Q: You have many staffs in your company, so how do you encourage creative thinking in your company?
NIC: We have over 130 staff now, and after opening Beijing we might raise the number a lot. I actually, I participate in their daily routine of their lives. It might surprise you, but actually sometimes I cook for them. I make them desserts. Some of you may have read on newspapers we just had just went on a pretty fancy vacation. Do you have the video here? OK
I gained weight.
Q: That’s a very amazing trip. As we can see from the video, we know that you actually have a very good relationship with your employees, your workers, I’m wondering what is your company’s philosophy regarding work. Do you often go to overseas trip with your employees?
NIC: Yes, I do. Yes, I do. I try to participate as much as I can. And…trips like this is very good to come by these days, and I’m not just throwing a multi-million dollar trip for them and say hey, you know, take this, go and enjoy yourself. You got to be part of it. You got to be live through their eyes, see what they are going through, solve the problem before it actually hits the rock. Before the collision starts, solve the problem and you will earn the utmost respect. The difference I think between a world class company and mediocre company…if you are feared, your staff will only work as hard as to do not get fired, but if you are respected, not only will you have staff, you have a team. Not only you have the team, you have an army. And they will go that extra mile, they will push that extra mile for you, for the company. And that is the difference between a world class company and…just…that’s not bad.
Q: You’ve mentioned earlier that trust is important in your company, so how do you build trust with your employees among Shanghai, Beijing, and Hong Kong.
NIC: We have a…we actually take turns. We send some of our senior partners and our senior engineers up to mainland China, and we trained new people. Our business is actually very creative and human based business, whereas we need a lot of people. That’s whereas the next challenge for me lies, is to find people like you, who are young, who have potential to enhance better graphics. And have that motivation to say “I can take this up to the next level.” I think the whole business is…I think the whole world is asking for people like you right now. Steven Spielberg in 2011, last year, and now he’s decided he is gonna dump in 1.5 billion dollars into Shanghai, doing post production in dream works. To me, yes, that is scary, that is a big pressure, but I’m happy that…just to know that there’s such a high demand, so therefore…supply is also needed, so…
Q: Could you explain to us your vision statement of your company?
NIC: We or I, myself, I hope to…I really hope to give something back to the society in terms of visualize since I’ve been in this entertainment business for over 14 years now. I want to give something back to what is being broadcasted and to…this is my time to but re-educate the next generation, my kids, to know what is a better quality, look at Korea, look at Japan. We are always following the footsteps of their images. I think it’s time for us, and that’s why we are here today for Asian leadership, to tell the western people that “hey, I can tell you right now, that if you want Nicholas Tse to do Titanic 3D, I can do it, just give me that time and give me that preparation. Post production alone cannot make a piece of blank paper into magic…We need the whole process of preproduction along with us to merge together, then we can…I’m pretty sure that we can achieve 3D Titanic. Don’t think that we can’t do it. We can. But ultimately…I’m looking for education. If there’s a kid like me, a random kid like me in Hong Kong, that wants to learn about animation or that likes to play video games. I’m sure a lot of you do. You have different angles and visions of things that people don’t have. So times that by the number of the population in the whole mainland China. Only if 1 percent of mainland China people wanted to learn animation or post production, that would mean 130 million students. How can we not do 3D Titanic, I’ll do 8D Titanic.
Q: We’ve already talked about your vision, and we’ve also talked about how you build trust with your employees, how do you ensure that you share the vision from different offices in Shanghai, in Hong Kong, or in Beijing?
NIC: Each year I gave annual speech to them, and so far I’m very very thankful to say that we have reached each year’s goal. We have moved from…Our office was in a basement, a building in Causeway Bay, last year before April 2nd. And after April 2nd we moved to a quite luxurious building right now in Cubus No.1, 5 storey building. But…what is means, each year we’re meeting our goals, and then two years ago, I announced that we are the first company to cross border with mainland China to have a sub branch in Shanghai and in Hong Kong. And we have achieved that goal. And within a year, I’m very proud to announce that we are going to open in Beijing, which is no other company, post company has done in the history of Hong Kong. So for the staff, I always tell them I’m not asking you to work for me, I’m asking you to work for yourself. And it is important to make them feel like that they are at home; they want to go to work, and they see their future. Not am I only getting the salary paid, Wow…This guy is actually… he’s making every promise come true. And for them, that is so important because they are not… everything is coming true, and they see further. And I think that is very important for everyone.
