HANS EBERT ON POSITIVELY FOURTH STREET

For those looking to lead by example and create leadership that’s inspiring and with a true sense of teamwork borne out of pride of ownership and a commitment to strong principles, I would definitely recommend the interview above with Reed Hastings, not only because he’s the  co-founder and Chairman of Netflix, but because he is.

Netflix has become a brand, where there’s a very strong management culture and it’s also become a buzzword.

Though loathe to see Netflix lose its business acumen and become something trivial like I saw MTV become, there’s a huge difference between becoming a buzzword or buzz term and creating a buzz around something or even some city.

Living in Hong Kong and always thankful for every opportunity the city has given to me, it’s no secret to those who know me- really know me- that I’m doing the best I can during the time I need to make things happen with the very limited resources needed to put Humpty Dumpty together again.

The protests in 2018-2019, then being hit by Covid and the lockdown years, and now a certain amount of apprehension and a post pandemic malaise, has robbed Hong Kong of its energy and entrepreneurial spirit.

There’s almost a defeatist attitude which I don’t believe makes anything healthy, wealthy or wise.

There are those who talk about happiness and positivity, but when you come to the realisation that these are just empty words, and as Paul Simon wrote in his song “The Boxer”, “a pocketful of mumbles that are sometimes promises”, there’s a need to listen to Reed Hastings and his quiet resilience, almost as if he’s making his work time also become his Think Time

It’s really about learning on the job and creating as he goes and never forgetting to give back and which he does, especially when it comes to education.

I don’t at all get the feeling that he’s trying to do everyone’s job for them, but he’s creating a direction for his people to take and, perhaps, looking forward at what they might bring to the table.

I don’t see much of this in Hong Kong.

I see way too much grandstanding and often with very few results oriented successes- the type of successes that don’t come from what’s on the bottom line through data driven results.

Yes, these are important, but successes that come from intuition are often the most valuable, because it shows creative thinking at work and the possibility of having a completely new product with the branches to grow.

I have seen this happen during my years in advertising when the right people connected and communicated with those around them and probably why I continue to question the role of “human resources”.

I see this human connection watching videos of how Lennon and McCartney wrote songs together, and the fabulous team around him of the same editor and same musical composer, Alfred Hitchcock relied on to make his stories come to life on the screen.

Entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial thinking are in short supply in Hong Kong today, because perhaps young people are lacking mentors whereas there’s always something to be said about Be Small And Think Big.

Being only big is often kept afloat by hot air.

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