“Eventually, people caught on. They told their
friends and families about us. There were positive
stories in the news. Now, we can open stores
wherever the opportunity arises.” Today, Costco
operates 13 warehouses in Taiwan, with physical
expansion likely to continue.
“As most other retailers have reduced their scale
and consolidated, we’re opening more warehouses
than ever, and we’re developing an ecommerce
platform that can complement it. We’ve got Costco
gas stations, too, and we’re moving in the opposite
direction of most of our peers.”
BEING A TEAM PLAYER
Despite having left the world of athletics behind,
Richard relates much of his knowledge back to
basketball, whether that be through calling himself
a coach as opposed to a leader, or through seeing
business as a game in need of sportsmanship and
cooperation. It’s not surprising, then, to find out
that Richard channelled much of his insights into
a motivational and self-help book he authored called
Coaching Yourself, published in 2017.
In it, he articulates the challenges of pursuing
passions while being realistic about the steps needed
to get there. “I had learned so much and had so
many positive experiences as a former athlete that
I wanted to share that with younger people,” he
explains. “There’s far less face-to-face interaction
these days, and that’s because there are so many other
ways of communicating with people. I wanted to
write about how my experiences with sport had
developed who I am and who I could be and
communicate that to younger audiences.”
In the book, Richard lays out a strategy for
navigating the complexities of the business world,
formulating a simple system to explain how he
achieved success. He calls it “The Three Cs and
the Three Ds”.
“The first ‘C’ is about content,” he explains.
“When you’re young, you’ve got to experience
as much of the world as you can. You can’t be
an empty box; you have to have something in
your stomach and between your ears, and that
something is content.
“When you’re young, I say, ‘Look for a job or
a career that you can gain experience in and build
content awareness. Don’t just look at another job
because someone is promising to pay you 30 per cent
more.’ Young people will switch jobs for something
as small as a five per cent pay increase, and I try
to tell them it’s just not worth it. Pay is not a
priority, because you want to receive as much
content as you possibly can.
“The second ‘C’ is context, which is asking
yourself, ‘Why is this experience important? How
do I relate this to my daily life? How do I relate
this to my future?’
“And the third ‘C’ is contact. At an early age,
it’s important to meet a lot of people and create
networks, because you never know who you’re
going to reach out to. Someone could be helpful
to you in the future, so you have to build your
Rolodex, save those business cards and be prepared
to reach out to those people.
“Then, there are the three Ds. The first ‘D’
is definition; ‘How do you define yourself? Who
are you? What is your brand? What do you do?
Someone reading this article will have a good
definition of who Richard Chang is, right? That’s
because I’m defining myself,” he explains.
“Then, there’s differentiation: ‘How are you
different from your competitors or from other
applicants who are applying to that university or
job? How do you make yourself different?’ It’s even
simple stuff, like asking why people walk across the
street into a Starbucks to buy coffee as opposed
to walking next door to one of the other brands.
What’s the difference between those two stores?
“And the final ‘D’ is discipline. That comes
straight from sports; So, ‘How do you maintain
definition? How do you maintain differentiation?
Why are you getting up earlier than somebody else
to get to work? Why are you getting up earlier and
going to the gym?’ That’s the discipline that sets you
apart and lets you pursue those other elements.”
Richard says these lessons were important for him
to impart because they weren’t the sort he learned
in classrooms. They were what he learned through
playing team sports and having to coordinate in real
time with dozens of other players. “I believe sport
is as important as maths, reading and writing. I think
a lot of Asian families in particular think education
is a zero-sum game and that you’re either studying
or you’re not. It’s the idea that sports takes away from
education, and I think the opposite is true.
“What I wanted to do with my book was teach
competitiveness, sportsmanship and perseverance,
because these aren’t lessons learned in a classroom.
Every time I would step on the court, I was
competing and showing those values. It’s difficult,
but I guarantee sports can teach that.”theceomagazine.com | 35