I Added One More Podcast To The Giant Podcast Bin
I’m excited to be launching the new Mosaic of China podcast.
Who's That Boy?
I first stepped foot in Asia exactly 20 years ago, for a one-year adventure teaching English in Western Japan. The boy in this photo is still on his adventure.
私はちょうど20年前にアジアに足を踏み入れました，西日本で英語を教える1年間の冒険でした。この写真の中の少年はまだ冒険中です。
20年前，我第一次踏上亚洲，在日本西部进行为期一年的英语教学。这张照片中的男孩还在冒险。
Mandarin Official
Learning a new language in your 40s is a humbling experience. So it’s nice to at least get a certificate out of it.
在40多岁时学习一门新语言是一种丢脸的体验。 所以获得证书是太好了。
For the LinkedIn version, see here.
Serious Silliness
When will they learn... NEVER give me access to a microphone at a serious business event about leadership and courage.
Many thanks to the team at the International Professional Women's Society (IPWS) for having me at their annual conference, June 2019.
Did That Really Happen?
Today marks exactly 10 years since I somehow completed the RacingthePlanet 250km ultra-marathon through the deserts of Namibia. With a finishing time of 46 hours, 7 minutes and 35 seconds, I came 50th out of over 200 competitors.
Since then I have spent the last decade celebrating by lying on the couch eating pies.
For the Facebook version, see here.
For the Instagram version, see here.
A Shout-Out To Warwick Law School
Warwick Law School asked me to write something that would help attract more students from Asia to its undergraduate law course. Here's what I came up with.
A Photo of Mother and Son
A photo of mother and son back in 1979.
I was 2, she was 32.
We were... Thirty years apart.
She died on this day in 1989, she was 42.
The same age I’ll be this year.
It’s been... Thirty years apart.
For the Facebook version, see here.
Too Many Commas
I just learnt that there are two types of comma in Chinese:
逗号 is the regular comma ( ，) and
顿号 is the back-sloping comma ( 、).
The normal comma is used for pauses in speech; the back-sloping comma is used for the slightly shorter pauses you make when listing two or more things.
Here’s an example of their usage, with the English explanation below:
Here’s how this example would look in English:
“Past、present、future，up and down、left and right，China and foreign countries are all mutually connected、mutually influential、mutually restrictive.”
Oh, and the semicolon is used in the same way as English, to signify a shift between clauses. So in order of longest pause to shortest pause, it goes as follows:
。
；
，
、
For the Instagram version, see here.
Today I Bid a Final Farewell to ChapmanCG
It has been just over a decade since we started The Chapman Consulting Group in Singapore. It is now the largest organisation of its kind in the world, with senior HR appointments in 69 countries, and over 110,000 executive HR leaders in its global network. Playing a part in this trajectory has been by far the most rewarding professional achievement of my life, and I owe a huge debt of thanks to Matt, to past and present members of the amazing ChapmanCG team, and to the tens of thousands of HR professionals around the world whom I’ve learnt from, and hopefully helped in some small way in return.
With a new strategic investment from Will Group (株式会社ウィルグループ), and the continuity of it’s existing management team, I have no doubt that ChapmanCG will maintain its position in offering the world’s best Executive Search solution for the HR Profession. I will no longer be part of the ChapmanCG story moving forward. But I wish everyone all the best, and look forward to our paths crossing again in a personal capacity.
Oscar
For the LinkedIn version, see here.
totaLly teamLab
We went in search of some festive illuminations, and boy did we find them.
Here’s wishing you all a MERRY CHRISTMAS!
For the Instagram version, see here.
Remember Me
A story about grief, remembrance, and self-delusion. Performed live at the Unravel storytelling event in Shanghai, Dec 2018.
This story didn’t quite go to plan. I didn’t get the reactions I was expecting. I underestimated the awkwardness of the subject. The self-deprecating parts elicited pity, when I had been going for laughter. My mind blanked and I fumbled in quite a few important places. There was applause in a part that I totally wasn’t expecting. I even had a heckle (which, to make matters worse, was entirely justified).
But I’m still happy that I did it. And I’m sharing it in case it’s a story someone out there needs to hear this Christmas.
Thanks go to Clara and the team at Unravel Shanghai, for the amazing community they have built around their monthly storytelling series. Thanks to Lisa, Fred, Shaun, and all the friends (and strangers) in the audience. And thanks to Denny, to Jennifer, and to my family for all their love and support.
Hotel in a Quarry
I visited the new Intercontinental Hotel, built into the side of a disused quarry. There are only two floors above ground, the rest is underground, and the lowest floor (B15) is underwater.
The whole thing is beautiful and bizarre in equal measure.
For the Instagram version, see here.
“98 Years Old”
I bumped into this amazing 98 year old lady.
I know this because the only Chinese I could understand her say was “I’m 98 years old”.
For the Instagram version, see here.
Coffeeshop Flags
In case you STILL didn’t think I was a nerd... I spent twenty minutes in Costa Coffee testing myself on the identity of these flags. And I got them all correct. 🤓🤓🤓 (Answers below.)
Answers from front to back:
Niger, Bahrain, Lesotho, Micronesia, United Nations, Cape Verde, Cuba, Turkmenistan, Marshall Islands, Bangladesh, Guyana, Panama, Macedonia, Maldives, Lithuania, Uzbekistan, Finland, North Korea, Guinea, Austria, Djibouti, Sao Tome e Principe, Cook Islands, Mongolia, Bhutan, Mali, Venezuela, Russia, Iran, Liechtenstein, Scotland, Somalia, Sweden, Bahamas, Andorra, Australia, United Kingdom, Afghanistan, France, Brunei, Morocco, China, Germany, Chile, Kenya, Sudan, Azerbaijan, Mexico, Ireland, Samoa, United Arab Emirates, Ghana, Chad, Fiji, Greece, South Korea, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Slovenia, Spain, Zimbabwe, Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, El Salvador, Singapore, Bulgaria, Canada, United States, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Liberia, South Africa, Argentina, Uruguay, Ivory Coast, Papua New Guinea, Dominican Republic, Burundi.
And here are the flags that I always find most difficult to differentiate:
🇸🇳🇲🇱🇬🇳 (Senegal vs. Mali vs. Guinea),
🇲🇩🇦🇩🇹🇩🇷🇴 (Moldova vs. Andorra vs. Chad vs. Romania, I don’t even know the difference between Chad and Romania),
🇵🇱🇮🇩🇲🇨 (Poland vs Indonesia vs. Monaco. Monaco is longer than Indonesia.)
🇮🇪🇨🇮 (Ireland vs. Ivory Coast)
🇻🇪🇪🇨🇨🇴(Venezuela vs. Ecuador vs. Colombia)
🇱🇺🇳🇱 (Luxembourg vs. Netherlands. NL blue is darker.)
🇸🇮🇸🇰 (Slovenia vs. Slovakia)
For the Instagram version, see here.