I had a great time speaking at the The Korea Society’s AI and startup forum with Dorothy Chang and Kirak Hong. Here are a few random recaps and musings:
1/ A successful community is built by dedicated givers
We all need a community we can belong to. For Koreans, many of us want a thriving Korean American community we can learn from and contribute to. But communities don’t become great automatically. If we want a strong community, everyone has to be at least a little bit of a giver. If you think a community is awesome, think about how you can contribute to it. It doesn’t have to be something big.
2/ Common interests bring different generations together
One recurring question in the Korean American community is how to bridge different groups: different generations (“old blood” and “young blood”), different languages (1st generation Koreans and Korean Americans), etc. Shared interests like AI and startups can help bring people together across those boundaries. Anyone who attended a Web3 meetup during its peak (I’d say, around 2018?) probably remembers how it brought together all kinds of people and created meaningful, lasting relationships. If we want to unite different generations, we should think about what topic they might all genuinely care about.
3/ Storytelling means telling your own story
Whether it’s listening to a conference speaker or watching a movie or TV drama, humans have a deep desire to step into someone else’s life and experience their journey for a moment. That’s part of the value of going to a conference. As speakers, we should tell our own stories, not stories we heard from others or stories we think the audience wants to hear.
Great event and thanks for having me, Abraham Kim Sojeong Kim and everyone else!