To be a panelist on a future podcast, email
Daniel Lafontaine at d.lafontaine@glomedics.net.

The KBC 9.9 with Daniel

"What's the best way to network in Korea and why?"

In this podcast, Daniel Lafontaine is joined by four other KBC members to discuss theweek's topic.

For details on the new KBC 9.9 with Daniel podcast, check out this page: http://www.koreabusinesscentral.com/page/kbc-99-with-daniel. Daniel is already putting together his panelist list for future shows. If you'd like to join, email Daniel directly at d.lafontaine@glomedics.net.

Full Transcript of Podcast

Daniel:  Hi, this is KBC 9.9 with Daniel. Tonight, we’re going to talk about networking. What is the best way to network in Korea? Starting off, we have Nick. Nick, tell us a
little bit about yourself.

Nick:  We only have nine minutes, so I’m going to be quick. I’m an English teacher in Seoul, but I used to work for the Kiwi Chamber of Commerce and I run Kiwi Young Leaders
which is basically for early career people to get involved with
business.

Daniel: Excellent. James, what about you?’

James:  I’m an English teacher in a place near Daejeon in a university, but I develop websites in my free time for Korean learners of English and foreign learners of
Korean.

Daniel: Excellent. Philippe?

Philippe: I’m French and I’m working for AGS Four Winds, which is an international packing and moving company, and I do business networking, especially Chamber of Commerce. I’m
part of the European and French chambers.

Daniel:  Excellent. And last, but definitely not least, Brad.

Ed: Ed.

Daniel: Oh, my God!

Ed: That’s OK. My name is Ed Kim, and I’m actually a Korean-American actually born in Brooklyn. I’m here working for LG Electronics, for the CPO office for process
innovation. I do a lot of the process systems and organization and
improvement realty. Glad to be here.

Daniel:  Great. And as you know, I’m Daniel Lafontaine. I came here 11 years ago. I started off as a basic English teacher. I moved up to be an educator. After that, I
got an assistant general manager gig in a small Korean
manufacturing company.

Now my main business in licensing medicines into Korea. However, at this particular moment, I’m doing all four. So who’s going to start it off? How best to network in Korea.

Nick:  You have to network with Koreans. I think that’s the key thing, isn’t it?

Daniel:  But how? In what setting?

Nick: Go to a bar. I don't know.

Daniel:  Go to a bar is one, okay. What about you?

James:  Make Korean friends, people who want to learn English; Koreans who want to learn English. That’s a great way.

Daniel:  That’s a great way. One way I always learned is I charge $20 an hour teaching English to kids inside their home. But I met thousands, I met hundreds, of people
learning from all different backgrounds. That’s another way.

James:  So you charge cheap on purpose; is that right?

Daniel:  Exactly. I charge people $20 an hour.

James:  $40 is the normal, right?

Daniel:  $40-$50 is the normal. $20 and people don’t quit on you.

James: That’s right, yeah.

Daniel:  And if they don’t quit on you, then you develop a relationship. If you develop a relationship, you get to learn the background of the culture and culture is the
thing. Business does not happen in a vacuum. Business happens
within the culture. You’ve got to learn the culture.

James:  Absolutely.

Daniel:  Next. What about you?

Philippe:  It’s always depending on what you’re looking for when doing buisness. I’m looking not especially to deal with Koreans. I’m dealing more with expatriates or
diplomats. So basically, my networking is really related to, I
would say, ex-pats.

Daniel:  That’s why you’re at the Chamber of Commerce.

Philippe:  Yeah, exactly.

Daniel:  What about you? How do you network? You’re in a company setting.

Ed:  In terms of networking, I think KBC is my first, very first meaning for KBC. I think this setting is ideal for me, not only to network with ex-pats, but also with other
fellow Koreans, too.

I think what you’ll find is a theme from a Korean company, like LGD, you’ll find that many Koreans want to speak with foreigners. They want to be able to practice the language, but they also want
to network, too.

So you’ll find that a lot of Koreans are willing to come to these kinds of events. I think this event is very good not only for ex-pats, but also even for Koreans who are actually living
here.

Daniel:  I agree with you a lot because even my class this morning – I got up at 5:30 this morning. I was teaching at 7:30. The guys always say, “What’s the best way to
learn English?” That was the topic this morning.

The guy says, “Meet a foreigner.” Make a foreign friend, make foreign friend, make a foreign friend.

Ed:  I think these kinds of forums are really good because you have a good mix of foreigners, but also you have a good mix of nationals, too, speaking the Korean language. So
even though they may not know how to speak English very well,
they’re able to still mingle.

Daniel:  Why is that? Why can’t they speak well?

Ed:  Well, it’s just like us. We’re speaking Korean. That’s part of the Korean culture, too, because Korean people are usually shy, very shy.

James:  I think we need to approach Korean people.

Daniel: Do you think Koreans are shy?

James:  I think tonight I’ve seen a few who were.

Daniel:  Really?

James:  But that’s why this helps. That’s where the alcohol comes in. Essential.

Daniel:  Is this an equalizer, then? Are you calling this an equalizer?

James:  I think it’s a common ground. It brings us together.

Daniel:  Exactly. But look among Koreans themselves. Every week, Wednesday night after work, what do 90% of all Korean men do?

Ed:  They drink.

James:  That’s where business is done.

Daniel: Not only when they’re business is done, if they disagree with their boss, they can go drink with their boss and tell them off. The boss doesn’t mind because he’s not in the
work setting. He’s not being attacked in an hierarchal manner.

James: That’s interesting.

Nick:  What about hierarchy in events like this? We’re both quite young, early career. I’m not a manager; I’m an English teacher. How does that play in? Can I meet Koreans,
bosses of LG? “Hey, I’m Nick. Nice to meet you.”

James:  I’m hesitant to approach Koreans, even though I can speak Korean. I don’t know should I speak to them English or Korean, and should I approach them? What do you think
about that? Would they be welcoming?

Daniel:  They would be extremely impressed that you know Korean. You could probably be offered a job within an hour.

James:  I’m skeptical.

Daniel:  It does happen, it does happen.

James:  And then laid off in the next month.

Daniel:  And then laid off maybe a year later. I won’t tell you why.

Ed:  There is definitely a hierarchal structure in the culture, but also you’ll find that the culture, the actual Korean culture, gets imbedded into the business culture,
too. I think this is a great event, because it overcomes those
those walls.

I think initially they’ll say, “Okay, I’m a little shy.” There may be some kind of hierarchal structure, but once they get to know people not only from the American aspect or from the French aspect
or wherever you’re from.

Daniel:  Do you think that’s true?

Philippe: I think hierarchy here is still – one of the important things really of the company. I always do believe that alcohol and, you know, informal relationships really add a lot
to it. Also when I was talking about, for example, about networking
with ex-pats, you know HR people which are usually always correct
and this is helping also at some point, whether it’s in with
Chamber of Commerce or with those types of networking event.

There’s the business bar and, at some point, there is a friendly bar. At this bar, in this case, you can maybe talk more about your personal things, you can maybe talk a bit about your experience,
things like that, your life in Korea.

At this point, you pass from business relationship to more a friend relationship. In this case, that is really good for business.

Daniel:  I agree. With you, James, you talked about the fact that you’re hesitant to network, even though you know Korean. You’re afraid that just because you have a psych
background – do you know what I have as a background?

James:  I don't know. What do you have?

Daniel:  A little bit of everything, not much of anything.

James:  Okay. That’s how I feel with a psych background.

Daniel:  My background is a bachelor of arts liberal, which is 30 credits in history or a maximum 30 credits in the first area, 24 credits in the second area. They make
you spread it out. Koreans love that because of the fact that you
know a little bit of everything. They want to know Western culture.
They want to know about people.

James:  That can have an advantage then.

Daniel:  So because of that, for you, at the end of the day, one of Korea’s biggest thing – relationships are the most important thing. What does that mean?

Nick:  Well, what do you think happens in some of these networking Chambers of Commerce? Is it all quid pro quo? Is it like, “I’m here. Oh, you’re LG. I want to do a deal with
LG, so let’s talk.” Or are there people actually meeting for
genuine friendships?

At this event, I genuinely think people would be meeting for friendships. I’ve seen a lot of that and experienced a lot of that. I love it today.

Daniel: If you’re networking and you want to network for business purposes, you’ve got to hit the person at the same level you’re doing it. If you don’t, they can’t do business
with you. It’s not Korean culture.

When I working for a small manufacturing company, my employee could not talk to a manager. He had to find somebody in the company that he wanted to talk to at his level.

James:  Right. There’s problems with vertical communications.

Daniel:  Vertical communication is very difficult. It doesn’t happen.

Nick:  How does a networker facilitate that? What should KBC do so that I know who to talk to at these events?

Daniel:  What do you think?

James: Well, we can’t exactly color code each other on the nametag, can we? That’s a bit too much. What can we do?

Daniel: Why not having a picture and having your name and your position?

James:  That would be good, having your position as well as your name. That’s a great idea.

Daniel:  What’s another idea that you can think of?

Ed:  I totally agree with you. There is a hierarchal structure when you’re talking about business. Of course, I think this event, this first event from KBC is a good opportunity
for everyone to be at the same level.

Daniel: Because we are foreigners. There are a lot of foreigners here. I’m sorry to say, but we’re getting close to 9.9. KBC 9.9 with Daniel. One last talk. Five seconds each.

James:  I want to say just what you said. Maybe we could take away the business cards and we just have our names. That takes out the hierarchy.

Daniel:  There you go. Next.

Philippe:  That’s a good idea.

Daniel:  I think a form. Take a picture, put it on an iPad, drop it down into a – and say, “Okay, this picture, this name, this position.” Put it an iPod and then print
it out on a wireless printer.

Unknown Person: He knows better than me about Korea.

Daniel: Next.

Ed:  I say leave your rank at the door.

Nick:  Come along. Everyone is great.

Daniel:  This is KBC 9.9 with Daniel. Hope you had a great night. Cheers!