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The Quietest Voice

At one of our first art workshops, there was a young student who barely spoke a word. He was immensely talented, but whenever I asked for his opinion, he would just shrug and look down at his work. The pressure to give the “right” answer was paralyzing. Instead of pushing, we just worked alongside him, creating a space where the art itself could do the talking. Weeks later, at our public exhibition, I watched as he stood proudly by his piece, quietly but confidently explaining his vision to a curious visitor. He hadn’t needed a lecture; he had needed a platform.

That experience was a powerful reminder of a simple truth. In a city like Hong Kong, where our youth face immense academic and societal pressures, the journey to success is often defined by a narrow set of metrics. We celebrate the loudest speakers, the highest test scores, and the most assertive leaders. A significant number of young people consistently feel stressed over schoolwork and academic results.

Yet, some of the most profound ideas and incredible talents reside in the quietest voices in the room—those who simply need the right environment to flourish.

This has become the core of my philosophy. True empowerment is not about giving people a voice, but about creating the conditions where they can discover and strengthen their own. It is about leading by listening. It involves building safe, inclusive spaces where young people, particularly those with special needs, feel they can experiment, fail without judgment, and express themselves authentically. The goal is not just to teach a skill, but to nurture the self-worth and confidence that will allow them to apply that skill in all aspects of their life.

Whether it’s through a community art exhibition or a student-led market stall, the outcome we measure is not the artwork sold or the revenue earned. It is the moment a student looks a stranger in the eye and speaks about their work with pride. It is the quiet collaboration between teammates who were once strangers. It is the new sense of self-belief that comes from having an idea and, with support and encouragement, bringing it to life.

Building a prosperous future for Hong Kong is about more than just economics and policy; it is about cultivating resilient, confident, and compassionate human beings. It begins not by telling our youth what to do, but by creating a space to listen to what they are already trying to say. The most innovative ideas for our city’s future may just come from the quietest voice in the room, if only we are patient enough to hear it.of Hong Kong with the world. That, to me, is one of Life’s Wonders.

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The World Is a Classroom

The great voyager Ibn Battuta famously said, ‘Travelling leaves you speechless, and then turns you into a storyteller.’

I have carried that thought with me through my own journeys across some 70 nations. Each new place, each new interaction, has served as a profound lesson, leaving me speechless in the moment, but equipping me with a new story to tell.

Travel, much like technology, presents a beautiful paradox. It makes our world feel smaller, collapsing vast distances into the span of a single flight. Yet, it also reveals just how large the world truly is. Standing in a bustling souk in Marrakech or a quiet temple in Kyoto, you realize that while we are all connected, we often operate on entirely different cultural software. The way people build relationships, conduct business, or define success can be fundamentally different from what we know in Hong Kong.

The most valuable lesson this has taught me is the importance of perspective. In a globally connected economy, the most critical skill is not simply knowing facts, but understanding context. It is the ability to listen, to see the world from another’s point of view, and to appreciate that there are multiple valid ways of reaching a solution. This is an empathy that cannot be learned from a textbook alone.

This raises a crucial question for our city: How do we nurture this global perspective in Hong Kong’s youth? How do we prepare them to not just compete, but to connect and collaborate with people from all over the world?

We begin by building bridges. We can bring the world to Hong Kong by creating platforms—like the art exhibitions we’ve hosted—that feature international voices and celebrate cultural diversity. We can leverage technology to facilitate virtual exchanges, connecting a classroom in Hong Kong with one in Nairobi or São Paulo. And most importantly, we can provide mentorship from those who have navigated these different worlds, sharing not just business acumen, but cultural fluency.

Ultimately, the goal is to empower our next generation to become confident storytellers themselves. We want them to be able to walk into any room, in any city in the world, and not only to represent themselves with pride, but to listen with understanding, to build with empathy, and to share the unique and wonderful story of Hong Kong with the world.

That, to me, is one of Life’s Wonders.

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