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Running Your Own Show (Continued from page 1 of this article )
And if you thought Larry Ellison was the only samurai-CEO in the valley, Kim is not only a CEO but also the only female Tae Kwon Do grandmaster in the world. She says she blends business and the values from her martial arts practice. “It is a spiritual company, everyone believes in maintaining harmony.” Kim, a former coach of the U.S. martial arts team and the only female recipient of the Tae Kwon Do Times Hall of Fame Instructor Award, also teaches in her own school in Milpitas. “Inner peace, self-esteem, confidence comes from martial arts. The Westerners think it’s about being violent, and breaking kneecaps. It’s true purpose is to bring total harmony and inner peace. “Americans lack discipline, something I’m not used to seeing from my country. I don’t like my country how they treat girls, but I don’t like to much freedom they have here.” When Kim arrived in Burlington, Vt., from Korea in her 20s, she spoke little English. Yet, she said, “I recognized that I need to dive into this culture, fully focus on this society.” So to get to know people, she carried a sign that read: “Hi, my name is Kim. I want to be your friend.” and knocked on every house on the block to introduce herself. Soon, she landed a job as a janitor, cleaning kitchens and bathrooms. “It’s tough, but I was so happy inside, I was singing along.” In 1982, Kim said, she was meditating and saw herself working in high-tech, even though she didn’t have a science degree. “I didn’t know anything about it, so I ignored it. Then two months later, I saw the same vision.” Selling her house for $50,000, Kim, together with a couple of her martial arts students who had technology backgrounds, started LightHouse. “Within six months we lost everything. I couldn’t even buy spaghetti sauce.” On shoestring credit, she held on. Now, with about 200 employees, LightHouse has offices in Singapore, China, the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan and Ireland as well as in Silicon Valley. It is a multi-million dollar company whose clients include IBM, Seagate and Motorola. The secret to success, says Kim, is to know what you want and when to go for it. “No. 1: Before convincing anyone, you believe in yourself, you convince yourself first. Especially Asian women, when they want something, but they look elsewhere for approval. They look to their family and friends to say, ‘Go for it, do it.’ I don’t think that’s the right step because you then are always relying on them to be your strength. It’s so important that you know in your heart what you want. Your goal and dream must be bigger than the obstacles and other people’s opinions. “No 2: Once you know what you want, you have to recognize time and place. Become a farmer in your life: a farmer always knows when to seed, weed out and when to grow and harvest. Our life journey is the same way. Study a lot, recognize if the market is there, cultivate the land and plant the seed. We have to be patient for the right time and right place.” Kim shares her advice through her books, which have been translated into 14 languages, and through her weekly cable show, The Grandmaster Kim Show, a talk show about personal success stories. “The television show is one way I can reach out to people, tell them about the girl totally denied by society came to America. I didn’t let anyone steal my dream and my purpose.” In 1995, Korea named her a “cultural living treasure” for her contribution to martial arts. She returned to her home village for the first time in 30 years. Her family that had once been “absolutely” unsupportive of her, finally accepted her choices. “Right before my father died in 1997, he came to peace with me. He and my mother always said I should have kids, that was their ultimate success life. My mom really wanted me to marry, her most highest goal. I’m single right now. Now she accept that I am who I am. It’s a culture that was so much of their life.” With plans to develop anti-aging and weight loss products that combine technology and Ki energy, Kim keeps a busy calendar. “I have so many things I want to do. My ultimate goal is to teach inner beauty and power, share with people, make a difference. Stop complaining, if you know how to use a telephone, turn on a computer, use e-mail, this is your choice, you have a right to choose a role you want.”
Eng-Siong Tan “Third Voice creates for the first time a system of checks and balances on the Internet,” said Chris Shipley, editor of DemoLetter, a technology newsletter. “There is now a way to communicate at the point of context, which has tremendous implications.” Web shoppers can stick a note on a retailer’s site to complain they’ve seen the same item for $10 less elsewhere. Financial pundits can add warnings to corporate earnings reports. Voters can contradict politicians, alternative healers can rebut doctors. “Don’t buy this,” said a note that popped up during a test of the system. “This product is terrible.” Here’s how it works: First, you download Third Voice software from its Internet site and install it on your computer. When you want to add a comment to a Web site, you simply click on an icon on your screen, type in your message and post it on the site. Third Voice messages can be inserted on any page where there is text. The creator of the page can’t remove your comment. The software also allows you to see the comments of others. If too many comments are attached to one spot, an icon will appear on that spot. Clicking the icon will give the reader a list of all comments, 10 at a time. If you don’t want to see any comments, you can simply turn Third Voice off. Tan says the company won’t restrict most comments, but an editorial team will take complaints about offensive or illegal speech from users of the service and assess whether the comments should be removed, similar to the way America Online polices its sites. In addition, comments will only be allowed from individuals, not corporations. “We’re not going to let Chrysler go on Ford’s Web site and post a note,” said Tan, acknowledging enforcement may be difficult considering the potential for a vast and growing number of comments. The company will also offer a Web directory service that will rank Web sites by the number of Third Voice comments. The directory will carry advertising, which Tan hopes will generate income to support the venture. But making money is his secondary goal, said Tan. “We think of this as a small step back to the original meaning of the Web: Free, open expression for all.” Barry Parr, research director at International Data Corp., said Third Voice “could be a breakthrough product.” But Parr said the company faces significant challenges. The first is a chicken-and-egg issue. Initially Web surfers may not bother to download the Third Voice Software because the number of people posting comments is so few. “They also have some potential problems with spam and information quality that are going to be harder to address, and could require a lot of human intervention to resolve.” That won’t be easy for a company with 26 employees. The technology has received some significant backing, more than $5.5 million in funds from venture capitalists Mayfield Fund and Draper Fisher Jurvetson. Third Voice is also offering private forums to groups that want to comment on specific Web pages, but do it without the world looking in. Using this, teachers could host class discussions, researchers could peer review documents and office workers could share project-related information. Leo Jolicoeur, who left his job as a vice president at the Web directory Infoseek to run business development for Third Voice, said that businesses could use the software to seek out and communicate directly with their customers. “In addition to giving every user a voice on the Web, Third Voice also presents incredible appeal to advertisers, sponsors and transaction partners,” he said. The Associated Press contributed to this report, which this issue takes the place of our regular month-end business section.
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