Oliver Shiell: I'm a small business owner that looks after trading and investment with China and the rest of the world.
Oliver Shiell: I did see the pandemic coming. Last time I flew to China I was in the south of China and on the plane on the way over I had a sort of fleeting thought which was how lucky it was that I was travelling to China because I didn't know how long this would last, I didn't know how long international travel would last because it seemed to me that it just isn't sustainable to continue to operate as a global society from either an environmental perspective but also from a health perspective. So, I do, I have been expecting something like this for some time.
Oliver Shiell: I didn't particularly get on well with structured education because I'm dyslexic so I spent most of my school life being told I wasn't good enough, even though I had creative and thoughtful ideas about many different subjects. I found it difficult to communicate that in a way which the established system valued.
Oliver Shiell: The true privilege of Oxford is, actually, the people you meet there and the way in which you can become inspired by truly great minds. I was very fortunate because my boss was a sort of entrepreneurial academic who was very generous with me in terms of sort of mentoring and support and seeing the bigger picture in the world.
Oliver Shiell: Whilst I was at Oxford University, working there, I took the opportunity to do as much executive education as I could. So, I did programmes on leadership negotiation. the final programme I did was a master's diploma in strategy and innovation. Whilst I was doing that programme it struck me that, actually, although China wasn't a core part of the programme or core focus for the programme, for my generation it's all about China.
Oliver Shiell: I was employed by the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business by writing to them and suggesting that they might appoint me. At the time, I was working for Oxford University and delivering an Oxford business forum in China at the State Guest House, in Beijing. So, I had a letter which I'd crafted very carefully, translated into Chinese, and I sent it to them and said I was going to be in Beijing and perhaps we should meet up.
Oliver Shiell: Building trust with China is a multi-phase process which requires a couple of key things.
