have the same appeal to me as it did to these tourists, who were desperately trying to get a good shot of it. The same kind of effect we experience when we travel Business class on an airline. When we have never been on First or Business class before, it appears to be a huge novelty and we have a degree of reverence. But over time, this novelty factor wears off and we take it for granted. When we take things for granted, it changes our mentality and it is the same dynamic that makes us less effective when applied in the corporate context. Being in Hong Kong, there are incredible opportunities to work with some of the most intelligent, sharp, and dynamic business people. As the rest of the worlds economies, and to a lesser extent the Asian economy continues to slide, more of the worlds finest are working more closely with Asia. I have the privilege of co-developing thoughts, industry leadership with such people, who are so open and accessible. However, if I treat them like I treat the ICBC, I will simply not appreciate and want to get as much as possible from the experiences. Therefore, over-familiarity, a lack of appreciation for what we have access to in the corporate place, can lead to a decline in our desire to maximise the value it brings to us and others also.
After spending so long away from Hong Kong, and during a time of year when physical training doesn’t make the top of the list, it was return to the gym on a more frequent basis here. There were certainly some notable realisations coming from this regarding whether I am focussed and grateful, or whether I become complacent as time goes on. In the UK, I had the privilege of training at one of the UK’s better Muay Thai schools, and experiencing how they do things after having trained in equivalents in Thailand and Hong Kong. Although they didn’t have Thai trainers, who in my opinion are the most natural in their abilities, physiques, and techniques, they made use of some excellent routines. There was a longer, albeit less diversified warm up, and there was less equipment, so we had to figure different ways of doing more with less. I observed a boxing session in my gym, and learned some of their techniques also. When I got back to Hong Kong, the fitness level had been sustained to some extent, and I had developed more gratitude towards the Kru’s (teachers), and the elaborate facilities. This cultivated a desire to do more, and combined with some of the techniques picked up in the UK, it made for a fantastic first session. There was mutual respect with the teachers, and we progressed the complexity and speed of moves, blocks, and taking hits to condition the body. Walking out of the gym and seeing the newcomers, I could see that I had progressed somewhat. I had a choice of continuing to think about my progress and me, or to think about them and how they feel. I did the latter and it again made for some very nice exchanges. In the corporate environment, we see extremely senior people put others first, be so inquisitive and interested in others. If they do it, it is likely to be a winning attitude, and it is clear we should try to follow in their footsteps to success.
On returning to Hong Kong, the temperature was in the mid-twenties, and the sun was blazing. I was trying to read a message on my Blackberry. For some moments I could only see my reflection due to the Sun, a similar affect when someone is wearing very shiny sunglasses and it is hard to see their eyes, but not impossible. When I focussed, I could read the message, and saw beyond the shine. The position of the phone was exactly the same. But the focus of my eyes had changed. I was quite fascinated. When my brain wanted to read the message, the eyes would respond by changing focus to the message. When I wanted to pay more attention to the reflection, my eyes automatically adjusted. It was a penetrating lesson in so many ways. If we want to see ourselves first in any situation, we can easily do this. In fact, that was the default viewing I began with after being overwhealmed by the influence of the sun all around. By default, the world will encourage this approach of putting ourselves in the centre. How does this dynamic affect our progress in the corporate world? I recalled a time when I was a Graduate. A senior person who didn’t have a very good way with people, and I had just come off of a below par interaction with him. Immediately after that, I had another meeting. I had very little time in between; literally only the time needed to walk from one meeting to the other. He had impacted my mood, outlook, everything. Having not had so much experience dealing with tough people, I needed more time to gather myself. I thought, I can either carry the energy from the previous meeting into the next one, or start afresh. Did the people in the next meeting deserve me being in a more sour mood? Probably not. So why carry the baggage? I decided to completely let it go, and it was hard because we often have the tendency to think about ourselves. When we are aware of the dynamic of whether we are putting ourselves at the centre, or whether objective and have the wider goals and longer terms goals in the centre, we will find it easier to at least theoretically move forwards mentally, and over time this theory will become practise. Of course, we will address what needs to be addressed because we should be concerned with ensuring the principle of integrity and fairness is enforced, however if we think in this way, we will not let our personal ambition get in the way of acheiving truly big things.
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