What a way to have started the week. I had the pleasure to spend Monday morning at the Hong Kong University.  They had invited myself and other corporate companies to come and join them for their morning of ‘Hong Kong Dialogues on Gender Equity’ where I was honoured to hear Elizabeth Nyamayaro from the UN speak about the importance of HeForShe #heforshe.  Please do check out her Tedtalk – it will inspire both men and women out there.

I was impressed by the candid and genuine discussions from the leadership of the university and in particular Peter Mathieson.

It is always wonderful spending the morning with like minded individuals as well as team members from the The Women’s Foundation (TWF) They have recently released a video about their mentoring program of which JLL is a corporate partner – you may recognise a familiar face!

Elizabeth Nyamayaro‘s inspirational talk was rounded out by a panel discussing “Dual Career Challenges” which as you can imagine is a topic close to my heart.  Both Chu San and work in the corporate world and also have the struggles of balancing family, friends and work.

More personally for me and the team here at JLL, the term “trailing spouse” was raised.  I am not a big fan of that connotation and it seems that neither are many others.  As you are all aware, we look after many families that are moving to Hong Kong to not only better their careers but also experience a different way of life.  It is refreshing to see that recently this relocation has been driven not only by the men and their careers but increasingly by the women.  Whenever someone relocates for a work opportunity and has a supporting partner who relocates with them leaving behind what they know, they should always be admired and supported.  That is what we do here.  We are not just about finding your family the right property but we are also here to help with the school challenges as well as making sure you settle into Hong Kong life.

I always try and take at least one inspirational thought away from a day like yesterday and a phrase that resonated with me was “remain light on your feet” – I believe that by being flexible, open minded and of course remaining ‘light’ is always positive.

Have a great rest of the week everybody.