Sergei Rachmaninoff
What I’m listening to
I love listening to Sergei Rachmaninoff during my commute to and from work. His Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18 is one of my favourites for its sonorous melodies and relentless passion. The Berlin Recital, a live recording performed by Chinese classical pianist Yuja Wang also showcases a technically flawless and brooding interpretation of Rachmaninoff’s Prelude Op. 23 No. 5 in G minor and his Etudes – Tableaux Op. 39 – No. 1 in C minor.
– Andrew D’Azevedo, Tax Partner at PwC Hong Kong and Mainland China
What I’m reading
I would like to recommend Thinking, Fast and Slow by Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences laureate Daniel Kahneman. The book speaks on how the human mind perceives and analyses its surroundings through two “systems.” The first system operates automatically and quickly, with little or no effort and no sense of voluntary control, while the second system allocates attention to the mental activities that demand it, including complex computations. After reading it, I understood more about the workings of my own mind and also became more conscious of my decision-making.
– Emily Ma, Vice President of Accounting at an asset management company
I recommend Robert Kuok: A Memoir. Robert Kuok is a Malaysian business magnate. He was born to an overseas Chinese family in 1923 and grew up in British-ruled Malaysia. The book talks about his uphill struggle as an office clerk, and how he went to work in a rice trading company in Singapore. The hardworking Kuok soon established his own trading business and eventually developed it into a billion-dollar conglomerate. At the age of 94, he published this book. It’s a great book, and it’s interesting to read it from the perspective of a very successful entrepreneur.
– Kenneth Lam, Associate Director, Advisory at Grant Thornton
Having empathy – the ability to see a situation from someone else’s perspective – is likely to be a crucial success factor for individuals in business, especially as whole communities rethink their priorities during and after the pandemic. In her book, The Empathy Edge, author Maria Ross delves into real-life corporate case studies to demonstrate how empathy can define your leadership style, build an entire company’s workplace culture to become more authentic and innovative, and shape an entire company’s brand values and mission for its clients and customers.
– Recommended by A Plus editors
