The Reporter Was Touched by Compatriots

Production of terminals made our staff busy and happy. One day, Regis McKenna called, who was in charge of our PR:

“Mr. Hwang, I'll visit your company today and introduce you someone.”

“Who is that?”

“His name is Brinsky, a reporter for Fortune. We are good friends and I'll introduce him to you.”

I did not take his words into mind, just busy with the piled businesses. Unexpectedly, McKenna led the guest in as he promised. He appeared to be the report mentioned in the phone. The reporter walked around in my company, showing little interest. I was not surprised since I had expected it.

I was not feeling good when I just heard the name of“reporter” in that I was disappointed by reporters for several times before. I always provided materials to the reporters with hopes and enthusiasm who asked for information. However, they never published a decent report in the newspapers or magazines.

I knew the sales result once our products were introduced in newspapers or magazines, so I always had great expectations. However, great expectations always resulted in enormous disappointment. Each time, I comforted myself that“we would rather win with our products and technology rather than other power”. I believed that this reporter was the same as the previous ones.

“Brinsky, this is Mr. Hwang, the boss of‘TELE VIDEO'.”

“Ah, hello. I have visited your company and was thinking ...”

“Please wait a moment. You should at least know what kind of person I am before you leave, right?”

I had no idea that why I retained him. At least I did not intend to have him report our company at that moment, but I thought a formal greeting was necessary since he had come.

McKenna realized the embarrassment, and came to smooth things over. He comforted me first:

“He was certainly tired from the office of Fortune far away from here.”

He then turned to the reporter and said:

“You've required some materials so I take you here. Why don't you look carefully? You'd better have a closer look. I will provide you amazing materials for the coverage later.”

Brinsky and I finally sat down and talk face-to-face on and off. Brinsky was a reporter, and of course he asked questions.“What are you producing?”

“Smart terminals are selling well now, and we're going to produce PC (personal computer) right away.”

“PC?”

He showed some curiosity. Reporters were concerned about those cutting-edge machines such as PC since PC was just gaining its popularity. Brinsky did not believe that it was possible for us, such a small factory, to produce PC. I led him to our PC production line. Then, I explained concisely to him that we were going to produce PCs which were more advanced than previous ones. The more information he received, the more interest he had.

“Mr. Hwang, I've walked around the factory and noticed many Asians.”

“Yes, one-third of our staff are Korean.”

“Are they technicians invited by you from South Korea?”

“No, most of them have never done this work before. They are new immigrants to the United States, and they work here in my company in order to settle down in the United States. They will leave after 6 months once they get familiar with the situations of the United States. They will find a job somewhere else or start their own business according to original plans. Therefore, I helped them by hiring them. As new immigrants, they could find a job immediately in the United States. How encouraging. I understand them most.”

Brinsky suddenly held my hands tightly when hearing this.

“You've done very well and I am so moved. I came to the United State at the age of 16, from Russia. It was really a hard time during the early days. I really do not understand why there is no Russian who offers such help like you. I'd love to report on what you've done.”