Thirty Years in Construction Sales: Executive Director Kang’s Struggles in "Jeonsimjeonryeok"

A Life in Sales, Built on Grit and Deep Reflection

"Sales will survive even in the age of AI."

This is the conviction of Executive Director Kang Kyungmin, who has spent nearly 30 years in the sales trenches of a construction company. He says, "Work such as planning will be replaced by AI, but the realm of meeting and persuading people will remain the domain of humans for a long time."

'Jeonsimjeonryeok' cover. Provided by Nabiui Hwaljuro.

The author compiled this book by selecting 91 pieces from 1,000 posts he uploaded to the company intranet over 10 years starting in 2014. Instead of glamorous success stories, it contains a candid confession: "You should not live like I did." He adds, "There are no answers in my book. There are only pieces of writing from times when I tried and failed to find answers, and from which I say, if I could do it again, this is how I would like to try."

Questions he held as he did redevelopment-project sales and met everyone from chaebol families to the urban poor. "Why do people, who are already rich enough, still try to have more?" Whenever he failed to find an answer, he turned to sages such as Mencius and Zhu Xi.

"I learned about people through sales. I deceived and was deceived, but in the end I came face to face with the truth." The lessons he gained by falling and getting back up again and again are clear: honesty is the wisest path, and human beings must be respected simply for their very existence.

He confesses that although sales was initially just "a means of making a living," after 30 years he realized it had become "a path to adulthood." This book offers warm consolation to office workers disillusioned with sales and to those contemplating a second act in life.

Jeonsimjeonryeok | Written by Kang Kyungmin | Nabiui Hwaljuro | 288 pages | 19,800 won

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