Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Probably this year is not the same to celebrate our Christmas when watching a lot of headlines: more cutback... more bankruptcies... more troubles towards the end of 2008, but we would still like to cherish all the happy and joyful moments that we share it with our family and friends in the past, present and future during the holidays as it is something close to our hearts.

"Christmas" may have different meaning to different people as some are more religious than others. However, beneath any religions on earth, there is a common fundamental philosophy: the spirituality of man--your own basic spiritual nature.

The history of man may have gone lost to a point that many people don't believe their spiritual nature any longer. But if you look and observe, you may probably know who you are as someone who is more than the body and the mind. It is "you" who can dream, create, love, work hard and make things go right that makes you as a unique individual being. It's the religious; which is actually the spiritual nature of beingness that is the driving force for anything you see today.

No matter what religion you may have or may not have, let's celebrate this Christmas with "Spirits of Play". Though with many uncertainties ahead of us, may I wish you the best for the coming years and your dreams will come true!

Happy Xmas (war is over)-John Lennon



Happy Xmas (war is over)- Celine Dion




Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

PR: wait... I: wait... L: wait... LD: wait... I: wait... wait... I: wait... L: wait... C: wait... SD: wait...

How to survive through this global economic recession?

The world's economy has changed. We have now entered a new era of lower debt levels, lower consumption and higher household savings as many of our recent economic activities were not sustainable. To reverse from high leveraging by deleveraging is not an easy solution to many economies and many people.

We may have a better reality of what look ahead of us by the below video:


Mortgage Meltdown Video -Dec 14, 2008

Those who used high leverage in their investment and consumption will have much harder time to deleverage; whereas people who used low or zero leverage in investment and consumption will come out with better ease from this economic recession.

Many government and central banks are now running huge deficits and try to print money to stop the decline of our economic activities but should come with the goals of not bringing us back to the old credit and housing bubbles.

Money is backed up by confidence as a means of exchange in products or service. The prices are determined by the supply and demand which can be manipulated by either making the scarcity of supplies or boosting the demands or both. If without proper regulation, policies and self-discipline of those involved, the prices can be too much inflated to a point as in our recent credit and housing bubbles to cause meltdown in many of our industries.

To survive well through this economy, it is time to go back to the basic of the economic activity. Anything that provide innovation and value to truly reflect the needs and wants of people without highly inflating the prices can be sustainable. It is time to invest in yourself without allowing any fear to reduce your confidence in yourself; so you can find and create something that proves valuable and innovative to our community so our economy can do better. Companies which have better balance sheet, cash position and better management should continue to invest in its innovation and product will easily come out from the other side.

People who produce with value and know the basic of money and finance will survive in any economic condition. And these are the people we can count on to help others in our community to do better in our economy. We should have many able people in Hong Kong that can survive well together to build a better community and economy of our own, right?

Viewpoints of Hong Kong Executives: What's yours?

What we see today depends on how we put our viewpoints into reality. To bring a better world with better civilization, we need better viewpoints.

The purpose of writing this blog is to share my viewpoints on various issues that any Hong Kong executive may care about including career, investment, finance, family, next generation, community, business, social and political environment, etc; as they are integrated as in one's life. Some may put more emphasis on certain aspects than others. Some may be more successful in certain areas than others. No matter what kind of executive life you have in Hong Kong, we are living in the same Hong Kong environment that many issues can affect us. In fact, some issues we are concerned in Hong Kong can be the same issues for people from many other countries; and I am delighted to find out I have many readers from many other countries.

If you somehow come to my blog and read my posts, I hope you enjoy reading it and find it helpful. However, I don't mean what I share here is necessarily the best viewpoint or truer than other viewpoints. In fact, it is only my own personal viewpoints without any representation of any authority or source. If you don't agree, you can ignore it. But I will better my viewpoints with better observation and share it here with you from time to time.

Here I want to clear the word: "executives" as it is part of the name of my blog with the following definitions according to American Heritage Dictionary:

n.

1. A person or group having administrative or managerial authority in an organization.
2. The chief officer of a government, state, or political division.
3. The branch of government charged with putting into effect a country's laws and the administering of its functions.
4. Computer Science A set of coded instructions designed to process and control other coded instructions.

adj.

1. Of, relating to, capable of, or suited for carrying out or executing: an advisory body lacking executive powers.
2. Having, characterized by, or relating to administrative or managerial authority: the executive director of a drama troupe; executive experience and skills.
3. Of or relating to the branch of government charged with the execution and administration of the nation's laws.

[Middle English, to be carried out, from Old French exécutif, from executer, to carry out; see execute.]

Sometimes, if someone starts to be critical on what you said, probably this person may at least have one word that he or she does not understand from you. You can help him by asking whether that person has any misunderstood word from whatever you have tried to communicate to either verbally or in writing. If you could find the word and clear this up with proper dictionary, you may get back into communication with this person again!

So you see if the executives of any community know how to observe, know how to know, understand and able to assume viewpoints from others, then decide and act the viewpoints for most people concerned in whatever area they are involved or interested, we will sure to have more winning fields in one's personal life, family, business, social and political environment, etc; as the essence of executives is to carry out.

I hope the above clarification may help you enjoy reading my blog.

Please feel free to write to me and let me know what you would like to be talked about in this blog.

Is job creation a solution to our economic recession?

Millions of jobs have been lost in the last few months and more coming in the future. Goldman forecasts the jobless rate will climb to 9 percent by late 2009 in US with the current rate hits at 6.5%. The seasonally adjusted jobless rate for the three months ended Oct. 31 for Hong Kong climbed to 3.5 percent.

For fear of the social problems and a longer term of depression brought by massive unemployment, it has been a very high priority of many governments to seek for the immediate solutions in saving or creating jobs to sustain our economic activities without further depression.

The President Elect, Obama announced recently to save or create 2.5 million new jobs in the next two years. The Hong Kong government also announced many new openings in its own departments including temporary jobs.

Jobs lost need to be created again. Unemployed people need to be employed again.

Job loss is resulted from the sudden or slow demand of the products or services of the company concerned that the income of the company cannot support the current level of work force.

The logic should follow that job creation is due to the demand of the products or services of the company concerned that the activities are justified for the new job openings. We can only save or create job by creating or improving the demand of the products or services that people would like to exchange with money so to create income for the company as well as for its work force.

If we simply create jobs that people get employed so they have income for consumption to support our other industries without identifying the values of such job creation by itself in the first place, we could create out of exchange condition as the job saved or new job creation may not produce value to the companies or the community concerned. You could imagine the scene as what we have experienced recently; if we continue to save jobs in many financial institutions that continued to develop investment products with high leverage and inflated prices. For the long term survival of our community, the products or services need to be valuable and exchangeable in fair term and jobs created under such circumstances can be sustained.

So the questions to ask are:
(1) What products or services can we create to produce, deliver and exchange with other activities that are valuable?
(2) Can we produce or perform with value?
(3) Can we provide a fair exchange field that we can exchange our products or services with others domestically or internationally that the rights of each party is protected?

Our living standard can no longer be supported by gain with high leverage investment vehicles and debts anymore as you can see from our recent financial tsunami; which in fact reflected the lack of our basic answers to the above three questions to cause massive job loss in many countries in the first place. So you see it could be a illusion to save or create jobs so to maintain the same living standard without comparable value of one’s products or services to be exchanged with.

Our problem started from a deviation from the basic, and the problem can be solved if we go back to the basic.

Yes, we want job creation and the economy is doing well. But in order to achieve this, we need more than just "job creation".

Please ask yourself what valuable products or service can you provide to your company or community that is needed and wanted. The economy will do well and continue so if we provide valuable products or services that are exchangeable in our community. Let's start really producing with value!