Intelligence Brief
June 8, 2026

Maybe you’ve had an experience where you communicated what you believe is clear and innocuous, only to later realize how it would likely be interpreted or worse, was interpreted. One leader just learned this the hard way.

Chen Ching-ho, the president at Shih Hsin University, during his commencement speech, attempted to make a bold point that he assumed would be useful and directive about what the world and success in it would require of graduating students.

What he communicated, however, landed in a way he somehow and certainly didn’t expect, I learned from David Murray’s Executive Communication Report newsletter.

This, of course, was not going to be well received, due to its lack of sensitivity, apparent dismissiveness of mental health and suggestion to take one’s life if someone could not adjust to what life would demand of them.

When an online controversy ensued, Chen apologized, reported the Taipei Times.

He explained himself, yet how well can be debated. Chen said his intention was to encourage graduates to mature and exhibit sound judgment.

That’s not how it was heard, absorbed and processed by graduates and families.

He added, as an excuse and possibly to shift blame, that the speech was not thoroughly “proofread,” the newspaper reported him as saying.

Chen, either of his own volition or through a suggestion or demand, reportedly asked the university to suspend him, without pay, for two months.

He additionally communicated what he will do moving forward, which is to “conduct a thorough self-review and to be more careful with his comments in the future,” according to the paper.

While Chen has taken responsibility and is dealing with social, financial and work consequences, you have to wonder, what he has really learned and now understands?

Here, in brief, is what you would like to expect that he admits and now realizes:

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