I attended a function with a business school I am attached to last night where the speaker was the head of a successful cosmetic company now listed in Hong Kong. He said most things in life comes down to dumb luck. He found the job because the founder of the company from France once was on the same plane as him and actually made the mistake of sitting in his seat. That started the conversation that eventually evolved in him taking the job like two decades ago. Sales had then grown 100 times and they are now a world famous brand.
Yes indeed. We cannot ever predict what will happen in our lives. I could not have imagined where I would be five years ago and that's all the fun in it. What will fate bring to me?
On a side note, I just went to lunch with a few ex-colleagues and somehow they kept asking me if I was unhappy to be with them. And the truth was I was. Somehow the people annoyed me. Not individually but collectively. The girl organizer just wanted to meet all my guy friends and invited out this guy she barely knows. The conversations were stale and uninteresting. I suppose most other people could have just rode with it but I am not sure why all my emotion is written all over my face and I cannot contain this slight feeling of boredom. Life is not supposed to be exciting every second anyway. No one is supposed to awe me every time. But somehow it is written there so plainly.
The girl walked with me afterwards and agreed that I should try to keep my feelings to myself just as she is trying to do. In Asia, especially in China, everyone's like that. Yes, that is definitely years of training people had dealing with all the emotions that arise. Where does it all go if it never gets released. I guess it comes to an Ang Lee movie sort of ending, where there is no catharsis. You just dissolve all your feeling into the air. You after all, do not matter in the society, and you accept that you cannot change the world. There is more than a billion people in the world. Why should be any more special than the billion others sharing the same set of space? Do you have more power and more talent?
On fatalism, a senior private equity professional in his 50's after the business school meeting was conversing with another guy of similar age and rank. He mentioned how hard it is to successfully run a startup. Lots of people in the Silicon Valley just hop from startup to startup getting paid 100K and wake up when they are 40 and realize they cannot buy a house in the Valley. Things are not as rosy as they appear on the outside. They then just have a couple of stories to tell while they go back to work for the corporate. When you are older, your opportunity cost is also higher, unlike the young Steve Jobs. Or, I mentioned, you can do it when you are like Michael Bloomberg, after you have made it. I suppose. I should look for that Michael Bloomberg phase of my life at this point.
To end, I have decided to expand my circle by working from the Shanghai office when I can. I have arranged so that I work there next Monday and an entire two weeks in April. This way I can refresh my mind from my crush and meet a set of new people in a new environment. That sure should revitalize me. I look forward to that.
No comments:
Post a Comment