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Jason Lim

Jason Lim is a Washington, D.C.-based expert on innovation, leadership and organizational culture. He has been writing for The Korea Times since 2006.

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Jason Lim

Studying Under a Desk in Seoul

By Jason Lim In the 1970's, elementary schools in South Korea were called the ``National People's Schools" and the curriculum consisted of equal parts academic subjects and anti-communist propaganda. The Korean War was still fresh in our parents' minds who had suffered through it when they were teenagers, and everyone had several uncles or cousins who had been killed by the dreaded North Korean People's Army. The South Korean government told us constantly that the big bad North Korean bear would soon come down to devour us once and for all and subject us to the dreaded Red Communism, which was the closest you could get to hell on earth. Therefore, going to elementary school in South Korea in the 1970s had inevitable consequences. Not only were we subject to anti-communist diatribes and over-the-top signs warning against North Korean spies, but we also had to practice escaping the school grounds and forming cadres of Homeland Defense Youth Corps in case of a communist invasion; our homeroom teachers were also our Homeland Defense Corp captains, giving a whole new meanin

Oct 1, 2007By Jason Lim
Jason Lim

9/11 & Korean American Father

By Jason Lim Although our family left Korea to begin a new life in America over 30 years ago, I never realized that my North Korea born father was an American patriot until 9/11. My father was always the epitome of the traditional silent type, never raising his voice with his family yet guiding his children by how diligently he worked everyday as the owner/operator of a tiny dry cleaning store in Yonkers, a blue collar suburb of New York City. He would leave at six in the morning and come back at eight at night, covered with the dirt and smell of cleaning other people's dirty laundry. Even in the face of some unexpected business or family crisis, my father would be silent, offering no excuses and exhibiting no emotions. The next morning, my father would go off to work as usual, facing mounds of dirty clothes. My father rarely talked about how he was raised in Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea. He never mentioned that he was accepted as a full scholarship student to Moscow University Medical School when the Korean War began and erased that option. He never ta

Sep 17, 2007By Jason Lim
Jason Lim

Gimmicky Leadership

By Jason Lim Recent and repeated scandals over academic credentials by well-known and respected persons in Korea are shocking. But it’s only another symptom of a deeper crisis in personal integrity that cuts across large swaths of South Korean society and seems to touch every strata of society from teachers, clergy, entertainers, to politicians. Shin Jeong-ah and her recent ilk have joined the hall of shame already populated by Hwang Woo-suk and other people seduced by their own hubris and trapped by a web of lies. The tragedy is that these people are the role models that we expected our children to learn from and aspire to become. We celebrated them for their achievements, not knowing that, for some, these achievements were lies. We thought they were genuine heroes, but when we reached forth, we found out that they were mere smoke and mirrors. As we stand in shock, we feel betrayed and angry. Our heroes turned out to be fakes. Yet after all the juicy stories have come and gone, with personal shame buried and forgotten, we need to examine the society that has allowed s

Sep 3, 2007By Jason Lim
Jason Lim

Leading With KISS

By Jason Lim General Colin Powell, the retired chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who was also the first black man to become the U.S. secretary of state, is known for his inspiring leadership. Powell's 18 leadership lessons along with explanations of how they apply to business were the subject of a famous article in the December 1996 issue of Management Review by Oren Harari, a professor of management at the McLaren Graduate School of Business, the University of San Francisco. Although all 18 lessons are pearls of wisdom, the 14th lesson strikes me most personally. It reads: ``Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers, who can cut through argument, debate, and doubt, to offer a solution everybody can understand.” In expanding upon this leadership lesson, Harari adds, ``Effective leaders understand the KISS principle: Keep It Simple, Stupid. They articulate vivid, over-arching goals and values … their visions and priorities are lean and compelling, not cluttered and buzzword laden.” This lesson echoes loudest for me because of my past experience as an in

Aug 20, 2007By Jason Lim
Jason Lim

ABC’s of Seoul

By Jason Lim Korea-related issues have been in the international media lately. The kidnapping of Korean Christian volunteer workers by the Taliban in Afghanistan and the passage of Resolution 121 in the U.S. House of Representatives were treated as major international stories. Even the brief power outage at a Samsung chipmaking plant made the news throughout the world. Of course, it seems that whenever North Korea clears its throat, everyone stops to listen. In a way, all this attention highlights the globalization of Korea as a newsmaker. However, most of these news stories about Korea that garner international exposure tend to be about tragedy, conflict, or accidents. Even the passage of the resolution on ``comfort women’’ was largely portrayed as a triumph of grass-roots mobilization of Korean David against the powerful Japanese Goliath fought on the battlefield of U.S. Congress. Of course, news stories will focus on the unexpected and sensational drama. That’s the nature of the beast. This is why the recently announced plan by ABC TV Boston (WCVB TV 5) to featu

Aug 6, 2007By Jason Lim
Jason Lim

Hallyu’s Popularity vs. Influence

By Jason Lim Recent newspaper stories have cast dire warnings over the possible demise of hallyu (Korean wave), accusing the inferior quality of recent hallyu exports as the main culprit. But their hysterical diagnosis is not salient because it ignores that hallyu is a market driven phenomenon. Market forces will dictate the quality of any product, including hallyu, without unnecessary hand-wringing from the critics. Eventually hallyu will reach a happy equilibrium between profit motive, quality, and demand, allowing it to mature as a commercial presence in Asia and perhaps even beyond. Even more, all this fretting is useless because popularity of any kind is ephemeral by definition. Even the most celebrated trend is bound to wane, even if you are The Beatles, only to be brought back as ``oldies but goodies.’’ In short, hallyu as a popular phenomenon will take its natural course as dictated by how well it adapts to the changing market forces and people’s tastes. However, histrionics over hallyu’s popularity should not be confused with serious debate over the possibil

Jul 23, 2007By Jason Lim
Jason Lim

The Real Story of 121

By Jason Lim House Resolution 121, a non-binding resolution on ``comfort women" introduced by Rep. Mike Honda recently passed the House Committee of Foreign Affairs by an overwhelming margin of 39 to 2. The resolution calls on the Japanese government to officially acknowledge its responsibilities and apologize to innocent women who were forced into sexual slavery during World War II. Asides from the political ramifications of its passage, the resolution represents a fascinating case of how a political lobbying effort can be rooted in a social mobilization that entails the intentional creation of an activism-centered network to engage in lobbying. The comfort women issue is not new. Similar House resolutions were introduced before and were inevitably defeated by the Japanese lobby who convinced most U.S. lawmakers who believed that embarrassing Japan, America's stalwart ally in Asia, by getting involved in essentially an Asian dispute would be counterproductive to American interests in the region. After the last defeat in 2006, proponents of the comfort women resolution

Jul 9, 2007By Jason Lim
Jason Lim

Leadership Journeys

By Jason Lim For the past year, I have been privileged to contribute a regular bi-weekly column to The Korea Times called ``Notes from Harvard.’’ Now that I have graduated and moved to Washington D.C. to begin my new job, we thought that the column could use a new name. And since Washington D.C. is the capital city of the U.S., we thought that ``Letter from America’’ would be appropriate, if not altogether imaginative. The contents of the column will also make a significant shift. If ``Notes from Harvard’’ consisted of my thoughts on various topics that I encountered while at Harvard, ``Letter from America’’ will focus mainly on exploring the leadership journeys of various people who have a significant effect on how we live together in the pluralistic society that is the U.S. These are the everyday _ usually unsung _ heroes that inspire, organize, and create situations that break new ground in how people interact with one another in the spirit of common humanity. These are the very special people who lead through their words and actions. They share three things that make

Jun 25, 2007By Jason Lim
Jason Lim

Last Lessons

By Jason Lim CAMBRIDGE, Mass. _ The commencement ceremony at Harvard University was held this past Thursday. It was filled with festivities, with well-known politicians and luminaries, including the commencement speakers Bill Clinton and Bill Gates mingling with the graduating students, taking pictures, offering sage advice, and inspirational speeches. This was the 371st Commencement at Harvard University. Considering that the United States was founded 231 years ago, Harvard is more than 140 years older than America. Such organizational longevity is impressive by any standards. Such organizational longevity with consistent excellence is almost unparalleled, and speaks to an equally notable tradition of leadership excellence at Harvard. More than any class that I took at the Kennedy School about leadership, it is my participation at the commencement ceremonies that really drove home the two most important leadership lessons that will guide me in the future. The first one is central to my professional life, the second to my personal one. The first lesson struck me when I

Jun 11, 2007By Jason Lim
Jason Lim

‘Dangun’ as CEO

By Jason Lim CAMBRIDGE, Mass. _ When you are here at the Kennedy School for any length of time, you soon realize that its world-famous Executive Leadership programs are in high demand. These weeklong programs bring to Cambridge senior executives and government officials eager to learn from faculty renowned in their study of leadership and partake in deep and frank dialogue with fellow students from all over the world. And I mean from all over the world because it’s not uncommon to hear heated discussion in Mandarin in one corner of the main building among Chinese Communist Party officials dressed in formal suit and tie and hear an equally heated discussion in Arabic among Middle Eastern businessmen looking exotic in their dignified modesty. All in all, here you can witness how leadership training has certainly become a worldwide phenomenon. Jim Collin’s best-selling book, ``Good to Great,’’ has been a mainstay of the leadership field for the past several years. Jim Collins emphasizes the essential presence of a Level 5 leader for a company to go from being a merely good company

May 28, 2007By Jason Lim
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