"The speech better be good," I mumbled to myself as I went to the floor where the speech would be held, wiping away profuse perspiration from my forehead. An hour later, I realized how lucky I was that I had not chosen to stay home and take a nap, since it was probably the best speech I had listened to in the last couple of years.

Who is Lin Tien-lai? He is the general manager of the sales department of the CommonWealth/Global Views Publishing Company, the leading publishing company in Taiwan with the capacity of producing a book every three days. But one would hardly believe that Lin, aged 41 and a son of a poor tenant-peasant, had been a janitor at the Hualien Girls High School before he joined the publishing company thirteen years ago. Back then, he had to mow the lawn, clean the bathrooms, clean the swimming pool, etc., during the daytime. Meanwhile, he would cut down on his sleep in order to read at night. He was so fond of reading that the school principal finally asked him to be the full-time librarian of the school. It was actually a job nobody wanted to do, since it was tiring and tedious. Lin took it with joy! Now, he could read even during the daytime.

His legendary story of moving from a janitor to the general manager of a prestigious publishing company all started from a nation-wide essay competition held by the company--the participants needed to write an essay based on The Joy of Working by Dr. Denise Waitley and Reni Witt. Lin read that book and then entered the competition to try his luck. A reply from the company came a few months later: "Congratulations, Teacher Lin, you are the winner of the competition." The company surmised that someone who could write so well must have been a school composition teacher. Lin took the opportunity to get acquainted with Professor Charles Kao, a renowned economist and the boss of the publishing company. That was a turning point for Lin. He corresponded with Kao for about three years. In 1989, at Kao's invitation, Lin eventually quit his job at the school, left his family behind, and came to Taipei with NT$10,000 (US$250) in his pocket to join the company.

Living in the company warehouse, Lin first served as warehouse controller. He was ecstatic over the arrangement, since he could freely read all the wonderful books produced by the company. He was promoted to deputy director of the distribution division a few years later due to his enthusiasm and dedication to work. Lin worked even harder, and as a result he was consecutively promoted to the positions of director, special assistant to the president, and vice general manager in the following few years. Finally, on February 22, 2002, he was promoted to general manager, a status unprecedented in the company. Although his title changed every now and then, his enthusiastic work attitude has always remained the same. He enjoys publishing good books and then introducing them to as many people as possible.

"The most valuable reward that I obtain from doing my job is not my high salary or title, but the access that I have to numerous good books and the privilege of meeting with the great heroes and heroines of our books," Lin said proudly to an audience of over 200 people.

Lin vowed to produce more good books for local readers. He also listed the common characteristics of all the great persons in their books: a high sense of morality, one hundred percent concentration and devotion to their specialties, strong self-discipline, an unending desire to learn, and the willingness to share whatever they have with others. I can somehow find all these noble qualities in Lin himself.

To me, it was really amazing to hear that a book and an essay competition could so drastically change a man's life. We often hear of the so-called American dream that depicts an ordinary person who tenaciously takes himself from a log cabin to the White House. In Taiwan too, someone like Lin can climb the social ladder from a janitor to a general manager, and all because of the power of reading. How fascinating!