Cai Wanchun Granddaughter Started from the Switchboard Eight Years Ago!

On the morning of August 24th, a Saturday, the basement of the Fubon Financial Building at the intersection of Citizen Boulevard was unusually lively. Fubon Group Chairman Cai Wancai personally convened a financial expansion meeting. During the break, Cai Wancai and Fubon Life Insurance Chairman Cai Mingxing hurried to the adjacent venue where the "Raising a Toast to the Moon" art exhibition was being set up. There, they engaged in conversation with a sophisticatedly dressed woman, whom they referred to as "Uncle" for Cai Mingxing and "Granduncle" for Cai Wancai. She was Stephanie Ling, the daughter of Cai Wanchun (the founder of Cathay Life Insurance) and Cai Guimin.

At thirty-three, Stephanie Ling currently serves as the Executive Vice President of Sinox , founded by her father, Dr. C.K. Ling, the second generation of the Ling family in Wufeng, Taichung, known globally for its number lock products. During her spare time, she prefers the company of artists much older than her instead of mingling with aristocratic offspring.

The harsh reality of marriage awakened the affluent princess, transforming her into a fierce reformer of the family business

"I am unwilling to give up my young dream." says Stephanie Ling , who graduated from New York University with a degree in Art History. Her illustrious family background allowed her to live like Snow White in a fairy tale until the age of twenty-four. Initially, she intended to pursue a Ph.D. in Art History in England. However, upon returning to Taiwan at twenty-four, she fell deeply in love with a scion of a domestic family business. The marriage, seemingly a perfect match, made Ling Shichen truly grow up. "Living together is one thing, but marriage makes you experience true reality," she reflects. The different lifestyles and ideologies of their families made her very unhappy. She married at twenty-four and divorced at twenty-nine. "I was the first among our generation to marry and also the first to divorce. I faced tremendous pressure, but thankfully, my parents were very supportive," she calmly recalls this major setback in her life, as if discussing someone else's affairs.

Stephanie Ling, who never questioned the family business before marriage, started as a switchboard operator after getting married and joining her parents' Sinox. She found the company's traditional way of operation quite unacceptable. "My personality is such that if I'm going to do something, I'll do it to the best of my ability!" she says. "My father is very Pisces-like, leisurely swimming in the water, while I'm a lioness in the company, roaring every day." While Dr. C.K. Ling manages with emotions, Stephanie Ling employs an American management style, brisk and efficient, completely overturning the leisurely operation style of the Jingtai Corporation.

When Stephaine Ling first joined Sinox, the employees' pace was quite lax, and calls often went unanswered. There weren't even any personnel regulations in the company. Stephaine Ling began to reorganize. Senior employees pushed back, lodging complaints with Dr. C.K.Ling. Young and spirited, she directly confronted them, saying, "Opposing me won't make me leave. It will be you who leaves." In order to find people willing to follow her among the employees, she even required them to watch "Yongzheng Dynasty" and write reports afterward. "I want employees to understand my management efforts and identify successors among them," she says. After gradually eliminating dissent, seventy to eighty percent of the old employees left. "Many people felt she was heartless, but there was no choice. The company had to grow, and we couldn't wait for people," says Tang Yingwen, a senior employee of twenty years.

When Stephanie Ling joined Sinox, it was a period of explosive growth for the company's business, with chaos in both operations and factories. "If Vice President Ling hadn't insisted on institutionalizing the company's management system, Sinox might not have been able to withstand the explosion in business volume," reflects Tang Yingwen.

After extensive reform, not only did the static corporate culture change, but even the office space was completely different from the dull, oily appearance of an industrial area. Soft colors and oil paintings hung everywhere, exuding vitality. In January of last year, she was "promoted" by her father to Executive Vice President. "She achieved it all on her own," says Dr. C.K.Ling, speaking proudly of his daughter.

資料來源:周啟果（2002，8月)。蔡萬春的外孫女八年前從總機做起!，No.771 8月/2002