On Saturday after my son's tennis lesson, we stopped in at the coffee shop at Clearwater Bay Country Club (a great club) for some refreshments. It was about 10 AM. Next to us was a table with ten people. Eight were Hong Kong Chinese, plus one Brit, and one man I would guess was Australian. They appeared to be a neighborhood group of some kind and not a group from the Club or from a company.
Their meeting was conducted completely in English. Each person spoke in turn with no one person monopolizing the conversion. Others listened politely while their colleagues talked. Rules of order were observed and the meeting had a definite beginning , middle, and end.
After the meeting I saw the British fellow in the parking lot as we were leaving the Club. I complemented him at how well the group he was with seemed to work together for a common cause. He said " yeah we are a neighborhood owners group from a village just down the road". I commented that whoever is chairng these meetings is going a great job. He responded " Mr. Yueng our charmain goes an amazing job especially considering the challenges we face are so complex".
To me watching that group captured the spirit that makes Hong Kong such a great place to live and do business. Hong Kong is a multi-cultural, can do, 'let's get on with it', kind of place!
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