If You Don't Act, You Die?! [Interview] Yanolja CEO Lee Su-jin Part 3 #Success #SpecialLecture #M...

I really resonate with the idea that cheese has vitality. The nature of cheese doesn't change, but cheese can spoil. I used to worry a lot about what comes next. I don't know what it will be, but when the clock strikes, something new always pops out. The members of the organization work hard because they think things need to change. We also have to work very hard to find a way to continuously find cheese with vitality.

I used to imagine things like that. What if the kids in my class gave me 100 won every day? I imagined that I wasn't poor at all, but was actually very rich, but had fallen on a planet. I used to think a lot about what it would be like if I suddenly had this much wealth. During my business years, I just wished I had more money. There were too many companies I wanted to acquire. It would be a lie to say my life hasn't changed, but now, rather than feeling like things have changed, I think of it more as a complete process.

People ask me, 'What's your dream car?' I just tell them that a dream car is something you can buy anytime until you can't afford a car. Once you can afford it, it's no longer my dream. I can do whatever I want in my daily life whenever I want, but my life hasn't changed drastically. People around me also ask what I mainly buy. My hobby is acquiring companies. I've bought a lot of companies.

When do you feel most sorry about spending money? I don't spend a lot of money on weird things. I really like buying meals and drinks for people. I also like giving gifts. Last summer, I held a concert for all the employees of our co-founders. I also rented out a musical for them to watch. That costs about the price of an apartment. I don't regret spending money on that. Giving like that isn't regrettable, but if I had to say what I really regret, it's giving money to people who lie.

The person who influenced me the most was my grandmother. She loved people so much, and the elders in the neighborhood always came to our house. Because of their warm words and actions, I really love people. I think the source of that DNA is the warmth my grandmother shared. She passed away from blood cancer. There was also a lodging business owner who, when I went on my first sales call, didn't turn me away and kept accepting me, taking care of me, and sharing his worries. There was also a manager at the time who was very kind to me, listened to me a lot, and helped me set my direction. It wasn't great people who influenced me, but the people around me who kept giving me warmth. I think those were the influencers in my life.

It's hard. Sometimes I get angry, and sometimes I get caught up in the notion that people shouldn't act this way when my thoughts are different. I first met my co-founder in 1997. It was a university tennis club. When I saw him, he looked exhausted. We had been working together without a break. People are all different, so I told him to take a break. After that, I also felt mentally exhausted. On the other hand, I also felt a bit of resentment, wondering why I had to worry so much alone. The organization seemed to be running in place, and I was wondering what to do. I was thinking about restarting, but he was thinking about it so funnily that I suddenly got angry. I held it in and held it in, and finally, we had a drink and I told him that I was having a hard time. But that friend understood me so well, was considerate, and was always on my side, like a lifelong life partner.

After hearing that, he must have had a shock too. Then, last year, I went to Australia for about two and a half months. I wrote a long email to my co-founder. I said, 'Our relationship is difficult. I'm still having these worries about the role of our life partner. What are you doing?' In my heart, I thought if he didn't answer, I would cut ties. He answered right away. We were together, so we kept talking. We talked about our lives, the things we achieved with our business values, our failures, the investments we received, the hardships we faced in fierce competition, and our future lives. As we kept talking, my heart became much stronger. I think the power of people in the value of life, and the existence of people who can understand each other, can easily transform future difficulties. I think that was probably the biggest turning point in my life.

I still remember leaving. I think it was my father. I still remember it so vividly. I don't know why, but that memory hasn't faded from my mind. After receiving the investment, the celebration was with eight people. I told them to come to the chicken place below our office at 4 PM. We ordered 500 ml of beer, clinked glasses, and that was the end of the celebration. I think that might be what I remember later.

I think we need to think carefully about the changes in our era. For example, life expectancy has automatically increased. Why? Because from a young age, we receive nutritional support and care. Medical technology has advanced. As the entire medical system becomes more sophisticated, the way we conquer diseases and maintain life will inevitably become longer. The concept of FIRE that we used to talk about might have been right in the past. If you retire in your 40s, you might live for another 90 or 100 years. Can you realistically earn enough money to live for 90 or 100 years in the next 10 or 15 years of working? Even if you do, is retiring early really a happy life? I think it's happier to have a job and be able to have expertise in something for life. I can't say what's right or wrong, but statistically, life is getting longer, and it costs more money. So you need to have a professional job to earn money. I have quite a bit of assets, but I really like my job. I'm a manager. I have to think and discuss a lot, but that's just my job. If I can continue to do that job, I think I'll be a happy person. If I quit soon, I'll become someone who has stopped challenging myself. It's a matter of perspective. The choice is determined by one's life philosophy, but I hope you make the right choice.

Let me make a brief 'old man' comment for those who are a bit older than me. Playing is only fun for a day or two. If you play every day, what's the point of Sunday? Because I work, a short break time is good. I think it's much better to live a life where you can cherish precious things. I think I'm a 'heo' (a type of fish). I also have a resistance to change when starting something new. It would be a lie to say I don't. I think there were many cases where I hesitated and then set out. Once you set out, it's hard to go back, so I think I was endlessly searching. That's why, even when change came, I didn't sense it immediately through intuition or just out of hunger. I was always worried. I read that part and thought a lot about the past. I regretted it a lot. I lost 20 million won in stock investment first, and then another 20 million won. I should have stopped. Why did I foolishly and stupidly continue to do this? When I lost all 40 million won, I was devastated. Why did this happen only to me? I wished I could go back to the past and that this wasn't my situation. I denied it a lot. Going to clean a lodging was a huge ordeal and another challenge for me. Now that I've been through it, I went and cleaned. But at that young age, it was such pain and worry. Still, we have to live. If we just sit there, our situation won't change. I know that, but I'm just afraid to go. I realized it late, but in the end, I will move. Why did the 'heo' move and the 'ham' didn't? I think it's because of the time difference. The 'heo' just moved a little earlier. The 'ham' will still be in that same place? No. The environment we live in changes in some way. The era, the environment, everything has changed. If I don't change, I think I'll have to go live in a remote village. If you are in a place where the times are changing, you might be a little late, but you will move. There are no obstacles. If you look for it, the probability of survival is higher. If you wait endlessly and stay in a room where nothing comes out, you can't survive. Don't you think you have to move to a place where you have a higher probability of surviving, even if it's a little? Many people are just 'heo' and 'him'. Sometimes I was a 'him', and sometimes I was a 'heo'. Everyone knows that nothing lasts forever. It depends on how you accept it. Individuals can just accept it. For an organization, someone who knows a little should approach, suggest, and persuade them. That's the logic of an organization. People are very smart and can compare. They want to be above others. To be above others, you have to move. In the end, you have to practice.

The cheese I think of is how Lee Su-jin's name will be engraved in life. The maze is my life. Lee Su-jin's name will live on in my life. If you look at Chairman Chung Ju-yung, if there's no path, you can find one. If you can't find one, you can make one. Isn't that the step Chairman Chung Ju-yung left behind? So I think a maze is the path of one's life, the journey from start to finish. And then, with your own name, your own form, your own thoughts, and your own body, there is only one person in the world. That person's form is cheese, I think. I'm pretty sure of one thing: if you don't act, you die. If you don't practice properly, saying 'this was mine, this was ours' is a betrayal to the users who use us. From the supplier's perspective, it's not a better service, but a service full of errors, and eventually, everyone will die.

I get asked a lot, 'You've achieved so much, do you still have dreams?' My dream is to eat well and live well. If I rephrase this, it's an affluent life. Eating well means a healthy life. You have to be healthy to eat well. Living well means a life of recognition. Being recognized means you are good at something. People who call themselves experts are past experts. I'm still researching, I'm still lacking, I don't know why I'm so lacking. People who say that are accumulating future learning, challenging themselves. There are many past experts. You have to become a future expert. So, whether it's 10 years or 20 years from now, or when I die, I hope I can say, 'I lived well and ate well.' That means not that I achieved something, but that I lived a life of challenging to achieve something. That's the most important wording for me. So I hope I don't stop living a challenging life. The same goes for the company. It shouldn't be revitalized by the founder alone. The organization members here should find a new cheese warehouse by understanding the changes of the times and the flow of culture, and be able to radiate it. I hope that process and system can be well established in our company.

Yanolja's 'Dokkaebi' also dreams of traveling to Mars, but we have to sell the travel tickets, don't we? They are people who don't challenge themselves. When I received my first investment, the CEO of the investment firm asked me the same question. He asked, 'Who is your competitor?' At that time, the perception of motels was too bad, and the industry was seen as too small. So I said, 'Our competitor is perception. If we correct the perception, the travel industry can expand like this.' Now, fortunately, the perception is starting to be highlighted, and we are doing B2B services worth over 20 billion won globally. I think our internal challenge of making this service settle in and be used well must always be in place. If we don't have that, we can't go any further. I always tell my co-founder not to build anything, not even a tomb. If people ask what kind of person Lee Su-jin was, and they recognize him as a person who challenged himself, I think that's leaving one keyword of his life behind.

Yanolja has been around for almost 20 years. I think it might be a word that suits me in a while. Last year, actress Youn Yuh-jung and actor Lee Jung-jae said something like that at an awards ceremony. They talked about their unknown days for 10 years, and how before they knew it, 30 years had passed, and they could stand on a stage like this. Many people say things like 'stagnant water' or 'rotten water,' but the length of life shouldn't be expressed that way. It's beautiful that it can be expressed with something sincere. So, if I could be expressed as having lived a challenging life, I think that would be great right now. I don't know how it will change in the future.

I have friends I usually cherish and like. They are still similar to 'heo' and are friends who are out there searching for cheese. I want to convey this to them. I want to convey it to CEO Jung Sung-hwan, CEO Im Soo-yeol, and CEO Kim Kyung-ah. CEO Jung Sung-hwan is starting a bakery in Seoul called 'Red Tie.' CEO Im Soo-yeol is running a service called 'Free' that is very popular among young people in their 20s. And CEO Kim Kyung-ah, do you know 'Rainbow Cake'? She is the founder of 'Dorae Dorae' and is still working hard on it. So I want to bring a gift to those three CEOs.