Back on home turf

The past two weeks flew by, between Hong Kong and Beijing, both of which were amazing. Today, I’m back on home turf, fighting the cold of the century and 13 hours of jet lag, which means half my body wants to sleep off the bug, half my body wants to sleep thinking it’s the middle of the night, and none of my body can sleep until 10:00 p.m. each night or I’ll be a train wreck in New York a week from now.

Wish me luck.

In spite of the extraordinary differences between the very western, very modern Hong Kong and the ancient traditions of Beijing, two constants existed between the cities-—a very sincere interest in what’s happening with the U.S. economy and how we’re handling the H1N1 virus–making for some fairly interesting conversations.

For those of you who haven’t been to Asia, let me tell you, no one is more direct when it comes to asking questions. Inquiries about how much you make or what kind of revenue your company brings in are commonplace. By extension, questions about the U.S. consumer market, our new administration, and the H1N1 virus (still referred to as swine flu) are equally direct and determined. There’s a lot of Asian interest in what may or may not have a negative impact on our side of the planet.

Everyone talks about what a small world this is that we live in, but it wasn’t until that moment in the middle of the stage in Hong Kong, mike in hand, under a spotlight that it truly resonated with me. What happens on one side of the world immediately impacts the other and visa versa. In the end, there’s a lot more commonality than we realize, regardless of what your stand is on China, imports, exports, finances, or politics. We really are all in this thing together.

Of course, all that seriousness of the moment was broken shortly thereafter when an east Indian journalist asked for a copy of my presentation, which was wildly misunderstood to be an invitation to join him for coffee after the presentation by certain members of the audience.

Levity is a beautiful thing.

Now…off to prop my eyelids open with a couple of toothpicks. Gotta make it ‘til 10:00 p.m…….

Photo: Outside the north gate of the Forbidden City