Mono vision
Readers may be aware that Christopher Pratt, chairman of Swire, recently won Businessperson of the Year Award at the 2010 Hong Kong Business Awards sponsored by our esteemed paper and DHL, while Tony Tyler, chief executive of Cathay Pacific, was named Executive of the Year. But one award they may have overlooked was Monocle magazine's Travel Top 50 awards where Cathay Pacific was voted as having the 'Most Reassuring Captains'.
The citation reads: 'When there's a typhoon whipping across the Philippines, menacing convective activity over the Russian steppes, nasty crosswinds on the approach to Narita and lightening ringing Hong Kong, we like to have Cathay Pacific's British, Australian and Canadian captains at the controls. Diplomatic CEOs will always say it doesn't matter who's flying the aircraft as long as they have enough hours under their belts, but in more candid moments you'll always hear that culture plays a role in safety. For the cost of our full-fare tickets we think that the reassuring voice of Bruce from Brisvegas is an essential part of the total brand experience.'
As one wag put it: 'It's the miners down at the coal face who put the food on the boardroom table.'
HK businesses get ready for 'sincerity' seminars
The Trade and Industry Department has come up with a novel approach to business. Its Support and Consultation Centre for SMEs (Success) is organising a seminar early next year entitled 'Starting a Business with Sincerity and Creativity'. Explaining the thinking behind this approach was one of the organisers, Philip Yeung, who works with the unit. He said that most Hong Kong people only focus on making money when they go into business. Not so surprising, you might think. But apparently many of them lack 'heart' and 'sincerity', in that they don't pay sufficient attention to their employees or even their customers.
It has to be said that sincerity is not the first quality that comes to mind when you think about Hong Kong's small-business men. But if and when this new breed of Hong Kong businessman emerges we know whom to thank.
