I’m heading back home after a short two-day, one-night business trip to New York. I realize that the freedom and authority to set my own business trip and work schedules are the greatest benefits I can enjoy right now. Looking back, it’s already been five years since I joined Com2uS. I remember the time when my first child was born, and I was enjoying the peak of my career at IBM, taking pride in my many achievements and accolades, and planning to continue my current job for the next five years while pursuing an MBA.
They say TV stars live off their popularity, and back then, I think I, too, was living off recognition and popularity. When I was living off the recognition of others, I lived a life where I was constantly in the spotlight, much like someone who is drunk. I was self-centered and completely convinced that I was the protagonist of my own story. Just as a bowl filled to the brim with water cannot hold anything else, I was filled to the brim with my own ego. At the same time, while harboring expectations and fantasies about living abroad, I also felt a voice inside me telling me that I couldn’t keep living this way—and that’s what led me to make a major decision.
My memories of when I first joined Com2uS headquarters are hazy. I do remember that my commute changed from Taereung to Dogok-dong—from one end of Line 7 to the other. I spent a lot of time playing mobile games during my long subway commute, which took over an hour each way. I enjoyed games like “Fortune Golf” and “Virus,” and thanks to them, I didn’t even notice how the time flew by. Before joining the company, I thought I’d be sent to the U.S. right away, but it took six months to prepare my visa and adjust to the work at headquarters. Starting with my first BREW Conference in San Diego, the business trip I took with the CEO and Director Choi to interview the UK branch manager, meeting my IBM colleague Jae-ik on a flight to Amsterdam while en route to Helsinki, Finland, to attend a Korean product exhibition where the late President Roh Moo-hyun was present, and the business trip to Toronto for a meeting with a Canadian telecom company—all these memories are still vivid. And finally, arriving in Los Angeles, finding an apartment, and welcoming my family and mother-in-law—looking back, those were truly precious times made possible by God’s grace.
My three years in LA were a time of refinement in many ways. Through Cornerstone Church, a training ground for my faith, I realized just how superficial my faith had been in Korea, and I experienced being born again through the restoration of my worship and a life of daily quiet time. Before leaving the church, I was baptized by Pastor Lee Jong-yong. In my business life, I went through a difficult period where I had no choice but to humble myself completely and return to my original mindset, learning what it truly means to build a business from the ground up. While negotiating a contract with a major corporation like Disney, I learned the value of waiting and patience, and I had the opportunity to discipline my inner self, particularly through a boss whose style didn’t align with mine. I believe it was a process of more thoroughly putting to death the self that remained within me. Working closely with my cherished junior colleague Jun-woo, I learned how to foster collaboration between headquarters and the branch office, and through trial and error over the course of a year working together, I learned how to develop people. Now, I am experiencing the stage of hiring new employees and growing the organization. Com2uS’s global business initiatives have already shifted from headquarters to the U.S. subsidiary, and going forward, the U.S. subsidiary will take the lead in driving the business.
My biggest concern right now is how to ensure that headquarters staff grow alongside the U.S. subsidiary as it expands. As operational leadership shifts to the U.S. subsidiary, there’s a risk that headquarters team members will lose a sense of ownership and become merely a support function; striking the right balance to foster mutual growth is a difficult challenge. Talent management is also a key issue. How can we retain outstanding talent within the company? Since this is directly linked to our management philosophy, it is not so much my personal concern as it is a concern for the entire company. There is a saying that “a single soul is more precious than the entire world.” I believe that a single talented individual is more important than the entire company. Just as the world has no reason to exist without a soul, a company cannot exist without people. This is a self-evident truth, but the reality is that very few executives truly recognize this fact.
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