Halfway Through Season 1
With 15 episodes released, we have now reached the halfway point of Season 1 of Mosaic of China. It’s a podcast series of short interviews with interesting people, designed to be entertaining no matter how much you know (or don’t know!) about China.
Let me know your thoughts if you have the chance to listen. And big thanks to everyone who has helped with the project so far, including Milo de Prieto Desmond for editing support, Denny Newell for graphic design support, and Alston Gong for China technical support.
Career & Coffee
The two simplest pieces of advice I can give to anyone who feels stuck in their career today is:
Find a good career advisor you can trust. Not just someone who tells you what you want to hear. Not just someone who tells you about jobs in the market. But someone who truly listens.
Listen to the Career & Coffee Podcast. 16 episodes released over 8 weeks, specifically targeting people who are feeling stuck.
I don’t think I gave much practical advice in my episode, but I’m sure the other 15 will be amazing. Thank you for the fun interview, Ann Calman and Amelia Novakovic.
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.