"A professor cultivating future leaders" Kim Allen vol.1
Mr. Kim Allen is a second-generation Korean-American, born in the United States. After working at AT&T, as management in various fields, he pursued his desires and entered the field of academia. Earning his masters at UC Berkeley and Ph.D. at UC Irvine, he is currently working as an associate professor in sociology at International Christian University, Japan.
【The university life of Prof. Kim Allen】
-When you were a college student at UC Berkeley, what kind of activities did you engage inside or outside of class?
Aside from participating in a religious organization, I did an internship for the attorney's office. I worked under a prosecutor and went to San Francisco to go into court. It was a helpful experience for me because I thought of going to graduate school or law school.
Thinking back, I think I would also have joined more clubs and participated in a lot more professional conferences. Mostly, because the bay area was very rich in terms of networking. Finding good mentors in a lot of different fields, too, would have opened up other opportunities as well.
-You currently have a Ph.D. in sociology, but back then, you were a law major?
Correct, I actually never took a sociology class until I went to graduate school. I was a double major in ethics studies and East Asian studies. I took other various courses, but yes, I was pre-law and thought of attending graduate school. However, eventually, I shifted directions, and maybe that was actually better for me in the long run.
I was in school, and Silicon Valley was hot, and employment was great at that time. There, I came across this full-time job opportunity that focused on leadership development and chose to work at AT&T. It was an excellent opportunity for me to develop and grow as a person. In terms of management skills, that career path took me to a lot of different areas.
【 From corporate to academia.】
-Aiming to pursue law while in school, what was the process of you deciding to start working for AT&T after graduation?
That's a good question. My parents owned a restaurant in San Francisco, which was across from an installation repair garage for AT&T. There would always be workers and managers from AT&T, and I'd take the opportunity to talk to them. Later on, when they were hiring at our campus, I took the opportunity to collect their cards and learned more about their company. On the day of my interview, they were surprised that I knew the managers at AT&T, and it was all because I took the opportunity to chat with them. That's what happened. Economically, things weren't going well at the time, but at the end of the day, I had to do well in the interview. I had to have promising management skills; otherwise, they wouldn’t have hired me.
Overall, I think you get luckier when you get curious, having the initiative to take action. It might have been luck, but I think we can create more lucky chances and opportunities. That's what I would say about opportunities.
- Working for a large company, what made you suddenly decide to pursue the path as a teacher?
After working, I took a year's leave of absence. I did a teaching assistantship in South Korea that gave me the energy and excitement to meet other teachers who are like me. Then I applied for graduate school while I was in Korea, teaching middle school students English. Luckily, I got into a graduate program in sociology.
Actually, reflecting even further, when I was a college student, I had no ambition, confidence, or interest in becoming a professor. I met too many amazing professors, and I thought it was utterly out of my reach; that I was intellectually incapable.
It just never crossed my mind until when I went to office hours with one of my friends. Her name was Linda, and she was a star student in the course. We would always go to office hours together to go chat with the Asian-American studies professor. He knew that she was the smartest, so while we were sitting in his office, he said, "After you graduate and get your Ph.D., you can be a professor and teach." I felt like he was talking to both of us, so when I heard him say that, for the first time, the idea of becoming a professor suddenly came into my mind. He implanted a seed in my belief system. I still remember that conversation, which was so encouraging and inspiring. When I was looking outside the window while working at AT&T, I thought, “What am I doing here?” so I applied for graduate school when I took that leave of absence. That conversation was life-changing, because then, I quit my job and moved on to becoming a graduate student.
-While doing the Ph.D. program, do you have any hardships or setbacks?
I suffered sometimes, and there were times when I really hated graduate school. It got so bad that after my master's program, I actually applied for jobs in management at Target. I asked myself, “Why did I leave a job that pays me a yearly salary that had two weeks of vacation?”. Thankfully I got rejected from Target, but that's how bad it was. Frankly, I didn't have any family members who were professors or went to graduate school, in neither of my families. I didn't have that network or people who could give me solid advice about graduate school. Being the only one, it was a cognitive shift to go to graduate school too, and I wanted to go back to what was comfortable.
Those were the challenges, self-doubt, and wondering if I made the right decision. Still, I would say that after my several extended years in graduate school, I realized how my vocabulary had changed. I think that the power of education is that your vocabulary increases drastically.
After a while, through talking, testing, and discussing your language changes, and I felt that was very empowering. I could enter a conversation with various interesting people, which might be the unintended positive consequences of attending graduate school.
【Taking a leap from your comfort zone】
- Looking back, are there any essential skills you're glad you acquired during college?
I didn't know it at the time, but looking back, I feel I always challenged my comfort zone. I was still a person who felt comfortable in being uncomfortable.
It's about being who you are. Being curious, learning from people no matter their background, and having an attitude to meet good people. It forces you to elevate your game, imagine outside possibilities, and seek advice from mentors. I think those are things that can help students imagine broader possibilities for their future.
- Do you have any episodes when you challenged your comfort zone？
Yes, I can think of various examples in many ways. The status of an immigrant life has never been comfortable. My parents came as immigrants in 1972 and could barely speak English and had to start from the beginning. My father washed dishes on the military base, and my mother had nurse qualifications but couldn't be a nurse in the US. They had to look towards entrepreneurship to survive. They made sandwiches and prepared food to survive.
When you're constantly facing challenges, you develop grit and an attitude of resilience that helps you in almost all areas. It's a disadvantage being an immigrant, but those challenges help people deal with future challenges and can be a blessing at some level.
-Do you have any particular episodes on how it was beneficial to know people and expand your network?
Sure, let me choose three people.
Growing up, I knew a Jesuit priest, and he was very influential in terms of my formation and my values. I remember he told me that he quoted Saint Francis and said, "For it is in giving that you receive." You feel most alive when you give, help others, and live out the gifts that God has given you. I realized that in many cases throughout my life, that's always been the case. When you give, you receive far more. It's not often something you learn in the corporate world and in the corporate setting. Still, I think it's a fundamental spiritual law that pervades society.
The second person was a business major student who was going to be working as a salesperson for Eli Lilly, a pharmaceutical company. I met him at the library, and I was talking to him about what he does. At the time, he gave me solid advice about how to look impressive in an interview and how to close the deal. And that conversation opened my eyes to how smart and strategic you have to be to convince other people to hire you. I forgot his name, but sometimes these random conversations you have with people, when you're interested and curious, you can gain essential and helpful information.
The third person would be my mom. She, in many ways, is the role model of an entrepreneur for me. People think entrepreneurship in terms of Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, and the really crazy people, and that you have to be mad to be at their level. Yet, in my own personal network, my mother never got a college degree. Still, she has so much common sense, and she was doing entrepreneurship when it was not popular. Nowadays, people think entrepreneurship as if it's a new thing, but it's been there for a while already. People did it for survival, and my mother's story in many ways, for me, is compelling.
Through knowing people, we learn new values and norms, and their resources become your own resources. Moreover, sociological research shows that when you have a group of people or an organization where everyone's very similar, the group becomes inward-looking. However, when you introduce diversity, the group shifts to a more outward-looking manner. That is the power of diversity in hiring. One of the things I try to encourage my students to do is adapt and adjust while society rapidly changes.
- Do you think there are any specific steps you need to take to build confidence so that people can gain autonomy and take action?
I came across this quote by William Arthur that said, "Believe while others are doubting. Plan while others are playing. Study, while others are sleeping. Decide while others are delaying. And prepare while others are daydreaming". When I read those five, I thought it was completely spot on. Instead of having confidence or the right emotional state, those ideas about believing, planning, studying, deciding, and preparing are things you can take action on. To move 1% towards the vision that you see for your own life.
Those five things that I mentioned earlier about the ingredients of success are the qualities and habits you want to incorporate into your own life. Seeking the exact job wouldn't be critical because frankly, in three years, most students will move to another job. With that said, students should try to gain two skills. Only having a single trick puts you at risk of losing your job. And we see that today. However, if you have two or three skills or expertise, it's harder to fire you. You become more valuable to a company or corporation. And unfortunately, we don't teach and tell students this. But that's the reality. Finding mentors in life is vital, as well.
