The island of Kungsholmen (and a few hundred other islands in the Stockholm Archipelago), Sweden.

Island number 2 (out of 100). Country number 2 (out of 25). Month 1 (out of 100)

The famous poem by John Donne begins:

“No man is an island,
Entire of itself,
Every man is a piece of the continent.”

I have a slightly different way of looking at it, probably influenced by the fact that I spend a big part of my life living on or visiting islands.

I do think that islands are separated from each other.

I think the same is true for people.

And I think that is a good thing.

I think the beauty of islands is that they, in a way, are easily identified individual identities. And I think people who learn to distance themselves a little bit from the mass of others have a better chance of developing a clear idea of who they really are in a way that is built on integrity and own thought.

But I do not believe that means that islands (or men) are disconnected.

We might have to look under the surface, we might have to look deeper – but it is a fact that all islands are connected to each other – it’s just done in a way that is not so obvious.

An island is nothing but the tip of a mountain submerged in water. And all mountains are part of one landmass called Earth.

Just like all people are nothing but individuals contained in our own bodies and brains, but we are all part of humanity.

And nowhere does this insight get clearer than when you go skating in the archipelago of Stockholm during winter.

Which is exactly what I did today.

For hours we raced between literally hundreds of islands. Our skates cut into the black, thick and beautiful ice to propel us forward at remarkable speed.

Long distance ice-skating in the Stockholm Archipelago is a unique – and amazing – way to experience the blend of nature and city that is the Swedish capital.

(PS. We even skated by one of my own islands (Vifärnaholme, see www.ideasisland.com) where we stopped for a quick coffee break. And here is an interesting observation: If you own an islands in Sweden you have to be much more prepared to have uninvited guests on your island in the WINTER than in the SUMMER – because in the summer the water creates a small barrier between the “water” and the “land” that makes people think twice before stepping on your island. But in the winter that border is gone. Ice and Land become one and it is nothing stopping you from stepping on to the land.

Fredrik Haren, aka “The Island Man”, plans to visit 100 islands, in at least 25 countries, on at least 6 continents – in less than 100 months.  The purpose of this “World Tour of Islands” is to get a better understanding of the world, a deeper understanding of the people who live here and a broader understanding of life.
Kungsholmen was islands number 2, country number 2 and months number 1.

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The island of Hainan, China.

Island number 1 (out of 100). Country number 1 (out of 25). Month 1 (out of 100)

The island of Hainan, located off the southern tip of China, is often called “The Hawaii of China”. In many ways it is a good description. It’s a big, tropical island – full of coconut trees – that the country’s citizens can reach without having a passport. Hainan feels like home, yet at the same time like a paradise getaway for the Chinese. Just in the same way as Hawaii does for the Americans.

I spent one day here while doing a speech for the Chinese managers of a multinational American company. The conference was held at the massive newly built Westin Blue Bay Resort & Spa.

During my stay there I got the chance to have a chat with the General Manager of the Blue Bay Resort mr Douglas Ariza Giammaria. Douglas, who comes from Colombia and has made a career of going around the world to run hotels was now in China managing this resort. I asked him what he had learnt by coming to China.

He said: “I have learnt to appreciate the Chinese approach to service.”

I found his answer very, very interesting, because many non-chinese, (and perhaps also many Chinese) will argue that service in China absolutely sucks.

I sure know that when I arrived in China for the first time in 2005 I was equally amazed and appalled by how waiters would throw the food infront of the guests and how guests would spit on the floor of restaurants. But I also understood what mr Giammaria was trying to say, because few things are purely one-sided.

He said: “I have come to realize that the Chinese are warm and friendly people. When they serve you they do not look for the tip, they just want to serve you, it’s about face for them.”

He explained that the first impression of Chinese for many might be that they are rude, harsh or unfriendly but, as he said “you have to look deeper. At the core they really are warm and friendly people.” With this I agree.

In many ways they can be the most genuinely service minded people you can meet. In other ways they can be the least service minded people you can ever meet.

And here is the interesting thing: Service-quality in China has increased leaps and bounds in the last few years. Sure, you can still get the “plate-thrown-on-the-table-service” in many local places, but in places like the Westin, there service quality is on par – if not better – than in any other place on earth where there is a Westin.

Ask a waiter at the Westin Blue Ray Resort for a glass of Coke and she will reply “Certainly, sir.”
Meet a cleaner in the corridor outside your room and she will look you in the eye, smile and say “Good morning.”

Thanks to massive service training by companies like the Westin (and Hyatt, Ritz Carlton, Four Seasons etc.) the best practices from the rest of the world has now arrived in China.

At the same time they have kept many of the best practices of their own way of thinking of service.
The result is world class service as a result of the best of both worlds.

Globalisation gets a lot of bad rep, and especially around how local products, customs or traditions are traded for new foreign ideas.
And sure, it can be sad in some cases.

But we seldom talk about the opposite: about how the global distribution of ideas and customs are transfered around the world in order to improve how things are done.

Like, for example, how the service in China has gone from being one of the worst expericences in the world, to today being a place where you can get some of the best service on this planet.

Who would have thought.

Well, that’s what happens when you are open for new ideas from the outside. Which brings us to the coconuts.

Did you know that coconuts floats? Well, they do.

And because they float they can travel from their “hosts” to new shores to plants their roots in new places.

That is how I look at ideas. Ideas should be allowed to float. To spread. To travel.

And we should all be open to picking up those ideas from other shores if doing so makes our lives better.

That is what the island of Hainan has thought me about the world today: That we should be more like coconuts.

Fredrik Haren, aka “The Island Man”, plans to visit 100 islands, in at least 25 countries, on at least 6 continents – in less than 100 months. The purpose of this “World Tour of Islands” is to get a better understanding of the world, a deeper understanding of the people who live here and a broader understanding of life.
Hainan was island number 1, China was country number 1 and this is month number 1.

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