Heo Tae-soo's Unpretentious Debut Stage, Dynamic GS Sets Sail

GS New Year's Meeting Ends Casually in Just 10 Minutes

Trend Evangelist's Swift Response Tasked with Discovering Group's Innovative Growth Drivers

[Asia Economy Reporters So-yeon Park, Yoon-joo Hwang] "Please come quickly, let's take a photo and go." On the 2nd, at Amoris Hall on the 1st floor of GS Tower, Nonhyeon-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, about 100 GS Group executives gathered dressed casually in no-tie and sneakers. They were there to meet directly with Chairman Heo Tae-soo, newly appointed in 2020. Executives smiled brightly and took photos with close colleagues. The previously vertical and conservative atmosphere of GS Group's opening ceremony was nowhere to be found. The '2020 GS New Year's Meeting,' conducted in a standing talk format without formality, ended simply in about 10 minutes. It was the first official duty of the humble new Chairman Heo Tae-soo.

Chairman Heo Tae-soo began the day by expressing deep gratitude to Honorary Chairman Heo Chang-soo, saying, "Since its launch in 2005, over the past 15 years, you have led GS to become 'Value No.1' and laid a solid foundation for the group." He then presented the group's future vision, including ▲ securing and nurturing talent with digital and global capabilities ▲ strengthening digital transformation ▲ building an agile organizational culture ▲ and fostering an open innovation ecosystem.

Following former Chairman Heo Chang-soo's emphasis on group innovation in response to changing management environments and his voluntary retirement, the future vision directly presented by Chairman Heo Tae-soo attracted keen interest both inside and outside GS Group. The business community expects that just as former Chairman Heo Chang-soo expanded business areas with 'Value No.1' as his management philosophy since the group's inception, the new Chairman Heo Tae-soo will soon lead GS Group's renewal by emphasizing an 'innovation DNA.'

Creating new growth engines is a critical task for GS Group. As the growth of major affiliates stagnates, there is a need to pursue new businesses in line with changes in the industrial environment. Chairman Heo Tae-soo, who has focused on 'digital innovation' in his management approach, is regarded as the figure to lead GS Group's innovative growth. Accordingly, it is expected that the pace of new business initiatives will accelerate in response to industrial changes.

Chairman Heo is known as a 'trend evangelist.' When he discovers new trends, he enthusiastically spreads and implements them in the management field with swift action. He established the subsidiary GS Labs in San Francisco, USA, to quickly respond to changes in the business environment and has led group innovation. He has paid attention to future changes brought by artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain technology and has disseminated the latest IT trends such as cloud computing and software as a service (SaaS) throughout GS Group.

In particular, he holds a management philosophy that open innovation, actively collaborating with external partners rather than relying solely on the power of large corporations, is the method to respond to rapidly changing industrial structures. Recently, he has been focusing on discovering innovation and growth drivers through cooperation between large corporations and startups. Last year, he played a behind-the-scenes role in GS Group's announcement of establishing a venture investment corporation in Silicon Valley to discover future growth engines.

A business community official said, "With Chairman Heo Tae-soo's official inauguration, there is an expectation that GS Group, facing a period of rapid industrial structural change, will dynamically leap forward," adding, "The overall atmosphere of the group will be renewed."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.