Premier Mao Chi-kuo today received the prestigious Management Medal from the Taiwan-based Chinese Management Association (CMA) in recognition of his important contributions to Taiwan society.
After thanking the CMA, Mao described the award as the greatest honor of his life. He also expressed hope that the Executive Yuan would hold fast to the value of "concern for the people" when dealing with issues among different generations, ethnic groups, businesses as well as the environment. This core value will keep the administrative team from losing its way in an ever-changing world.
The Management Medal, the highest award conferred by the association, was presented during the CMA's annual conference and seminar titled Transformation and Renewal—Management Education in Metamorphosis.
In his acceptance speech, the premier said he originally studied engineering in college and did not learn about management until his 30s during his Ph.D. studies. Only then did he understand that the real would outside of the natural sciences was not all black and white but a colorful world of diverse values.
Mao also learned from a course on organization change that anyone trying to execute a new idea must be prepared to face resistance and must be skilled in dismantling resistance and building support. Ever since that course, he has taken a strong interest in teaching and researching the concepts of reform management and decision-making. These concepts have also served him well throughout his long career in public service.
On the topic of change, Mao said that any reform must be based on an unchanging central truth, and that variety and diversity are different expressions of an unchanging core at it deepest level. Mao said he accepted the premiership appointment during a time of daunting challenges for the nation. He wants the administrative team to change their mindset and look at things from a different perspective. With the recent local elections revealing the people's desire for a new direction, the government must abandon its inward-looking ideas and do more to understand the needs of the people. As long as the government is guided by this central value of "concern for the people," efforts to craft or implement policies will not go wrong.
Also at the ceremony, CMA Chairman Liu Wei-chi praised Mao's achievements in the academic, industrial and political domains. In addition to serving as chairman of Chunghwa Telecom as well as director of the Department of Management Science and dean of the College of Management at National Chiao Tung University, Mao worked in the government where he pushed through many innovative initiatives including a Taiwan gourmet festival, the Taipei Lantern Festival, the Taiwan High-Speed Rail preparations and the Typhoon Morakot reconstruction effort. As premier, he advocated the "three arrows of technology," which focuses on open data, big data and crowd-sourcing as tools for better governance.
According to the CMA, the Management Medal recognizes individuals with outstanding contributions to the development of management science and technology. Each year, one person from the business, government or academic community is selected for the honor. Previous recipients include former Economics Minister K.T. Li (then Executive Yuan minister without portfolio); Formosa Plastics Corp. founder Wang Yung-ching, former Premier Sun Yun-suan (then presidential advisor), Acer founder Stan Shih, former Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (then deputy premier), Delta Electronics founder Bruce Cheng, and former Defense Minister Sun Chen (then professor emeritus of National Taiwan University).