I had the honor to speak at Carlsberg global leadership conference in Chongqing recently. The Danish brewing company has made heavy investments in Western China, betting on the growing Chinese middle class.

Every other year, the company brings its top CEOs and senior executives from around the world in a two-day meeting to re-focus its growth strategy. This is the first time that Carlsberg held its global leadership conference in China, or in Asia for that matter. This shows how important the China market is for multinationals such as Carlsberg.

As part of the two-day program, Carlsberg had a banquet party “China Night” on May 14th, where Chinese singers and dancers performed various traditional shows. My favorite is always the “face-changing” performance. In a Tibetan ethnic dance, I was pulled on the stage along with other Carlsberg executives and was dancing with the performers. That was a lot of fun!

Previously, I had an opportunity to speak at Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati on a similar subject as well.