Q & A

I am sitting at the Starbucks in the new giant ION shopping centre on the fancy Orchard Road in Singapore. The whole ground floor is packing with brand new stores with Louis Vuitton, Cartier, Armani, Patek Philippe and the likes. From the ground floor the mall goes four stories DOWN, not up. In the basement there is the typical Asian food court. I got myself a ‘Nasi kuning ayam merah’ which is Indonesian and/or Malay for ‘Yellow rice with red chicken’. Another reminder of the good ol’ times in Indonesia.

Yesterday I treated myself to a trip to the movies. I used to do it regularly, but it is almost a year ago I went last time. I saw Tarantino’s latest creation ‘Inglorius basterds’ about an American Jewish hit squad working under cover in Nazi occupied France. As usual with Tarantino you leave the cinema with a funny feeling. It leaves you thinking, but you don’t really know about what, because the movie did not teach you anything. Nevertheless, I enjoyed my first evening off in weeks and the first movie theatre trip in a year. And I did not even fall asleep!

My trip here in Asia is coming to an end. I have a meeting tomorrow for lunch and tomorrow evening I head back to Europe. The trip has been an intense learning experience, as intense as a week of building blocks at IMD. Hong Kong overwhelmed me with a lot of new questions and things to consider while Singapore answered a lot of these questions. The reason being that in Hong Kong I mostly met customers, who listed an endless amount of requirements I would have to fulfil if they were to buy my product. In Singapore I mostly met suppliers who offered solutions that I did know existed and I met seasoned industry experts who could give me the high level perspective on the forces in the industry.

My parents are right now working their way down from Denmark to Lausanne by car. We agreed that they should pick me up on the way in whatever airport whereto I could get a convenient (=cheap) flight. That ended up being Frankfurt, so they will pick me up there Thursday morning and we will drive to Lausanne together. I look forward to seeing them again. I actually even look forward to driving with them to Lausanne. It reminds me of the trips in Germany we used to do as a family when I was a kid.

In half an hour I will meet an old colleague at Harris’ on Robertson Walk. Almost exactly one year ago this was where I met my coming classmates Henry Low (Singapore) and Sylvain Cabalery (France) for the first time. It seems like it was only yesterday we were sitting there at the high tables outside the bar enjoying a cold beer. On the other hand, if I look at how much has happened since, how much I have learned and how differently I think, it seems like it must be ages ago. Who did this to me? :-)

Business with style and a smile

It has been another change of scenery. Not as drastic as the one from Nairobi to Hong Kong, but still I cannot help noticing the differences. I am now in Singapore, sitting with a glass of red wine in my friend Nicolaj's apartment overlooking Robertson Quay from the 13th floor. We are still within the old English empire so the electrical plugs are still the sames as in Kenya and Hong Kong and they also drive in the wrong (left) side of the road.

Both Hong Kong and Singapore are to Asia what Switzerland is to Europe. They make a big part of their living functioning as a regional hubs and tax refuges for the big international corporations. All three of them administrate an amazing amount of wealth despite the fact that they produce few or no physical goods. But they do i very differently and I particularly like the way the Singaporeans do it. Just like in Hong Kong and Switzerland everything is very well organized. Public transportation (for some reason always used as a measure for public administration of countries) works like clockwork and you are very safe whereever you go. There is more space in Singapore, so the city is not as build up and congested as Hong Kong, but on the other hand it does not having the enormous natural beauty of Switzerland.

What I like about the Singaporeans is that they do it with style and with a smile. They take their time to enjoy what they do. It is not a matter of just delivering a service in the most effective what, but it is also about how you do it. Take the taxi drivers for example. In Hong Kong they will take you from A to B in the fastest, shortest and most effective way without cheating you. You will be thrown around on the backseat as they take the turn in order to reach this goal.

The taxi drivers in Singapore will also go the shortest way without ever cheating you (sometimes it is even hard to get them to accept the tip), but they will do it with a big smile, cracking jokes and telling you about the things they think you should see in their beloved city. They are always in a good mood and if everything else fails you can always talk Premier League football with them. One of them even showed me his ManU tattoo on his shoulder one time. The taxi drivers are a good representation of business in Singapore. It is all about business, don't get that wrong, but it is the way it is done that I find appealing. Much more than in Hong Kong and Switzerland.

Dennis, another old friend of mine, is also here, so the talk goes on the old days and what has happened since we met last. I was out here for the Formula 1 last year, the first F1 for both me and Singapore. The city is now preparing for its second race which will be held this coming week. Unfortunately I will be gone by then, but at least I had the experience already. Another weird thing about being here is that it feels like I was here yesterday. I can remember everything we did and all the details. I just cannot get it to fit in my brain that it was a year ago. Another one of those scary reminders of how time flies.

We are heading to Boat Quay for Indian food, then to Robertson walk to catch some other friends that are there for tonight's Premier League game.