[Chairman Lee Kun-hee's Passing] "Skills Over Education, Emphasis on Women" Lee Kun-hee's Talent Management

Lee Kun-hee, Chairman of Samsung Electronics

[Asia Economy Reporter Changhwan Lee] With the passing of Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Kun-hee on the 25th, attention is growing on his management philosophy, which valued talent above all else.

In 1995, Samsung made a groundbreaking announcement that brought about a major transformation in the history of Korean corporations.

"Samsung's open recruitment abolishes academic restrictions, shifting from academic background to ability"

This was a decisive directive from Chairman Lee to eliminate unreasonable personnel discrimination based on academic background, gender, and job type in an open era of global infinite competition.

Chairman Lee emphasized, "Opportunities to join the company should be given equally regardless of university diplomas, and there should be no discrimination in promotion or advancement after joining. Samsung's hiring criteria are not academic background but ability."

From that time, Samsung replaced the traditional university graduate open recruitment with a Level 3 new employee entrance exam. As long as candidates had the ability to pass the exam, a university diploma became meaningless.

Above all, the most remarkable changes occurred in the field of women. Samsung boldly eliminated discrimination against women and continuously strived to provide equal opportunities.

Vice Chairman Lee said, "Not utilizing female talent is like riding a bicycle with one of its two wheels missing."

From the early days of his inauguration in 1987, Chairman Lee emphasized the importance of female talent and focused on the reality that women could not work comfortably due to childcare burdens. He then realized the daycare center project ahead of any other company.

In fact, Samsung is known to have a higher ratio of female employees and executives compared to other electronics companies.