[Lee Geonhee 1st Anniversary] "Fostering Creative Core Talent"... The Resonance Remains

Samsung Unveils Chairman Lee's Bust
Installed at Samsung Human Resources Development Center's Chojogwan
Symbolizing the Philosophy of 'Talent First'

the late Lee Kun-hee, Chairman of Samsung

[Asia Economy Reporters Heungsun Kim and Hyunjin Jung] October 25 marks exactly one year since the passing of the late Lee Kun-hee, Chairman of Samsung. As an outstanding leader who transformed Samsung into a world-class company, his achievements are still widely discussed throughout our society. Among these, he is especially remembered as a business leader with a remarkable passion for nurturing talent. During his lifetime, he regarded talent development as a core value for corporate management and national economic growth, and never hesitated to foster and secure outstanding human resources. This philosophy is fully reflected in Samsung’s management principle of "contributing to the advancement of human society by creating the best products and services based on talent and technology."

To commemorate the first anniversary of Chairman Lee’s passing, Samsung held an unveiling ceremony for his bust on the morning of the same day at the Changjo Hall of the Samsung Human Resources Development Center in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province. The ceremony was attended by Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong and five Samsung presidents. Samsung stated, "Based on the late Chairman Lee Kun-hee’s lifelong philosophy of ‘Talent First,’ we installed his bust in Changjo Hall to honor his dedication to nurturing ‘creative core talents.’"

Opened in 1991, Changjo Hall has served as the ‘cradle’ for cultivating the kind of talent Chairman Lee and Samsung aspired to develop. Until before the COVID-19 pandemic, most basic training for Samsung’s new hires, experienced employees, promoted staff, and executives was held at Changjo Hall, earning it the nickname ‘the hometown of Samsung employees’ within the group. After assuming the chairmanship in 1987, Chairman Lee ordered the construction of Changjo Hall at the Samsung Human Resources Development Center and even took on the role of director of the center, personally overseeing educational programs.

The extent of Chairman Lee’s dedication to securing outstanding talent during his tenure can be seen in his remarks at executive meetings. For example, at a June 2002 executive meeting he presided over, he said, "These days, I am almost solely focused on securing and nurturing outstanding talent. Securing excellent talent is a matter of corporate survival. The 21st century is an era of talent competition and intellectual creativity, where one exceptional genius supports 1,000 or 10,000 people. We must recognize that possessing excellent human resources is the source of future competitiveness."

Chairman Lee particularly preferred ‘T-shaped’ talents?those who possess comprehensive thinking skills and a broad understanding not only in their own field but also in others?over ‘I-shaped’ talents who are proficient in only one specialized area. At the following year’s 10th anniversary executive meeting of Samsung’s New Management, he emphasized, "Samsung must actively participate in discovering and nurturing talent at the national level," adding, "It is not enough to just nurture (outstanding talent); we must focus on ‘cultivating geniuses for the nation.’"

Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong of Samsung Electronics and the bereaved family members are attending the first anniversary memorial service of the late Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee held on the 25th at the ancestral grave in Suwon, Gyeonggi-do. / Suwon=Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

With this belief, in 2002 he donated his personal wealth to establish a scholarship foundation (Samsung Scholarship Foundation) that provides overseas study opportunities to students with potential, supporting about 1,400 talents by 2015. Since 2016, Samsung has also strengthened social contribution projects targeting low-income and marginalized groups. Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong is expected to continue and expand these efforts by enhancing social contribution activities such as youth job creation, youth education, and fostering basic science (Samsung Future Technology Development Project).

Meanwhile, the first anniversary memorial service for Chairman Lee was quietly held at 10 a.m. on the same day with only family members in attendance. Family members including Hong Ra-hee, former director of the Leeum Museum of Art, Vice Chairman Lee, Lee Boo-jin, President of Hotel Shilla, Lee Seo-hyun, Chairwoman of the Samsung Welfare Foundation, and Kim Jae-yeol, President of the Samsung Economic Research Institute, attended the approximately 20-minute memorial service held at the family burial site in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, paying their respects solemnly.

Samsung Electronics and other Samsung affiliates created an online memorial hall on the company’s internal network to allow employees to pay tribute to the late chairman, and broadcast a memorial video through the internal broadcasting system. The memorial hall featured a 12-minute tribute video containing the message "We will build a Samsung that you will be even prouder of," along with a special lecture video by Chairman Lee from the New Management era.