307. The Power of Radical Kindness in Modern Leadership: A Conversation with James Rhee (Part 2)

The Greg McKeown Podcast

Greg McKeown

Education, Business, Self-improvement

4.8 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 13 June 2024

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

About the Guest: James Rhee is the CEO, educator, and acclaimed author of "Red Helicopter: A Parable for Our Times." He holds the Johnson Chair of Entrepreneurship at Howard University and serves as a senior lecturer at both MIT and Duke Law School. Influenced by the caregiver values of his first-generation Korean immigrant parents, James has played a transformative role in business and education, notably reviving Ashley Stewart from the brink of liquidation while advocating for leadership rooted in kindness and numerical acuity. Episode Summary: Greg McKeown speaks with James Rhee about navigating the complexities of modern success, culture, and capitalism. The discussion dives deep into the concepts of Chung, a Korean principle embodying connection, harmony, and communication, and how it ties into broader societal issues and business practices. McKeown and Rhee explore the symbolic importance of The Blue House in Korea and its reflections on cultural sentiment. Rhee shares his personal journey of reconciling financial capital with social capital. He critiques traditional accounting methods, emphasizing the importance of measuring intangible assets and understanding true value beyond just financial metrics. The conversation als Key Takeaways: Cultural Significance of Chung: Understanding Chung's role in fostering communication and harmony in both personal and professional contexts. Rethinking Success: Evaluating modern metrics of success that go beyond financial capital to include social well-being and long-term sustainability. Accounting for Intangibles: The importance of integrating measurements of intangible assets like employee turnover and social capital into traditional accounting practices. Balance of Joy and Money: Leveraging financial capital as a support system for achieving a fulfilling and joyful life. Redefining Freedom: The paradox of freedom, which includes meaningful relationships and not just the absence of obligations. Notable Quotes: Greg McKeown: "The comfortable life is not an attainable place. That doesn't mean you can't find a sweet spot. But that sweet spot's more like adventure than it is comfort and freedom from all obligation." James Rhee: "Your balance sheet will show me exactly how you've actually lived your life." James Rhee: "Having freedom, paradoxically, means you have to have really good relationships to share that freedom with people that time with." Greg McKeown: "Ever-deepening relationships with those few people that matter most is the only thing in life.” Resources: James Rhee's Book: Red Helicopter: A Parable for Our Times Greg McKeown's Book: Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less TED Talk by James Rhee: "The Value of Kindness at Work" Join my weekly newsletter. Learn more about my books and courses. Join The Essentialism Academy. Follow me on LinkedIn, Instagram, X, Facebook, and YouTube. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	So this is one of the reasons I wanted to double click on Chung with you and you got to correct me if I'm wrong here but but my
0:13.9	understanding is that the that the blue house in Korea is named after this it's
0:21.8	Chung wade or something like that. I'm not saying I'm sure I'm saying it correctly.
0:26.7	Symbolically trying to capture that sentiment of you know come here when you come to the blue house you are
0:36.2	This is the presidential house that that you will you know that there's a sense of communication and connection and and harmony and so on and as
0:47.1	it happens when I went to business school that the son of the president of Korea at the
0:50.6	time was one of my classmates one of my friends and so we organized a trip to Korea and it was a it was just a spectacular learning
0:59.7	experience to be able to spend I think about 10 days with a packed schedule, but going from just, you know, fascinating meeting to meeting, which crescendoed with a meeting with the president at Blue House.
1:15.0	But there was a very, very unusual feeling in the place,
1:20.0	in the land, the garden that had been created by one of the presidents and so on and just a feeling there that was that was much more you know and I didn't know at that time that that translation was, you know, Blue House translation
1:34.8	had a connection to this Chiang principle, but I wanted to go there.
1:40.4	Is there more that you can tell us about that connection?
1:43.0	You know, I'll sort of spoil a little bit of the book because I think it's the
1:48.9	coda to the book. And this is the best way I can explain it and it was actually to a room full of
1:56.0	Koreans. You have to picture a room full of Koreans and my Korean is not great and it was my way of also saying
2:02.4	goodbye to my parents but I was sitting in a
2:05.0	room 70 years after my parents went to high school in that very neighborhood of Seoul and I, I said, what are the odds of their son being
2:16.7	here, 70 years later, saying goodbye to them, they passed away in America, like feeling
2:22.4	like he needed to say goodbye.
2:24.1	This is where they went to high school. And so this moment we're sharing and then the
2:28.6	only way I could communicate it was through song.
2:31.0	I asked for guitar. I had some photos, and I sang.
	...

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