At 38 years of age, Liza Yen is the CEO of Elite Public Relations Consultants. She explains that even though the chairman is technically her boss, "I have more power than him. This is the way our company culture works. Directors are empowered to be completely independent and responsible."
As CEO, Liza Yen doesn't have to recruit clients or organize activities. She only needs to dress the part and attend customers' activities as a VIP. But the group has four PR companies with over 100 employees and she is single-handedly responsible for the group's sales, management, training, and R&D, so most of her time is spent in endless meetings.
Working her way up
She majored in business management in university. Perhaps that is why this petite lady is as sharp as a tack as well as economical and to the point with her language. Success, however, didn't just happen; it has been the accumulation of steady progress.
Two years after joining Elite in 1988, she was promoted to manager and since then, her responsibilities and work objectives have changed a bit each year. The one thing that didn't change is that she remained responsible for sales. When she was a low-level manager back in the early days, the general manager gave her a sky-high sales target. "I wanted to make my manager and mentor look good, so I pushed my team until we reached the objective. It was exhausting, but it was also excellent training for my sales skills."
In 1996, she experienced the most serious crisis of her career. Without warning, two assistant CEOs left to set up their own company, taking some of Elite's customers and coworkers with them. Before she even had a chance to make head or tail of the situation, the chairman requested that she take the position of assistant CEO and clean up the mess. She used to return home dead tired every day after work and sob until late into the night into her pillow. "I wasn't afraid. I felt betrayed... stabbed in the back by trusted friends. I just couldn't come to terms with it." That year, she and her coworkers labored hard side by side, bringing business back to and even surpassing previous levels.
In 1998, she established Apex Communications, the group's third company, staffed by two pregnant managers and two or three newbie salesman. In just three months they went from no customers to breaking even. The company ended its first year very much in the black. By 2000, Apex had the best sales record in the entire group.
Yen explains, "My customers and colleagues all know that I'm very good in sales. Achieving sales goals has never been much of a problem for me. On the other hand, I don't give coworkers overly high sales objectives and I don't suggest that clients spend money unnecessarily."
Challenging herself
After slogging along for over ten years, it appeared that Liza Yen had reached the top, but she was not satisfied. She keeps finding new ways to keep herself in overdrive. She now lectures part time at Shih Hsin University and last year, she tested into Chengchi University's Graduate Institute of Journalism, which entails racing off to Mucha for classes on her days off.
Working in the field for years has given her a passion for public relations. Not long ago, passengers were injured on Taipei's subway. The Taipei Rapid Transit Corporation was hung out to dry by the media for its poor handling of the situation as a result. Yen says with a sigh that the crisis management skills of the city government's Department of Rapid Transit Systems were once considered impeccable. Now, it can't seem to do anything right. "Crisis management is nothing more than a question of training and being genuinely concerned." She never turns down requests from government agencies or schools to speak, as she feels that they should set the example.
She is of the opinion that public relations has a deep theoretical structure. In Taiwan, however, PR has not become a specialized academic field. She would like to sort out the theoretical foundations of public relations. For example, how should PR courses be taught in university? How should it be approached? What kind of viewpoints should be used? After integrating theory and practice, Taiwan can then work to get in step with the rest of the world. With this in mind, she opted to study in the College of Communication which also teaches PR.
So, how does she also take care of her family?
Liza is grateful that her husband is in the news business. As a newsman, he really understands the joys and sorrows that come with her business. What's more, he's easy-going and isn't resentful about her being more successful than him. She doesn't forget to use her feminine charms on him. "Pouting prettily and a sweet mouth come natural to women." She finds herself frequently telling her husband that she doesn't have to personally do the sales any more, so he doesn't need to introduce any more clients.
Her own parents live in southern Taiwan, her mother-in-law passed away a few years back, and her father-in-law lives in Taichung. What's more, she has no friends or relatives in Taipei that can help out, so on the occasional Saturday when her husband has to go out of town on business, finding a place to put their child while she goes to class has become a major predicament. The solution she came up with: make friends with her neighbors and the parents of her son's classmates. Her ten-year old son stayed at the homes of classmates for the entire day three times one semester last year.
Liza Yen points out that since she assumed the post of CEO for Elite Public Relations Consultants four years ago, the challenge at work is managing people. All companies have thorny internal and factional issues. She has an aversion to conflict and using her position to exert pressure. She prefers, rather, to tackle problems with her enthusiasm. To her mind, this is the best and only way to work out difficulties.
Of course, she sometimes glowers. "All I have to do is not smile and I look stern, but you can't glare just to glare. When you do it, it has to be for a purpose." For example, if she finds somebody not giving their full attention when a coworker is giving a report, she plays the schoolmarm-calling them out by name and cross-examining them. Her subordinates are very tense at meetings, but she uses these opportunities to train them to stay on their toes.
Does she ever feel there isn't enough time in the day?
"I can't blame anybody else for my exhaustion and lack of sleep. I've got too much cooking on too many burners." Liza laughs as she says she also loves to watch television. If she doesn't make it home before nine at night, she makes sure she catches the 11 o'clock rebroadcast of her favorite Japanese soap. She sleeps an average of only four hours a night. She says she doesn't have a problem with insomnia, but then turns around and says she "doesn't sleep well." Worse, she even thinks about work in her dreams, so it's like she continues working in her sleep. When colleagues ask her questions back at work, she sometimes stares vacantly and asks, "Didn't we already discuss that?"
Competitive, sensitive, incredibly optimistic, and never petty, Liza finds balance in her life and releases stress through reading. She is not religious, but perusing Buddhist scriptures opens up her mind. She says with a laugh, "Of course, I, too, love to 'shop until I drop'... I just don't have the time." This is because her life is already filled up by work, family, and school.
