When Performance Does Not Lead to Evaluation... 'How Are You Doing at the Company?'

[Asia Economy Reporter Seomideum] There is a saying: If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together. Management is often compared to a marathon. According to this logic, an organization should not rely solely on a few star players but move forward together. This is not about lowering standards. Even if star players push ahead, without talented people to support them, they will soon become exhausted and collapse. It may be a clich?, but the important thing is ultimately people. Organizations that do not focus on people are easily prone to collapse.

Lee Byeongnam, former president of LG Inhwa-won and author of “How Are You at Work?” (Dongasia), also emphasizes “together” and “people.” His words carry weight because they come not from concepts but from realizations born of experience. Honestly, Lee was what you might call a successful person. He spent 15 years completing his master’s and doctoral studies and rose steadily as a professor. Naturally, he learned how to achieve success working alone?at least until he was appointed an executive at Inhwa-won at age 40...

When he first started as a planning director, he was impatient. He wanted to quickly implement the task of introducing advanced corporate executive training methods. Even when taking team members on overseas business trips, he judged it was better to go alone since he had to explain and interpret himself. As a result, he succeeded in forming a consortium between multinational companies and business schools in the U.S. and Europe to create a new executive training program.

However, this achievement did not lead to a good evaluation. That year, he received a very poor score in leadership assessments. The president then said, “Did you come here to run a 100-meter sprint, or to run a marathon?” This was a great realization. Although this insight did not immediately connect him with his employees, through a long process he mastered the “Eye to Eye” approach, and “as genuine trust was built based on affection for people, teamwork naturally improved.”

The author compares his excellent colleagues and juniors who surpass him to children?selfish children. Just as no parent stops loving their children because they are selfish, he advises embracing colleagues and juniors “despite that.” Often, concerns are linked directly to one’s own well-being, but if you put yourself in a parent’s position, you can accompany them sufficiently.

The book contains refined content from 19 columns published in daily newspapers. Jung Hyeshin, a psychiatrist famous for You Are Right, introduces the author as “the country’s top expert in HR-related fields for decades,” adding, “He shares his know-how humbly and slowly, reflecting on his own experiences. The published content, grounded in a reflective attitude, naturally reaches those in need.”

How Are You at Work? | Written by Lee Byeongnam | Dongasia | 268 pages | 16,000 KRW

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