“Dear leaders, from the start of your existence, you are already champions who had won millions of other sperms.” Laughter erupted from the audience. Onstage, Mr. Steve Huang was speaking with excitement, his eyes shining bright with expectations. “During these four days, may all of you rediscover leadership is within you since you were born, and become a trend-leading pioneer.”
I was immediately surrounded by a group of people filled with passion and dreams once I stepped inside the conference hall of the Taiwan Youth Leadership Summit. “We’re experiencing a brand new era, therefore facing brand new issues; these issues can only be solved by brand new logic, not the old information and knowledge from schools. Mr. Huang very efficiently introduced the “Design Thinking” system to all participants:
3 Rules of Design Thinking:
-User Desirability
-Technical Feasibility
-Business Viability
4 Characteristics of Design Thinking:
-Emphasizes Teamwork
-Take Action
-Creative Brainstorm
-Human as the core
5 Steps of Design Thinking:
Empathize the Situation
Define the Need
Ideate the Plan
Produce the Prototype
Test the Product
In these four days, Design Thinking became the core of our plans and actions.
The organizers invited a few speakers to share their stories in order to inspire us. Mr. David Lin was one of them. In the first half of his life, his goal was riches and fame, but his life experienced an unexpected twist when he realized his colleagues and himself were breaking the law for the company’s profit. A choice was before him, and he chose righteousness. Of course, his life was miserable after that. His superiors weren’t giving him a good time, and after he left to start his own business, he failed continuously. However, he learned. He grew. Now, Mr. Lin is the founder and organizer of the TXI center. In the middle of his speech, he showed us a video. In the video, an antelope was dashing with all of its might, but then it ran straight into a tree and collapsed, becoming the feast of the lion beside the tree. He proved his point: choices are always more important than effort. We have to find our directions first before we dash with all our might. Mr. Lin believed in a Hebrew proverb: Tikkun Olam. Repair the world. What is your way of repairing the world?
Another speaker who has an extraordinary life’s journey was Joch Chen. Joch had always been ashamed of her grades. She was the constant victim of bullies and even her mother, who was suffering from depression. She felt trapped, stressed and even tortured repeatedly studying and taking tests. She couldn’t find a purpose in her life… until she attended TYLS when she was 18. She found her true self—the Joch who’s active, confident, and happy. After founding the QG Mountains & Seas, Joch used her talents and interests in design and traveling. Working with The Nomadic Duo, they executed the “Shih．Shih” plan and introduced Taiwanese local farmers and shop owners to the world. Her life was the best symbol of her words, “Don’t let the past limit your future.” If you are interested in Joch and her work, watch the video they made (remember to turn on English captions!):
Jeremy Jan was another speaker who’s had a unique experience. He was most famous for traveling all around Taiwan barefoot to raise funds to help shoeless kids in Nepal. He believes that by listening to the voice of the world that strikes your passion, you will find your dreams. He also mentioned that time and age were never a problem, it was always the passion that is truly crucial. He shared that during his trip barefoot around Taiwan, there were always people who mocked him, thinking him stupid. However, he redefined the Chinese character for stupid: “Stupid” is the “courage” in your “heart”. This definition of stupid made me smile because I have always had a fear of other people’s judgments and criticism, but it was his concept of success that struck me: After our success, we will always have to return to our “normal” lives; after seeing the world, the ultimate purpose is always to come home; our life must be separated from our success because success doesn’t define life, it’s life who defines success; after success, my life is still mine. Here's a brief video on his barefoot journey around Taiwan:
At our dinner party, the famous Taiwanese aboriginal singer/actress Rachel Liang shared her story. Their family was poor, but at least they were happy… until her mother became an alcohol addict. The role of mother fell on her elder sister, who was only 12. Rachel recalled that whenever their father returns with his salary, he would give it to her sister, letting her take full responsibility. However, her hard-working father died of an accident, and without motherly love, teenage Rachel gained friends who negatively affected her. Once, her sister discovered her smoking and drinking with her gang. The single drop of tear that trickled down her sister’s face was what made her decide to change herself. Soon, Rachel and her siblings were sent into an orphanage. There, she was trained in a choir and recovered her childhood interest—singing. That’s how she encountered opportunities and finally became a famous singer as she dreamed. Although she was a Christian all her life, she confessed that there was a time when she completely lost faith in God and wanted to end her own life. Fortunately, twists and turns in her life made her realize that God has always been there and that He would never give up on anyone. Here's a clip of her live performance at the dinner party. The songs are in Mandarin, but music is the international language!
With Mr. Huang’s Design Thinking system and the speakers’ inspirations, my eight teammates and I started too repeatedly discuss until we’ve finally reached a consensus. The global issue we picked was refugee children. In addition to their physical needs, we focused on their emotional and mental requirements. We decided to organize the JYLS—Jordan Youth Leadership Summit, inspired by TYLS. We wanted to accompany the refugee children in the Za’atari refugee camp with music and art and also teach local adolescents hygiene concepts and useful techniques. Our main cause was “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” We hope that refugees are able to survive depending on themselves instead of relying completely on other countries’ charity.
Sooner than it felt, it was the last day of TYLS and time for our presentation. Our group received quite a few positive feedback, especially from Mr. Huang, who gave us additional advice and encouraged us to execute our plan in the future. I recalled our group’s process of building trust and working as a team. Most of us are introverts, so we’re not comfortable around each other until the dinner party the second day. That’s when we had breakthroughs on the awkward silence and our enormous age gap—we have 7th graders all the way to 12th graders; five years apart. Soon after our breakthrough, our efficiency increased miraculously. A team works like a machine, everyone is a different part: someone’s the screw, someone’s the motor, someone’s the gear, and someone’s the battery. This doesn’t mean that the screw is less significant than the motor, nor that the battery is more crucial than the gear. Everyone plays a role, and there is no more or less contributive. Our group chaperone also shared that she thought everyone in our group is an exceptional fisherman, but we learned to fish together as a team on the same boat. “Vision Changes the World” is the slogan of TYLS. I believe that after TYLS, not only my view was widened, but also my own boundaries. I have become my own pioneer.
Related Links
Note: all of these account/webpages are in Traditional Chinese
References & Works cited
Huang, Steve Hsia-Cheng. “Design Thinking.” Taiwan Youth Leadership Summit. Taiwan Youth Leadership Summit, Feb. 2020, Changhua.
Lin, David Jung-En. “Israelian Wisdom.” Taiwan Youth Leadership Summit. Taiwan Youth Leadership Summit, Feb. 2020, Changhua.
Chen, Joch Yu-Ching. “Dream: A Choice, A Life.” Taiwan Youth Leadership Summit. Taiwan Youth Leadership Summit, Feb. 2020, Changhua.
Jan, Jeremy Shang-Yi. “The Power of Finding Dreams.” Taiwan Youth Leadership Summit. Taiwan Youth Leadership Summit, Feb. 2020, Changhua.
Liang, Rachel Wen-Yin. “Taiwan Youth Leadership Summit.” Taiwan Youth Leadership Summit. Taiwan Youth Leadership Summit, Feb. 2020, Changhua.
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