My journey with TACL began in the summer of 2005 as an intern in the TACL Political Internship Program. My experience taught me that I had much to learn if I wanted to be a leader one day, but it also inspired me to run for public office in the future. Most importantly, I’m happy to say that 9 years later those involved with the program are still my friends today. TACL’s impact on me that summer was immense to say the least and I’ve been looking for ways to give back to the community since then.
This desire to give back led me to start TAP-NY, the first TAP chapter outside of California and currently one of the largest. Ultimately, I returned to TACL as National President.
Serving the greater Taiwanese American community has been an honor and privilege, and none of the things we accomplished could have been possible without the work of the entire national board. Please be sure to recognize and thank these tireless board members with whom I had the pleasure of working with these last two years: Andy Juang, Andy Ni, Barry Huang, Candice Hung, Chris Chang, Christina Wang, Connie Hwang, Jacqui Wu, Kelly Shih, Teddy Liaw and Tiffany Cheng.
I’ve had many wonderful memories while on the National Board, but the one that stands out the most is being surprised for my birthday at the San Diego Mid-Term Conference and getting caked alongside Andy!
As I reflect on the past two years, here are some of the things we accomplished that I am most proud of:
1) When I first started we were independent communities scattered throughout the US, now I’m happy to say that we have a truly national organization with chapters sharing best practices with each other and with chapters taking ideas from programs, and vice versa.
2) Rebranding TACL with a new logo, website, blog, and newsletter
3) Developing high quality National Conventions and Mid-Term Conferences across a diversity of locations (Las Vegas, San-Diego, Washington DC, New York, San Francisco)
4) Fostering the growth of the TAP network, with chapters currently in Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, San Diego, Seattle, and Washington DC.
5) Instituting a quantitative dashboard to measure the development of each of the chapters and programs
6) Renewing focus on Taiwanese American youth camps
While it’s been a roller coaster ride, with highs and lows, here are a few bits of advice that I would like to share with future leaders that are applicable in any organization:
1) Make sure its fun for you and the board members. Always make time for fun during your meetings. FUN = Productivity
2) Having board members stay for 2-year terms is key. It creates stability and continuity in the leadership.
3) Make it a priority to have a retreat early on with all board members in attendance. It’s important to have everyone develop a high level of trust with each other and get everyone on the same page as quickly as possible. You can’t cut corners on this. People should not be arriving late or leaving early during the retreat.
4) All your board members should be aligned with you before they join the board. Be uncompromising in building your own team. Don’t let other people tell you who you should and should not have on your board.
5) I’m happy to say we had a true national board for the very first time with board members representing different areas of the country. Unfortunately managing a distributed work force with multiple time zones is really difficult. If at all possible, I would actually concentrate the national board in the same region so that in-person interactions can be more frequent between board members. And if you can’t do that, make sure that everyone is disciplined regarding attendance at both monthly meetings and national conventions/mid-terms. Especially with a distributed team, these strategies become essential to establishing and sustaining rapport and trust.
It’s been an absolute joy bringing people together that care as much about the community as I do. I encourage other young Taiwanese American leaders to get involved in the community because if you don’t, then who will? Our community has been one of the most successful minorities in the US, but we cannot become complacent as there is still a lot of work to do. We are still underrepresented at the highest levels of business and government, so we must continue to strive to be better leaders!
I’m excited for the incoming board and know that with your ongoing support, they will take TACL to even greater heights!
Sincerely,
Bob Wu
TACL National President
2012-2014