[Paek Jongmin's Deep Tech] Are Leaders Born or Made?

Lessons from Watson Jr., Who Led IBM’s Transformation
A Turning Point Achieved in the Military, Away from Family and Company
A Figure Admired by Chairman Lee Jae-yong
Second Lieutenant Lee Jiho Gains an Opportunity to Prove Himself and Deve

Not long ago, during a business trip to the United States, I visited a place I had always wanted to go: the Computer History Museum in Silicon Valley. There, I could see how the tools humanity has used for calculation since ancient times have evolved into computers and artificial intelligence (AI). I saw the “ancestors” of computers that I had only seen in photos, such as ENIAC, the world’s first computer, and the Apple I circuit board-Steve Jobs’s legacy. Among the exhibits, numerous mechanical “punch card machines” stood proudly. The machines that read cards with holes punched to record information bore the “IBM” logo.

The IBM punch card machines, created in the 1930s, played a key role in the social welfare programs introduced to overcome the Great Depression. They were crucial in recording the wages of American workers. These artifacts, which led IBM’s initial golden age, symbolize the company’s founder, Thomas Watson Sr.

Next, I encountered the IBM System/360 mainframe computer. This computer, which completely transformed IBM into a computer company, is the “masterpiece” of Thomas Watson Jr., the founder’s son. Thanks to this mainframe, the United States was able to win the competition with the Soviet Union and send the first humans to the moon.

The autobiography cover of Thomas Watson Jr., who led IBM as a computer company. Samsung Chairman Lee Jae-yong is known to have thoroughly studied Watson Jr.'s management philosophy.

In his autobiography, “Father, Son & Co.,” Watson Jr. confessed that the process of dismantling his father’s punch card empire and leaping into the uncertain sea of “computers” was a fierce war where filial piety and ambition, the past and the future, collided. It was likely this intensity that enabled him to contribute to the advancement of technology and humanity. Perhaps that is why the name Thomas Watson still endures today as the name of America’s top private research institute.

Shortly after returning from the United States, I headed to the Naval Academy in Changwon. There, I witnessed Lee Jiho, the fourth-generation member of the Samsung family, complete his Officer Candidate School (OCS) training and be commissioned as a second lieutenant. Unlike when he entered three months ago, he now stood with confidence. I could feel the self-assurance gained from overcoming tough training alongside his peers. Having gone through the same path myself, I know what kind of training Second Lieutenant Lee must have endured. The sense of accomplishment from becoming a recognized leader serves as nourishment for the future.

It is not enough to explain Second Lieutenant Lee’s choice to brave rough seas and pursue the stricter discipline of the Navy, compared to life on land, solely as “noblesse oblige.” Rather, as seen in Watson Jr.’s example, it is an opportunity for new learning.

On the afternoon of November 28, at the naval academy parade ground in Jinhae-gu, Changwon-si, Gyeongnam, during the 139th Navy and Marine Corps Officer Candidate Graduation and Commissioning Ceremony, Lee Jae-yong, Chairman of Samsung Electronics, and Hong Ra-hee, Honorary Director of the Leeum Museum of Art, are taking a commemorative photo with newly commissioned Second Lieutenant Lee Ji-ho. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

Watson Jr. followed his dream and enlisted in the military as a pilot. Known as one of the most successful capitalists in American history, Watson Jr. intended to refuse his father’s company after his discharge and become a civilian pilot. The person who stopped this decision was the military officer he respected most. The officer advised Watson Jr. to return to the company with the knowledge he had gained in the military. This means that his military experience changed his life. If not for Watson Jr.’s military experience and his superior’s advice, we might never have encountered the modern computer.

Second Lieutenant Lee Jiho, too, has gained the opportunity to prove his abilities as an officer of the Republic of Korea, outside the shelter of his family, and to lay the foundation to fulfill the responsibilities of the Samsung family’s heir in the future. When Samsung Chairman Lee Jae-yong told me, “He must have learned a lot,” it likely suggested that, like Watson Jr., he hopes his son will break down his old self and build a new future.

There is no stopping progress. Watson Jr. said, “Leaders are made, not born.” Even greater challenges await Second Lieutenant Lee. The journey is only just beginning.