KT Shin Su-jeong, Head of Division, "More Than Golf, Falling for the Fatal Charm of Reading"

There are countless kinds of fun in the world. Among them, some provide instant thrills that stimulate the peripheral nerves, while others require time to reach the essence of interest. If golf, which is said to be "there are people who haven't played it, but no one who has played it just once," belongs to the former category, reading belongs to the latter. Reading requires willpower and effort to overcome a somewhat high threshold of interest, so only those who have "experienced" it tend to get hooked. In that regard, Sujeong Shin, Head of KT Enterprise Division (56, pictured), is an experienced reader. She confidently asserts, "Reading is more enjoyable than golf." Having distanced herself from golf courses for over a decade through her career at Hewlett-Packard (HP), Samsung SDS, and entrepreneurship, she dedicates her weekends to reading, filling her Facebook with numerous reading logs. Each post receives thousands of likes and hundreds of shares. She also runs a YouTube channel called Shin Sujeong TV.

She prefers books on economics, management, psychology, IT, and digital topics. She selects books by looking at recommended titles on social networking services (SNS) or by checking rankings and tables of contents on online bookstores. She uses almost all unlimited subscription services available in the market, such as Yes24, Millie's Library, and Ridiselect. "I usually finish a book in about three hours" thanks to speed reading, and "if I feel it's not right while reading, I stop," making e-books suitable for her. She explains, "I speed-read once, re-read if I find it worthwhile, and buy the really good books in paper format."

Her passion for books began in 2010 when she became the CEO of a company. Although she was an engineering graduate unfamiliar with management, her desire to do well led her to immerse herself in reading, completing 100 management books. She says, "It was a groundbreaking reading experience. After reading, I got a grasp of things," and "since then, whenever I face a new field, I have developed the habit of reading books first."

Of course, prior experience through books can sometimes be misleading. Knowledge understood intellectually can be mistaken for practical experience. Also, one must understand the context; misapplying fragmented texts can lead to setbacks. Shin warns, "There was once a craze in the startup world to imitate Netflix's corporate culture?free-spirited and brutally honest... Many friends who blindly followed it faced management difficulties," adding, "Depending on which books you choose and how you adapt, side effects can be significant." Well-used knowledge is medicine, but poorly used, it can be poison.

Her book Quality of Work (Turnaround) has sold over 20,000 copies within five months of publication. It has gained great popularity by providing answers, if not definitive solutions, to difficult everyday problems. Like Confucius said, it's not just pleasant words. It presents evidence for each issue to quench readers' thirst for understanding. She says, "I dislike baseless statements. I tried not to just list good words," and adds, "There is a lot of research already done by psychologists. I think the positive response came from the way I connected those studies."

For her, reading takes precedence over golf. She notes, "Many executives in large companies are busy because they play golf on weekends," introducing the concept of 'strategic incompetence.' Strategic incompetence refers to focusing on what you do well through selective concentration. She heads to a local caf? by 11 a.m. on weekends and immerses herself in reading and writing until 4 p.m. She shares this content weekly on Facebook, where she is a well-known figure in the reading community with over 20,000 friends.

Although retirement is just a few years away, she continues to pursue learning diligently. Recently, she has been attending coaching classes on weekends, holding her ground even among mostly young HR professionals. Her wish is to "write books freely and give lectures to help others after retirement."

When asked to share advice for young people based on the wisdom accumulated through reading, she emphasized two points. The first is 'accumulation followed by explosion.' She explains, "Success in work is not a straight line but a curve (gradual then steep). After drawing a gentle curve, there comes a moment of explosion," advising, "Even if there are hardships and difficulties, if you treat them as opportunities for accumulation, you will eventually see the light."

The second point she stressed is the attitude toward life. The key is to perceive life not as a 'Gain' but as a 'Gift.' She says, "You should not constantly try to gain something but accept what is given as a gift. Everything is a gift from God. If you accept it that way, life becomes much richer," and adds, "Going from nothing to something leads to gratitude. I want to encourage people to think of each moment as a gift and enjoy the moment."