17th Congregation of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Speech by Prof. Liu Sing Cheong
Faculty Dean Prof. Teng, distinguished guests, colleagues, graduates, ladies and gentlemen:
Good afternoon.
 | It gives me great pleasure to take part in your congregation ceremony today. More than three decades ago, I graduated from the predecessor of this University, the Hong Kong Polytechnic. Today, I have come back to give you a talk in my alma mater. Not only am I greatly honored, I also feel like coming home. |
Your Faculty Dean, Prof. Teng, has asked me to share with you my professional development, and offer some advice and encouragement to the new graduates. I find this task both meaningful and challenging. Life experience is a rather personal matter. I find it hard, if ever possible，to summarize it into a few overriding principles. Of course, a successful professional career requires some common personal traits, such as hardworking, intelligence, stamina, and so on. But many situational factors, such as luck, friends, changes in society and business environment, can also cast a significant bearing on one’s career path. Therefore, I find it somewhat imprudent, if not irresponsible, inviting you to follow my footsteps. This is not my purpose today. All I wish to do here is to share with you some of my humble personal stories, all of which happened as a matter of chance.
The first story happened some 20 years ago when I was invited by my alma mater to give a talk about the Hong Kong property market to a delegation of real estate administrators from Guangzhou. That marked the beginning of my real estate consulting business in the mainland. Had I not been involved in the talk, I would not have befriended this group of mainland professionals and started my mainland business. Without this opportunity, I don’t know whether I would still have a chance to meet these mainland friends later in my life again. My business and professional development might have taken an entirely different route.
I also want to mention another incident. As you all know, the real estate market, especially in the mainland, is greatly affected by government policy. The duration and strength of policy adjustment imposed directly impacts the well-being of relevant companies. In some cases, it may even be a matter of life and death. If Mr Deng Xiaoping's southern tour was held in 1995 instead of 1992, I might have already given up my mainland business by 1995 as a result of prolonged losses.
My involvement in giving a talk to the Guangzhou delegates was not planned by me. The timing of Mr Deng Xiaoping's southern tour was part of the national strategy, which was also beyond my control. Yet, these two incidents had a far-reaching impact on my personal career development. Consider two equally competent persons. If they are brought up in two different families, they would likely follow different paths and have different achievements. No matter how we diligently plan everything ahead, only time can tell the results we will finally get. The Chinese saying is“謀事在人，成事在天”.
As an alumnus of this University, I encourage you all to put the best effort in your chosen endeavors. However, we should also be prepared in case success may not come as quickly as we want. Rewards may not always be commensurate with investment, especially when the going is tough. In this age of uncertainties, we all need to be able to sustain ourselves in adversity. That makes the choice of your career path extremely important. If you can engage in a career of your own interest and are passionate and enthusiastic in what you do, you are going to have stronger resilience and perseverance to enhance the chance of success. You will find satisfaction and remain positive from overcoming challenges in life. All successful personalities are motivated first and foremost by their enjoyment in what they do. The monetary rewards just happen to follow. Look at Liu Xiang when he jumps over the hurdles and Nadal when he plays tennis. Money cannot fully explain their commitment and top performance in these games. When a certain level of affluence is reached, passion and satisfaction become the key motivations to really excel in one’s work. The late Steve Jobs of Apple Computer was a typical example.
Dear graduates, you will today receive your graduation parchments and turn a new chapter in your life. I hope every one of you will participate actively in your lifelong marathon. Do not worry too much about temporary setbacks and short-term losses. Live in the present. Open your eyes to the future. Leave no regrets. In Chinese, “活在當下，放眼未來，無悔今生”！
Finally, I wish you all a brilliant and promising future!
尊敬的滕院長、各位教授、嘉賓、同學們：
你們好！很高興受邀參加今天的畢業典禮，30多年前，我畢業於理工大學的前身理工學院。今次故地重遊，有種回家的感覺，榮幸之餘，亦感親切非常。
滕院長希望我同大家分享以往專業生涯的經歷，與各位同學共勉。這是一個極有意思，亦頗具挑戰性的課題。人生的遭遇極其微妙，很難簡單概括。事業的發展當然有其必然因素，例如個人的努力、智慧、忍耐力等等，但間接因素如機緣巧合、朋友的適時幫助、社會大環境的變遷等對個人事業發展的影響可能更深遠。所以單憑他人遭遇來總結經驗是不科學，甚至是危險的。我想以個人的親身經歷略談一下事業發展的不確定性。
20年前我回國內做房地產顧問生意的起因是當時受邀回母校，為一群來自廣州的地產行政人員講解香港房地產市場，從而認識第一批國內朋友，就是這批朋友促成我回國內發展。如果當時未有回母校演講，可能無緣認識這些朋友，我以後還會不會有其他機會到國內發展是個未知數，我個人的專業發展也可能大不一樣。
另一個例子是，眾所周知，國內房地產市場受政府政策影響極大，政策調整期的長短和力度直接影響有關公司的盛衰。如果鄧小平先生的南巡是發生在95年而非92年，我可能會因虧損太久而意興闌珊，在95年之前結束在內地的生意。
第一個例子中我受邀是偶然的，亦不知道受訓者是誰，整個事情的發展均非我控制之內。而鄧小平先生的南巡是國家宏觀政策，與我個人的努力完全無關，但這件事情發生的時與地對我個人事業發展卻有極其深遠的影響。再者，大家可能都同意，兩位能力相當的人，如果生活在不同的家庭，就算生於同一個年代，他的人生軌跡都不會一樣，成就也不可能一樣。這就是人們常說的“謀事在人，成事在天”。
作為大家的學長，我勸大家凡事盡力而為，堅持到底，但亦要有充分的心理準備。如果沒有適當的客觀條件配合和支持，起碼從短中期看，一分耕耘未必即時有一分收穫。當然耕耘越多，將來收穫的機會就越大。由於不確定因素的存在，我們可能長時間處於逆境之中，所以選擇從事自己有興趣的事業至關重要，你對你的工作越感興趣，越有熱忱，越能把工作當作享受，那麼你的抗逆能力和毅力也會越大，因此成功機會也越高。無論順境或逆勢，希望大家都能以積極的心態從各種挑戰中尋找滿足感。相信在事業上有所成就的人士都是全情投入和熱愛他們的事業，即使沒有豐厚的回報，劉翔也會繼續跨欄，拿度也會繼續打網球。因為當財富積累到某種程度時，工作的動力便來源於興趣及能力，蘋果的喬布斯就是個很好的例子。
今天大家拿到畢業證書，從此揭開人生新的一頁，希望大家積極參與人生這場長跑，不要太計較暫時的名次和得失，儘量做到活在當下，放眼未來，無悔今生！
最後，祝願大家展翅高飛，鵬程萬裏！