Taipei City Government

Mayor Ko Wen-je presided over a leadership seminar designed for city officials at the Department of Civil Servant Development on March 29.
During his opening speech, Ko pointed out that his administration will be approaching its 100th day in the upcoming week. He requested the heads of city agencies to provide an outline of their respective achievements during this period to show the public what they have accomplished.
In addition, he also asked the agencies to submit three reports before the start of the new session of Taipei City Council. The reports should provide the administrative vision for 1 year, 4 years, and 50 years in the future.
Citing a book on Genghis Khan’s political philosophy, Ko stressed that the role of the leader is to point out the direction – not to make the plans. He suggests that city officials should ask themselves what their “direction” is during work every day. He quoted Dharma Master Cheng Yen, saying that there is no need to fear the distance when traveling in the right direction.
The mayor noted that basically he does not agree with the top-down model. He believes that everyone should try to do what they want to do, while the leader’s role is to point out the direction, coordinate the overall effort, and mediate conflict when it happens.
He also emphasized the importance of defending one’s value. He attributed the success of city efforts to dismantle 226 illegal structures to remaining true to the value of rejecting influence-peddling, since the public knows that the practice won’t work in his case.
When asked about what he wants to change the most as Taipei’s mayor, his reply is to change the corporate culture into one that emphasizes reflection and improvement, which is founded on the basis of speaking the truth. He believes that after instilling the new culture, things can be done rapidly and effectively. He estimates that building this new corporate culture at city hall will take more than six months.