Humphrey Lau, Grundfos China elected Business Person of the Year

At the Danish Chamber of Commerce China’s Gala Ball on 3 November Humphrey Lau, CEO of Grundfos in China was awarded ‘Business Person of the Year’ by the Danish Chamber of Commerce in China.

“Over 20 years for various companies and in other official capacities, he has pushed the boundaries for what is possible for Danish companies in this fantastic but also complex market. He’s been a pioneer, faced tons of headwind, and yet created superb results proving that the unthinkable is actually possible if you define bold visions and provide just enough direction and then let your organization go do. Kudos Humphrey!” commented a former employee of his, Peter Kiaer, on Linkedin.

Back in October 2016 Humphrey Lau presented his new book about his experience with managing Danish Companies in China for almost 20 years. ‘How to Win Over the Red Queen’ (In Danish: Slå den røde dronning) presents Mr. Lau’s observations of how to be a “winner” in the Chinese market by winning over, convincing, attracting and co-operating with your Chinese partners and customers.

In the DCCC presentation Mr. Lau touched upon topics such as: How to create new business specifically for the Chinese market, why it is necessary to create local brands and address the Chinese segments of “just-good-enough”. Additionally he shared personal reflections on working in China as an ethnic Chinese born in Hong Kong as well as how the role of Danish business executives in China has evolved over the last years.

Mr. Lau was the first General Manager to establish Novo Nordisk and Novozymes in China, the largest Danish investment on Chinese soil at that time. Later Mr. Lau took the responsibility of heading Grundfos China. In this role, Mr. Lau succeeded in turning China into the Group’s 2nd Home Market with a 2009-2010 sales growth >40%. Mr. Lau was chairman of the DCCC board of directors for 5 years from 2009-2014, and he based his book on 18 years of working experience in China.

Source: DCCC, Peter Kiaer