Suo Motu: upon one's own initiative, put everything into your own hands.
Ladies & Gentlemen,
Greetings from Shanghai, China, a city where I used to be permanently based for over a decade. Today's article, is all about your own initiatives, also rendered suo moto. This saying is usually chiefly in South Asia and while it is and can be used in the court of the law, it is also a common idiom, or rather encouragement to show the courage and to keep showing initiative on a daily basis.
While traveling between the continents, there is and might be various cultures having to adopt / get used to, in the end, if you observe and listen, it is not as challenging as you may think it is and you will definitely get the hang of it.
When I got my very first job offer in Shanghai, and have never been to the city, I took a few days off (from one of my previous jobs) and decided to give it a go. Definitely, that time, some of these YouTube videos made it rather encouraging and exciting to pay a visit. Getting a quite decent offer to swap between London and Shanghai, was definitely something that was - even that time- superb but different. Being different can be difficult for many people and looking back, over a decade later, living in Shanghai and having setup a business in both cities, Beijing and Shanghai has been a rather rough, meaningful choice.
What has been driving me the whole entire time, while working with the Chinese, that the majority is following and could not lead and this is exactly the reason for having chosen today's header: "Upon one's own initiative". Most of the folks that I had working closely with / reporting to me, under the supervision / or even directly, there is and always have been lack of this initiative. There are ideas, converting those into actions is a completely different story.
Shanghai and Beijing, both cities of opportunity, are until, today, still one of the best cities to start a business or even a career, you will definitely learn a lot, if you ever decided to choose a different path of life, Asia and China has always been a great choice. The language barrier, this is something you will need to break, and learn, listen and understand the culture, thousands of years of history and one of the world's largest populations.
At the very beginning, I was under the impression that China Mainland is a place, to live, work, grow up, and even die, however, when the Great Wall China, along with Trade-Wars have come to day-light, it has become extremely challenging to cope with all these.
A proper firm, needs the basics, it doesn't go without it:
Internet, emails, access to certain websites, spaces, data, convenient transportation, reliable banks with multi-currency accounts, this is one of the basics while running a business. Everyone needs it, and even over the years, mobile apps have turned into an integral part of our daily life, it almost replaced our entire desktop / laptop - computer activities and revolutionized every single market, globally. There is hardly someone that has to install a bunch of apps, just to be able to go through the daily jungle, just to survive. Even for basic ground transportation, G-Pay / Apple Pay is basic, and when it comes to online stores, deliveries, and you name it, thousands of other apps exist, even for airline, hotels, banking, and it just doesn't go without it. Once your phone is not online, you are replacing your phone, access email accounts, apps, your identity still will have to be confirmed at all cost. Most of the cellular devices are now verifying your face, finger-prints and even your voice, with a blink of an eye, you are connected or the worst case scenario, being put back into the stone age.
Truth to be told, when even WhatsApp and LinkedIn services are completely suspended in Mainland, which also goes for even most of the VPNs, this is where it gets extremely hard to deal with daily communication, YouTube, Facebook, I can live without it, but Gmail has been an integral part of our daily backup and access of apps, this is hard, very hard to be without.
Showing initiative, this is what it is all about:
Every single day / night, even between the sleeping hours, I keep gathering my thoughts, trying to make the world and trading between the continents more efficient, a better place. This is hard, if you are not surrounded with an army of thousands of soldiers and right now, I even think about - instead of just having full-time employees- to work on t&c contracts in addition to that.
As an entrepreneur, investors and consultant, trading-operator across all continents, I came to the point for being a little bit disappointed of modern day society and the work-force-we are receiving.
See, while running businesses on several continents, I never think how much money I can get every month, but rather, how can I make a project work and build a system that others can adopt and work with. It goes rather with, how large or huge the result can be, the lead-time in fact. I came to the point where I don't work for the money, and want that the money works for me. I was never interested in salaries in fact, rather in achieving great results and those results are far more valuable than a pay check from an employer.
Most of the individuals are not money driven, or project driven, in contrast being result driven, this would be - in my opinion- the way to succeed and in making a difference. There are many people that keep asking me, "how they can make money" and that they are currently and always struggling, because the salary (even though increases have been given) is never enough. Humans expectation are easily to be raised, but no way, if it can be reduced / lowered. This is and has never been a good thing, but just and only chasing a larger salary, this is and always will be a cat and mouse game, it will never be enough, unless you ensure that you will make it this way.
Overall, what I have learned in China, that people here are eager to work, and to learn based on others experiences, books and you name it, a country and nation where unemployment or social support are not even an option, this turns the supposed to be "communism" into "capitalism" and buying an apartment / house, this is a must. Even though China's housing market is almost double, or even sometimes threefold than New York Manhattan, or London Chelsea and Kensington Borough, it is a most and no matter at what cost, an apartment is the only way to get married, hold the hand of the man / woman of your dreams.
I just came over from Dubai, via Chonqing to Shanghai and I'm already in the City of Beijing, where I will definitely keep you updated on the latest developments, thoughts that I would like to share.
From a man born in Vienna, with a business in the United States, China, Belize and the UAE / I need to confess that cross culture can be quite shocking, especially while just getting out of an aircraft, it always will take some time to get used to the "in Rome do it like the Romans".
In fact, I have never ever ever met a person from Beijing that is fond of Shanghai, and not even the other way around and it goes like.
I was rather surprised in how many city people went to overseas, abroad, and never been in surrounding cities. This is not only in Asia in fact, truth to be told, I went to most of Asia's, US cities, including the Middle East and just recently visited Bratislava for the very first time. Bratislava is so close to Vienna, that it is being called the "long-leg-of-Vienna", and at least I made it to Prague, and Budapest just a few years back. Well the neighbors grass is always greener on the other side, except, in Beijing / Shanghai, their lawn is simply the best. Beijing is always better than Shanghai and yes, in Shanghai everything is better than in Beijing, but this is something amusing and get used to. I like and love both cities and could not tell whether, I like Shanghai or Beijing the better.
This is always something you will be asked, once you are in either of those cities, "Do you like Shanghai or Beijing the better". I would not answer it straight away and always stay on the diplomatic way, either side, even if they are not locals, they could take it extremely personally and this could interfere with your friendship level here.
This article is now coming to an end, and please do read the next one, where much more is being added about Beijing, the capital, and those thoughts I had either between the sheets, between gates, or simply on the road.
In my opinion, breakfast is always the best way to start your day, and not just one Espresso and a piece of pastry, there is so much to it.