Diary of a CEO: 08/08/2004

2004/08/14

lunch with Yu's brother at the French restaurant, they pay the bill when I was using the toilet, brohters insist to take turn on this quarterly gathering and deem it a long term friendship building, I appreciate this good intention and accepted it this time; this is a great French restaurant, but surprisely we are the only guest today, the entire restauant service nobody but us, I am not sure if the business is going down or this is the nature for the restaurant located in commercial zone, it closed on Sunday, the same habit as in Europe; the lunch topic is quite casual, a few update about the brothers and a new new gedget discussion, I feel a little bit tired at lunch, probabely because of the ping pong exercise this morning.

Happen to take a Mercedez Benz taxi, an extrodinary experienc, you definetly will talk to the driver when get in, this person is smart, he knows what he is doing, buy a second hand car with the same budget of buying a domestic new car, but for airport service, it can charge for 1200 NT, 200 more than other yellow cab, resident in Lung tan, Taoyung county where he keep a parking lot, this will make sure the car is save; the driver told me in Taipei, there are 10 more Benz taxi, a very interesting experienc for m.

EMBA after graduation party held in one buffe restaurant, I receive the last minutes invitaiton on Friday, as told by the administrative staff John will be there too, so, I give them a ok to participate, it was really boring, John wasn't there, the bunch of people were those who helping to organize and implement the graduation ceremony, this is a dinner for them, I am the only graduate person in the presence, it keep me in an uncomfortable situation, I remember attending on EMBA welcome party about a year ago, the situation is the same, I should obtain more information before OK to any public gathering.

Sending message for the lunch on next Monday, I can feel the receive is so happy to re-connect it, as the line been interupted on Friday, nobody's fault but may create a moat in between, the response is swift and positive, I thinks the feeling travelling between us is the same.

2004/08/13

COO take a long vacation starting today, he take decent leaves this year, I am wondering if he will return to Japan by next March and have a wild guess that a new replacement will soon be announced; HK operation will offically terminated next Monday, they will have a passive action to this transfer of subscriber, as the word will soon be spread out, media in TAIWAN may chase us and asking some very mean question about out operaiton and the policy of HQ in regard to the network business, I supposed to receive a Q and A sheet today from Tokyo to prepare this, but until now, the mail didn't arrived.

as I've invited all the managers to a dim sum lunch next Tuesday, it's a good timing to explore this message and to clear their mind at the same moment, the tone I set for this lunch is " a casual and free discussion ", we may discuss and exchange ideas about every thing but the target or budget, I am thinking how to bring the new excitement to the company and to re-generate the energy of the people, old habit die hard, all the routines must be cut and change is the only way to survive, I need to ask all of them to think and to participate on the development.

A. ask W. to call me and meet P. in our office, the favor will be granted but I am not in the positon to decide whether we should enter the deal with this company, I have a good ( or bad ) prinspal, if the relationship stays, I will open the door for them and to coordinate for the first time, but won't lead the discussion to the end, the goal is to secure the best interest of the company and to follow the code of conduct, how interesting a long lost friend find me by helping some business liasion and to connect with who I don't even know, maybe I am too easy to bringing trouble to my house and create additional workload for my people; I always advise people to reduce the so called " non value added activity ", how can in the oppisite, I am the person building more hurdles for them; although there may lays the business opportunity, but I should trust our people obtain this judgement to capture it once analyze.

I havn't decided where to eat on next Monday or should go out eating on next Monday ?

I almost miss the morning breakfast with Chairman this morning cause the alarm didn't work, luckily my PDA set the alam forthy minutes before the meeting, rush to the bathroom and did a quick washing, I managed to get to the hotel by 7:30; this is a casual breakfast since I was wondering if Chairman's visit this time we had a chance to chat, so, a double efforts put me in this early meeting.

Attending the e- Generation children exhibistion, as a guest to support the sister company, but the arrangment was not professional, hosting company didn't know who they invited as VIP, and didn't know who will show up then, and this improfessionism will embarassed a few person; I am OK with this kaois, but this is really impolite forget to mention or arrange seat for the executive who promis to come, we should not make such a mistake; the opening ceremory were packed because President Chen will lcome and speech, the security looks very strickly, when he walked in, the Body Gurads were standing beside me, their eyes are so sharp and bringing with them bullet proof equipments ( I guess ).

I take a long walk to the restaurant, this is not an ideal restaurnt for us, eating along is a bad feeling, the food is good as usual, the long walk make me all sweat up.

2004/08/12

Life premier in STWN is good, last round of negociation with dominate carrier was bad, I am paticipation on the prior session and lead the negociation table to Japan delegation; when COO delivery the message to me and told me the " no gain '" result, I am a little bit surprised, then I feel relax, it will give us a brand new perspective to our business, the core to survive or the wisdom to exit; personally, I am free from the potential owning someone delimn; any give in by the dominate player to me will easily been translated as a favor to our personal attachment, I may carry this burdon for a long long time; so, this situation help me to stand tall and help me to see things more clear.

Dinner with Minister without potfolio was a casual one, met old friend in the restaurant Really Good and enjoy the famous shirmp roll , this is a very casual event. organized by me and hosting by STWN. No one know who better, I don't know why Nicole point me a " play boy ", maybe this is the only interpretation of a man who knows a lot restuarnts in English. I don't understand.

Y. is wondering what subject I am going to bring to him at the breakfast table, nothing really, don't think too much, nothing.

Dog eyeview and Bird eyeviews is what come to my mind this morning, the seeing level from these 2 animals are different from a human eye contact horizon; Birds see the object smaller than it's original shape, Dog watch everything taller than it with a 45% angle, one look down , one look up; human with the same height look each other ............... How a look translate to a meaning of something ? I have it intertwine inquiry in mind.

Written language is for expression and to communicate, even I tried to memorized all the new valcavory I learned, but to use them in my diary writing wasn't easy, as it didn't developed as a habit of my writing pattern, it's difficult for me to think new word and to insert in my diary format writing, as a non-native English writer, without academic English writing training, maybe I am asking too much; to quite what Harold teach me " don't force someone to a dictionary when communicate with people" be common, be plain and be specific.

2004/08/11

Again, the temple worship from the mother postponed Sound's entry the Seeding experimental school; sometimes, when you don't have the answers, go to the God you believe, this is a rule from ancient. I always think the ultimate science is philosophy, a way to interprete what " evidence " can't proved, to make belive what can't be explained have a reason.

My wife's slef-explanation about his delay is " I might have a chance to move somewhere, maybe out of the country " or " I will encounter with a finincial crisis and can't afford to put Sound in the Seeding school. ", thanks God, she is so cute.

Starbucks in NKSP is our mobile office, I can see our employee use it often, to conduct businee conversation with vendor, to handle internal discussion or for relax with a break.

Typhoon Lilin is approaching, I don't know if this climate change will impact on the scheduled negocaiton between HQ and Dominate Carrier, Act of God impose you to think twice; we wait and wait and wait.

Met with John and Jean at lunch, this is the first time John visit Taiwan, he was one of the founding member in Yahoo, now join Alibaba as the CTO, we had a great time together, the interesting part is we all see " Call Center " a good future in China, he -- as the tech adviser who think ASP is a good way to explore call center business, I -- as an operation executive who think service income and know how will keep the company growing. Jean -- as a investing banker think how to married between captial / talent and market. this is an idea combination , I am not thinking of developing this model, but to tell and share the thing I smell today.

Checking the Seeding primary school via the site last night, me and my wife found this little interesting school somewhere in Wulai and consdier a good shelter for Sound, we checked the site and learnt that this shcool existed for 10 years already and was founded by one of the mother who tried very hard to put his son in the standardise and systmatic school in Taiwan, she failed and tried her way to educate his child herself , then come up with this epxerirmental project.

10 years gone and it seems the development is great, we happen to meet on of the graduate who return to visit Seeding last Sunday, a girl with confident and proud, this positive attitude inject to our body and keep us thining about relocate Sound to this school.

A strong comparison with Keys / St. Johnes which I heard during the YPO'er's dinner last night, how they teat their kids and sending them to the best of the best boarding school in the States and to educate them to a almost perfect situaiton, a man change be treated that way, follow the generation mistake and shed the noble blood, I don't know, there's no comparison, it all come from the love of the parent, provide the good with what they can afford; Sound belongs to the mother nature, he should be a fighter of his own.

So you wanna be a Rocking Roll Star ? I invited artist Liu for a coffee yesterday afternoon, we met accidentally at Steve Vai's concert, he came to me and send his warm regards to me, so, I kindly arrange this afternoon coffee at Starbucks; he is very talented, won one golden melody awards for " Best Album of the Year ", a violinist / composer / producer, a combination of talent; Liu is hunger for a new form of artistic expression and dream of a great something in the art / media / entertainment arena; we cross each other in a pub a few years ago, the pub is a " Performing house ", he was the program dirictor there who handle and orgained varies of performance in the pub, as the range of performing is wide, I can see how he tried to promo performing art in differert perspective; we had a conversation then, and he come to our office and we release his second albume under Sony Music.

I received his new work 2 years ago, that's a great ambition, a booklet with 2 demo disc consist of songs / music he composed at that time, he was pitching for another breakthrough, an animated book illustrate his mind and ideas which were obstracted, it's hard for people in the executive seats to understand the intention of him -- even in a record company; when receiving this package, I only take a listen but didn't response to him, since I not no longer with the record industy, so, I didn't provide my comments to him; after 2 years of silence, we met at the concert and he is excited to see me.

the coffee is a clinic to him, I am honest and straight foreword; he explained his musical plan in mind and how he tried to achieved by his next project, I aksed him any response from the demo package he send last time, that was a disappointment to him, then I asked if he willing to have his composition be presented / performed by other artists, he have no objection but told me there's no door to knock and no window opened for him; I told him to keep even a slim tie with the industry is quiet important as he grow old, the chance to be an artist is getting harder.

I think Liu raise his courage asked me about the alternative way of presenting him and the music he carries, a tie up with hardware / cotent he produced and introduing the mix meida via our channle ? I honestly told him, this is step 2, step 1 will be get in the industry, be reconiged as a great talent and then been chasing by other industry, the first try is difficult but he have to do it by himself, all the hardware company will only accept character with reputation / popularity to present their product, what they want is the enhancment, and the most important thing for the artist is to check the performace result by it's channel -- from the physical product sold ( collect and appreciation of your music ) , the concert tickets sold ( enjoy and participating on the experience ), the endosement variety ( the influence you build and may expend ), the media reactions ( how large, how offent they want you to be there with their target audience ), no artist can escape from this checking point. there's noe short-cut to the Super stardam.

I am not sure if I hurt his feeling, but I do grand my help and inform him what I can do:
1. try to locate the record executives once he revise the demo package to a satisfactory status and set a clear goal.
2. help on the cyber world if the release of new album is realized.

I have no time to provide more fake story, it's unfair for both of us, he is a talent, but talent didn't always get what they want.

2004/08/10

Barbie pay a visit to our office just now, she bring a Thank You card with her and show her appreciation in person, very nice and mature.

we just complete the PIM assessment presentation, the company is good at IT security assessment and helping company to obtain the BS 7799 certificate, I always have a question of business license or certificate such as ISO 9000, to improve your operation by applying an certificate is abnormal, not to mention to show off your license and treat it as a promotional tool; my understanding is the better standardize and the more specific job description will lead yourself to a better manageable situation , but at the same time, turn human as a machine -- you have to follow all the instruction in details and to document them. This may drive the company to another direction, not to perform its business goal , but to sustain its license for promotion. I have no objection about this certificate application but to point out my prerequisite such as:

1. Speed in not my agenda, we are not aim for getting it as soon as possible.
2. Find the best way to improve our business, out security, to satisfy our customer as priority.
3. Identify area / dept. Which perform standardize operational procedure and have them apply for it first.

Spend a few hours with Jonathan this morning, we had our first weekly review at the Starbucks, before the review session, I sent him a review format in order to organize our conversation, just like every meeting must be opened with an agenda, the review guidance is for facilitation our conversation; the interactive communication between us is healthy, in addition to his item by item oral report, I provide my comment in a broader view without limit the imagination he might have; open question with open answers is the way I lead him to a self learning process; as I mentioned to him, in a start up, training an intern is additional loading to employee, they did to create new assignment or task and to train this person, in stead of allocation what's on hand and having someone to share their job; so, it's kind of difficult to design this program, but to observe and to think what can be done better are the keys I want him to stay focus, this might help him release the tension of heavy learning.bring him to the Wodon restaurant in the back of the park, on our way, I told him my way of appreciating modern art, this is what I learn from Alan -- first , you must find the interpretation media -- art critic / agent / museum publications, second , you must know how to identify the beauty of " originality ", this is not a " me too " imitation, but an original coming from the art form in the first place.the noodle is as delicious as before and the conversation with Jonathan is a delight one.Spend a few hours with Jonathan this morning, we had our first weekly review at the Starbucks, before the reveiw session, I sent him a review format in order to organize our conversation, just like every meeting must be opend with an agenda, the review guildance is for faciliation our conversation; the interactive communiction between us is healty, in additon to his item by item oral report, I provide my commet in a broader view without limit the imagination he might have; open question with open answers is the way I lead him to a self learning process; as I mentioned to him, in a start up, training an intern is additional loading to employee, they did to create new assignment or tast and to train this person, in stead of allocation what's on hand and having someone to share their job; so, it's kind of difficut to design this program, but to observe and to think what can be done better are the keys I want him to stay focus, this minght help him release the tension of heavy learning.bring him to the Wodon restaurant in the back of the park, on our way, I told him my way of appricating modern art, this is what I learn from Alan -- first , you must find the intepretation media -- art critic / agent / musume publications, second , you must know how to indetify the beauty of " origniality ", this is not a " me too " imitation, but an original coming from the art form in the first place.the noodle is as dilicious as before and the converstion with Jonathan is a delight one.

2004/08/09

I am the lucky man in the world today, the problem solved itself without any effort; attention the Life premium for YPO at Regent hotel, this is a Forum meeting within uppers, AJ arranged this preview and invited a few friends to attend, Chairman of dominate telecom player was one of the guest; when having the working lunch, I was sitting next to him, to this this great opportunity, I deliver the message about the coming meeting scheduled at 12 of Aug. And inform him the " wishes from Tokyo ", the process only take me less than 10 minutes and the mission was done without other efforts, no secretarial communication, message transfer, email , phone or fax, we seeing each other in person to deliver this important message; I am so lucky and I thanks my wife who comfort me last night and urge me not to be emotional this morning; now, my party's been complete, the ball is in Tokyo's hand.

Life preview among YPO's is a new trial, these big boss spending 3 hours in the documentary and another 1 hour to share the comments, form the conversation in between, I observed a lot of them do hold great opinions and indeed decent thinkers . This angle change my stereotype of rich people don't have a Brian mistake, and I am appreciate they want to share what they know in a candid way, it will help Full Shot communication some how; Director is very insist on his documentary integrity, no more editing, and to keep the film a long story -- 2 hours and 22 minutes; ' forget about the market and think what's the purpose to shooting this film ? -- this come from Chu; " you need enterprise to feed the foundation or asking them to help in emerge case ? " if there's no earthquake in Taiwan -- the hundred year's most serious single disaster , there won't be a topic like this to product a compelling film " -- these comes from David Du; " we sponsor a fews society, but we expect the result is the real audience and their positive reaction, sponsor is not a donation, you have follower will make the sponsorship meaningful " -- this is from Andrew. I do hope Director Wu listen and digest, what I can do is this far, if the box office didn't prove itself, all the offers we made now will be all in vain.

Didn't feeling well tonight, so I skip the ping pong session in Regent and return home having little hot pot with my wife. feel so tired today and the headache almost kill me in the afternoon.

Put on a new mask with the smiling curve, this is Monday morning, be affirmative and be confident to all the employees; iron the wrangle in my heart, smooth and sooth the doubts and other uncertainties, as an executive, you have no excuse to feel pathetic, you can only be tough and strong.
Clean up my car on the way to the office, this is like to reassemble your pieces and put it back together, a new week , another Monday morning and a God in the office solving all the business woodoo's.

2004/08/08

" Action is th enemy of thought ", this is the key line extract from the movie " The Human Stain ", we went for the second run theater for this movie, today is our 4th holidays, kids going out with their grand parent ( Sound is with grandpa, and Fruit with Grandma ), so we free ourselves again; go to the second run theater is the plan for today, in addition to " A human stain ", we watch the " Foolproof " as well.

finishing 2 movie by 3:00 pm. I suggested to drive to Wulai to kill the later afternoon, this time, I pick the route and we visit places where we didn't go before, all the way to Shin wu road, passitng the bridge, we take a left turn and chekc a recently opened hot spring resort -- Le Villa, it is a Bali-flavored resort hotel, looks nice, my wife checked the restroom, the we heading for other destination,, we followed a mini tour bus, just like the tail to the car, it lead us to a wonderland -- Fu mountain, this is the protected original forest and one obriginal village, without the entry permittion, we can't get through, but we get the chace to know how to access to this land, return to the road, we stop by a suspension bridge and decided to take a venture crossing it; it's been a long time since we walk on a suspension bridge - the Bitan bridge didn't count, that's a tourist spot, but this one -- I name is Shin-Sheng bridge is the connection between Wulai and the village, passing the bridge, we take a 30 minutes walk , then come up with a small school, it don't looks like a normal school, the front door encurved with " the seed's instituion ", then we realize this is one of the so called " Forest primary school ", an pretty muchy experiental school which provoke the free learning and interactive teaching with the mother earth, a very ideal private school, we happend to meet one of the graduate, my wife asked her a few question such as " play with no home work for 6 years, will it create a gap when entering junior high ? " we found the confidence in the face of this graduate and consider this is one of the shelter for Sound, it he can't really used to the normal educational system in Taiwan.

the Red Tower Cafe' is a very interesting cafe' a open space , no air-condition decoration, it's crowded with visitor, I like the atmosphere it generate and like the business card designed, it's another city hide away place.

sharing with my wife the uncomfortable feeling when having dinner at The Circle night market, we drove form Wulai to Circle for this, she found I had something in my mind and don't feel happy, so I told her my feeling about the negociation with dominate player and the attitude Japanese colleage imposed on our employees, she is so understaning and advised me don't be mad about this situation, everyone is doing their job, my response is simple " even you pay someone his salary, you can't force him to kill a man just for the interest of the company " and I promise her I won't get mad and won't start any queerl fire with them. she is the exit of my emotion, I am glad that this uncomfortable can be removed, I need to perform property tomorrow, as the head of the company, I shall protect the best interest of the company. this is a mandate, a mission and of course, a job.

3 YPO events in next week, too much for this, and I need to review the Life documentary twice next week also, another experience to be born, I need coffee, PDA and my phone with me to get through another 5 hours of documentary review.

Diary of a CEO