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Archive for May, 2011

Packing Again

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged on May 30, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

It’s time to pack again. At least I can take a small suitcase since I’m headed to tropical weather in Saigon.

Today is my younger son’s 21st birthday, but we celebrated last night with the extended family by grilling filet mignons and lobsters. He’s got big plans to spend a few nights at the Tulalip Casino Resort. He’s also volunteered to drive me to the airport today.

My wife is already on her way to the Oregon coast with her girlfriends. I had to carry a heavy load of wine bottles to the car for her this morning. Later this week, she is going to Los Angeles for a political conference for Korean-Americans.

My older son, who is also 21 for another month, is out buying riding gear because he just bought an enduro motorcycle. I went with him yesterday to negotiate a better deal, but only got an extra $200 off. I’m pathetic. I guess an enduro is a lot better than the crouch rocket we used to have.

My brother just got back from a trip to Australia and Vietnam. We got to see each other a couple of days and now I’m heading out. My father is in Seoul visiting.

Such is life in today’s world.

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Organizing to be Adaptive as a Competitive Advantage

Posted in business, management, tagged , , on May 28, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

Natural law says that the ability to adapt and evolve are the keys to survival. In today’s business with technologies disrupting the environment, this has become even more obvious.

Inability to adapt fast enough has for ever changed the viability of many newspapers and magazines. An internet start-up like TMZ has completely changed People Magazine’s status within the market place. Netflix continues to disrupt the market for Comcast and Dish Networks. The iPad and other tablets are shaking up Microsoft’s business model.

Executives now need to organize around the ability to change and adapt. Many company executives see the trends turning against their companies, but still cannot course correct because of the way they are organized – bureaucratic systems that protect the status quo. 

 I’ve had various instances in my executive career trying to course correct the company’s vision. Moving people in a different, unfamiliar direction is not easy. The message for the need for change has to be clear. Some level of management/personnel changes need to be made to lend credibility to the message. The new direction has to be compelling. There also needs to be a clear way of keeping a scorecard on the changes that is visible throughout the organization.

The fast changes in the business environment is only going to be accelerated. Make your organization’s ability to adapt quickly into one of your strategic advantages.

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Be Real, but also be Inspiring in Planning

Posted in business, entrepreneur, executive communication, tagged , , on May 13, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

Greetings from Bristol, once a central port city to the old European Slave trade. Today, it’s a nice British town with a vibrant college feel.

I’m here for an executive planning session. That means a lot of staring at spreadsheets and engaging in “street (US) / “city” (UK) talk about the company. I’m pretty comfortable with it having been involved in one IPO and many M&A transactions.

However, when planning, I’m more interested in the “inspirational” elements. The reason for our plan can’t just be explained on a spreadsheet or a powerpoint presentation. I want to be part of something BIG — something bigger than me. I want to disrupt or change or contribute. And I want to take my people with me.

Of course, a company needs to create shareholder value, but the story has to be more compelling than that. Good financials should be a NECESSARY mean to accomplish a greater end.

If people are inspired, they will be more engaged, more invested, more creative, more motivated. Cross check the planning in context of a story. How interesting is it? So what? Does it get people’s attention?

Be real, but also be inspiring. That’s what an executive needs to be.

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Observations of Seoul

Posted in travel, tagged , , , , , , on May 8, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

Chocolate rice cake offers a "stickier" texture, part of the new fusion wave in Korean foods.

Just concluded a week-long visit to Seoul, Korea. Certainly, a lot has changed since I lived here 20 years ago. The country has become truly an affluent, developed nation. People seem a bit more relaxed, courteous, without the constant chip on the shoulder like before.

The things that impressed me the most were:

  • Food. Affluence brings lots of experimentations with the local cuisine, and on the most part, the food is excellent. Modern Korean food is more diverse, healthier and just plain fantastic.
  • Infrastructure. Yes, the US is the biggest economy in the world, but it is also hampered by its shere size. The infrastructure in Seoul is generally superior with its modern subway systems, high-speed trains and better-engineered roads.
  • The New Hip. I’ve heard Tokyo and Seoul were blazing fashion trends with more bold concepts than from Paris, New York and Milan. I didn’t believe it until revisiting. Lots of European concepts with Asian twists make for a serious fashion scene. Also, the Korean pop culture is dominating Asia, and moving into Latin America.
  • New Technologies. Whether gaming, social media or mobile concepts, Korea is right there in innovations. I expect more innovations to come from Korea in coming years.
  • Opportunistic. Koreans are have the largest foreign communities in Indonesia and Vietnam. They are the largest group of foreign students in China. They are gaining influence in future economic powers.

A few negative things:

  • Pollution. I was in Seoul during the Yellow Dust Season (Chinese pollution clouds moving in). It was absolutely horrible.
  • Lack of Diversity. Yes, I know more foreigners are embedded into the local culture (apparently there are 1 million of them living here). It certainly is more diverse than when I had lived there. Still, the country is still pretty homogeneous, which doesn’t work well for someone like myself.
  • Height. I didn’t like so many of the young women being taller than me. It’s an ego thing.

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5 Simple Advice For Entrepreneurs

Posted in business, entrepreneur, tagged on May 7, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

All around me, there are people who are taking the leap into entrepreneurship. I think it is an exciting time when startups are hot again.

As a person who was fortunate enough to be involved in six different startups as a minority founder to sole founder, I get excited every time I hear about a friend launching a new venture. Many times, I’m asked for advice. Unfortunately, I have nothing to novel to say.

All I have to offer are these simple things:

  1. Make sure that the purpose of the new venture represents something you are passionate about, not just to make money
  2. No matter the business plan, focus on cash flow, cash flow, and more cash flow. If you’re building something from scratch, at least double or triple your projection for cash flow.
  3. You will inevitably second-guess, regret your decision to start your own venture at some point. It has happened to me each and every time. At such times, focus back your passions.
  4. Be flexible. As your business plan rolls out, be attentive for subtle market reactions and be prepared adjust course accordingly.
  5. Remember, it’s about the people, your team. Treat them well and fairly, and they will make things happen for you.

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Investors, Entrepreneurs Differ in Perspective

Posted in business, entrepreneur on May 6, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

Catching up with old friends is one of the best parts of visiting Seoul, a city where I used to live some 20 years ago.

One such friend has recently started his own venture after spending many years as an executive with investment banks and most recently with Google’s Merger & Acquisitions team. After years of targeting successful startups for acquisitions, he was hungry to do something on his own.

Now, as his web-based company is nearing its launch, he was both excited and concerned. The “execution” component of the plan had taken some toll on him: The long hours, the personnel issues, the repeated re-evaluation of the plan, and the constant self-doubt while always having to be a cheerleader to the rest of the team.

He has a good plan, the one that had him excited six months ago. But now, the inertia of day-to-day execution has clouded that vision a bit. He just needs a friend to tell him to look up once in a while. These are typical cycles that all entrepreneurs go through.

There is a big difference between the mindset of investors who are used to asking the tough questions and modeling businesses versus those who start such businesses. The former are taught to be skeptical but attentive for key “models”. The latter are eternal optimists who believe in a vision and are driven by their passion.

Some people can make that jump across investor-to-entrepreneur divide, but it is not a natural thing. The jump the other way from entrepreneur-to-investor seems to be an easier transformation. 

Regardless, I look forward to his eventual success.

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Unlikely of Friends in the Unlikeliest of Situations

Posted in People, travel, Uncategorized, tagged , on May 4, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

Rick taught me to drink traditional rice liquor, makuli

Twenty-six years ago (1985), I showed up in Seoul as a naive Korean-American student looking to find my roots. The problem was that I had very little Korean language skills and even less cultural perspective.

At the time, a 6′ 4″ bald white man befriended me and took me under his wing. No one stuck out more than he did in a sea of short, black-haired Koreans back then. The country was just starting to become an economic “tiger” and the government was not yet even a democracy.

However, as a former US military intelligence personnel, Rick spoke fluent Korean and had immersed himself completely into the local culture. My ”hyung” (big brother) taught me to be Korean again. He would forced me to eat Korean delicacies that I initially resisted. He would teach me how to drink in the traditional Korean custom and how to honor my elders.

We were quite the pair back then, when people would just gawk at him and ask me about my “giant” friend. He would always then answer for me, which at times would send people running away from us.

When I returned to the states, he too returned and trained to be an officer at Fort Lewis, a military base south of Seattle. Since he had no family there, I had the honor of pinning his officer pin on him during his ceremony. 

Later, when I was getting married, he was the MC at our reception, delighting our families with his Korean jokes.

Today, we’re getting together again as I’m visiting Seoul on vacation. His heart always tugged him back to here, where he’s now married with two beautiful daughters. Last time we got together, it was the day before my flight back home. The facts are still a bit fuzzy but I almost missed that flight when I finally found my way home the next afternoon. This time, my wife has insisted that I meet him days prior to my return flight.

In life, a friend like Rick is rare. Who would have thought a farm boy from Iowa and a Korean-American boy from Seattle would affect each other’s lives in so many unlikely ways? I’m so thankful for having him as a friend.

Now, I got to come up with a strategy to pay for our night out as we will be fighting for each bill — just as he had taught me to do a long time ago.

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Three Key Principals of Managing Change

Posted in business, tagged , on May 3, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

Sometimes in the cycle of a business, drastic structural changes are needed for an organization to leap to the next level of development and growth. Such changes are never easy and some companies altogether fail to recover from such an event.

There are three key principles can help an organization maneuver through such drastic changes.

  1. Compelling Vision: There needs to be a clear and compelling vision behind the change. If the reason is just to cut costs to only improve the financials, you’re just bailing water out of a sinking ship. Good luck. People may understand this rationale, but it is not inspiring. What an uninspiring tone to set during a difficult time of change. People will feverishly rally together in times of uncertainty if they believe that their actions will lead to bigger and better things. Be clear with a compelling vision.
  2. Be Decisive: Implement the changes quickly. Take too long and the leadership quickly loses credibility within the ranks. Obviously, the proposed changes came about for a reason. Don’t lose sight of that while making the needed changes.
  3. Make the tough personnel decisions upfront – as much as possible. At uncertain times, people need to focus on objectives ahead with confidence. Do not let the team waste energy speculating about further personnel changes. Let them rally around the vision that was outlined.

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RSA Animate – Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us

Posted in business, management, tagged , on May 1, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

Even if you’ve seen this before, it’s great to be reminded about what really motivates us, especially during business planning cycles like the one we are in currently.

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