Diary of a CEO: 07/25/2004

2004/07/31

Eric is so happy the I make his day; I brough him to Steve's concert , his Ibanez guitar got signed and photos been taken, I can see how excited he is, to me, this is a minor effort, to him, this is a big deal; everyone had a mission to help anyone by exchage the resouce on hand,

bought the book " Nature via Nurture " a very profound book to read, I shall finish reading as soon as possible.

A day with Steve Vai is the title for the day, we sponsor Steve's Asia tour in Taiwan, as the " Rock Empire " the promoter is a fan of mine -- yes, Space Chen, he bought record from me in his high school days, at that time, I were working part tim in a record shop specilized in rock records, he then move himself to the music business, a record label specilized in guitar musicians, a record shop and a rock promotor, the development of his music intention didn't reflect to a growth of wealth, but a drams fulfillment; a lot of poeple respect his courage but at the same time, doubt about his ablilty to run business.

We sponsor Steve for a number of reasons : I know him before and appricaite his character and music, a Sony artist, and to help Space a bit; to craft it to a retention plan is what we did, although the performance was not up to our expectation, but our people tried their best to accommodate this tie up.

I remebers last time when I see Steve, that was 4 years ago, On his first tour in Taipei, I inivited him to a lunch and prepare a Piba for him as a gift, he played as once, a ture musical talent. we share a few thoughs then, but I hardly recalled that he was a vegetarian. I've been to 2 of his prior concert in Taiwan, both of them leave strong imprssion to me, as a fan and a regular concert goer, his performance is a great experience to us, design and with a systematic structure, please his audience and appreciate their appearacne, this is how he win all the follower after 25 years of touring.

to prepare myself to a meeting and greeting today, I check his website a few times and learnt that we were born in the same year, he built his website comprehensively, a very user friendly interface and I did check what he posted on the website to communicate with his fans, this is a remarkable task, keep a very close distance with his fans and buliding the intamacy around.

the press conference is in a chaos, lack of experices and short of manpower turn Space and his team in a bad situation, but, it doesn't matter, Steve bring Billy Sheehan to the press conferecne together, the run down is simple yet complicate, this time, I prepare a Crystal Glass for him, a Budda shape statue made by Workshops , as I know he is into Zen and Oriental very much, so this piece of art work should fit his need, what's the connection between Broadband Internet service provider with a rock musician ? well, I linked them with " Quality, Speed and Services ", it matched perfectly.

Space didn't know how to handle the meet and greet dinner with me, as he is a vegetarian but his crew don't want to eat vege. so Space asking my opinion, FU-YUANG is the idea place come to my mind, where you can enjoy the pure Chinese flavor and the food they provide suit everyone there, the only problem is " too expensive ", I have a idea to spilt the bill and pay for porting , but Space insist to host the dinner, so , beat it.

I was arranged to sit next to Steve duirng the dinner, we talked a lot, share a lot, as expected, we were closed, he is a decent person with a great heart, try his best to send good message via music and self-despline well. we share this value and agree upon good rock music didn't associated with drug, alchocol; I've been thinking of putting him and YOYO MA to a collaborater work, it must be fun, or or putting him to perform with Chinese Orchastra , this is fun as well; the other idea come up from my heart is a national campaign to educated a good attitude to music and liveing to teenages in Taiwan, he seems keen about this idea and asked me to have a well-thought plan then discuss with him; I would like to think a great project to incorporated this beautiful dream.

we had a good time talking, the benefit to eat in Fu Yuang is listen to Piba performing while the waitree service the meal, the beauty of Pipa impressed all the guitar players, Billy Sheehan and Dave Weiner were there, the player is a fan of Steve, she asked the autogrofy and photos with Steve and Steve enjoy a few minutes of playing Piba at the restaurant.

the last thing they did before leaving restaurant is to sit on the emporer's chair and taking photos. like every tourist did, a snake alley tour is on the schedule, I didn't go with them, when Steve asked to see me after ths show, I am happy , well, as my age, this is kind of loading instead of fun, but, I shall let him see me after the concert tomorrow.

2004/07/30

A full day startegic formulation meeting with the ministries, in the morning, I was invited to the 12 initatives of service industry development pre-meeting, in the morning session, the aim is " Culture and Creative Industry ", chaired by Minister of MOEA, Chief of GIO attend it as well; after the presentation conducted by IDB, Culture Construction and Development Ministry, GIO, an around the table discussion take place, Mr. Ho is good in control the meeting patter and good at deliver the conclusion at once, a very capable minister, compare with the meeting with MOCT, a totally differenct experience. when making the eye contacts, Mrs. Ho asked me to open the first question; yes, I am straight forward, simply but relevent, I am no favor to take " Movie " as the polit or flagship project for Cluture and Creative Industry, as this is too risky and no succesful stroy before, I enjoy listen to Dr. Wu Ching Chi's opinion, he wrote a very popular book " 4 big dreams for teenagers " which influence me a lot, see the person in front of me and shaking hand with, he made my day, after the morning session, I found a few Medie Reform Committe members were there and they reconiged my opinion , a side effect to the meeting.

in the afternoon, the sub-group discussion for the " Revival of Music Industry in Taiwan ", again, I shoot it as well, when everybody talking about the piracy and illegel internet music swap, I simply telling people my viewpoints:

1. long before any record company existed, people sings.
2. even the record company vanished, music will stay.
3. this is a structure issue, a trend issue, a change of customer behavior issue istead of piracy.
4. this in not a high tech industry fighting with music industry battle groud, we should open the dialogue, initative the converstaion for the target music lovers and asked them why they don't buy now.
5. if music company is th sunset industry, this is not a problem of saving the industy, but a process to helping people in the industy find anothe suitable job.

I discovered other Media Reform Committe members in this meeting as well, it seems all the friend surrended and wanting me to the Public TV system, I think the warter is boiled now, I don't need to do anything but to see how the administrave process take place.

Am I smart, how come the reserch fellow from SINSCA make such a remark to me, I am happy that my viewpoint and message get heard. I feel like working in a goventmental body and serve for the country.

tomorrow, a day for exercise, press conference and a possible dinner with Steve Vai. what a day to be expected.

2004/07/29

I was upset last night due to my forget to bring back business cards, as this morning , the service industry pre-meeting on Telecom and Media chaired by Minister of MOTC ( Ministry of Transportaion and Communication ), I shall meet a lot of big shot at the meeting, lack of business card is a mistake can't be forgive; well, I am wrong, I don't really want to exchange card with other participate, and there's no opportunity for me to conduct the social behavior at the meeting. to be honest, this is one of the terrible meeting I've been attened which were organized by such a high ranking ministry.

as the Service Industry become a new initative by the A-Bien administration, the Ecomonic Development Committe conduct a meeting and Prime Minister Yu point out 12 main catagrory to be highted and follow with action plan, to meet with the target grand meeting scheduled on Sep. 2, the grand meeting will invited President Chen to announce this new national comeptition power to all the people in Taiwan, in order to achieve it, all 12 service sector need to organies pre-meeting before the dead line, meeting is one of the priority, the other prioity coming from Prime Minister's instruction is to have " Strategic Imply " and a " Flagship Project " to be exercised.

I am crossing 2 setors among these 12 initatives -- the telecom / media and the culture and creative industry, today, the telecom and media session was so bad, let me list down those improfessionals below :

1. the opening speech for Minister consist with a few very important " English ", it embarassed Minister as a few word, he didn't know how to pronunce.
2. Co-hosting committe members didn't join the session from the beginning.
3. Time control bad.
4. Presentor on stage while her cellure phone rings at her seats
5. Encourge open idea exchange but telling everyone to end the meeting by noon.
6. A very flattered prject title " ABIEN Project " -- Advance Broadband Integrated e-Service Network.

during the discussion session, I raised my hand and point out my views as :
1. Broadband industry is totally different from Bandwidth Industry, one is an infrunstarture driven model, one is a consummer demand / supply view point.
2. If turen copper line ( ADSL ) to fiber ( FTTX ), the , they should invited all the second type telecom to join the discussion, otherwise, the market will be swept by Fix lines, the domination will remain and all the type 2, espcially ISP will be kicked out from the market.
3. Don't treat Korean as the standard country nor the benchmark country.

My pitch to In. at Head office seems works, he is impressed by my presentaion and willing to help this social contribution activity, he is a person with a same mind as I, and I belive he will come up with a even better scenario to Full Shot Communicaiton Foundation.

Wrap up coffee with Barbie, tomorrow will be her last day of internship with us, during the converstaion, I fully understand she is not unhappy and work very independant, the last night I share with her is her " Identity ", as I observed she don't want to buy a Sony Erisscson phone in Taiwan with a very good price ( my friend ship price ) because the keyped enbedded with Chinese Phonongpy, I notice this and honestly told her the " Identity " problem will always be an important issue to her, there will be one day " Root " will hit her and she will redigest the blood in her body, this is kind of heavy to her, but, I love to share it in advacne.

Farewell Coffee with S. after Barbie, asking her to leave all the sorrows and leave with a happy mood. a Charly Doll is the gift for her.

2004/07/28

Thanks God, that was a mistake, I am glad Blog become my emotional exit and did't burst out my anger toward unclearify situation.

The lunch with B. is an appreciation meal, I pick a Japanese Sushi restaurant with a risk, since I didn't go there before, by judging the customer and location, I decided to book this one and heading for the venture with B.

B. together with me come up with the " Valuation models " -- traffic / transaction / trade-off , this flesh and blood build the sturcture of my thesis and helping me obtain my degree on June 28, this is the main reasone I invited him for the Sushi lunch; sitting on the sushi bar bench, watch the chef cutting raw fishes and puttin them on top of the sour rice ( Sushi rice ) is enjoyable, I ordered the assorted sushi and having the chef to choose whatever he thinks is good for lunch. we were both satisfied with his selection, especially when he served the Toro to us and told us, this is the real Toro instead of the Black eye fish form PingTong county, we were educated by his verification.

Trying to contack G. for the quotaion, information from Sales team indicate that the thing might be complicated , I ring her in the morning, with only 2 conversation, the line were terminated, this is an unusual feeling, then her phone switch to voice mail mode, to present any misunderstanding, I make the call just now, when the line connected, I hardly here her voice, then the line were killed again, when calling again, she didn't answer anymore, I don't like this weired feeling, and I don't respect the attitude she performed, no matter what happend -- I don't know, a phone communication can't never turn 2 friend to enemy; I will not call her anymore unless she return the calls.

Wake L.H. up at 9:00 am in the morning, didn't know his whereabout, when telling me he is now in NanChing, I openly told him my idea of helping Taiwan and suppor the doucmentary film " Life ", I would like to invite friends in the entertainment field to participate on this campaign and to show their love and passion to the land and people here, they can deliver values greater than songs or performances. he will return to Taipie by Sep. 1, I will call him again.

2004/07/27

Wife didn't like S.'s professional smile on the first glace, she had the talent to tell the good from bad, the turth from the fake; this is hard to explanin, reading people sometime require decent time and experience, but her talent of regonise people by instinct is an unique insturment helping me screening friends and associates.

Running hotels business, a 100% service oriented business, put on smile for every customer ( or potential customer ) is a basic manner, attentive service and harasment service only overlap in thin line; you can't blaim the owner of a Hotel chain showing their smile at the same lips curve and shows the teeth from the same angel; he must allocated his caring to people within his eye contact and letting people feel the same importance, this is a skill rarely developed by other service industry. the problem for him is he met too many people, it's hard for him to memories all the names and charcstic ; he can't really customized himself to each of the customer, so, you have to bear in mind, he smiles to everyone, if you are not the only one, don't get mad.

the dinner with A. at Cosi Cosi is a good one, the famous pizza didn't disappointed me, crispy and good tasting, A. order a house wine, I have my favorus water - S. Periccrino. she is now working in a 3c distribution company handling sales to Europe, she seems happy with her current status , the meal is on her, she insisted; my encounter with current company was via her strong recommendation, I should never forget her effort to pull me from the entertainment swap and discover the telecom / internet world.

late night discussion about " Life ", finaly we have a sponsor for the premium, since the basic requiement was served, then we go into the marketing and promotion tactics, Mr. Lo -- the ideas king for DPP do equipped with bright concept and knowledge about media and advertisement, My supplyment should impressed everyone, Director is trapped in a deep hole and don't know which direction to go, someone saved him from the circle and put him back to the reality.

Giving people a new impression wasn't easy, if you done it purposely, the designed task may fail, once you involved in a project which you can easily ride on and provide your insights, then you beat them all, this is a " Right Timing " strategy, maybe not a strategy, but a doing the right thing right at the right time philosophy.

Lunch with Mark and Nancy were great, my wife move away all the diary operaiton ( mainly kids staff ) and joined the lunch with us; we know this is a pre-appreciation session for Jonathan's internship in our company, but as the sponsor for my YPO membership, getting together is an intimacy buliding process -- especially when in come to a family style meal; we talked so much and shared a lot in political enviroment, resource shortage and controlled problem in China, the GMO issus and of course, his contribution to preventing " Sand Storm " in Beijing which may fundementally alter the scene in China in next 100 years.

Mark had his opinion in food supply and GMO product perspective, a broader view than enviormental activist, he take a few viewpoits to show how the Green Peace making good intention a sad confrontation; he told us, corn may turn to be the saver of the planet, it can be the raw material and develop to varies of industrial and commercial material, it can even repalced oil -- this is amazing, I have not check it yet, but the cost of turning corn to the power resource may cost much higher than what we use oil now, anyway this is not a debating session, I am listing to a person who runs the biggest animal protien company in Greater China.

Nancy is a nice lady, they know each other since in colleage and getting married after grudation then study abroad together, Nancy now runs a language institution focus on pre-school English learning, they are made to be couples.

' Life ' project will have a continue meeting late tonight, I am invited,

Becoming American - Then Chinese Experience, a Bill Moyers' Special was distributed last night at dinner, I didn't look the package carefully unitl this morning, Walter and Shirley are main contributor to this documentary, a root finding or identification process, I don't know, I browsed the Altenet last night, the name Bill Moyer pop up, he is a very famouse critic in news program, I would like to check this person today.

2004/07/26

David Ho, the man of the year on Time Magazine's 1996 year end issue came to deliver a short speech, he was invited by Walter Wang -- a YPO NY charpter member, and co-host the dinner with Jeffery Koo jr. and leverage the venue offered by Steven Pen, all the high ranking celebriety came together for witness this outstanding oversea Chinese, I was there on time - the reward for arriveing punchality is to get to shake hand with Dr. David Ho before the venue getting crowed, when we talked, it seems his eyes are floating around for eye contacting with guests coming in the venue, but, I did occupied 10 minutes of his time to share his latest development in AIDS research and vaccine development, he was famous for the controlled cocktail treatment to HIV infected patient, by defination, this is not a cure, but a control with great improvment, he manged to extend the live for more than 10 years. this is by far the most comprehensive achievement in scientific devleopment.

The China AIDS initative is what he brought to us -- yes, it is a fund raising party, no wonder Jeffery and Walter will jointly hosting dinner, aj sitting next to me, we were thinking how to make the documentary film " Life " a great campaing as well; I am getting used to the atmosphere the YPOers' create in the activity, social and social, I can be the lonely one observing this on going shows, every celebraity need the platform, once the helo getting dimmed, they won't show up anyway, I don't have such a burdon, I am buying myself a ticket to the world of rich and famous, a close look as them and to digest how they social together and working together, tonight, 2 group unified under David, YPO and The Lunch Club, you need a core and magnet to attract people like this, David is the hub of the core, he himself is a great mind, so, he built the platform for everyone to chat and meet, charity is one thing, seeing long lost friend is the other.

Walter bringing back a documentary titled " Being Amercian " - a film talking about the overseas Chines tracking back from the Gold Rush era, a 3 DVD series, everyone get one set as sovernier after dinner, a treasure to bring one, this is the thing turn me on, it remind me the documentary shooting by China titled " Forever little students " -- a film discover the pioneer foreign little student to the States 120 years ago, I have a deep curisty finding the roots for oversean Chinese, a Western view cross with Chinese view, It should be found.

lunch bread alone again, went for the pig troutt rice and sneak in the therater for " King Arthur ", I like the movie, no nonsence, straight fighting and very macho orientation, an entertaining movie to keep the summer away.

writing my essay about " Ocean Music Festival " in my PDA, I am thinking to publish it somewhere in Newspaper, I should begin to comment on things cause my interested, should I do so, I am not sure.

2004/07/25

Betelnut Beauty -- or betelnut Spcie Girls displayed themsleves in the glass boxes along the highway, the box is flamed with neon lights, girls dressing Bikini or Binkni-like custome, the less cloth they put on their body, the more attentention they get from the passing by drivers; this is a islandwide social viewpoints, young graduation or drop out from highschool choose to offer their service with a local product -- betelnut to pertain their earning; it recalled me the red light district in Armsterdan -- where you can check all the neon boxes and pick the target you want to get laid, you follow the window shopping for body and the price is listed on the window, the promotion they did is simply, seduce you with their body, once you see the curtian of the window is closed, you know the service is under offering; we do the same with betelnut beauty, they offere the betelnet with the body -- not for sale, but for eye catching; it's hard to tell when this become a fashion in Taiwan, just like 7-11 take the storm and replacing all the Mamas and Papas shop, now, along the highway county by county, when approaching gas station or exit / interexchange, you see line of glass boxes and young sexy girls selling the excitement -- for both the intengible fantasy and the stimulator - beatlenut; the cluture developed further then anyone's expectation, for some target or performance reason, you may see the all nude beauty put on the almost see-through robe and selling whatever you see, or the chain store owner -- yes, the chain exising , asking the girls to wear nurse or high school girl uniform for providing greater fantasy and imaginations, it works as well, sex sells, the golden rule in the advertisement history, Taiwanese knows it from the bottom of beatlenut ventor operator.

It attracted me too, only a few man can resist young beauty dressing little and offer you a nice view, nothing to lose, why bother to take a glace of this specacalor ? I am no holy man, but I don't see beatlenut, I don't like the " procedure " of eating beatlenut, especially when chewing the beatlenut with the special make ingredient, you have to throw out ( Split ) bloody red juice, this is what I can't really endured. my grandma operater a beatlenut vendor in Chang Hwa -- a city in Central Taiwan, now my uncle heritage this samll vendor, accoring to them, back to 10 more years, that's the peak era for cumsuming beatlenut, the income can be as big as half millions NT per month, but now, the revenue reduced to one fourth of the total income, not to mention the competiton coming from the spicy girls.

I am not sure if any governmental body ever counted how many beatlenut vendors in Taiwan ? they sell beatlenut, soft drink and cigereter, a native convenience store before we imported 7-11.

The ping pong game today is funny, it's not a tournament, one member invited 2 good player to our club and conduct a play and train session, I should not take it so seriously, skip my lunch, have a massage relaxation at Regent Club, take a 30 minutes nap and drink 500 cc of grape fruit juice, all the preparation in vain.

Dr. Ho will come to YPO for a speech, the perosn who invented the cocktail treatment for AIDS treatment, he is the person I love to meet , I may skip the ping pong session tomorrow night.

Diary of a CEO