[Opinion] Interest and Perspective Determine Wealth

Not long ago, an executive at a company said, "I've worked hard all this time, but I haven't accumulated much wealth. Is it because I'm not smart?" Having graduated from a top university and thriving in the corporate world, there is no way he is not smart. It's just that he invested all his energy into success at work and showed little interest in financial management.

Another person I met recently shared an interesting story. "My friend works at a boiler company. Although his salary is low, he has made a lot of money. When I asked him his secret, he said he paid close attention to companies that purchased many boilers for business purposes. Usually, those companies performed well that year. So, he invested in the stocks of those companies and made a lot of money." Did all the executives and employees at the boiler company become wealthy? Of course not. What was different about that employee compared to others?

Even while working at the same company, some people only complain about their low salaries, while others perform well and turn that into new opportunities. What is the difference?

I believe it comes down to the difference between 'interest' and 'perspective.' First, there must be 'interest.' I have a friend whose father was admitted to a nursing hospital. Later, he told me, "I never noticed nursing hospitals before, but after my father was admitted, I realized how many nursing hospitals there are in our country." When you have interest, things that were invisible become visible. If you are highly interested in health, you only see health information; if you are interested in career, you only see career information. If you are interested in money, you see the flow of money. Without interest, even if something is there, you see nothing.

The other is 'perspective.' Recently, there has been an overflow of analyses about ChatGPT. Ordinary office workers only gather information. Critics, writers, and professors focus on analysis and commentary. Meanwhile, entrepreneurs focus on business opportunities, and investors look for companies that will rise because of this issue. Who actually seized short-term opportunities with ChatGPT? Not the intellectuals who commented on how ChatGPT will change the world, but those who carefully observed companies that would rise with ChatGPT and invested in them. The people who will capture big mid- to long-term opportunities are entrepreneurs.

Perspective is that important. The world appears differently depending on the perspective from which you view it. The world is interpreted differently from the perspectives of a writer, a salaried worker, a critic, an entrepreneur, or an investor. Opportunities also come differently.

Therefore, naturally, if you have little interest in money or do not view the world from an investor’s perspective, money will not come to you. Of course, if you deliberately choose not to focus on wealth, that is your philosophy, and that is fine.

The same applies to other fields. A venture CEO I met recently used to work at a large corporation before starting his own business. He said that while working at the company, he viewed things from the perspective of an entrepreneur, not a salaried worker. He worked with the perspective of starting a business in a few years. Because of this, he enjoyed taking on difficult, complicated tasks that others disliked and that helped him build skills. By trying to learn as much as possible through trial and error before starting his business, he was recognized as a talent at the company and was able to start successfully after leaving.

It is not a matter of intelligence. 'Interest' and 'perspective' are the starting points. What area do you want to take an interest in and change your perspective on?

Shin Sujeong, Head of KT Enterprise Division