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Written by Peter Li-Chang Kuo

(Chinese)

In my 2005 book Opening a Path for the Next Generation (Kuo Li-Chang, 2005: p.191), I recorded the importance of creating opportunities for future generations. Many endeavors cannot be completed within a single generation; therefore, one generation must pave the way for the next. When the right moment arrives, that prepared path can turn adversity into opportunity and ultimately create a model for others to follow.

In 1979, when I went to the United States to start a business, I heard a middle-aged lawyer express concern about the future of the next generation. In particular, he noted that the rise and fall of Seattle depended almost entirely on a single aerospace company. He believed a new industry combining “law + software” should be created, and he aspired to become a “Big Engine” to open a path for the next generation. Ten years later, this Mr. William H. Gates Sr. indeed became the father of the world’s richest man.

Fig 1: Opening a Path for the Next Generation (p.191)

In January 1979, on the very day President Jimmy Carter severed diplomatic ties with Chiang Ching-kuo, I nevertheless took the risk of flying from Taipei Songshan Airport to Narita, then transferred to a Boeing 747 bound for Seattle, and finally connected to New York to develop satellite receivers and personal computers (PCs) for the future of Taiwan–U.S. industry.

On a narrow domestic flight, I took out my handwritten notebook and studied how to quickly get up to speed and lead a group of engineers—who did not dare go to Taiwan—to complete the development work.

Fig 2: Scribbles in my notebook