Getting ahead while at lunch

By Agnes Yu

Career development is always worthwhile but often likely to get neglected on your list of priorities. Making it easy, accessible and most importantly, enjoyable is the recently launched “Lunch and Learn” series by LinkedSeoul. Targeting the international business community in Seoul, LinkedSeoul provides networking opportunities in various formats. For anyone who wishes to upgrade or polish their business skills these new monthly lectures during lunchtime will be valuable from a variety of vantages.

At the event, a guest speaker shares lessons learned from personal experiences. Attendees can gain insight and inspiration from hearing directly about an individual’s story, based on working in Korea and find out how the person got as far as they did professionally.

The first Lunch and Learn took place in a boardroom on the 41st floor of the Gangnam Finance Center on Feb. 8 between noon and 2 p.m. Ron Cahoon, the president of SFA Consulting, spoke about helping Korean companies win multimillion dollar conference bids.

Cahoon first came to Korea on a FedEx plane arriving at Gimpo Airport in 1990 as a soldier for the U.S. military. After completing his tour of duty Cahoon’s life and career meandered in a range of directions until he eventually landed back in Seoul. A second degree and participating in Toastmasters helped him to recognize one of his skills and how to maximize that skill. Toastmasters is a club that is active all over the world and basically helps members improve their public speaking ability. From attending these meetings Cahoon learned how to help people by giving them confidence. Cahoon said, “The purpose of SFA Consulting is to help Korean professionals improve their leadership and communication skills in order to get results and achieve their goals.”

Through his company he has advised many organizations such as the National Forensics Service of Korea, the Korean Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Seoul Tourism Organization on how to improve their presentation skills that ultimately won them international conference bids.

Taking part in the Lunch and Learn, was Sonia Hensley, Overseas Marketing Coordinator at COEX, who said, “Linked Seoul’s Lunch and Learn event was great in that I was able to meet internationally-minded people who are involved in the same industry as me, but with very different company backgrounds — and all during a short lunch break.”

Since she works for COEX the lecture was rather applicable and she added, “Ron Cahoon’s speech was informative and helped me think about my own work from a different perspective.”

The setting is intimate and casual enough to encourage questions and answers throughout the presentation along with avid debate and discussion. Working for a multinational in a foreign setting can pose the regular expected as well as unexpected challenges. Sharing and learning from each other’s experiences can, not only improve your career, but also enhance networking with other global company workers. Cahoon believes that fulfilling our purpose in life involves discovering what we want to achieve and contributing to others as they reach their goals. “We measure success not by what we already have but based on what we have become,” he said.

For the inaugural event, a fresh, organic lunch was prepared by Colette Nickerson, a certified raw food chef and the owner of Raw ColEdibles.

The next event is slated for March 7, also starting at noon on the 19th floor of the Posco Center and Todd Sample will feature. Sample was directly involved with bringing the Keith Haring exhibit to Seoul in 2010 and will speak in reference to organizing art exhibitions.

There is limited seating and registration must be made in advance. The fee is 50,000 won which includes a catered lunch followed by coffee or tea. Refunds are available up to 24 hours before the event. For more information visit www.linkedseoul.org.