Woke up early and drove to Bali - the crossing of Tamsui river, visiting the old old friend, Shaio Tan, me and my wife developed a habit to " Talk to him " whenever we accomplish or encourter big deal in our life, with no purpose, to visit him become a " release and relax " journey for us, this time, we are telling him my graduation of MBA from Taiwan University.
to take this opportunity, we won't miss the pork rib rice at Tamsui " Black shop ", an old local restaurant which provide pork rib and other stood food such as " seed weed " " beam curb " and " beef ", we arrived by 10:30 am, but we are not the first guest there, again, we enjoy the food so much, less expensive with great taste.
I had an appointment with 3 of key media reform association members -- they are professors, the gathering is to plan our stragetic toward the dream of " public media plaform establishing " -- a goal this assocaition wish to achieve by next year and seeking a management expertise to help deliver the result. we had a 3 and half hours converstaion, I open with a straight forward statement advise them my position now is " Passive aggrestive " as I can't control anything but they are the influencials to the policy making, the converstion is health, and I understand they don't have a strategy to approach what they hungry for. I graduatly tell they the strategic implication and stages :
1. be the director in the re-election of the Public TV or suggest those who are friendly to them.
2. check the chairman candidate and obtain the information of the chairman / general manager co-op is an early arrangement or not.
3. influence all the director by presenting a " idea solution " to the financial concern brought by government.
4. paralle exercise the bill for next legistor Yung's meeting session and present a revised version fit the government's requirement.
5. draw a time line for the integration of 2 or 3 TV stations.
any mistake occured , the dream won't come true.
with high expectation to the Beijing Drama " Tea house " a famouse drama written by Lao Ser and perform by Beijing team, my wife is not use to the traditional drama and don't feel like finish the show, so we left during the interim; I am OK to go or stay, but she don't really want to watch it, so, we left, I am not impressed by the actor / actress on stages , the story is simple, anywhy, we went home earlier to pack for tomorrow, the Huilian family trip.
my long weekend begin now, I feel relax and free, got home by 7:30, the rain is heavy but I didn't think of changing the family trip; asking wife out for a Shabu Shabu dinner for celebration of my passing thesis oral test; when our cheers in the restaurant, we almost forget our wedding anniversary -- it was June 25, last week, it happen to be my crucial time in thesis writing, so we do nothing on that day, today is the make up of the 18th anniversty.
Asking H. favor in HK, H. fly back to HK on Wed. to prepare her first preganacy. according to avaiation regulation, pragnat woman can't take air plane, so, she need to go back to HK and remote on her daily job; we havn't talk for a while, since J. take the speciall assisant role and her relatonship with superior didn't change, COO is tired of fixing their problem, I also made up my mind not to take side at this moment, so, keep a distance is the only thing I can do; yesterday, I was asking a personal favor from her, to prepare some surprise in HK for my advisor, ht Mama Mia broadway and a bottle of red wine shall be the least curtesy I can offer.
taking 4 welcomed talk today in late evening after meeting in TWIA; the encounter with creative team member - a web designer is the most intersting one, the tall boy came back from the States after taking the intensive computer graphic design; he's been here for a week, but he speak honsty with me about the limitation of his creativity and capability, he said that he don't know why now he have to pick up the old skill and perform it again, since that was him 4 years ago, he is willing to showcase how talent he is and how he can develop state of the art design techonlogy without the cage of HR. to keep the creativity juice while perform the systimatic requirement is 2 differect expersity,
Went to the movie " Spider man 2 " with my wife in the typhoon night, we are impressed by the sequeal, as we didn't like the first one, we didn't bear a high expectation to the theater, to be honest, if we didn't receive the pr ticket from Tom, we may never purchase the tickets; there was a time we ( me and my wife ) went for a movie in a typhoon night, I rememeber it's an Arnold film " Trun lies ", the theater we went close and the building have been torn down and rebuilt for commercial offices; spiderman 2, the story is better than first one and I like one line repeat in the film which is " for the sake of bigger public benefit, sometimes you have to sacrifice your personal interest, even your dreams ", yes, everyone have a hero in himself, how to discover and to make the hero grow is the question, maybe this is why we all need heros from the movie to reflect our weakness to perform a justice hero ourselves in the real world; reality bite, this it a cruel factor.
Lixin called at night and inform me the meeting time slot, it cheer me up again, how to proceed and persue this goal need a clear stragety, I shall prepare a questionare in advance.
tomorrow is the typhoon day, I shall make the final decision in last afternoon for the family trip.
Radio ( his also name in Rotary club ) come to see me and show me his company's business domain, a radio personality running a PR firm handling event and promotion activity for corporation, I came up with the idea of asking him to help me organize my YPO event next Feb. as I am picked as the day chairman then, I am think to cope with the theme -- continuty. to bring the 60's campus folk scene back, by following this concept, I'v been thinking to bring the local vendor delicacy and decorate the venue a 60's flavor, this should be fun and intersting, this is still long time to go, I think I will make my event the best in the year 2004.
The latest development of Typhoon is it will landing Hulien tonight, what a dramatic change, in this case, I shall wait and see how fast this typhoon passing by Hulien and how the aftermath will cause any damage preventing us from taking the trip; Hey, this is really upset me, I am the perosn organized this trip and booking all the fun trip, however, the rule of nature tell you to stop planning, no wonder there's Taiwanes saying : Planning will never match Changing, Changing will never matching one call ", see what happened.
brwoing the spot theather and learnt that the documentary movie " Singing China " on air tonight , I will try to check it next week ( and to take the eel lunch, I havn't been there for so long "
Typhoon changed it's direction and coming to North Taiwan today, it escalate the risk management system in Taiwan and me, the dream to Hulien need to reconsidered tomorrow, Live -- the documentary follow up had a great response, a person been known by expressing the after premium session writing, I am glad to let people know more about me without dressing up as an business executive, the true value of a human build by his word / attibute / concept / sincerey and wisdom, title and position are only the jacket put on for different occacation. this is a great moment and great day.
Feeling a little bit depressed yesterday and this morning, I don't know why, trying to find out the reason, maybe this is because one of the obstacle have been moved -- the MBA degree, maybe this is a phycological trauma after reviwing the documentary " Life ", and maybe I am a little bit lost in finding my next goal or career, as C. mentioned, I am the person always finding obstacles in life and trying to overcome it, I may need to identify next big stone and to exercise on it.
S. Company didn't keey their promise delivering the final peering price / policy to me, when chasing the outcome, it was an disappointement answer, this is like stuching in the same place; Jean called a complained about the agency fees might be cut due to E.'s information, E' is too straight forward , this is why I need to be the bridge in between, Jean it too concern about the interest, but they don't have a history before, no trust base, eveything detail have to bindling with contract, agreement or a person they trust in between.
Typhoon didn't hit Taiwan directly, as it slow down and the Central Weather Bueaur didn't forecast its whereabout, I am in the middle of " shall I cancel or postpone my family trip " I really really want to take this long weekend, not only for the kids, but for myself as well, if the airplane can fly on scheudle, I shall take the trip without hesitation.
Ping pong team will call a day off on coming Sat. it give me room to drive to Bali with my wife, to see a old friend and telling him my current sitatioand and share my milestone with him, this decision make me feel much better.
last night, when telling my wife the depression coming over me, I made one assuption is because we didn't celebrate my passing oral test on Monday evening ( cause I went for exercise as ususal ), we make an appointment to celebrate tonight, hopefully, the lost direction will fade away and I will re-assemble myself to next challenge.
Barbie's trouble, this is a culture and expectation gap. as Barbie can't read and write Chinese, her internship in our company is a frustration for both party; her father didn't aware that she can't use Chinese in working place, her interprestation of multinational company is a working environment in English, when having the HR review session, this problem brought up by our staff, COO have his rationale that every person in our company shall have a contribution, even an intern, I have no objection about this approach, but her father is a good friend of mine, taking care of her daughter is an obligation to me, the commucination gap between Barbin and her father extend the trouble to our operation, Jonathen will join us soon, HR is a little bit afraid of this situation again, I told them this will be a different case as I know him before he studied abroad and I understand his capbility in handing Chinese.
how lucky I am to have a close encoutner with 3 of the top culture and art leaders in Taiwan for the last 3 months, first I met Mr. Bai shen yun at TPO gathering, last night I met 2 others all together in one occastion, they are Mr. Chiang Shung and Mr. Lin Hui Ming; as they are renowned celebrity in Taiwan, I am really exciting to see them in such a small group, we had the dinner box prepared by director Wu Yi Fung at his home studio before premiurm of his current documentary work " Life ", the dinner topic is " the nude runner at campus ", these culture celebrity really suppor this innocent and naive student and I really impressed by Mr. Chiang's oppinion about the generation gap, he prefer to conduct a " dialouge " instead of a " confrontation " to easy this issue and to re-examine the value propostion between 2 or 3 generations in Taiwan, this is a great case to study and to review, I am a good listener and I am happy to sit around them.
the documentary film " Life " is an epic, I love it, my heart keep pumping after the " shooting of new wedding photo " scenes, Director Wu spend 5 years, shooting 3000 films in 3 yeras and editing for a year, which come up with 7 epic documentary recorded the life after the tragedy 921 earthquake in Taiwan. " Life " is the pilot run from the 7 documentary, it last for 2 and half hours, according to Director Wu, this is an edit version from a 4 hours cut, the story begin with Director Wu's persoanl attachment to his father and a friend and guilding to a 4 story devleopment from the victim of 921 earthquate which took more than 2000 lives in Sep. 21 1999, the 4 independent stories reflect to how the " Rebirth " of live take place and how they face the live and fortune in front of them, on university student who lost all the family , surviving by herself and her brother, 2 teenage sisters lost their parent and move to a sub-city for living, a couple lost their elder girl and give birth to a new child, 2 overseas worker lost 2 kids and their grandmother who recovered themself from the trouma by shooting new wedding photos and planning to have 2 new kids. this most touching part is when these survivor writing letters to the lost relative in one year, the letter release the unforgetable feeling and the humanity who saw it will defenitey leave a marvick in their heart, I promise myself to " Do something " for this series of epic document and helping re-discovered the long lost rebirth spirit in Taiwan.
I sent Mr. Hochen home by midnight, he is one of the great support to this documentary series, we talk nothing but how to make this idea and dream alive and keep the fire and passion buring. a very intersting encouter and experience.
I had a great sleep last night, no dreams and no nightmare; the only thing worried me is the approaching Typhoon, as I have scheduled to bring the family for a long weekend in Hulien, my first leave with the family after gradulation and enjoy the summer time in east coast; hopefully the typhoone will by pass Taiwan and my vacation will come to alive.
Fruit didn't get good score in mathmatic examination, and also, she lost 350 NT from the classmate foundation, she is in the rebel age and I don't want to push her away from the family, but she didn't follow any despline and her mother is totally give her up; I don't know how to response to this siuation, from next semester, I will resume reviewing her homework and sing off on the communication homework, this is the last year befor she attending the bording school.
today is the quaterly stratgegic meeting, as usual, we gathering at City Lake Hotel in NeiHu, Q 2 is critical for the surving of the company as the NIBT and sales revenue will show if e can achieve the budget and turn profit this year; this is the 9th strategic meeting we conducted, veryone is familar with system and structure and the process is going well; the routine I designed for the company is in a good managerial direction, but if we can't turn profit, then all the mamagement expertise is in vain; we set an aggresive target for Q2 for 2 reasons, one is to make up the loss carry over from Q1 ( Is it familiar with your corporation ? every company is chasing a buget and try to achieve it ) and second it to capture the forsee increased market due to the price down from CHT.
From Fast Company -- one of the forum contributor publish an artilce in relate to " meeting " the title is " Good Meeting " are 2 words which will never match in real world. in the morning, we ared doing the review of last Quarter performace and Target setting for next Quarter, in the afternoon is the activity discusion base on the " fish bone chart " which we called it " Concurrent Engeering diagram " , this is a mechanism adapt from GE 's methodology of 6 standard variation. for the strategic meeting, normally will take us 1 and a half day, a full day out of the office and following half day in the office.
The excitement stay with me for a long while, when relax my body at Regent Hotel Health Club, I didn't falling asleep, this is unusual to me; my brain keep working and reflect to all the details about the thesis writing and the oral test; The big day come and the obscatle overcomed, I feel concrede and solid; amazing moment, feel like eating meat, so, I went to the Chidocha for Curry Pork , I feel tired now, I shall go to bad now.
How many obscale I will create for myself ? or how many milestons I shall lays before the judgement day ? C. is in fond of the Think Tank project, I recommend her to read a few good books , such as : Cycle Life, 60 trend in 60 minutes and Purple Cow, and encourge her to take some Knowledge Management course, it will help her better structure her idea about the initative.
Lawson bought a big cake and wish to celebrate my big day in the office, I thank for his sincerety and I forward my wishes to all the sals theam, I told them, if I can make it, all of you will make it easier than me.
writing about the MBA Degree for too many days, after this, the next goal is the career development in front of me, contact with Lixin and he would like to invite a few key members of the Media Reform Committe to meet with me within this week; my passing the oral exam. inspired him, from the mail he worte to me, he will focus on her thesis this summmer and wake from the never ending nightmare. Do I really impress others ?
AJ send an invitation for the documentation premium, I will attend it, the invitee include HeChen, I am wonding if he will come ? Tom send me 2 tickets for Spiderman 2 and the attached letter move me, he mentioned something about my influenct to him, my wife warning me not to be too emotional, this might be a courtesy letter before his last 2 weeks in the Film company, I don't know, I turst others words and writing all the time, my strength and also the weakness.
The oral test passed at 11:45 am today, When Professor Chuang sent me in the conference room after the break and asked me to thanks for the other 2 professors, I am so happy to learn that my MBA degree finally arrived; this is really a big deal for me, as a colleage graduate, I never dream of obtain my post-graduation study and didn't expect that this honor come from NTU -- the best universty in Taiwan; I am thrilled, and I am too happy to be tired or hungry; calling people who I need to inform them immediately and take a long sight; yes, I made it and I am the MBA from now on; although academic backgroud do nothing about my career now, but this is a hind side always, now, I am proud to be a different person.
A lot of thanks to be deliverd, but to my wife, who not behind me, but in front of me leading me to my potential and alwasy belive in what I am pursuing. thanks you again.
My wife can sense my nervous these day, especially today, as tomorrow is the big day for me - oral test for my MBA degree; my heart and mind falling into this environment for the entire week, I did prepare very hard and keep my thesis final version the almost perfect one, the presentation file is a good tool, although it is thinck, totally 93 pages, but it can easiy lead my comment and study to the conclusion I wish to draw.
my wife told me to be stable and act as normal as usual, since tomorrow is the only chance to prove my study is a great achievement, any abnormal behavior will ruin the day and I will need another 6 months of toucher; I don't need it, either do my family and my advisor; when prpare the stationary for tomorrow, me and my wife drove to Kingstone book shop, where we had our late supper, I told her this is a big gate for me for sure, but this defenitely not the sufferist one for anyone, as pursuing academic study is an option for adult , but not every one need to go through it, the fair things and fair gate will be what human have to face -- each one of us, suffering from pain or decease, dying , lost your best friend and family, lots of life gates waiting for us without our consent, the MBA degree is an important mile stone for indiviusal, but an option one; I shall be as normal as possible, to be decent as a student but to be professional as a CEO as well; what the schorlar can challenged is from the text book, not from the battle grould of real world, I have enough experience and credit to overcome these hurdles, don't forget what I did this late afternoon, to rationalize all the Q and A in mind and preparing for the taught question with easy mind.
M. called and wish me lucky, I need some of it, but not all of it, tomorrow is the day to turn me a MBA graduate or under-graduate.
My wife also remind me ( encourge me so to speak ) that my score for entering examination is ranked the 3rd among all the participate, according to a silent person, my oral test gain the highest score, so communication / presentaion / Q and A should not be a problem for me, not to mention all the taugh wars during the budget discussion session for the past years; the oral test will not be as serious as the board meeting or budget review, this is my interpretation, follow the logic and follow my heart, be confident with decent attitude.
