Jim Rogers, Chairman of Rogers Holdings and co-founder of the Quantum Fund

[Jiang Dong / Asianewsphoto]

Wang Jianzhou, former chairman of China Mobile Communications Corp

[Wu Changqing / Asianewsphoto]

His weekends:

I spend as much time with my family as possible. We do homework, go to restaurants, parties, events, read et cetera. My daughters' wants come first in everything for me.

My wife and I also go to dinners, concerts, plays, opera, et cetera."

The first thing he do every morning:

I get up at 6 am every morning, and the first thing I do is to check text messages on my mobile phones."

Kevin Roberts, CEO Worldwide of Saatchi & Saatchi

[Photo / China Daily]

Huang Nubo, chairman of Zhongkun Investment Group Co

[Photo / China Daily]

His perfect happiness:

Living your best life every day."

His favorite sayings:

"Start with the answer and work back."

His most admired quality in a woman:

"Laughter."

His main business ideas:

Culture, professionalism and scarcity. Earning money is definitely a goal of our operation, but it's not the main one.

I made the company slogan 'Let's do more for our community' the day I started at Zhongkun.

What I'm most proud of is...the influence our projects have on local people: Their lives change for the better and the economy grows healthier."

Jan Du Plessis, chairman of global mining giant Rio Tinto

[Photo / China Daily]

Uwe Hoelzer, president of Metro China

[Photo / China Daily]

His green lifestyle:

Last year my wife and I built a new house in England in which we now live and we put in some renewable energy sources.

We have a system that takes heat from under the ground to supply our underfloor heating.Solar panels on the roof heat the water. And a flat roof is planted with seeds and grasses that provide high quality natural insulation and a welcoming habitat for birds and insects.

The experience that shaped his thoughts most:

When my son said I missed his first school day because I had a business meeting...Suddenly my son told me I missed all important school-day events. I did not try to explain. I tried to change myself. There is no excuse and I cannot apologize.

So when there are important events or even less important events, I go with my family."

Charles Gay, vice-president of American Applied Materials Inc

[Photo / China Daily]

Patrick Olney, president and CEO of Volvo Construction Equipment, a subsidiary of Volvo Group

[Photo / China Daily]

His perfect happiness:

Perfect happiness is the freedom to use my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. To live a happy life, tie it to the pursuit of a goal, not to people or things.

Happiness lies in the fight, in the attempt, in the suffering involved, not in victory itself."

His hobbies:

I love to play music, in particular the piano and guitar. I take guitar lessons with my eldest daughter, Katie. It is great to spend that time together. I find playing music very enjoyable and, most of all, relaxing. You can't think about anything else other than the music for that period of time. I've learnt classical guitar and I am now learning electric guitar.

Besides that I like to go mountain biking with friends. We often go for 30-kilometer bike rides into the forests in Brussels. And when I'm not traveling for work, I enjoy traveling for leisure with my family."

Luigi T. Peccenini, Founder of Wall Street English

[Photo / China Daily]

Hideki Ozawa, president of Canon (China)

[Photo / China Daily]

His favorite saying and motto:

'Who knows others is clever. Who knows himself is wise'. Laotzu, Tao Te Ching, verse 33.

In our life, if we know who we are, we can understand what we want, where we want to go and why.

My motto is 'Believe in yourself and in your dreams.'"

His way to break the ice with a Chinese businessman:

First, proactively greet him.

Second, meet him with a smiling face.

Third, a sense of humor: for example, when people ask me, how many years have you been working for Canon China, I usually say seven years already, but I don't have "the seven-year itch". A small joke like that can help quickly break the ice.

The places in China that impressed him most:

I still have a picture in my mind of the first night I was in Pudong. It was raining, and the way the buildings were lit up made it feel like the center of the earth.

I would like to go toInner Mongolia- which would be my favorite journey.

Something she doesn't like about China:

Sometimes I am challenged by different behavior. I come from a nation where everybody knows how to queue from birth. I think it is a culture thing.

I think when people live in somebody else's culture, it is important to view it from the point of view of privilege. You can have opinions but you need to have respect."

Ian Riley, China country head of the Holcim Group, a leading supplier of cement and aggregates

Eric Vallat, CEO Bonpoint, a French high-end children's wear company

His secret for working in a different culture:

The first rule is to be patient and tolerant of differences. You should try to understand the culture you are working in before trying to make others understand your way.

Despite the differences in culture and habits, I find that Chinese people are at heart very similar to English people. If you deal with others with openness and respect then, in the end, that is the way others will treat you.

His greatest fear:

When I was living in Japan with my family, we were really scared of earthquakes. You know, when you live there and you took your family there, you will feel guilty if there is an earthquake. And the earth moves several times a month there.

While now I am back in France, I am free from such worries, but I am also afraid of snakes.