THE FUEGO BLOG

Traveling with the CEO of our company throughout China and Taiwan is quite an experience. As anyone who has worked with Alex Siow in the past knows, he is a master of bringing people together. Nowhere is this more evident than in our Asian travels. Our first day in Taiwan, we visited 4 different factories, and Alex welcomed members of one to join us in visiting their potential competitor in the next. There is a trust that Alex engenders instinctively, and these introductions more often than not lead to productive and friendly relationships, usually in some way benefiting us, of course. For me, this is often helpful as in this trip it provided three English speakers around the dinner table besides myself as opposed to the usual one. By the end of the evening (and more than a few bottles of award winning 'just like our products' Taiwan Beer) everyone is laughing and hanging together like old friends, and so business relations are formed. This distinct way of doing business that is particular to Alex creates relationships that are solidified quickly and seemingly effortlessly, and in quite a natural manner. For example, we were told that the general manager of our newest factory had never drank with a customer before, and yet he was sitting across from us quite happily downing the miniature, oft-refilled glasses of beer, and cheersing us in the process. The smallness of the glass, if frustrating (constant refilling), is necessary to accommodate the tradition of banging the bottom of the glass on the table in a gesture of cheersing with someone, and then polishing off the entire glass of beer. Chivalry is expressed in hand gestures to me, the only woman, indicating that I need only consume half a glass at a time. This rare act by the general manager, and perhaps more importantly, its acknowledgement by his team, shows a level of respect and camaraderie with Alex that is felt by everybody who works with him, and makes working with and for him, much more of a pleasure than anything else. Well, the beer helps too.

I've included a picture of Alex with Paolo Tarquini-one of our engineers, standing in front of the factory in China.

-Yael Wulfhart

Operations Manager, Fuego