台风按下的暂停键

My overseas business trips are always packed: there are children to look after at home and plenty of daily work at the company, so several things have to fit into limited time. This trip to the Pearl River Delta was the same, with factory visits planned in Guangzhou, Humen and Shenzhen. Then a typhoon hit, the city announced a full shutdown of schools, work, production, transport and business, and I was stuck in the hotel with my plans in pieces. I was complaining to a business partner, but what she shared calmed me down. In decades of business she has had peaks and pitfalls. During the pandemic she made millions quickly through a mask supply chain, then misjudged the situation, chased the wrong opportunity and lost it all and more. Her reminder: the problem often isn't whether you can catch an opportunity, but whether you can stop and think clearly about what you want. I had brought The Psychology of Money on the plane. It tells how Bernie Madoff's legitimate business already earned 25 to 50 million US dollars a year, yet he ran a Ponzi scheme and was ruined, and quotes Warren Buffett: there's no reason to risk what you have and need for what you don't have and don't need. The typhoon felt like a forced pause button. Pausing isn't falling behind; it lets you see more clearly.