Consulting & Coaching Insights
Tracking Progress
Management Framework · Aug 9, 2026
I've had hepatitis B since my twenties. That means daily medication, a blood test every three months, and an ultrasound every six. The liver is a silent organ: damage doesn't always announce itself.
Around March, my doctor looked up from my results. "One marker has come back abnormal in your last two tests. It isn't high, but the medication used to keep it under control, and now it doesn't." Then he turned from the screen, studied me for a few seconds, and said calmly: "But you're older now, and you've gained weight. You probably have fatty liver. That pushes the numbers up too."
He wasn't wrong. For years my weight and body fat had been setting new records, month on month, quarter on quarter, year on year.
A target needs a strategy. I shared my goal and my current exercise, sleep, and eating habits with an AI assistant, and we settled on two KPIs: sleep and diet. Exercise was never the problem; I run and go to the gym regularly. The gaps were sleeping less than six hours a night and rewarding every hard workday with food. The plan: go to bed earlier and sleep longer, eat vegetables first and halve the carbs, drink more water, and keep exercising.
Once the plan was under way, I ran two review cycles.
Weekly: I send my daily log to the AI as a kind of weekly action meeting, to check that I'm following through and to find small adjustments. One week the suggestion was to add some carbohydrate to my all-protein breakfast, so I wouldn't overeat at lunch and would protect muscle mass. A small change with a real effect.
Every two weeks: I measure my body composition. Over a longer period the trend means more than the short-term noise. The first check showed weight, body fat, and visceral fat all falling, which kept me going. The latest showed no movement at all, after a foot injury, a trip away, poor sleep, and erratic meals. The numbers reflected exactly what I had done.
After five weeks, my weight and body fat have moved from obese back to the upper end of normal. I had blood drawn a few days ago, and I'm confident my liver numbers will have improved when I see my doctor next week.
Orientation and Reorientation
Organization & Talent · Jul 15, 2026
Next month I'm heading to Europe to hike the TMB, the Tour du Mont Blanc. The route runs 170 kilometers through Switzerland, France, and Italy, with 10,000 meters of climbing, and most people take about ten days. In 2024 I covered 40% of it in four days. This year I'll spend another four days on the next 40%.
In 2024 there were eight of us, including our guide, Ian. We set off from the trailhead at Courmayeur in Italy. Once we had sorted our gear, Ian gathered us in a circle and unfolded a map about a meter square. Mont Blanc sat in the middle, ringed by colored trails and campsites: the Tour du Mont Blanc.
Ian walked us through all of it: where we were in Courmayeur and where we would finish four days later in Chamonix, each night's camp, the water points, how much food to carry, how far we would walk each day and how many ridges we would cross, which day would be hardest, which day might bring rain, and what each refuge would serve. Some even had wine.
I've hiked for years, mostly planning my own routes and rarely with a group. Ian's orientation put me at ease and told me how to prepare: where I was, where I was going, what each stage demanded, where it would get hard, and when I could ease off.
On Day 2 we covered 15 kilometers, climbing 1,200 meters and descending 1,000. Hours of heavy rain meant we couldn't stop if we wanted to reach the refuge, and we arrived at seven, after dark. One of us had a fever; another's feet were swollen and inflamed. After a quick dinner we were too tired to talk. Ian spread the map on the table anyway, a flashlight in one hand, tracing the next day's route with the other.
"Tomorrow will be harder than today. Nearly 20 kilometers, rain in the morning, and a descent into a deep V-shaped valley before we climb out again, with no shade after midday. I know everyone is exhausted, but we need to leave before dawn, keep today's pace or faster, and take shorter breaks. Otherwise we'll reach camp in the dark."
After Ian's reorientation, we got up at four on Day 3 and set off at five. Around eleven we reached the valley floor, where two of the group judged their condition and decided to stop; they would meet us in Chamonix. The remaining six held the pace under a hot sun and kept our packs on at every break. At about four we reached the best refuge of the trip: hot showers, real beds, time to dry our gear before sunset and stretch out tired muscles, and a dinner of salad, main course, dessert, and wine.
Ian's orientation and reorientation stayed with me. He made clear where the team stood and where it was going, what it would cost and what we could look forward to, what the risks were and what support we would have. Even when the team was struggling, he explained why we had to speed up and why we couldn't rest. When two people dropped out, he still led the rest toward a clear goal.
For this year's TMB, we didn't think twice. We asked Ian to organize it. A leader like that makes people feel safe, and makes them want to follow.
Onboarding as a Team
Organization & Talent · Jul 2, 2026
From 2019 to 2026, the team I worked with turned over three times. Most of the founding members left, including some of the people I believed in most.
Experienced hires from outside and high-potential people moved in from other teams: many of them didn't stay. Once, we hired someone who had been a general manager several times in the same industry to take over a market that was already performing. Before they had even started, the existing team was uneasy. Friction began in the first week, and within six months most of the team had left. There was no handover of knowledge and no one to connect the new leader to the rest of the business, and we couldn't hold on to the results we already had. In the end, the new leader didn't last either.
Only when the pandemic forced us to stop did we see the problem clearly. It wasn't only about whom we hired; it was about how we brought them in. Between late 2020 and 2021, we rebuilt three things: interviewing, onboarding, and orientation.
I wrote about interviewing in my last post. This one is about onboarding. Orientation comes next.
Onboarding is more than bringing new hires up to speed
Our early onboarding was intuitive: goals, numbers, org charts, systems. We handed over the information and considered the job done. New hires still struggled to fit in.
We came to see information as the bare minimum. Real onboarding builds the lines of communication around a new hire, so the existing team looks forward to their arrival instead of bracing against it. We extended onboarding to six weeks, in three stages:
W-1 Brief the existing team → W1 Company and team direction → W2 Business details → W3 Related departments → W4 Contacts and handover → W5 Results presentation
① Prepare the existing team first (pre-onboarding)
In interviews we explain the role and the plan to the candidate, but we often forget to tell the existing team the same things. Before the new hire arrives, make sure the team knows what this person will own, what they bring, how work will be divided, and where the organization is heading. People who understand their own place and future can genuinely welcome someone new.
② Let the existing team run onboarding together (co-onboarding)
Onboarding isn't only a job for HR and the direct manager. Ask strong colleagues to lead parts of the training and key people from related departments to explain their work. Training someone together gives the team a sense of ownership, so they don't give up on the new hire easily, and the working relationships are built during the training itself.
③ Keep supporting new hires (post-onboarding)
Something my own manager taught me: in the first month, hold a quick 15-minute conversation with the new hire every day. It builds rapport, shows you how much they are absorbing, and lets you adjust the training as you go. Before onboarding ends, ask new hires, especially senior ones, to present their plan for the next three to six months to the team and related departments. It is more than a final review. It gives new hires a stage, lets the team see them, and sets up expectations for working together.
Onboarding like this takes a lot of preparation from managers and HR. But how you onboard people determines how far they go, and how far the team grows.
Next, I'll write about orientation, because when onboarding ends, the real challenge begins.
Interviewing for Great People
Organization & Talent · Jun 23, 2026
Friends and colleagues often ask me how I interview people, and how I've found so many capable, conscientious ones.
Interviewing has always been one of my top priorities, and I spend a lot of time preparing. What kind of person is the hiring manager looking for? What does the candidate's experience tell me? What did HR and the hiring manager observe in their interviews? And how should I run the conversation so the candidate relaxes enough to show who they really are and what they could become?
Even after the team grew to more than seventy people, I still held the final interview for every full-time candidate. HR and the hiring manager had already assessed ability; I cared most about the softer qualities. Three of them matter to me in particular.
1. Motivation
What does this person want at this stage of their life? Why? How badly? When they talk about it, do their eyes light up?
Can this role give them what they really want? A team that has to be pushed forward won't go far. When a candidate's goals and the company's direction genuinely meet, you have a partnership that keeps moving on its own.
2. Working dynamic
During the interview I picture the person on the team. What atmosphere would they create?
How would they work with the hiring manager? How would clients feel dealing with them? Could they win support and resources from other departments? Questions like these surface answers a résumé never will.
3. Chemistry
In any relationship, some people click and some don't. Everything can look right on paper and the spark still isn't there. Work is no different.
I once interviewed someone whose education and experience were an almost perfect match. They understood the business and seemed ready to contribute from day one. But throughout the conversation, I felt no spark.
When I raised this with my HR partner, the answer was clear: it matters, and it is a legitimate reason to decide. So we kept looking. Thanks to my HR partner, we eventually found someone who became one of the most important leaders on the team.
After that, I knew chemistry counts.
Every interview covers a lot of ground, but these are the three things I always keep in mind.
Of course, one conversation can't tell you everything about a person. Finding the right hire is only the first step. How to keep talking after they join, and how to reduce structural friction, is the subject of my next post.
I'd like to hear from you: what do you think matters most in an interview? Or what is the most memorable interview question you have been asked?
A New Chapter
Personal Milestones · Jun 16, 2026
Two weeks have passed since I left KKday, where I worked for nearly ten years. Life has finally slowed down, and I want to use these days to write down my thanks.
I still count myself lucky to have been part of KKday's remarkable journey.
After a fashion-brand marketing job in Shenzhen, I wanted to come home to Taiwan and join a local startup that could compete internationally. Through a friend's introduction I was offered a job at KKday, which then had fewer than 100 people.
My first role was business development manager for Australia. I had spent a working holiday there as a tour guide, so it felt natural to bring the trips I used to show visitors onto KKday's platform. I never imagined the explosive growth of the following decade. The scale of the business, the partners we worked with, and what I learned about management made every stage exhilarating.
I went from representing the company alone at my first overseas B2B travel fair to opening local offices and turning up with our own local teams. I took red-eye flights straight to pitch meetings at famous theme parks, and we became the first e-commerce platform to win both a contract and a marketing budget from them. We grew from a single office in Taipei to users across much of Asia, and I went from handling Australian products on my own to leading more than seventy people in nine countries.
Thank you to every boss I had over those ten years. The business logic, team management, financial statements, and analytical strategy you shared with me were invaluable.
Thank you to every partner, inside the company and out. You were willing to say what you needed and to find common ground where we could both win. Beyond the business, I value most the friendships that let us rely on each other.
Thank you to my teams, whom I loved and am proud of. Without you, we could never have beaten expectations again and again. Thank you for taking on countless challenges and changes with me, and for letting me into your lives, sometimes gently, sometimes firmly, to find new possibilities together.
Ten years was a remarkably complete experience. At one point or another I ran or worked with most of the company's departments.
But I gradually realized that hitting targets and earning promotions no longer satisfied me. I needed somewhere new to explore. I'm grateful my boss understood. Together we planned the succession and reorganization so I could hand the team over properly.
I have no concrete plan for what comes next. After ten years wound tight, I need to slow down first. I have a few consulting and coaching projects I enjoy, but for the coming months my priority is rest.
Thank you to the version of me in 2016, who had the courage to come back to Taiwan, follow his heart, and choose the journey he wanted. That decision made this decade possible.
Ten years can't fit into one post. Over the next few months, I'll share what I learned about managing and working with teams. If you lead people, or are being led, some of it may resonate.
