INTERNATIONAL INCUBATION / Message from CEO
Money
alone does not produce all the behaviors you wish to see in your people.
I met Pearl Chan, Controller at Isilon System in Seattle, at an international
tax conference where I spoke on the new U.S.-Japan income tax treaty. She
said her company needed someone who was experienced in handling Japan related
matters because Isilon System was soon opening an office in Japan. We were
subsequently retained by the company for its expansion to Japan in 2005.
Isilon is a rising star in the Seattle IT community, and we in fact competed
with one of the Big Four accounting/consulting firms and a major Silicon Valley-based
law firm for Isilon’s Japan-related work. I told Pearl that when I was
heading the Japan Practice at one of the then-Big Five firms in New York a few
years ago, my rate was $685/hour, but my rate for the project was going to be
a fraction of it and that she was going to get more personal attention!
At the end of our engagement, Pearl wrote me “Thank you for your attention
to all of our affairs.” Tom Lo who works with Pearl at Isilon also wrote “Thank
you Max. We appreciate your help in establishing Isilon K.K. [Japanese corporation].”
I have worked with Fortune 500 companies as well as emerging-growth companies.
Regardless of client size or assignment type, it is always the kind words from
clients that keep us motivated and encouraged to go the extra miles.
Max Yoshimura, Esq., CPA
CEO
International Incubation Inc.