Diary of a CEO: 08/15/2004

Attending Ovilgy's " Cool Hunt " project seminar yesterday, I am paying attention to all the new trend and phenomenon the project team discovered and shared; they conclude 6 major trend to explore; I did take note when Sharon ( the imagineer of Oviglry -- what a fancy title ? ) conduct her presentaion and finding, I thinks and follow her pattern .. the theme of this trend is " Generation D -- dumming ), a co-existance of extreams or the zone of gray period is geting larger and larger, as a observer, a participant, I tried to digest what the world turn out, according to the survey, techonology play a vital role in the trend development, especial computer and internet, we all agree, but there's should be some fundemental human nature inheritate from our ancient, from our gene and from our blood, the rapid change of the trend do make people thinks, but the genaration next will face different issues and problems we didn't encounter today.

and , there will be another trend survey conduced by generation D, they will product a report talking about the generation next.................

Had a big fight in the car after watching the movie " Jason Boune 2 ", it was cause by her brother, who serve as the driver for me in the company, he've been my driver for several years, since the entertainment days until now, when in the record company, my schedule is all filled up with activity, he need to accompany with me even in weekends, I am not a very nice boss then and we have a quareril once outside of a club; that bad experience never really wash away from my memory; no matter how wrong my attitude was, a driver should never yeill at his boss when driving, this is so improfessional, so I suspended his job for a few days, until his sister - her wife come for the settlement and tried her best to letting us feel better;

this time, was cause by the office affair, he is dating one of our employee in other dept. it's kind of a public secret now, ( For this, I could not bear very much, as he had this record of dating with office staff in the entertainment company, although that's a no ending story ), I am not a bad guy tried to tear lovers apart, but he is a driver, don't really have funcitons in the office even I am not going out for business activity, the other girl, she is working in a dept. which requird decent performace to satisfied the company goal, but he chat, she chat, in the office hours, walking through each other's working area and teasing each other, how imbarrasing I am, the girl's supersiver didn't inform this girl about this wrong doing, I don't realy know how to handle it, so, having my wife to warm him, in the office, all the people are watching, especially know the realationship we are and seeing his behavior in the office, this is so immutual and put me in a very hard place; I am not sure if the girl's dept. staff aware it or her supervisor really understand how to correct it, but I burst out my temper last night when heard what he told my wife, I am so angry . why should I protect him ? double standard is what I tried to avoid, but it come and catch me now. I expressed my concerned to one of the manger during the coffee break , I think she told her manager about my concern, but forward a very wrong message, If I am her mangers, I will talk to my superior and asking their advise about it and I will carefully examine her performance; but for him, I am his direct report, I've been indugence to him for too long, forget to tell him the decipline to work in such a big multi-national company, they understand why I need a relative to be my driver, but they won't accept the guy to be a previlige one.

My wife is like the ham in the sandwitch, listen to all the complains,( including me ) and need to accomodate her mother's wish, to keep her brother beside me, I don't understand why we should be so miserable ?

on the business side, the step I am taking on Monday is:

1. have MIS to retrive the e-mails between them in the office in office hours ( I need evidence to prove that this is a wrong doing in the office )
2. asking the truth of who dileiver what message to whom and when ?
3. summone the manger of her dept. and carefully adivse him this is the decipline everyone should follow, I am not breking any lover , but to let everyone knows I am fair to every one.
as for retain him as my driver ? I have a strong doubt and don't really want to keep him in service, he is angry about my way of business approach and don't think of me and my positon in the company, I shall have a rental car and a new driver in Oct. this is not my resposibility to bear it any more, especially when it became the starter for the fight between me and my wife, I hate it.

she don't want to talk to me now, in the car, no one is rationale, we yelled each other, although I apologied, but she don't appreciate it, why shall I beg for it again ? I will take a full day off tomorrow alone, going anywhere and free myself from this bad and emotional cage.

Listen to the radio on my way to the office, when heard the stock price rose again and the underline which I liqidate 3 days ago jump up rapidly, I was very upset, the reflection to this gesture is I am not suitablt to any venture market and I will never win any game of opportunist; buy in mid-price but sold them in the lowest price..............

3 of our employee were minor injured on their way to the office , one driving her own car, one with motocycle, the other employee is taking a bus, how redicious the emergency bread will make her injure; the accident rate is way too high today, everyone should be careful today; according to Chinese Tradition, lunar July is the goust month, by mid-July, a major ceremony will take place all over the contuntry in temple, we called it the worship to " Good Fellows / Brothers ", the good brothers is the transforing of those spirit who don't have relative to worship when they pass away, on this perticular day, we feed them with decent food and send thme money ( the golden dressing paper which we burn the down after the ceremory in temples ) and hoping they will not harrasing people still alive; in the month of Lunar July, parent will warm their children not to close to water, cause they might be seiged by the " water goust " who were drawn and died, now they need to seek replacement in order to recarniate to next life; move tried not to getting married, not to move their house and the taboo of not to do list is the longest in the lunar calander.

I am thinking of the company should have someone conduct a few worship to the temple as well, I can't go, this is a gusture to me , as the CEO of high tech company, I tried not to leave an impression of supersitious, I need a proxy to perform this duty for us.

As COO is away for the vacation, I am kind of busy these days and didn't have much free time to access the blog, this morning, Profesor Shu called from Nantou and invite me to be the guest facaulty to the Chi-Nan University and teach the " Financial Management " with 2 other people, well, I am flatter to be approached by this opportunity , but at the same time, I am a little bit hesitate to this offer, Since my computing sense wan't good and my mathmatic scores are always below average in my acdemic backgroud, I am afriaid if I take this temporary job will screw up the Dean and be challenged by students; but on the oppisite side, if my resume include a professional teaching credit in the financial feild, this is a gain to my repution, so, I give him a " Go ahead " signal and see how it goes.

the Life press conference is a very touching event, I knew the show up rate of medis won't be high as no " Stars " in this conference, but this is a good intention organized by the foundation, so, I am happy involved as a royal audience; My speech is almost perfect, prisely express my feeling, my view point and my inspiration to the film, to the foundation and to the land, second part of free talk is a even greater mind, I point out 2 imprortant implication this film brought to us : one is without the hurdred years of disarter, the hurdred yeard of deep thinking won't come; second is how to be " ready " for the pain of losing family and relative, how to prepare ourself to next big earthqauake, once it comes, the earthquake impact won't be as great as the mindquake.

I think I done a good job today and I don't think the media coverage will be good tomorrow.

Interviwing PR candidate, her self introduction in requied salary is different from the priority list among things to chose a company, the answere didn't convince me, but as the marketing dept. is hungry for new manpower, so, I give it a go with this candidate, see how her merge with this just revised marekting team.

One of the senior employee went to hospital 2 weeks ago and under a belly surgery, I was not informed until the coffee break with her this morning, I feel so bad and told our HR supervisor that didn't care about our employee is a sin for an executive, if I were her, I must feel bad as no company executive pay attending to her even when she was in the hospital and experiencing an operation the first time in her life; I am lucky to invite her for coffee and make up any possible lost from the employee.

Put incentive to encourge our employee attending the company trip, as the first solicitation was good, this is a crisis of employee confidence, so , I decided to change the rule of the game to add some reward for this coming trip, see how it goes.

Met with Shino and her manager in the afternoon, didn't expect she will show up with her manager, when meet her at Mrs. Fei donw stair, she told me she is the subscriber of our internet servicel, this is a good surprise to me, I remember seeing her a couple times in different occasition, the recent one is the Ocean Music Festival last year, we met in a small cafe in Fu-long beach, of course, she don't know me then........ we don't have any subject today to carry, but when introduce the possiblility internet can bring to an artist like her, our platform of Artsit / Fan club is a good tool; so, I lead them up to our office and have a quick tour, some of our employee recognized her and even asked for signiture, a very health encounter, to take this opportunity, I introduced the manager to Shino and pre-scheudule a presentation to them next week.

LU FEN - her manager is kind of interesting, I have to admit that I don't remember seeing her before, if that was, should be long long time ago, very talkative lady -- am I the same type of person? but a decent person as well.

Conduct a welcome talk with J. a new comer now working in the OP team -- our engineering team who handle the real trouble cause by our network or other connected network infrunstucture, we met the first time when he joined the company 2 weeks ago, I had a lunch with OP team, and saw him with shime face, always wearing a cap, looking from the cap leak, I can tell he is almost bold, as he just unroll from the military, I had a strong curioistiy why he lost his hair soon rapidly.

today, when having the talk, he told me the immuse system cause this early hair falling and he have been seeing doctor all over and tried alternative treatment as well, this is a very sad situation for a young man who have to supper this confidence crisis; I am happy about his courgement to talk to me about it openly; my response is positive, I told him if someone he met judge by the appearance and mis-understand a person, then the lost is belong to the person, cause he might miss the chance to know a good man and to be a friend of a good person; then I asked if she had a girl friend and how she support him ? the answers are positive, I am happy too, as I had this curisoty and have been solved

Out EMBA team members gathering for dinner last night, I am the coordinator for this dinner, as my wife told me sicne everyone graduated, I shall initative this event, the dinner being planned for a month , 2 of the members were out of the town, so, it took place last night; a few surprise occured; first : not all of us were graduated, Willam who finish all the course before us didn't submit his thesis yet, but he become a husband and soon will be a father; Peggy didn't buy a new house, she rented it instead, so there's no such a moving-in celebration party. we had the dinner at New Hama, chef Shu is so nice to me, secured the best VIP room for us ( Peggy is sitting on the chair which formal President Lee and current President Chen took ), select the live shirpms and reserve the best Japanese beef , we all had a good time then.

K, the formal marketing manager returned, she apply a new job and the office is on the 8th floor of our buidling, we will definetely cross each other soon- acturally I saw her walking in the lobby yesterday; this is a strange encounter, someone left with an unhappy mood return to the same building and this embarassing will hit us.

TV repair technisian didn't perform his duty last night, the ic were out of function last weekend, We called him up for repair, this gentelman have been fixing our TV since I was a kid -- long before I graduate from univesity, moving 3 places and now have my own house; this is like a man seeing your growth; TV didn't work so, I can even watch the news, this vacancy didn't give me more time to rest, always go to bad over midnight.

Friend's brother join the National Biotec Center early this year and move to our part in Jun, we had a coffee yesterday afternoon, I am interesting to know how Taiwan will build itself to a Biotec advance country , as I see slim chance of it, to bridge this area, Mr. Wu is kind of working hard, I am going to introduce him my classmate Mr. Chen who obtain the PHD from Cornell and become the independant Cow ( OX ) consultant in Taiwan, they may come out with some spark.

Home box come for a service corporation meeting, a friend's friend, the set top box idea was not a pleasant thing to me, I don't really think the box on top of the analog TV will bring any revolutional change of the media world; TV and PC have it's own place to seed and grow, different reviewing environment, target, content and application - to sum it up, the different behavior science; the so call Digital Entertainment Center will come, but probabely not as these people see; the evlovtion is yet to come and the box may be the transaction between Digital TV and Traditional TV.

HK terminate the operation finally, heard the development via associate for months, now it come to an announcement., As I invite all the manager for lunch today, it gave me a good chance to touch upon this sensitive issue, on top of the HK termination impact, I also encourge people to openly discuss the response from our employees, where I bring the empolyee survery result with me.

Assistant marketing manager on board for 2 weeks, I changed the welcome talk to a drink at Mrs. Fei to have a warm feeling, she is in a unstable situation , I can tell that the communication between her and the manger lay a gap and it may result to a regination soon, I will inform my observation to manager.

Our network service been attacted last night which prevent me from posting my blog last night, this is the first time our servie down due to a hack attack, CTO reported to me this morning, this is a strange feeling to me, why people attack someone's service, a personal reason or what ?

yesterday, the lunch is different, I eloborate Sound's problem and obtain opinions, then we identifed a mother who send her kid to the seeding primary school, I make an appointment with her will consalut her comments next Monday; then me and my wife talked about the ' Forest school ", the other non-system educational program running in Taiwan earlier than Seedling -- it established 14 years ago, to compare this 2 schools, one is founded by mother who think kid should be as free as possible; the other run by a scholar who think our kids derserves more than the eduction system provide today, totally different perspective toward the kid's education; it seems my wife favor the Forest school better than Seedling. I may need to bring her to the site and take a look before making appointment with Professor Sher -- the founder of Forest School.

J. come to me in late evening and seek my opinion about the animation company he's running, my advise is simple -- to encourge him become the real executive in the company and take part in the decision make and company devleopment strategy building process, I want him to do the follows:

1. find a good time to have a decent discussion with the other partner who is now holding the General Manager's title , but reluctent to act as the executive, asking his support to make J. the next GM and handle diary operation of the company.
2. present the development plan and business issue to all the employee and share holder, asking their suppor as well.
3. set up a basic company intrernal control policy no matter how small this company is, to follow the systema and regulation jointly agreed with key employee and shareholder.
4. if any business / management issues need my advise, call me any time.
5. Deliver the meeting result by end of Aug and inform me immediately.

I had a dream last night, it had to do with all my entertainment reflection, I dreamt of reconnected with the artist I managed before and someone calling from Eruope and tried very hard to confirm if I am still managing this artist, the reason ? according to the dream , that's because the artist tell the media that I am still managing them, and the media have some source saying that the artist is corporate with another artist ( I remember his name -- Romeo ) to plan their concert and a return album release; I said to the reporter that I ma not longer managing them, when return to my hotle room ( yes, I am staying somewhere in a 5 star hotel and having my morning work out ), a man sitting in the sofa waiting for me, D. lim, an associate in the entertainment business, he is eating my breakfast the hotel send it, which I don't mind and he asked the same question, did I manage the artist still and is he plan to reunion with Romeo; how stranger this dream is; yes, we collobrate develop the artist, and they are planning the 10th annivery reunion concert and without our invlovement, I don't know why this dream come to me. just want to record what happend in my dream last night.

Apply the drama training class for Sound over the weekend, it was a summer cluture and activity program organized by City Culture Center Wen-shen branch; we were located in Wen shen district, to take this advantage, my wife registrate it for Sound,

this afternoon were the last section for the 4 segment classes, there wern't any performacne scheduled for parent presumely, but when sending him for the last section, I saw a poster in front of the glass door notify the parent about the 15 minutes of the unoffical presentaion done by the kids. we were there on time, the teaching advise the parent this is not a performance but to take a glace of how our kids learn to express their feeling by drama training, maybe a alternative way to release their emotion, the puppy show was how they craft it.

when the performance is over, a mother approach me and asked if we were the parent of Sound and told us the abnormal behavior he did for the last 2 days, and even hurt one of the teacher's eye when release his anger by throwing object to the teacher; we were shocked again, we didn't know that his behavior is getting worst and didn't have a chance to close observe his interaction with other children and the environment sourrended by him; to find out the truth, I talked to the prime teacher about Sound, she had the same observation as we did, and tell us the behavior pattern of Sound -- easily arose by othere, try to be the winner in all the games, when stir by other kids , his response is much stonger than others and my peform violence, then when the adult tried to control his temper to prevent bigger damage, he will turn his anger to other objective and even holding his fish tight and put his face in red; we share some experience by exchange with the teacher's professionism; the teacher Miss Ma is kind enough to leave our phone number and promise to contact my wife for further discussion; this broke our heart again; we know he is a trouble for a very long time, we don't sure about his ADCD symdrome and we know his charter will bring him to a terrible future and my lead to a short life due to some querrel and fights with others; we are prepared for the worst, but how to turn this potential disastar around ? we don't have a clue, tried to put him in a private school, but he don't like it, tried to move him to an experimental school, but we are afraid this may increase his adopness to the society; I am thinking of finding a good children sphcatrist to diogose Sound againg and granding us the useful solution for his growth, or join some parent growth group to find the answer from the experience pool; we know it's wrong to beat or yiell him when those mis-havior happened, and we understand it take decent time and efforts to let him know the concequence or result may bring a never mended regret in life; but he can't help to control, he is too emotional ; as I told meself earlier this year, if the primary school period , we don't see an improvement to his behavior or finding a way to control his temper, I shall devoted myself to this kid as much as possible, this is not for nurture him to a great person, but to avoid someone else been hurt by him; even I need to quit my job and concentrate on educating him, the effort can't be saved. I know my wife have give up all the means to solve this headache.

tasting the blue mountain coffee in our of the local coffee shop, this shop existed for 20 years and they brew coffee bean themselves, we've been stay in the same district for 2 decade and make it happen today,. I like the way they decorate this shop, a nice place to talk, enjoy good coffee or killing time by reading a good book, I did the later this morning with my wife and beging my reading with " Monk and the riddle ", a gife from C. after I obtain my degree of MBA.

Diary of a CEO

2004/08/21

2004/08/20

2004/08/19

2004/08/18

2004/08/17

2004/08/16

2004/08/15

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