School is back in session and with that comes all of the responsibility and stress that I forgot about during my winter break. Last Wednesday I was invited by California State Controller John Chiang to be his guest at a dinner party hosted by the Korean Consulate General in Los Angeles. This was a last minute invitation and I was somewhat hesitant to go simply because I had so much reading to do for the remainder of the week. After some quick thinking I decided that the reading could wait and I needed to make the most of this opportunity. I quickly gathered my belongings, left them neatly near my desk, and hopped in the unmarked police car driven by Controller Chiang’s bodyguard. I spent the duration of the ride from Downtown to Hancock Park observing Controller Chiang as he handled emails and calls from his Blackberry…this man is efficient, the only other person I know with such ability to constantly multitask on his Blackberry is Josh Stomel. For the many who have yet to meet Mr. Stomel, take my word for it, he is non-stop 24/7 on his Blackberry.
As we arrived at the event I noticed immediately that it was comprised almost entirely of Korean businessmen and various politicians from Los Angeles. Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Los Angeles City Attorney Carmen Trutanich, Councilman Tom LaBonge, State Controller John Chiang, and representatives from Governor Schwarzenegger’s office were also in attendance. I had the opportunity to network with these individuals as well as their field representatives and some of the local business people.
The most striking moment of the evening for me, was the opportunity to sit back and objectively observe how the upper echelons of the Korean American business community interact with one another. Most of the people in attendance spoke primarily Korean and therefore conducted their conversations among one another in Korean. I took this opportunity to examine body language and non verbal cues to determine who the power players in the vicinity were. It didn’t take long to realize that the attention of some people was sought after more than others.
In some ways I felt something like a fish out of water because I did not speak the language. However, I did make some friends as I perused the serving area full of wonderful Korean dishes and used my inexperience in Korean cuisine to open up conversation with other party guests. A few individuals were kind enough to attempt to explain to me what it is that I was about to eat. I am a human food processor so the actual content of what I was eating wasn’t as important. However, I think I did earn some respect by trying a bit of everything without really questioning.
All in all this was a wonderful opportunity to observe the business/political process, the way international business people interact, and it gave me some more insight as to the social responsibilities of the state controller.
Fantastic story. I had coffee with John a few weeks after he was elected State Controller. He’s a very inspiration guy and really sharp. Post graduation, I think all these moments are worth so much more than getting yelled at for not reading a section of an assignment.