Book review "Here I am LaoWei"

I first met Dr. Wessling, LaoWei, in 2008 when he was our company business and technology consultant while I was the company’s Asia Managing Director. I still recall the impression I had when I first met him. LaoWei is a character of his own class and he is quite a unique and creative individual. He travels with his backpack all the time to all meetings, he never takes any notes with paper and pen as he always has his IBM ThinkPad Tablet PC with him to write English, Chinese, prepare graph and picture and connects to internet everywhere. LaoWei is extremely professional, our nickname for him is “Locksmith” as he can resolve very complicated business and technical problems with minimum resources at the last minute. He can solve problems which everybody has given up to work on.

LaoWei (老卫) is not “lao” at all. (In Chinese, “lao, 老” means old). Although he is now 60 years old and grandfather, he is so energetic that he seems to work 24 hrs a day around the clock in different continents, never seems to have any problem with jetlag. His work quality is unbelievably high, I always trust his work with full confidence without any doubt.

The more I know about LaoWei, the more I am amazed about his talent and wisdom. When he told me in late 2010 that he finished writing a book in spite of his super-busy schedule, I smiled and relized that it is a typical LaoWei’s style – nothing is impossible where he has the will to do it. With my over 20 years global business management experience and travel experience around the world and have met a lot of first class individual, LaoWei is definitely one of the best persons I have met in many dimensions.

First, he is a very intelligent and top-class scientist who knows science inside-out. LaoWei got his PhD in Chemistry when he was 26 years old only. It is always a joyful experience to talk about scientific subjects with him. I joked with him all the time that he has an Albert Einstein’s brilliant mind with a Chinese kind heart. Second, he is a real and successful entrepreneur who views problems and obstacles as opportunities. His positive attitude and energy level is unbelievable. He transformed himself successfully from a CEO and shareholder of a plastic additive business serving top class multinational companies such as BASF, Dow Chemical, Mitsui Petrochemical and then he started up a new company – Ormecon, and he invented the state of the art, Nano-technology based ”Organic Metal” business with applications in electronics markets. When these markets shifted to Asia in the early 2000s, he started to shift his center of business to Asia. That explains why he moved to China to run his business.

Third, LaoWei is an almost professional photographer with a lot of passion and he is the first person who took a tornado picture in Hong Kong and sold it to South China Morning Post for HKD Dollar 3000! We can see his amazing pictures in the book. LaoWei’s talent to observe and capture the right moment on the streets and in the parks in Shenzhen allows us to watch so many surprising photos in the book. Fourth, LaoWei is a gentleman full of cross cultural appreciation and wisdom. It is this, which I believe are the drivers behind all the hard work in putting this wonderful book together.

As a Chinese, I am thrilled when I turn the pages to see how an insider-foreigner, LaoWei, can have such an insightful perspective about China. As his business partner having had so many serious customer and technology related discussions with him, I am stunned how colourful and enjoyble to read his book is, and how humorously it is written.

As a businessman and manager, I was amazed to see that the book not only is a vivid and spirited guide into a different way how to look at China, but also (between the lines) a motivation to learn how to approach new problems, how to never give up.

Poon Wai Yip (潘偉業)

Founder – 1%Net Group