Leglessbird Sharing

Dear Family and Friends,

Dec 2020 (Click for larger image)

Happy New Year!

Hope everyone is keeping safe and healthy. Just when we thought Year 2019 was a very turbulent year for Hong Kong, little did we know a year ago that covid19 pandemic was going to be added to the already long list of crises and made Year 2020 an even more depressing year. Under such circumstances, we are grateful to say that we have managed to stay safe and well. Adapting many new measures such as wearing masks, keeping social distance, reducing group activities, purchasing online and eating more at home. Thankfully, living in a very low density neighbourhood means social distancing has fairly minimal disruption to our quiet daily life.

Most of my teaching/training has switched to online platforms since February, my numerous overseas study trips were understandably cancelled. This is the first time I have not travelled for the entire year since my very first experience of stepping on an aeroplane in 1984 heading to a boarding school in Jersey. As for my client work, things have almost returned to normal since August, thanks to all the online tools, there is in fact more work from overseas clients. As a tech-savvy independent professional with 15 years of experience, working from my well equipped home has always been the norm. The real challenge this year, however, is to conduct online meetings and classes with a young child at home. I actually spent more time in my office this year than all my office hours combined from the last 15 years.

One very serious family matter occurred coincidentally during the most depressing time of 2020, it was largely resolved and seems to be making good progress in the right direction but inevitably leaving behind some impressions on family members. The Chinese saying [家家有本難念的經] certainly rings true. (Every family has their own problems that cannot be understood by others).

According to the conventional Chinese wisdom, this year I am supposedly to have reached the age of [knowing one's destiny] (知天命). I doubt that I know my destiny, but whether knowing or otherwise, I am certainly enjoying this journey with Irene and Jin, and I'm hoping to help my students to find their destiny. My medical exam and health monitoring devices are telling me that I am of the age of [establishing] (立), let's go with the scientific evidence... 

Rooftop plantation (and elsewhere)
We (mostly Irene, Jin and Roma) have been doing a lot of farming this year, on our rooftop as well as in some farms. Thus, we were able to consume and/or appreciate a great variety of vegetables, fruits, rice and flowers. We were most delighted to enjoy 4 pineapples grown from our rooftop, each took almost 2 years to grow, living in a city like Hong Kong, that is a small achievement that deserves some celebration. Jin had his first appearance on television in a programme covering the story of his rice plantation class.

Jin's education
Jin continues his journey on a Waldorf Education path. We believe it is very important to have the right environment that reinforces traditional values and virtues, cares about the well being of the child and enhances harmony among people and between people and nature, it is also very important to be with a community of families and teachers who share the same concept and vision of child development. We are very fortunate and glad to be part of the Starhill Waldorf family, watching Jin growing up and enjoying his childhood is such a blessing.

Hapkido (合氣道)
Jin and I started taking Hapkido classes together in August, a very good father-and-son activity indeed, we often practice at home as well. In addition to the good exercise and useful self-defence techniques, the lessons on respect and discipline are the more important reasons for taking martial arts classes. We observe very noticeable changes in Jin. The 1st ever examination of any kind that Jin took was in fact the Hapkido belt exam in December where the master also awarded him a special prize for making the most progress and exhibiting the right spirit and attitude. (We are with the Spain Hong Kong Martial Art Association, search for keywords DojangMusado or spainhkmartialartassociation)

Swimming
Irene and I bought full body gear to enjoy swimming with Jin in the river stream near our house in a very quiet and beautiful hidden place, something we should have done more often since we moved in during 2018.

Board games
Jin learned to play Chinese Chess and has been enjoying the game ever since. We even took the chess set to play in our village park. There is a stone table with Chinese Chess board engraved on the surface, a common feature in many Hong Kong parks. He also enjoyed and learned to play a number of other board games such as reversi, arena chess 鬥獸棋, flying chess 飛行棋, and Code.

Cycling
Jin and I continued to enjoy cycling around our neighbourhood, this year we expanded our range to 50 minutes each way, reaching a club house, enjoying an afternoon tea set before heading home. Jin said he didn't feel tired at all.

Travelling
What travelling?

Cambridge University
This year we have also switched our mentorship programme online, we ran three career workshops: Investment Banking, Management Consulting and Entrepreneurship. Because of the pandemic, we didn't receive any visitors this year.

I had a few public engagements this year, speaking at or hosting business panels.
20200520 CUHK Business Webinar Series: An Introduction to Angel Investment
20200603 CXO Forum, Covid-19: Implications of Effective Leadership in a Time of Abrupt Disruption
20200920 Talking to CEO with Professor Dennis Lo
20200924 CXO Forum, Fly up or Fade out in the Era of Disruption
20201025 Talking to CEO with Mr Stan Tang
20201030 Innoport Happy Hour, AI Business Model
20201125 CUHK Global Alumni Forum with Mr Shih Wing Ching and Mr Ricky Wong
20201126 CUHK MBA Sample Class - Management Consulting 

Quotes of the year

• At the end of the day people won't remember what you said or did, they will remember how you made them feel. - Maya Angelou
• A leader is best when people barely know he exists. when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will all say "We did it ourselves.  Lao-Tzu, an ancient philosopher and founder of Taoism" 當人們幾乎不知道他存在時，領導者才是最好的...當他完成工作，實現目標時，所有人都會說: 我們自己做到了。 -老子，古代哲學家和道家創始人
• Those who dance are considered insane by those who cannot hear the music. - George Carlin
• 小時候，微笑是一種心情。⻑大後，微笑是一種表情。- 豐子愷
• 沒有絕望的處境，只有對處境絕望的人。

Books read/listened this year

• Delivering Happiness
• What Got You Here Won't Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful!
• The Art of Negotiating the Best Deal
• Your Deceptive Mind: A Scientific Guide to Critical Thinking Skills
• Targeted: My Inside Story of Cambridge Analytica and How Trump and Facebook Broke Democracy
• The Everyday Parenting Toolkit: The Kazdin Method for Easy, Step-by-Step, Lasting Change for You and Your Child
• The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations
• The Pig that Wants to be Eaten: And Ninety-Nine Other Thought Experiments
• On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century
• Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don't Have All the Facts
• The Story of Human Language
• The Infinite Game
• Range
• Talking to Strangers

Movies/ TV Drama/ Documentation recommendation

• The Social Dilemma
• David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet
• Queen's Gambit
• Dark
• Money Heist (La casa de papel)
• Altered Carbon

Some photo highlights:

Anticipate Challenges!

Jin's rice plantation class

Starhill Waldorf

Starhill Waldorf

Enjoying the river in our neighbourhood

The age of 知天命"Knowing one's destiny"

Happy moments

Happy moments

Happy moments

Never thought I would have a trampoline at home

CUHK Public Engagements

2020 CUHK Global Alumni Forum

2020 CXO Forum