Youngsuk Chi
At 20, Youngsuk Chi had to confront a terrifying reality: a brain tumor. It was a rude shock for a young man yet to fully set foot in a world that he believed eagerly awaited his potential, especially since it took almost four weeks to pinpoint the reason for his partial paralysis. However, giving up was an option he never considered, and in what would become one of his most memorable years at Princeton University, YS overcame the odds and later that year completed his studies at Princeton—cum laude.
Today, thirty years later, YS is more than healthy; he is bursting with enthusiasm about life. And as he sits down to share his story; he begins with an unusual opening: “I am the luckiest man in the world.”
It is an unexpected line, least of all from one who had to battle the unfairness of life so young. Yet in many ways, for YS, the obstacles he has faced in life have been the most important in shaping him into the person he was become; for YS, his encounter with a brain tumor was but one of many experiences that together impressed upon him the importance of context and the power of a positive mental attitude. Instead of focusing on the seeming injustice of his situation, his focus was on all the things in his life he had to celebrate: he had another ten great weeks of school to go, an entire company of unbelievably helpful friends and access to some of the best doctors in the world. “I could have been in a less developed world community,” he admits, “and that thought helped to give me a sense of reality about my circumstance and how lucky I was.”
Indeed, the importance of context is a theme that recurs throughout YS’s account of his life. More than just providing a sense of reality, YS finds understanding context a form of empowerment: it keeps one humble through constant awareness that success is a function of various factors rather than just individual genius; it makes failure less crushing—the same way success is not due to individual actions alone, so failure is a combined result of unfortunate circumstances and personal mistakes. In a life fraught with both disappointments and triumphs, such a belief set the foundation for what YS claims is the reason for his successes to date: a positive mental attitude.
Today, YS is the Chairman of the Elsevier Management Committee as well as the President of the International Publishers association, a global organization that represents the interests of more than 60 industry members from at least 50 different countries around the world. Previously, he was the President and Chief Operating Officer of Random House, and during his tenure he founded Random House Asia to spearhead expansion of Random House to include foreign trade book publishing in an otherwise untapped Asian market. In many ways, YS is no stranger to overcoming the odds: the same fierce sense of determination that led him to overcome a brain tumor as a young man gave him the courage as an adult to set bold dreams, attempt the unprecedented and ultimately, achieve the ambitious heights that many would have thought impossible.
But success never comes easily, and YS acknowledges that “as incredible as [his] journey has been, there have also been so many low points”—they were merely left out of the spotlight. No one sees the toil, the late hours, the distraught moments where dreams threaten to fall through or when they really do; rather they are only presented with the gleaming and polished surface of victorious accomplishment. To stay positive through all that was a challenge, but one worth investing in. As YS sees it, maintaining a “positive mental attitude is a mental conditioning”; it is a disciplining of the mind to discard all that is discouraging in favor of identifying new opportunities and hope for new endeavors. He wasn’t born with a greater capacity for staying positive—like every other person, he had to work at it. If anything, circumstances forced him to realize very early on that resilience and optimism were key to success; so much of what is ‘possible’ is determined by how far one is willing to extend one’s definition of what one is capable of. That he radiates such infectious positivity today is the result of decades of conscientious mental conditioning.
But even the most optimistic of men get momentarily weighed down by life. For YS, when these moments come, he draws strength “from the ninety-nine percent of the good people around me who forgive my mistakes, and who give me my second chances.” And it is here that he offers a nugget of advice: do not be afraid of making mistakes; people are naturally forgetful, and what appeared embarrassing or stupid will eventually fade in memory. That fear of failure and embarrassment (and for many they are synonymous) are often the most common excuses for not attempting something new is a great pity. Try, he urges, even when what you want to do is up against the status quo, even when you risk upsetting some established order, as long as you believe in what you are doing. After all, he claims, all grudges or conflicts eventually resolve themselves: “it’s not that people are forgiving, it’s that they have forgotten.”
Yet there is one thing YS never forgets: charity work. He has the hectic schedule typical of any international businessman widely recognized as one of the best leaders of their field, and in the two weeks prior to this interview, he has been to nearly two dozen places scattered all around the world. And yet amidst his absurdly crowded schedule, he finds the time to give back to society in tangible ways beyond his career. In the week before our interview, YS was building a home in Honduras as part of a Habitat for Humanity initiative. Although it seems remarkable that YS finds the time to give back, he finds making the time to be remarkably simple: in his belief that everyone should find time to engage in things they enjoy. Giving back to society is YS’s way of rediscovering the simplest of all joys, and his own words best capture the meaning he finds in helping others and empowering them to help themselves: “it makes me happy to see someone cross the line they may not have without holding my hand, even for a brief period of time. That is worth squeezing one more thing in my life.”
Given all that he has accomplished and all that he will go on to accomplish, it is easy to agree that YS is indeed one of the luckiest people around. He is one of the luckiest people in the world, not solely for his illustrious career achievements, but more importantly because he has embraced the unavoidable uncertainties of life and is determined to completely immerse himself in the joy of living. And he is one of the luckiest people in the world, because he grasps and practices on a daily basis what eludes so many others: an undiminished positive mental attitude towards all that life is.
Today, thirty years later, YS is more than healthy; he is bursting with enthusiasm about life. And as he sits down to share his story; he begins with an unusual opening: “I am the luckiest man in the world.”
It is an unexpected line, least of all from one who had to battle the unfairness of life so young. Yet in many ways, for YS, the obstacles he has faced in life have been the most important in shaping him into the person he was become; for YS, his encounter with a brain tumor was but one of many experiences that together impressed upon him the importance of context and the power of a positive mental attitude. Instead of focusing on the seeming injustice of his situation, his focus was on all the things in his life he had to celebrate: he had another ten great weeks of school to go, an entire company of unbelievably helpful friends and access to some of the best doctors in the world. “I could have been in a less developed world community,” he admits, “and that thought helped to give me a sense of reality about my circumstance and how lucky I was.”
Indeed, the importance of context is a theme that recurs throughout YS’s account of his life. More than just providing a sense of reality, YS finds understanding context a form of empowerment: it keeps one humble through constant awareness that success is a function of various factors rather than just individual genius; it makes failure less crushing—the same way success is not due to individual actions alone, so failure is a combined result of unfortunate circumstances and personal mistakes. In a life fraught with both disappointments and triumphs, such a belief set the foundation for what YS claims is the reason for his successes to date: a positive mental attitude.
Today, YS is the Chairman of the Elsevier Management Committee as well as the President of the International Publishers association, a global organization that represents the interests of more than 60 industry members from at least 50 different countries around the world. Previously, he was the President and Chief Operating Officer of Random House, and during his tenure he founded Random House Asia to spearhead expansion of Random House to include foreign trade book publishing in an otherwise untapped Asian market. In many ways, YS is no stranger to overcoming the odds: the same fierce sense of determination that led him to overcome a brain tumor as a young man gave him the courage as an adult to set bold dreams, attempt the unprecedented and ultimately, achieve the ambitious heights that many would have thought impossible.
But success never comes easily, and YS acknowledges that “as incredible as [his] journey has been, there have also been so many low points”—they were merely left out of the spotlight. No one sees the toil, the late hours, the distraught moments where dreams threaten to fall through or when they really do; rather they are only presented with the gleaming and polished surface of victorious accomplishment. To stay positive through all that was a challenge, but one worth investing in. As YS sees it, maintaining a “positive mental attitude is a mental conditioning”; it is a disciplining of the mind to discard all that is discouraging in favor of identifying new opportunities and hope for new endeavors. He wasn’t born with a greater capacity for staying positive—like every other person, he had to work at it. If anything, circumstances forced him to realize very early on that resilience and optimism were key to success; so much of what is ‘possible’ is determined by how far one is willing to extend one’s definition of what one is capable of. That he radiates such infectious positivity today is the result of decades of conscientious mental conditioning.
But even the most optimistic of men get momentarily weighed down by life. For YS, when these moments come, he draws strength “from the ninety-nine percent of the good people around me who forgive my mistakes, and who give me my second chances.” And it is here that he offers a nugget of advice: do not be afraid of making mistakes; people are naturally forgetful, and what appeared embarrassing or stupid will eventually fade in memory. That fear of failure and embarrassment (and for many they are synonymous) are often the most common excuses for not attempting something new is a great pity. Try, he urges, even when what you want to do is up against the status quo, even when you risk upsetting some established order, as long as you believe in what you are doing. After all, he claims, all grudges or conflicts eventually resolve themselves: “it’s not that people are forgiving, it’s that they have forgotten.”
Yet there is one thing YS never forgets: charity work. He has the hectic schedule typical of any international businessman widely recognized as one of the best leaders of their field, and in the two weeks prior to this interview, he has been to nearly two dozen places scattered all around the world. And yet amidst his absurdly crowded schedule, he finds the time to give back to society in tangible ways beyond his career. In the week before our interview, YS was building a home in Honduras as part of a Habitat for Humanity initiative. Although it seems remarkable that YS finds the time to give back, he finds making the time to be remarkably simple: in his belief that everyone should find time to engage in things they enjoy. Giving back to society is YS’s way of rediscovering the simplest of all joys, and his own words best capture the meaning he finds in helping others and empowering them to help themselves: “it makes me happy to see someone cross the line they may not have without holding my hand, even for a brief period of time. That is worth squeezing one more thing in my life.”
Given all that he has accomplished and all that he will go on to accomplish, it is easy to agree that YS is indeed one of the luckiest people around. He is one of the luckiest people in the world, not solely for his illustrious career achievements, but more importantly because he has embraced the unavoidable uncertainties of life and is determined to completely immerse himself in the joy of living. And he is one of the luckiest people in the world, because he grasps and practices on a daily basis what eludes so many others: an undiminished positive mental attitude towards all that life is.