I landed in Seoul at 4AM which is 3PM Boston time. I was feeling nostalgic so I wrote up a Korean business story. Hope you enjoy it: I havent slept as much as usual on this flight. I have a head full of reminiscences of my previous 200 flights and of arriving in Korea for the first time in 1978, for the second time the day after President Park, Chung Hee was assasinated in 1979, or the month that I spent every year filling in for Stan Kwok, our Korea Representative when he took his Boston home leaves. Then of moving to Korea as EVP and Executive Director of Korea Merchant Banking Corp (KMBC), the nations leading merchant bank where I spent the ten best years of my 27 year career with Bank of Boston. Then there was a year from 2006-2007 that I spent at Korea Technology Bank working for my friend and majority shareholder. To my lasting regret, I didnt accomplish much at that bank, I just couldnt connect my expertise to the requirements of the job I accepted but I did make many new friends both Korean and foreign. Now Im walking around the cabin in my stocking feet and am feeling self conscious about it but the Korean Air slippers are only size 8 and my feet are size 14. This got me thinking about the trial and error way I went about learning what is considered polite and acceptable in Korean culture and what is not. Let me start by saying this is not a cultural put down. Quite the opposite in fact. Every story I write is a love letter to Korea and my lifelong Korean friends. But when I first visited Korea in 1978 the country was poor and strapped for cash. A construction worker earned $5 a week for six twelve hour days and a senior government official earned $10 a month plus all he could extort via the power of his position. One needed government permission, connections and very good reasons to even attempt to travel abroad.which created an insular culture affected only by occasional exposure to the 50,000 American troops that were and mostly are still stationed in the 68 US military bases on the peninsula, and the highly coveted American products like spam, coffee mate, Maxwell House Instant Coffee, and Heinz Ketchup that found their way from the US commisaries to the Korean black market. Koreans have a strong sense of fairness - a trait that I admire. When I began my career with KMBC in 1987, open displays of wealth were swiftly punished. Koreas introduction to and continuing love affair with golf began with invitations to play on the Us Army golf courses from US Army Officers. They were successful diplomatic efforts to forge a close relationship with their Korean counterparts. The Korean government, which initially was comprised of the Korean Armys, graduating class members, eventually reluctantly agreed to allow Korean companies to own golf memberships on newly developed Korean golf courses since many heads of foreign companies that were visitors to Korea were golfers and the government was persuaded of the business need for them. I clearly remember during the spring flooding of the Han River that runs through Seoul in 1990, a number of businessmen and government officials were caught golfing. To enjoy yourself when homes and businesses were being flooded and 5 or 6 people even lost their lives, deeply offended the Korean sense of Were all in this together. Were all going to arrive at the land of milk and honey on the same bus, at the same time or we will have failed as a society. That was a noble aspiration that I admire to this day. To a man the exposed golfers had to resign their positions, even from family owned businesses. A few years later, many having been punished sufficiently in societys eyes, were deemed rehabilitated and their position and their family honor was restored. There were other little inconsequential habits that foreigners found annoying that were totally acceptable in the Korean sense and there were American habits that I learned the hard way were totally unacceptable in Korean culture. For instance, eating was done quickly and noisily with lots of slurping and lip smacking and chewing with the mouth open; but Koreans found the western concept of having stimulating conversation during dinner to be very discomforting at first. Conversations were not thought of as good for digestion or good for the seat of Korean health...the stomach. At Korea Merchant Banking Corp I was one of the seven members of the executive committee and we would meet in the Presidents office almost daily; take our shoes off, chain smoke and drink sweet persimmon tea with one pine nut floating in the cup (I still miss those pine nuts). We did this while attending to the necessary requirements of running a highly successful, cutting edge, merchant bank. One day at this meeting, I pulled out a handkerchief and blew my nose and everyone suddenly froze in horror, mouths agape. Raejin Park, President, my older brother (my hyung nim), my lifelong friend became unglued and asked Bob, would you do that in front of anyone at Bank of Boston in Boston? I replied, of course and no one would think anything about it. Raejin said, Even in front of Chad Gifford your President? I said, sure and no one would think a thing about it. Raejin said, well thats just terrible, disgusting, and they all nodded in agreement. Thank god I had the presence of mind not to bring up their noisy eating habits! The staff of KMBC was comprised of Koreas elite. Ivy league graduates of primarily Seoul National University, Yonsei University and Korea University. We hired the best and the brightest at the rate of about 10 a year and they were chosen from an average of 1,500 well qualifed applicants. In fact, several of our junior staff came from families that could have bought and sold KMBC several times over. Cars conveyed status in Korea and top management, including me, at KMBC drove (or were driven in) Hyundai Grandeurs, the top of the line Korean limousine in its day.`Directors and Senior Managers Drove Hyundai Sonatas or the equivalent Daewoo product and junior staff drove Hyundai Excels or the like. Golf club, health club and other memberships and other perks were also doled out according to a carefully considered ranking system. Ill never forget when one of our best and brightest new recruits, a high energy, free thinking, Korean born but US educated trainee drove his brand new, sports model Hyundai Sonata into the KMBC lot and parked it for everyone to see. Something like this had never been done before. The outrage from KMBCs general managers was palpable. Everyone knew that this kid could have driven up in a Rolls Royce or been flown up in the family helicopter but suffice it to say that that one incident prompted a two hour executive committee meeting where it was decided that he had to be made an example of. He was told to lose the car and then was given the crappiest most demeaning trainee assignments that were available and he left KMBC within two years. But dont worry he left for a highly successful career as a currency trader with a leading international bank which was the perfect preparation for taking over his fathers oil trading business. P.S. Young Il Chang, when you read this, dont mention his name. :)
Posted on: Thu, 18 Sep 2014 20:31:49 +0000
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