By Jane Han
Korea Times
April 2, 2007
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Seeing the country spin through a whirlwind of changes over the past decades, Coyner, once known as a Japan expert, now knows Korea inside out -- especially on how business gets done.
"It’s got to be personal -- whatever you do -- it has to be personal," said Coyner, president of the business consulting company Soft Landing Korea. `"And not just superficial personal, but a really sincere kind of personal."
Again repeating the word "personal," the 56-year-old businessman added that investing the time to get to know the other person in a business relationship is crucial and can’t be emphasized enough.
"After you build that rapport between each other, then you can start talking real business," he said.
This is just one, of the many, how-to advice Coyner gives in his new book "Mastering Business in Korea."
The published author and business head has become a popular guest speaker at companies and organizations, including the Korea Exchange Bank [sic: I was the key note speaker at the annual KEB Foreign Direct Investment Seminar], where employers want to train employees on doing international business the right way.
As an advisor for multinational companies for the past two decades, Coyner said he's grateful that the book has been well received by many in the business circle.
The Oregon native, who earned an MBA in Japanese and East Asian studies from University of Southern California [sic: BA in Japanese and East Asian Studies from the University of Colorado and MBA in International Business from USC] , left for Asia to get away from the recession crippling the U.S. economy [sic: with then only a BA in Japanese].
"Korea was my first Asian destination [sic: I studied in Japan as an undergrad; then upon graduation joined the Peace Corps in Korea]," said Coyner, who spent two years of his initial stay in North Chungchong Province, recalling that his first impression was rather interesting because of some basic differences he saw compared to his home country [sic: impressions of Japan rather than the US].
He was ready to pack up and head home when there was a sudden change of plans -- meeting his would be Korean wife.
"I had plans. I was going to go back to the States for graduate school right away, but instead, I got married after seeing my wife for just five months [sic: and realizing the then paperwork to get married and take along a spouse would take about six months]," Coyner said.
After beginning his career in Seoul at the local branch of the Chase Manhattan Bank, the newlyweds flew back to California where they lived for the next 10 years.
"I didn't think I was going to come back to Asia [sic: I was planning to return to Asia, but not expecting to be back full time in Korea], but it happened again," he said.
With an opportunity to start a local office for an American software company in Japan, that's when Coyner began his active professional work in Tokyo - until after the recession there.
"I left Japan because it was disappointing. They just didn't pick up fast enough and things weren't coming to grips," he said.
Although the Tokyo resident of almost 10 years needed some adjustment time in Seoul, after that, he says things fell right into place.
Not just for being a longtime foreign businessman in Korea, Coyner is well-known in the expatriate community for his active involvement in the Royal Asiatic Society, Seoul Rotary Club, Red Cross, Seoul Gaels Gaelic Football Club, Irish Network Korea and more.
After extending his originally two-year [sic: it was from the beginning, an open ended assignment] intended trip in Korea to more than a decade -- also meeting his wife and raising their children -- the father of two says there is no set date on how much longer he'll stay here. But the fluent Korean speaker [sic: with taxi drivers] said it's all based on the "chaemi" (fun).
On the situation of the local economy, the business advisor says Korea's "do it fast" mentality has brought the country to where it's now, but that should change.
"Not doing things thoroughly will come back to haunt the local economy later," said Coyner, a supporter of the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement. "The opening of trade will be a relief to the country. It's an extremely crucial time."