Rainy Chan: Burnout, Reinvention, and Leading The Peninsula Hong Kong

A Journey from Hotel Hospitality to Design Leadership

My Hong Kong childhood was very typical. I'm the oldest of five girls. From a young age, I carried the responsibility of helping my mum look after my sisters, so I developed a big sister mentality. That sense of looking after people is deeply rooted in my personality. Hospitality was introduced to me through one incident at my first job, selling advertising for a woman's magazine. I met the PR manager of a hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui. I was very young and my first impression was she's so beautiful, nice and elegant. I wondered, "Do all people in hotels look like this?" I didn't really think much about it until I moved to Hawaii, in the United States.

My American Then-Husband

My then-husband wanted to move back home so I went with him. I wanted to work because it was boring to stay home. I applied for a job at a hotel in Maui and got an interview. Being from Hong Kong, I was very well dressed. But Hawaii is very different; everybody else was in flip-flops and T-shirts. The lady who interviewed me was wearing a muumuu (a loose-fitting, brightly coloured Hawaiian dress). We chatted and she said, "You are very pleasant and elegant, but if you work at the front desk, you have to know how to type. You have to do a typing test." I had never learned to type so I asked, "Can I have two weeks?" My then-mother-in-law had an old typewriter in her basement. I took it out, dusted it off and practised, practised, practised every day. Anyway, I took the test and failed miserably. However, the interviewer said, "I've never seen anyone so determined. I'm going to hire you for your potential, not your ability." Since then, this has been my management and leadership guiding principle. I always look at someone's potential, not their ability.

I Really Like Being in a Hotel

In a hotel, you meet all kinds of people and I got to do all kinds of pleasant and unpleasant things. Hotel life helped me become a problem solver and trained my EQ (emotional intelligence). After one year, I was promoted to assistant manager. I stayed in Hawaii for seven years. One day in 1994, a headhunter called. The Peninsula in Hong Kong was looking for an office manager.

Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team.

I Couldn't Believe I Was Actually Being Considered

I was actually being considered by this amazing establishment. The then-general manager, Peter Borer, interviewed me and he would become my mentor. When I told the Hawaii general manager that I was going to work for The Peninsula, he said, "You're never going to make it there. It's an old boys' club." Of course, I struggled in the beginning because nobody had seen a Chinese woman as a front office manager. Guests would say, "I asked for the manager, not the secretary" and "Where's your boss?" But my journey with The Peninsula was amazing. I worked for them in Bangkok, Hong Kong and New York.

I Was Resident Manager in Manhattan on September 11 During the Attack

I had to handle some very emotional moments. I would say that was a career turning point. Leadership does not come from managing everyday business, it is revealed in extreme situations. I remember I was having breakfast with a guest. Mayor Rudy Giuliani was in the restaurant, too, at a business breakfast. All of a sudden, they all got up and rushed out of the hotel. Then I was paged by the office. That's when the second plane hit the World Trade Centre.

Everyone Thought It Was an Accident

Then all the phone lines got cut off. That's when we really entered emergency mode. Hotels are very organised this way. The entire senior management team met immediately. We were the first response team, assessing where everybody was and setting up a command post. I was put in charge. I had to keep my team calm while security and housekeeping searched floor by floor to make sure every guest was accounted for. The hotel was closed by then because we were under attack.

Some Guests Can Behave So Funnily

One lady insisted she needed to get her Starbucks coffee. I'm like, "Ma'am, nothing is open outside." But she was just scared and wanted company. Of course, all the staff were worried about their families, too. I always feel that hotel staff are really underestimated and undervalued, because often they do all the dirty work, putting aside their own family - like when it's a typhoon signal 10, they still have to go to work, right?

The Peninsula Was My Everything

It was my life, my career. I was very close to my staff. I really devoted my life and got so much out of it. But eventually I got to a point where I took on too much responsibility. More importantly, it was taking a toll on my health. I used to work 18 hours a day. Suddenly, I was tiring so easily. Even my driver noticed. He said, "I've never seen you fall asleep going home in the car before."

I Was Seeing Doctors Every Week

Checking everything, but there was nothing wrong with me. I think the stress really got to me. I also didn't realise that menopause had such an effect. Eventually, I decided to take a leave of absence. I went on a one-year sabbatical, but after three months, I didn't want to go back. But the company were very generous and nice to me. Still today, they are amazing.

I Left Not Only the Industry, But Also Hong Kong

A friend in Bangkok wanted me to help him restructure his furniture company, Chanintr. Even though I hate that word, I became a consultant and stayed for almost seven years. It was a very different job. What I learned is that I can really reinvent myself, and I enjoy reinventing myself. My hospitality DNA gave me the confidence to do anything. It's all about managing people and being analytical.

I've Been Executive Director of the Hong Kong Design Centre

For 10 months now. The scope is big because every design discipline is different. What helps the fashion industry may not help architecture or interiors or products. I had to understand the industry's ecosystem. It's a big learning curve. Whatever we do must serve a purpose to the design sector and to Hong Kong. Knowing that, it makes everything easier.

One Way to Sell a Hotel Is to Talk About How Special Its City Is

It's the same with design. I want to further establish Hong Kong as a global design hub. We have talent here and we are a destination. That's why the upcoming BODW conference (Business of Design Week, organised by the Design Centre) is like the World Economic Forum. Everybody comes together to talk about this profession.

Another One of My Missions

Is to promote our new DX design hub in Sham Shui Po. This district, historically known for textiles, has so much history and its own characteristics. I think our space can be an anchor for people to come and visit.