Opinion - The Korea Times

Freedom from leadership

By Jason Lim In the last 30 years, leadership studies (both research and teaching) have become a multi-billion dollar industry around the globe. Books such as “Emotional Intelligence” by Daniel Goleman, “Leadership On the Line” by Ronald Heifetz and Marty Linsky, “Good to Great” by Jim Collins, among countless others, have become perennial bestsellers not just in the United States but across the globe.Despite the boom in leadership industry, however, I cannot help but sense a lack of a certain solidity, even hollowness, when it comes to leadership studies ― there is a temporary euphoria, followed by a feeling of emptiness after reading all these insightful books and taking all there wonderfully literate leadership course. Perhaps this comes from the fact that there are as many definitions of leadership as there are authors who write about it. Perhaps this comes from my skepticism that leadership could actually be taught through a book or in a classroom setting.You see, just because we can examine the lives of past leaders and analyze what

May 1, 2015By Jason Lim

Jason Lim

Diversifying without excluding

By Jason LimRecently, The Washington Post published an article titled, “Asian Students Dominate Admissions to Elite Thomas Jefferson High School,” explaining that 66 percent of the incoming freshmen class of this crown jewel of the Fairfax County school system in Northern Virginia consisted of Asian Americans of various descent. In contrast, only 10 black and 8 Hispanic students were accepted out of an incoming class of 487 students.This is similar to what’s been happening to other well-known elite magnet schools in New York City. According to an article in NPR, “blacks and Latinos make up around 70 percent of all the kids in the city's public school system, but make up just a tiny share of the kids at those three schools. At Stuyvesant, generally considered the best school in the city, they made up less than 4 percent of the total student body last year.” In fact, only 10 black students were accepted out of an incoming class of 953 students.This imbalance has led to handwringing on the part of school officials and local politicians, who have pushed for

Apr 17, 2015By Jason Lim

Jason Lim

Korean culture of forced deference

By Jason Lim A heated exchange between two female celebrities caught on video “B-roll” was the biggest news story in Korea last week. The incident between Lee Tae-yim and Yewon occurred as Lee was coming out of the cold sea on Jeju Island where they had taped a well-known TV show. The B-roll only shows Yewon sitting on the beach trying to get some sun as Lee approaches her off camera and begins a conversation. Yewon turns to look at Lee, squinting into the sun.This is my translation of the exchange. I tried to keep it as literal as possible but tweaked it to still convey the nature of the conversation.Lee: Hello.Yewon: Are you cold?Lee: Yeah, it’s freezing. Why don’t you try it out (Go into the water)?Yewon: Don’t want to.Lee: You don’t want to? You like watching others do it, but don’t want to do it yourself?Yewon: No, no. (That’s not what I mean)Lee: Why are you talking to me disrespectfully?Yewon: No, no. (I am not)Lee: Do I look like a pushover?Yewon: It’s just cold, that’s all. (There is a two-second lapse as she l

Apr 3, 2015By Jason Lim

Jason Lim

Jasmine Lee's question to Korea

By Jason Lim Jasmine Lee, the first Philippine-born, naturalized Korean to be elected as a proportional representative for the ruling, conservative Saenuri Party, is probably the most unifying politician in Korea today; she’s hated by both the right and the left for her main sponsorship of the bill that would allow birth registration of children born in Korea from one or more parents who are illegal aliens.Although they wouldn’t automatically become Korean citizens, these children would be allowed to reside in Korea for a "special residential period” and entitled to basic rights to minimum healthcare, education, and welfare benefits. Their parents would also receive a temporary reprieve from forced deportation until their children’s special residential period ends, which can be extended using an application process to be defined later.Supporters are eager to point out that this bill, if passed, would affect around 20,000 children in Korea today, allowing their families to stay together and live without constant fear of being caught, stuck in a no man&rsqu

Mar 20, 2015By Jason Lim

Jason Lim

Job interviews in English

By Jason LimBeing a longtime columnist for The Korea Times, I am used to receiving emails with comments (mostly negative) about my opinions. However, I occasionally get emails from desperate students or job seekers who are looking for some secret to quickly improve their English speaking skills, mostly because many of them are facing a job interview in English.Apparently, more and more companies in Korea finally realized that TOEIC and TOEFL that scores do not accurately predict English performance in real situations.The urgency over the situation has become so dire that industry CEO’s have been publicly pressing for English education reforms so that college graduates become ``hirable” in today’s global environment.A few years ago, they even demanded a new testing system that would accurately reflect the English skills of a potential hire. This is understandable since it costs money to hire someone only to find out that they are not ready to do the job and have to be further trained. But if TOEIC and TOEFL do not accurately measure a candidate’s English profic

Mar 6, 2015By Jason Lim

Jason Lim

Fresh off the boat

By Jason Lim I just watched the premiere of the highly anticipated ABC sitcom “Fresh off the Boat.” Twenty years ago, I also watched the premiere of “All-American Girl,” which means that I belong to the small group of people who would have watched the premiere of the two sitcoms in the U.S. that featured an Asian-American cast. That 20 years passed between the two shows is a stark reminder of how difficult it is for new demographics to stake a claim in Hollywood and the public consciousness of America.Watching the opening of “Fresh off the Boat” actually made me think of Margaret Cho and the burden of representation that she must have carried throughout the years when her “All-American Girl” was deemed a failure and canceled. Although I haven’t really followed her colorful evolution since then, this new show reminded me of how fresh, talented and empowering she was to Asian-Americans in the early 1990s as she made her meteoric rise through the stand-up comedy landscape. She allowed Asian-Americans to see their cultural experi

Feb 6, 2015By Jason Lim

Jason Lim

Where are the Moms?

By Jason LimKorea has recently been horrified by a spate of CCTV footages that show child care providers punch, slap, and hit small children left in their care.As is wont in these cases, there is a social outrage followed by collective handwringing about what’s wrong with Korean society that allows such crimes to happen. Most of the outrage seems to be aimed at the individual childcare providers who were caught abusing the children, which is only right. These perpetrators should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Nothing can excuse the horrific behavior against helpless children who were entrusted to their care.Undoubtedly, the government will soon announce a package of reactive solutions that will address many of the problems that have already been pointed out, including more stringent training and certification program for childcare providers and mandating CCTV installation at all childcare centers.Oh, one more. How could I forget? As one lawmaker suggested, hire grandmothers to make morning and afternoon visits to childcare centers to check on the children. It&r

Jan 23, 2015By Jason Lim

Jason Lim

Je suis Charlie

By Jason Lim I am Charlie today, as should everyone who values the freedom to say what you want when you want and how you want to say it.Note that I didn’t say where since I believe that each people and country have the right to define what constitutes acceptable speech for them according to their traditions, cultural sensibilities, and political maturity. However, in a liberal democracy where freedom of speech is enshrined, no one has the right to threaten or intimidate others for expressing their thoughts, however distasteful, disrespectful, and downright offensive.And there is no question that Charlie Hebdo’s satires were offensive. While they were an equal opportunity offender, there is also no question that their past satire of the Prophet Muhammad rubbed especially hard against Muslim sensibilities around the world. In many ways, they were admittedly vulgar. But what is freedom of speech if it doesn’t include the freedom to be as offensive and vulgar as you want to. After all, one person’s vulgarity could be another person’s satire.When Charli

Jan 9, 2015By Jason Lim

Jason Lim

Living as a Buddhist-Christian

By Jason LimAs a child, I was ashamed of being a Buddhist when I lived in Paraguay because everyone I knew was a Christian. My parents were the sole exception, remaining staunchly Buddhist even when there was no Buddhist temple to be found. In one of our rooms, they built an altar with a large, framed poster of the Buddha in front of which they bowed 108 times every morning.This altar might have been a source of spiritual strength to my parents but, to me, it was something that I tried desperately to hide from my Christian friends. Not my local Paraguayan friends, who couldn’t care less. But my Korean-Paraguayan friends, who frequently and loudly professed their hatred of anything non-Christian, had to be kept away from that room with the altar lest they found me out as a closet Buddhist.This was especially difficult during the holiday season. My parents encouraged me and my little brother to actually go to church and partake in the festivities. However, I remember always feeling conflicted between the obvious attraction of the church during the holiday season with its miraculo

Jan 2, 2015By Jason Lim

Jason Lim

What if Cho Hyun-ah were a man?

By Jason LimThe privileged scion of a conglomerate that runs the Korean Air becomes enraged against over some triviality about the proper way of serving macadamia nuts to first class passengers. Even as the plane begins to move away from the gate on its way from New York to Seoul, she orders the pilot to take the plane back to the gate and sends off the chief flight attendant for not knowing his regulations. Throughout this episode, she apparently shouts curses and abuses at the involved flight attendants, creating a huge scene.When this story leaked on social media, this episode went viral in a big way both domestically and internationally, creating an embarrassment for the conglomerate and leading to the resignation of Cho from her post as a vice president at the airline. However, the story refuses to die a quick death as it represents a perfect storm of three main resentments that’re widely shared by many in Korea today.One, resentment over the seemingly unassailable power and privilege of the few chaebol family clans over everyone else; two, resentment over the have’s

Dec 12, 2014By Jason Lim

Jason Lim

Read more

Freedom from leadership

Diversifying without excluding

Korean culture of forced deference

Jasmine Lee's question to Korea

Job interviews in English

Fresh off the boat

Where are the Moms?

Je suis Charlie

Living as a Buddhist-Christian

What if Cho Hyun-ah were a man?

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