Writer:

John L. Hennessy is Chairman of the Board of Alphabet and Director of Knight-Hennessy Scholars, the largest fully endowed graduate-level scholarship program in the world. He serves on the Board of Directors for Cisco Systems and the Board of Trustees for the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. The tenth President of Stanford University, he is also a computer scientist who co-founded MIPS Computer Systems and Atheros Communications. Hennessy and David Patterson were awarded the ACM A.M. Turing Prize for 2017.

Story:

Highlights vs self- reflection:

1. Few of us live our lives exactly the way we planned. If we’re fortunate, that can be a good thing. Certainly that has been true for me.

Golden Sentence:

1 a person who wishes to build a legacy of altruism may do the exact opposite if his actions come not from a deep concern for others’ well-being but from a desire to project a certain image.

2. “Regard your good name as the richest jewel you can possibly be possessed of—for credit is like fire; when once you have kindled it you may easily preserve it, but if you once extinguish it, you will find it an arduous task to rekindle it again. The way to a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear.” Popularly attributed to Socrates (no definitive source)

Conclusion:

1.many of the popular views of leadership. I began to see several crucial aspects of effective leadership: a strong foundation of principles, steadfastness to hold to those principles, and a set of methods to transform an institution and take it to a new level. The first four chapters of this book focus on the foundation: humility, authenticity, service, and empathy.

2.Learning Humility Through Asking for Help

3.Authenticity and trust“Be sure you put your feet in the right place. Then stand firm.”-Abraham Lincoln. Maintaining one’s integrity is often presented as the greatest.

4. leadership has been a journey involving different roles with enlarging responsibility.

5. “It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take the front line when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership.”-Nelson Mandela

6. “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view. . . . Until you climb, inside of his skin and walk around in it.”-Atticus Finch, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee

Questions by Lily:

Book Club Summary and Questions

June 6 2022

Dear All,

Please refer to the following summary, the Author of ‘Leading Matters’ John L. Hennessy   :

Hennessy who used was the president of the Google Alphabet, and the member of Director for Cisco, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Leader of Knight-Hennessy Scholars, this fundraising plan gained the top of donation fund in the world.

Besides, Hennessy was the President of Stanford 10^th, he was an engineer, owner for MIPS technologies, Inc and Atheros Communications.  Gain the most of reward in 2017 with his partner Dave Patterson.

Hennessy is the person who’s dream came true, married with the first love, two smart sons, a professor for 45 years in the famous college, which is belong to the life victory group. 

Most people will think that’s perfect life and lucky enough for Hennessy, moreover, in 1986, Hennessy was thirty-four years old.  he had founded MIPS, that incredible was he became an enterpriser for 25 years after the teaching life.

Hennessy exudes the strength that comes from confidence but also the openness that comes with the true humility of wanting to appreciate the opinions of others, there is one leadership skill in this book that I found a bit unexpected but also profound which is “storytelling”.

The way to a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear.” An unplanned and unexpected step, becoming an entrepreneur, took Hennessy journeys in a different direction, eventually delivering me to the series of leadership positions I have held over the past twenty-five years. Although you are experiences sometimes that unexpected but it all about for your future that were planned by God. and all the experience were prepared for now

The crises get bigger and come faster when you are at the top of a large organization, but the problems, and how they could be best confronted, are similar.

In 1986, Hennessy was thirty-four years old. he had founded MIPS, however, they faced the problem of cash flow and made a very hard decision to cut off the staffs , It was awful , something he had never imagined they have to experience, Such moments—he felt if we are humble enough to receive them— give us the opportunity to learn from our mistakes and to change course.

the new CEO, Bob Miller, decided the best thing was to hold an all-hands meeting for the “survivors” that afternoon. He asked Hennessy to get up and give a pep talk. He started by admitting that the company had made mistakes, and then they will tried to focus on the bright future that the company had ahead of it. In the end, Hennessy gives that talk, —that talk, both admitting the mistakes and rallying the team, was the perfect preparation for his future.

Twelve years later, when Hennessy be appointment as president of Stanford was announced, he had to get up in front of several hundred people and give a short speech describing his thoughts about the new position and the future of the university.

Those early experiences prepared him for situations that would arise throughout his professional life, let’s refer to the following charters and read more about Hennessy from his book, to learn what those advice from his careers and discuss what Hennessy leaves behind after his retired.

Questions:

1. Where does humility come from?  

What’s your experience or opinion to learning humility through the example to asking for help? Learning Humility Through Asking for Help, while running the business of kindergarten, we went to Hongkong for asking help from learning the Regio Emilia approach, we got acquainted with friends around Taiwan and the world , and get a chance to share what we learn when we went back to Taiwan with all the preschool teachers and gave us a key to enter the world of kindergarten.

2. What role would you like to become in your life?  

Consider the wisdom popularly attributed to Socrates: “The way to a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear.”

Lissa Rankin said: Pronoia is the opposite of paranoia, It’s the belief that everything in the universe is conspiring to support you.” If you never give up to chase after your dream to serve the world, the world will be conspiring to help you.

3. Should a leader address the short-term or long-term needs?

If leadership is about service, whom does a leader serve?

 (if you are the leader in School, company or family)

“A leaders role is to raise peoples aspirations for what they can become and to release their energies so they will try to get there.” We set up a goal to our dream , it will call up all the people who has the same dream to follow you. For our kindergarten’s graduation performance, we design the topic of olimpic , and we organize with all kids’ learning from classes, extraactivities to combine together.

4. Empathy

Hennessy points out that Empathy was learned from the past experience.

While employee report to you an issue, Does your heart lead you to this issue?

Have you meet the horror issue and no solution? 

While the foreign language learning seems the priority for kids, if the preschool teachers are not ready for chaning, it will turn out to be finished. “Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” 

5. Courage

Do you agree with Hennessy from his point that each of us has that courage in our character and Courageous people are no less fearful than everyone else? How much we’re willing to exercise it

So true, we are our own worst enemy –Una McCormack

6. Teamwork: Most of enterprises were met the bad experience about the teamwork, what is your experience about teamwork, which rule is the most important for a team?

Hennessy created several ground rules as below:

Rule No. 1: Basic respect for the expertise of all members on the team.

Rule No. 2: Accept everyone’s idea without judgment on the source

Rule No. 3: Tough questions aren’t only allowed, they are necessary.

Rule No. 4: Team members must be treated with the utmost mutual respect.

(1) "It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others to succeed." 

(2) Henry Fords quote, "If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself," 

(3) "None of us, including me, ever do great things. But we can all do small things, with great love, and together we can do something wonderful." – Mother Teresa

(4) Rule No. 4: Team members must be treated with the utmost mutual respect.

“Make sure your worst enemy is not living between your own two ears.” ~ Laird Hamilton. Listen first, then we can solve the prolbems.

7. Freedom to innovate: Have you ever make innovation in any field?

So far I try is in the field of kindergarten education. I learnd to be humble and listen to others’ problem , if we solve their problems, we solve ours,too.

8. Do you think you are the lifelong learner?

Why Being a Lifelong Learner Is Crucial?

Lifelong learning is the lifewide, voluntary and self-motivated pursuit of knowledge for not only personal but professional reasons as well. It does not only enhance social inclusion, active citizenship and individual development, but also increases competitiveness and employability.

9. What story brand in Taiwan is successful in the market?

The godfather of Taiwan’s semiconductor industry, Morris Chang is my role model.

A child from mainland China, fly to USA, and bloom in Taiwan. He is the outstanding student in Harvard and MIT. The working experience in USA, give him a great chance to see the best semiconductor development, life-long learning experience to obtain the PHD degree makes him to stand on the shoulder of the giant. From the calling of government, he built the wonder of semiconductor in Taiwan, and make Taiwan shine.

The godfather of Taiwans semiconductor industry - Zhang Zhongmou(Morris Chang)

TSMC maintains a leading position in the field of global professional integrated circuit manufacturing services, and its founder Morris Chang is also widely known. However, few people know that this "Godfather of Taiwans semiconductor industry" fled all over mainland China when he was a child, and made his fortune in the United States when he was young. Although he came to Taiwan many times for business, he only stayed for a short time, and his real hard work in Taiwan, It was only when he was 54 years old that he was invited to take over as president of the Industrial Technology Research Institute. Zhang Zhongmous career is not only a biography of a successful entrepreneur, but also a wonderful history of Taiwan and the global semiconductor industry.

Figure 1. Mr. Zhang Zhongmou, founder of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd.

Image source: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd.

Growing up in the "big era"

Zhang Zhongmous father, Zhang Weiguan (1906~1992), graduated from Shanghai Guanghua University. Zhang Zhongmou was born in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province on July 10, 1931, when his father was the finance director of the Ningbo County Government. When Zhang Zhongmou was one year old, his father became a bank manager. Following his fathers job transfer and the influence of Japans invasion of China, the family lived in Nanjing and Guangzhou, and most of the elementary school years from the age of six to eleven were spent in Hong Kong.

Figure 2. Zhang Zhongmou lived in Hong Kong from the age of 6 to 11. When the war in mainland China spread and many areas were occupied, Hong Kong was really a paradise, which gave him a fond memory. The picture shows a visit to Repulse Bay with his parents and a friend when he was eight years old, which is also his favorite place to go.

Image source: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd.

Since elementary school, his mother bought many books for him to read, and he developed the habit of reading without interruption throughout his life. In 1941, Japan occupied Hong Kong after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The following year, Zhang Zhongmou returned to Shanghai and Ningbo to live with his parents by boat for a few months. The family set off from Shanghai and ventured across the front line, fled from the occupied area to the rear of Chongqing, and re-examined. Entered Nankai Middle School to study in the second grade of junior high school and began to live on campus. Although living on campus for several years was hard, but together with my classmates, I claimed to be the master of the "big era". I was very excited and happy, and I was also full of expectations for the future of the country. Nankai education was just a few years in which Zhang Zhongmous thought gradually took shape. It was a timely continuation of the excellent tutoring given by his parents, and the values ​​that influenced his life were shaped in this way.

Figure 3. At the age of seventeen, Zhang Zhongmou once wanted to be a writer, and his father skillfully awakened him from his dreams. The picture shows him sitting at his fathers desk at his home in Shanghai.

Image source: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd.

Not long after the end of the eight-year Anti-Japanese War, the Kuomintang-Communist civil war followed. In 1948, the whole family fled to Hong Kong again; in 1949, Zhang Zhongmou went to the United States alone, and even tasted the sorrow of leaving home and going to the country without knowing when to return. After arriving in the United States, 18-year-old Zhang Zhongmou entered the world-famous Harvard University, but saw a completely different world. On the one hand, after the Second World War, the American society was stable and the economy grew rapidly. Not only was the American dream of “just work hard, you can get ahead” within your reach, but the values ​​of “family, hard work, and self-reliance” were very common; on the other hand, Harvard University. The excellence and diversity of the students, coupled with the rich dormitory life, various extra-curricular activities and the traditional university "general education", led Zhang Zhongmou to actively study. In just one year, English has become his main language, the estrangement between him and the Americans has disappeared, and his wisdom and heart have also been opened. Years later, Zhang Zhongmou often quoted Hemingways famous saying "a feast to take away" to describe Harvards colorful year!

Figure 4. Harvard students are all brilliant, Zhang Zhongmou had an exciting, exciting but disciplined year. The picture shows him on a bridge near the school, looking high-spirited.

Image source: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd.

Although the one-year experience at Harvard was good, in order to make a living for the future, Zhang Zhongmou transferred to the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which is famous for its science and engineering, and determined to work hard in engineering. He graduated from university in 1952 and obtained a masters degree in 1953. However, he failed two consecutive doctoral qualification examinations, which hit Zhang Zhongmou deeply, but also inspired him to look for another way out and start looking for a job. The 24-year-old Zhang Zhongmou did not know that such a decision would completely change the development of an important global industry in the future.

Figure 5. "Autobiography (Volume 1)" written by Zhang Zhongmou was published in March 1998. It was well received by many readers and continued to appear on the bestseller list for many years. The picture shows Zhang Zhongmous manuscript.

Image source: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd.

Step into the semiconductor industry and become famous

In 1955, Zhang Zhongmou entered the Sylvania Semiconductor Laboratory and began to work. At that time, Sylvania was famous for producing light bulbs, TVs, radios, and vacuum tubes, and was about to enter the emerging transistor industry using semiconductors as materials, hoping to leverage Zhang Zhongmous mechanical expertise to automate the production line. Zhang Zhongmou, who was completely unfamiliar with semiconductors, began to study semiconductors diligently and disciplinedly for a few hours every day after get off work and before going to bed. : "Semiconductor Electrons and Holes". This book is quite difficult, but fortunately, relying on a good foundation in physics and the "learning things must be thoroughly understood" learned from university and master training, Zhang Zhongmou read it word by word, sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph, reading and thinking, thinking and reading , I went to consult experts and colleagues when I thought about it and still didn’t understand it. After a few months, I had already read the most important part of the book. After that, most of Zhang Zhongmous study materials were transferred to the academic papers published at that time, and part of his learning was obtained through his daily R&D work.

The young Zhang Zhongmou worked diligently and tirelessly, constantly absorbing new knowledge and accumulating experience; sometimes, in order to catch up with work, he would work overtime with his colleagues; in order to write papers, he would occasionally stay up all night; he had a happy time. However, the leadership of Sylvanias semiconductor department failed to keep up with the rapid development of the industry, and became outdated laymen without knowing it, resulting in consecutive years of losses, which made the head office decide to lay off a lot of staff. At this time, Zhang Zhongmou also decided to find another job, and what attracted his attention was a company far away in Texas that was "young, energetic, and experienced in top and bottom."

In 1958, relying on the semiconductor knowledge and experience accumulated in Sylvania, Zhang Zhongmou successfully obtained a letter of appointment from Texas Instruments. The first position was the section chief responsible for the production of a transistor. In order to break through the yield rate, he worked diligently with his two subordinate engineers, often voluntarily working overtime without taking it hard, and finally made great progress after four months. Since then, continuous improvement has made the mass production of this transistor highly recognized by customers, and also won Zhang Zhongmou the first "dividend" check in his life. Money was one thing, but what really struck him was the honor of being accepted and appreciated.

Just as Zhang Zhongmou was working hard day and night on the transistor production line, an earth-shattering event occurred silently in front of his eyes. He and Jack Kibby, a colleague who joined Texas Instruments almost at the same time, often drink coffee and chat together at the end of the days work. Jack said that he is studying several transistors, diodes, plus resistors and capacitors to form a The circuit is placed on the same silicon wafer, which is also recognized by the president of Texas Instruments, who believes that this is the future development direction of semiconductors. Jack occasionally asks some technical questions, and Zhang Zhongmou does his best to answer them. A few months later, Jack completed this new invention - the integrated circuit, and in 2000 won the Nobel Prize for this invention.

Shortly after his achievements in transistor production, Zhang Zhongmou was promoted to R&D manager of germanium transistors and continued to emerge. In 1961, the general manager of Deyi told him: "The company has decided to give you an opportunity that has never been given to anyone: let you still pay full salary to study for a doctorate, and the company will cover all tuition and miscellaneous expenses." For such a generous giving of the company, How can you refuse? Wouldnt it be considered unwilling to say no? Zhang Zhongmou accepted without hesitation! Not only that, the general manager asked him which school he wanted to go to, and "Stanford" was his firm answer, because Stanford University was the number one institution in the global semiconductor field at that time. In September of the same year, Zhang Zhongmou entered Stanford to study. In addition to taking a few elective courses, he spent most of his time preparing for the doctoral qualification examination in February of the following year. He read every day from 8:00 in the morning to nearly 12:00 in the middle of the night, rarely resting, and on weekends. not excluded. After six years of hard work at work and five months of intensive study, Zhang Zhongmou successfully passed the doctoral qualification examination. What followed was going to school, doing experiments, writing papers, taking oral exams, and earning a doctorate in March 1964. With high hopes and expectations, Zhang Zhongmou decided to return to Deyi immediately.

"Two and a half years to get a doctorate" is very fast, but compared with some colleagues who have been promoted to the first, second, or even third level at the same time, Zhang Zhongmou is not discouraged, because he has a better understanding of semiconductor physics, in any semiconductor There is also more confidence in technical discussion occasions, and the ability to judge technical issues has also improved a lot. Whats more, the people who admired him at the beginning are now in high positions. As long as they continue to produce good results and contribute to the company, they will definitely not be buried. Indeed, having just resumed his old post, he immediately accepted the assignment to solve an important task that had been delayed for more than a year. He started to adjust personnel and boosted morale, and within two months, he delivered good results and was promoted to general manager of the germanium transistor department. Before that, Zhang Zhongmou was quite familiar with the R&D, engineering, and production departments under the Germanium Transistor Department. In order to become a competent general manager, he had to deal with leadership, marketing, customers, marketing, pricing, accounting, finance, etc., and many more. The place to learn also opens the next chapter of his "lifelong learning". In the following years, Zhang Zhongmou went smoothly: in 1967, he became the vice president of the company at the age of 36; in 1972, when Deyi Semiconductor Group set up semiconductor factories all over the world, the number of employees reached 40,000, and the global market share was more than ten percent. When the annual revenue of 300 million US dollars both took the lead in the world, Zhang Zhongmou also took the post of vice president of Texas Instruments Group at the age of 41, and was also the general manager of the semiconductor group.

Figure 6. Zhang Zhongmou spent 25 years at Texas Instruments and realized his "American Dream".

Image source: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd.

In 1983, after 25 years of Deyis dedication, Zhang Zhongmou resigned. After that, he worked as a business management consultant for a short time, and also served as the vice president of General Instruments for more than a year, which was an episode in his career.

Established TSMC to rewrite the future of technology

In 1985, Zhang Zhongmou was invited by the Chinese government to come to Taiwan as the director of the Industrial Technology Research Institute. During his three-year tenure, he promoted "Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd." and the first automation company in China - "Mengli Automation Co., Ltd." and the establishment of several spin-off companies.

10. Who is your leader idols (mentor) of in your life? 

The actor Mr. Andy Lau who is a very famous international actor, he says: Teach others what you learned and share with people from your benefit.

"None of us, including me, ever do great things. But we can all do small things, with great love, and together we can do something wonderful." – Mother Teresa

Related Reading:

1.John. L. Hennessy: https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=30926

2.Top 5 in Taiwan https://www.ajmarketing.io/post/marketing-in-taiwan-top-5-marketing-success-stories 

Summary of June’s Meeting and Discussion

Thanks to Lilys great leadership, she is amazing at preparing the discussion, and every member speaks up freely. thanks, Lily. We cherish this gathering online and feel glad to see our old member - Florence Peng, attended and new members - Rachel, and Gloria joining.

Thanks to our new member, Gloria, who is my younger school sister of 21st class Wentzao University, She would lead our October book - The Untethered Soul after my invitation, Thanks, Gloria, but due to her back flight to Swiss just meet on the day of our October discussion, we will be changing our schedule swapping the books for October with December.

We are going to have a recession in July & August, I wish everybody a wonderful vacation

Discussion Review of June’s Meeting

Book: Leading Matters

Meeting: June. 6. 2022

Book Leader: Lily Cheng

Discussion Report: Emma Tsai

Just two hours before Lily in Turkey is heading for Egypt on a business trip, we link the google meet, the world is flat in a blink.

Lily sets a great example of how great leading matters:” leadership has been a journey involving different roles with enlarging responsibility. “Lily also faces the conflict between inter-role &intra-role. Florence teased her about the age issue. Mingli put it further that aging taught her slowing down, working smart, relaxing more, and will solve problems better.

Gloria from Switzerland also shared that the core value is the most important goal for teamwork. “A leaders role is to raise peoples aspirations for what they can become and to release their energies so they will try to get there.”

Lydia in New York is still striving for jet lag and burning the midnight oil to join the reading. She said that the great enterprise needs to show humility by admitting the mistakes and having the courage to correct them and offers the highest empathy to stand in others’ shoes!

Mingli from Ca. The USA, our 22-year member, is so willing to give HP credit, which was founded in 1939 by Bill Hewlett and David Packard, their core value is to be open-minded, they tore down the door to invite all the opinions. They don’t buy cars, just a pick-up to serve all the colleagues with DIY steaks. They buy land to entertain all their colleagues by camping, not for themselves. A great leader will be cultivated by good education, and have a sharp thought with innovative input to deal with ranking, prejudice..etc. and this will cheer up the team to stand up and speak out!  “A leaders role is to raise peoples aspirations for what they can become and to release their energies so they will try to get there.” About the topic of life-long learning, Mingli turned into a wise fortuneteller: If you feel better than 10 years ago, then you are counted to be a lifelong learner. Just like Morris Chang mentioned  "a feast to take away"

Florence Peng, our outstanding editor with great recommendations, always gives us great suggestions for the books filled with varieties and pushes us a little further to try something we are not familiar with. She shared that from humility, we learn our weaknesses, build up self-esteem, and correspond to other people, to expand our personalities.

Florence Cheng concluded what John Hennessy ends his book in the last conclulsion - “Legacy” I approached this effort with two objectives: to show them the joy of helping others and to connect them with opportunities to make a different consistency with what they wished to leave behind

While the reading ended, our friendship keeps growing with the joy of sharing.

On the other side of the world, we are not far at all. The sun also rises. Wish the sun keeps shining on us! Thank you for your attending, dear all: Joe, Cathy, Gloria, Mingli, Florence Peng, Lydia, Florence Cheng, and Wan-lin, Let’s keep our fingers crossed to keep reading together!

Septembers Activity:

Book: The Remarkable Odyssey of Angela Merkel

Author: Katie Marton

Leader: Florence Cheng

Time: 1:00. Sept. 5, 2022

Place: Qubit Cafe (Hanshin Arena) No.6, Lane 50, Bo-Ai 3 Road, Zuo Ying District, Kaohsiung. Tel:07-3459477

高雄市左營區博愛三路50巷6號

We can start to have lunch before 1:00, between, or after our discussion. We look forward to seeing you soon, please let me know if you are absent.