Listening to Criticism, Chey Tae-won: "Let's Create a Regular Forum for Open Discussions Without Concealment"

The 5th Icheon Forum Closes on the 26th

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyewon] "It was a place to openly discuss what society demands from SK. Moving forward, let's continuously open forums to create an ever-evolving SK."

This is the overall evaluation of SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won on the ‘Icheon Forum 2021,’ which concluded on the 26th after a four-day schedule. The Icheon Forum, which Chairman Chey attends every time with special affection, was launched in 2017 following his proposal that "to prevent companies from sudden death, a forum is needed to foster insight by understanding technological innovation and socio-economic demands and preparing for the future." This year marked its 5th edition.

This year’s theme was ‘SK’s Deep Change Practice for a Sustainable Ecosystem,’ with major agendas including ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance), financial story, fairness, work, and happiness?topics first raised by Chairman Chey to the business community. Chairman Chey expressed satisfaction, saying, "At this forum, we explored ESG trends, fairness, and even LGBT issues, and received candid feedback on SK management, making it a meaningful time. The discussions on Net Zero and financial story also yielded many ideas, which was a great harvest."

This year’s Icheon Forum notably expanded the discussion points by inviting about 500 external participants, including SK members, global scholars, experts from various fields, university students, partners, and social enterprise representatives. It was held online in an untact manner, connecting the SKMS Research Institute studio in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, with real-time chat participation flooding the comment section. Chairman Chey also stated that he plans to create opportunities to discuss ways SK can contribute to the local community together with residents of Icheon, where the SKMS Research Institute is located.

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won is solving quizzes with members at the 'Icheon Forum 2021' quiz event held on the 26th at the SKMS Research Institute in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province.
[Photo by SK Group]

The online lectures, discussions, and newly introduced social sessions by global scholars attracted great interest. On the first day, the 23rd, at the ESG session, Harvard Professor Rebecca Henderson, a world-renowned scholar in sustainable management, evaluated in her lecture that "the basic concept of ESG, which SK calls social value, has become the most important issue for global society and companies after the COVID-19 pandemic." She added, "It has been confirmed that companies focusing on ESG become global leaders and find new business opportunities, resulting in much higher profitability."

Amy Edmondson, a tenured professor at Harvard Business School known as a ‘leadership guru,’ emphasized in her lecture and discussion on ‘Work and Happiness in the New Normal Era’ that "a culture of communication and empathy without fear of failure for innovation leads companies to become excellent organizations and achieve results." The newly established social session, held for the first time on the 25th, reviewed and discussed domestic and international cases related to socially hot issues such as gender controversies, discrimination against sexual minorities, and workplace harassment.

Chairman Chey also participated in an event to raise charitable donations by solving quizzes related to the agenda discussed in the forum sessions on environment, work and happiness, and technology together with SK members. The donations accumulated from quizzes answered correctly by Chairman Chey and others will be used to provide lunchboxes to children and elderly households in the Icheon area facing food insecurity. An SK official said, "This year, we tried an ‘open forum’ by inviting outsiders for the first time, and we will continue to diversify invitees to create a forum that communicates with stakeholders."

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