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Great Quotes from George Yen, Toastmasters International President 2013-2014

George Yen, DTM and Me!
In Warsaw at the Toastmasters District 95 Conference, I had the pleasure of listening to the keynote from George Yen DTM, Toastmasters International President in the years 2013–14, from Taipei, Taiwan.

George was interesting, entertaining, and highly quotable.  I wanted to share a few of the things he shared, which resonated with me.

"A college degree is not a guarantee to success, the safety net is fragile."  This is something which I think about often when I see homeless on the streets.  Most of us are just a few paychecks away from being in the same situation.  Hearing this from a successful businessman, emphasized the point. 

George Yen, Toastmasters International President 2013-2014
George also shared, "I had to find myself first." Most of us, on our lives journey, have to figure out who we really are in the world.  We often want to please our parents, our teachers, and other adults while growing up.  Later, we our who are spouses, friends, and bosses want us to be.  For many, it is a struggle to find yourself. According to George, "Giving a speech is a way to discover who you are."  I know that through my Toastmasters journey, I have often found this to be the case.

When describing how his first big business venture failed and he lost everything, he said "Sometimes you have to embrace failure."  I recently have experienced failure and have recognized the need to accept my failure, learn from it, and move on.  Failures can teach us more than our successes.  

Another quote from this same keynote was "I decided to make a blind date with destiny."  This struck me as I am a project manager and I plan everything.  A blind date with destiny is pretty high on the risk matrix and well outside my comfort zone.  Perhaps some good advice that I should consider.

This last quote hit home with me.  He shared that his daughter told him several years after he divorced his first wife, her mother, "Divorce is the best thing that ever happened to you."  

For many, divorce also is interpreted as failure.  George had already spoken on embracing failure.   Life is so often based on our perception.  One persons challenge, is another persons opportunity.


A little more about George Yen.

George is Chairman of the Board of Great Sequoia Corporation, an international management and trading company. He also serves as the CEO of five international joint ventures with Japanese, Canadian and American corporations in the fields of machinery and industrial products. He speaks four languages and holds a master’s degree in international relations from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
He's been with our organization for over 28 years now and remains an active member of two Toastmasters clubs in Taiwan, including Taiwan Toastmasters, a bilingual Chinese and English club in Taipei.

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