If he had it all to do over again, Jim Thompson certainly would not. Life is full of lessons and the outgoing American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) chairman has recently learned a particularly bitter one - a successful career in business is no preparation for organising a project such as the Harbour Fest in tandem with the government.
He vowed that even with all his newfound knowledge, he would not be interested in organising the music festival again.
'It was very stressful,' said Mr Thompson, 63, who steps down at the end of this month as AmCham chairman to focus on his international removal company, Crown Worldwide, and various other community interests.
He said in the cold light of day it was easy to now see things differently, but in the turmoil that was Harbour Fest things were tough.
'When it's over, it's a bit different. But in the middle of it, I was really upset,' he said in his Wan Chai office, overlooking the Tamar site where the mid-October to mid-November music extravaganza was staged.
With hindsight, Mr Thompson admitted that 90 days was not enough time to prepare a festival with so many artists and shows.
'The short time didn't allow us to cover enough details. We had 17 shows in four weeks. The average tickets were only a few hundred dollars, but when you think of somebody buying for a whole family and for more than one show, it's a lot.