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y invitation only. We meet for fourhours at a time. Each participant hasthe opportunity to express his or herbiggest challenge of the month. Thiscan range from financing to customerrelations to recruiting to engineeringto ‘impossible decisions to make,’because most of the time you aredealt with incomplete data.This is a safe place, a ‘home’ forentrepreneurs, and only entrepreneurscan relate to, appreciate, andhelp other entrepreneurs. I shareeverything I know with no restriction,which means that I also share my pastmistakes publicly, and what I learnedfrom them. Most likely, whateversituation is happening, someone inthe room has experienced it, or has anidea on how to solve it.The Founder Squad is what itsname stands for: a small ‘army’ ofpeople who are reached to solve onlythe most challenging issues. If youcan find an answer in a book or bydoing a search, we don’t address it.We solve problems that leverage ourcollective experience and wisdomacquired over the years throughblood, sweat, and tears.In many ways, it is like the ForeignLegion: a fellowship, a brotherhoodwith noble intentions, watchingeach other’s backs, regardless ofdifferences. Our mission drives us.What was one of the toughestproblems you’ve solved? Whatprocess did you go through to solveit?We only address the most difficultsituations, and there isn’t one thatis particularly tougher than others.There is a common process, though.The entrepreneur asks a question,which typically reveals only thesurface of the problem. Then I, orsomeone else in the room, will digdeeper to understand the root of thequestion by asking more questions.Soon enough, we get to the bottomof it and very often, it is quitedifferent from the initial question. Itis the source, the origin. The initialquestion had revealed only oneconsequence of it. Then we go afterthat source, and that only. If we cansolve the source, we have inherentlysolved the initial question, andmost likely, many other questionsthat would have arisen otherwise.Sometimes a technical questionreveals an HR question. Diggingdown to the root of a question issimilar to methods you might findin Chan (Zen), for example. Wedistinguish content from context,appearance from essence.Business is business, and challengesin one industry often happen in theothers. Just by listening, one canlearn a lot about how to solve (andavoid) a difficult situation.Do you have a message to otherentrepreneurs who are struggling tostart up their businesses?Getting started is one of thehardest things to do. If you havehad the courage to quit your comfortzone and start your business, youhave already won half the battle.From then on, be self-sufficient assoon as possible. Do not dependtoo much on others. Put yourself inother people’s shoes, and do morethan they expect from you. Atthe same time, reach out and helpothers. Help will come back to youone way or another. Overall, it isnot one person, but the ecosystem,that brings strength to every memberof the community. Competitioncan be healthy but it is fear-based.Collaboration, on the other hand, isoften a much wiser choice.In 1987, Marshall McLuhan coined the phrase ‘The medium is the message.’Due to a typographical error, the printed version became ‘The Medium is theMassage.’ Perhaps it is an apt title for The Founder Squad. This is a groupthat is reviving tactile connection and personal touch in this highly digitizedworld where news travels faster than you can register it. The Founder Squadcalls for face-to-face dialogue and collaborative sharing of resource andinformation. Culturally, free sharing of this nature is rare in Taiwan’s businessworld. This venture is defying the norm, and doing so successfully.For more information visit www.foundersquad.comRoma is a graphic designerby trade, an artist bychoice, with an insatiableappetite for change. Shecontinues to be inspiredby the energy of India, thespirit of Taiwan, the beauty of ourplanet, the embrace of its people.Happy New Year, and then HappyNew Year, and then Happy NewYear…it seems like I have beenhaving a constant stream of newyears over the last few weeks. Forthose of us who live across multiple cultures – and itseems like most of us do these days – the period fromNovember through to, well, now, has been a constantstream of thanking, wishing well, and celebrating. Andthat is not a bad thing in any way, shape or form. But Ido hear a few people saying that it has become tiresome…and I CAN understand that even though I look atit from a different point of view. Official holidays dobring with them certain obligations; obligations to catchup with friends, spend time with co-workers, visit withfamily, send cards and notes out to people you haven’tWord from the Directorseen for a while. In short, maintaining relationships thatmight otherwise slip away through lack of attention. Andyes that can be tiring. But anything worth doing is goingto take some effort so I welcome the effort, embracethe tiredness and push on through. And it is great tocatch up with everyone at least once a year. Would I doit otherwise? Maybe not… so perhaps it is good to bepushed into it every now and then.Oh well, back to work now…I can finally take it a biteasier(?)…See you soon.Steven ParkerDirector, Community Services Centerwww.communitycenter.org.tw march 201227