Dear Mikkeller Cinnamon Roll,

I have to admit, when I entered Mikkeller, I wasn’t looking for you. I was just hoping to try the beer. But then love has a mysterious way of sneaking up on us, doesn’t it? It hits us like a beaver tail in the face as we swim in the pond of life. I remember our first meeting. I can still taste you on my lips now.

I was first attracted to the exterior of the building where we met, as the architecture of Mikkeller, Taipei dates back to the days when the Dadaocheng 大稻埕 area…

I remember the specific moment in 5th grade when my little league baseball career abruptly and thankfully ended. I was standing in the outfield on the grass at Brewbaker Field Sports Complex in my hometown of Lexington, Virginia, feeling nervous about being there. Baseball was not a sport I particularly enjoyed, and I’m not sure why I even joined the Rockbridge Area Recreation Organization (RARO) little league baseball team. Perhaps it was the peer pressure or the opportunity for camaraderie with others my age. Maybe it was part of the requirement of growing up in small town America. Regardless of…

Cerberus Middle gnawed on the femur from the leg of a common livestock that had been brought down from the surface world a week before. There was still a bit of meat hanging from the thicker part of the bone. Cerberus Left slept while Cerberus Right licked his paw, contentedly.

Why was Middle always so hungry? Left and Right seemed to be able to get their fill, but Middle never seemed to be able to satisfy his appetite. …

“Sitting the month — or “zuo yuezi”坐月子 in Chinese — is a traditional form of postpartum confinement meant to help women recover and stay healthy after giving birth. Historically, it was believed new mothers should be kept warm for the crucial first 30 days post-birth, during which time they were instructed to wear long clothes, avoid any kind of cold air, not bathe, stay away from raw or cold foods, and just generally lie still at home.”-Dai Wangyun, Researcher from East China Normal University as quoted in Sixth Tone.

The Right Place, The Right Time

Originally, my wife wanted to give birth in her home country…

The Face of FIG: The Venue Director

One of FIG’s most important roles within the group is that of the Venue Director. This role is an elected position who sits on FIG’s board of directors for a year and whose job it is to liaison with the group’s collaborating venues. As FIG is still a relatively young improvised group, completing its 3rd full year of existence in August of 2021, there have only been two members who have held this position up until this time.

Ganymede’s hands were softer and whiter than any woman’s Zeus had ever felt. Zeus had his choice of gods and goddesses, but it was the temptation of mortals like Ganymede…something about their childlike innocence, that made them so enticing to the father of the gods.

He looked up at the puffs of white clouds racing through the sky and ran his hands past the back of Ganymede’s hand. He turned his head and peeked at the young Trojan prince’s face…almost certainly passed out from exhaustion. …

An Improvised Breakthrough

I remember the first time I met Hsu I have to admit that I was a tiny bit skeptical. It’s not that I didn’t like or trust him — not that at all, in fact. Hsu is a very likeable person, a cool cat, someone I can imagine a friendship growing from a chance encounter — perhaps, accidentally spilling a beer on him at a musical festival sparking a friendship — that kind of guy. Not one to fall into the current trappings of being energised through division, he is is respectful of other viewpoints even if he totally disagrees…

喬好學

還記得2003年的時候，我剛到江西省宜春市的宜春學院當英文老師。那時候我對中文一無所知。2002年我在日本新潟當英語老師。在日本的時候，我找了一個日本人的中文老師並學了幾句很簡單的中文因為我計畫之後會到中國待一年（沒想到就住了13年）。我到宜春以後，我還記得那邊的學院教務長發現我生日是12月26日，露出又驚又喜的表情，並說：

“你的生日跟毛主席一樣！” 江西確實是比較重視紅色革命歷史。

就這樣毛主席就在我剛到中國的時候立刻入侵我在中國的生活中，當時我還沒有一個適合的中文名字。在宜春的第一個星期，另一個來自南非的同事介紹我一個中文老師，也就是他的學生。那個中文老師叫Jane，她是來自湖南長沙的一位非常嚴格又負責任的老師。在第一堂課時，她認為我應該要有一個適合的中文名字。介紹我們認識的南非同事叫Jody，他的中文姓是“喬“。Jane 以為我是一個很愛學習的人，所以她想一想，就給我起個中文名字叫喬好學。從那天起，“喬好學” 就哇哇落地了。沒想到時間過得那麼快，一直到現在喬好學已經過了青春期變化到了17歲了。

喬好學重生了

17年下來我已經很習慣我的中文名字了，甚至我在自我介紹時，會用我的名字開玩笑：

我的中文名字是喬好學。聽起來好虛偽的名字但是我已經習慣了。

不過從2020年開始，我有個新的稱呼，我還沒有完全習慣，就是學習長。因為2020年，世界大轉變，沒想到我也從8年的旅遊和體驗教育的行業轉換到一個全新又陌生的行業，就是IT。新的行業也給予我一個新的職位名稱：學習長。2020我的學習長身分也哇哇落地了。

在臺灣，每次在遞我的名片時，我已經有心理準備對方會問我什麼樣的問題。通常他們會一邊看一邊笑，好像在心裡有一個很大的疑問。然後就會抬頭問我：

學習長是做什麼？

從2020年6月份我開始擔任學習長（Chief Learning Officer-CLO)這個職位。在我新公司，北祥科技服務 （Pershing Technology Systems Incorporated PTSC） 當學習長以後，我還沒有機會認識其他臺灣公司的學習長。我剛加入公司的時候，很多同仁都覺得我是特意為了這個職位而給我自己“喬好學”這個中文名字，沒想到這個名字已經陪伴了我18年。因為今年是公司重塑品牌的第一年，所以很幸運的我剛好是PTSC培養的第一位學習長。在西方文化，學習長這個職位是比較普遍的。我知道我應該不是臺灣公司的第一個學習長，不過在臺北可以算是一種稀有動物吧。

CLO 的先鋒是誰？

在企業文化裡，CLO確實是比較新的一個職稱。第一個CLO是1994年誕生。
在1990年代，GE 的執行長，傑克·韋爾奇（Jack Welch）將史蒂夫·克爾（Steve Kerr）任命為第一任學習長。之後，Steve還擔任了高盛 (Goldman Sachs) 的首席學習長及總經理。