Came across this article which is about the Hong Jung Wook guy whom many have a love/hate relationship with because of the book he wrote and the way the media tried to hail him as the ultimate Harvard graduate to come out of Corea. The article depicted some interesting things that Hong Jung Wook had said and I thought I'd take a moment to reflect on some of them.

I realize that trying to get to know somebody though the mass media is like having all the network tv channels except ABC; you don't get "The inside stuff". But if I were to judge soley based on the impressions I got through the eyes of the journalist, I'd say I like him better now as a business man than I did when he had written his autobiography. I'm a strong advocate of bringing newer ideas, and younger executives into the Corean business world. I believe that the Corean business market is vastly underutilized mostly due to the beureaucracy and the top-down structure that predominates the Corean corporate world. So I believe having a young exec like him armed with a group of older advisors bids very well for the future of my homeland. I don't care much about his personal life, so all those rumors about how he was a womanizer while he was in Beijing, etc... doesn't bother me at all. I'm not the type of person who cares if people live by their words. Feel free to give me good advice even if you don't live by it yourself. If I think it's a good attitude to live life by, I'll take it. No questions asked. Ok, so going back to the article...

Being a perfectionist myself, I liked the fact that he gave off the vibe of a perfectionist yet showed signs of vulnerability which, I think, neutralized him of his somewhat colder perfectionst attitude and made him sound more "human". (Of course people will argue that it's all a facade, etc... but as I said I don't care if he really doesn't live by his words. I think it's a good attitude to have for myself, so I'll keep on thinking about it in a positive way) I have to also agree with him on his belief that "Studying is the easiest". However, he should've rephrased the statement so as to provide the big picture. In other words, if I'm understanding that statement correctly I think it should've been translated as such.

Trying to digest things that are being taught to you explicitly under the supervision of teaching assistants and professors in order to score high on exams is not as hard as trying to invent something new that could potentially have a huge impact in the world all by yourself.

Void of "distractions", I also concur with the above statement. Notice neither one of us is asserting that studying is "easy". It's just easi-er than the other activities that are part of the same category ( a category usually comprised of activities that the maker of the statement considers to be alternatives to studying. ). Actually, I tend to add to that statement by saying that "Studying is so much fun" to which most people react with utter disgust. Of course there's a condition that goes along with that statement. "Studying is so much fun, if you have found the right subject for yourself" ( Don't' forget that the subject can be anything ranging from singing to dancing to history to math. ). This is the very reason that made me workaholic upon graduation and made me even want to take classes while working full-time; it was just so much fun! However, this ties into the next part that struck me while I was reading the article. He said that he didn't want to sacrifice family for work. This is something that has yet to hit home for me. Given the reality of the society in which I am part of, I firmly believe that I need at least these two main things in order to stay happy.

1. Somebody I love.
2. Some activitiy I love, and this activity has to pay the bills and leave me with some change.

As for our dear Hong Jung Wook, as much as I believe he has the potential to become one of the key players of the Corean economy, I also believe he must be extremely careful in the ways he approaches the society that is still predominantly run by the old heads with their outdated ways of running things. Without a doubt, he's not going to be able to avoid political agendas in order to truly make a difference, either. All in all, if he's gonna be at the fore front of starting up the new economy in Corea he certainly has my suppport! Good luck!