"Even 'Kind Failures' Deserve a Second Chance"
Lim Jae-taek Shares His Management Philosophy and the Secrets Behind Hanyang Securities' Success
"He was excessively lenient toward 'kind failures.' He provided opportunities for revival to losers so they could try again, and believed in and waited for them until they succeeded. Many teams have succeeded at H Securities (Hanyang Securities) through this approach."
Lim Jae-taek, regarded as a star CEO in the securities industry, revealed in his life management book published on the 11th, Success, Don’t Dream, Steal It, that "a strategy just one inch ahead in life and management determines the outcome."
Lim, a corporate finance expert with 38 years in the financial investment industry, served as CEO of IM Investment Securities before being appointed CEO of Hanyang Securities in 2018. Having led the so-called Tenbase (10x) myth at Hanyang Securities, he is now preparing for a new challenge as CEO of Daol Investment Securities starting next month.
In this book published before leaving Hanyang Securities, Lim states, "For an organization to succeed, the 3Ms must be excellent." The 3Ms stand for Man, Money, and Mechanism. When he first joined Hanyang Securities, capital increase was difficult, so he had to rely solely on people and mechanisms. He emphasized, "Even the same person can change 180 degrees depending on how they are trained," and "Mechanism is as important as people in creating a system that inevitably leads to success."
What does corporate management mean to Lim, who achieved record sales at two securities firms? He defines it as "providing a platform for organizational members to realize dreams, vision, goals, and a happy life." He also said, "Building the foundation for H Securities to grow into a 100-year company was a value I pursued in corporate management," adding, "The challenge was how to build such an ideal platform, and I solved it thoroughly in my own way."
For example, he explained that he was excessively lenient toward 'kind failures.' He encouraged challenges, gave losers another chance, and as CEO, believed in and waited for them. "There are really many teams that succeeded at H Securities because of this," he said, which was one of the secrets behind Hanyang Securities establishing itself as a strong securities firm during his four consecutive terms. Becoming one team with organizational members was also an important aspect for him. For someone who said "running is like a religion," it was not easy at his age approaching his 70s to participate in running programs shoulder to shoulder with employees in their early 30s. He said, "I have always attended all organizational culture programs of the company."
In this book structured around the four seasons?spring, summer, autumn, and winter?Lim compares the flow of life to the four seasons and aims to deliver messages at each stage. In spring, he says one must understand the 'principles of life,' or how to live life. In summer, he introduces the importance of two strategic points that were also his as CEO of Hanyang Securities: ▲ specializing in areas where one can excel ▲ creating an attractive organizational culture.
He explained, "These two strategic points do not contain anything particularly ingenious," adding, "What’s different from the past is that instead of blaming our circumstances, we tried to use them as a stepping stone for advancement. We simply changed our perspective and tried to take a path no one else was taking." The result led to organizational growth and changes in organizational members that everyone could see.
In autumn, he emphasized 'passion.' Despite being in his late 60s, Lim cited the secret to maintaining his CEO position as "a mechanism where curiosity creates new goals, and those new goals generate crazy passion." Finally, in winter, he mentioned the 'paradox of obsession.' He said, "There are things in the world that become harder to grasp the more you try to hold onto them. People are like that, especially children. Money is the same," but added, "When you become detached from these and shake off obsession, they quietly come to you."
Lim, a former school newspaper reporter, is well known for communicating with employees by posting CEO speeches he personally writes on the company intranet every month. The messages he wrote at Hanyang Securities amount to a whopping 2,000 pages. The reason he did not receive help from anyone was that he believed "it only has meaning if it contains the CEO’s vivid voice." He also completed this life management book by writing directly on his phone’s memo pad during work breaks.
Regarding the reason for writing the book, Lim said, “There were countless moments of crisis, but I had a firm belief that this was the path I had to walk, and I quietly overcame them to reach the top as CEO. I wrote this book to share the secret of overcoming life’s ups and downs and reaching the summit.”
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
