The 'Original Human' That AI Can't Catch Up With

At former regional offices, accounting and cash-disbursement staff became unnecessary as cards and automated systems were introduced.

Global companies are linking their branches around the world and steadily cutting staff, and building capacity as 'original humans' is now required to survive inside an organization.

Korean companies once offered family-style culture in place of welfare systems, running tight rules around weddings and funerals.

Recently, employees have come to see past events such as company sports days and choir contests as off-duty 'obligations', and outdated management methods are creating friction between generations.

The school system and factory-centered society of the past treated 'arriving on time' as a virtue, and inter-city travel and the adoption of railway standard time became the starting point of the modern commuting culture.

The idea that 'work starts only when everyone arrives at nine', born from factory systems where a missing element stops the conveyor belt, marked the beginning of the modern era.

In the AI era, achievement and capability matter far more than simply keeping time or showing up in person.

Asking 'Are you busy?' in an organization can become an attempt to paper over work with mere activity rather than actual results.

One should recognize that effort without a clear aim and direction can end up as wasted effort.

In the past, staying late was taken as proof of sincerity, but this is far from how performance is evaluated today.

Now, results that merely fill time can actually penalize sincere employees, making it a risky practice.

Getting absorbed in internal power dynamics can damage a product's value and the customer experience, so caution is needed.

The core of performance evaluation should be the total of a person's thinking and attempts, not the total number of hours worked.

Organizational structures are shifting from traditional titles such as section chief toward roles such as manager, team member, and professional.

In place of systems where seniors compensated for juniors' shortcomings, individuals are now being made responsible for the completeness of their own work.

Alignment between the company's overall direction and the work individuals carry out is clearly increasing.

The biggest change now is that top executives are personally building AI agents and practicing with them, which has no precedent.

Rather than stopping at theoretical training, they are leading changes in how work is done through direct experience, and executives are learning AI themselves so they can direct subordinates to use it.

This shows the reality of AI adoption, which will fundamentally change the role of managers.

Management itself, the core task of managers, has been systematized, and the existing role is disappearing. AI systems track work delays instantly and handle approvals such as payment sign-offs transparently in real time.

As management moves inside the system, the traditional concept of the manager has come to an end. The function of directly monitoring and supervising work has become the everyday domain of AI.

The importance of 'ontology' work, which documents existing know-how and experience, is growing.

AI adoption is moving beyond simply saving time into a stage where work itself is virtualized.

In this process, the reality of managers who cannot clearly explain their own work is being exposed.

Companies are currently stuck in a transitional phase, adding fragmented automation tools while keeping existing organizational structures rather than pursuing structural innovation.

This resistance often stems from a corporate culture in which existing employees are hard to change.

In the past, most advanced office work centered on writing reports, and it was common for senior managers to stamp the reports produced below them.

However, as AI systems and agents let individuals search and analyze the information they need directly, the traditional role of writing reports is no longer necessary.

This means report writing, once the core of office work, is disappearing.

In the past, connecting data and building systems required huge costs and time, but now the costs have fallen so sharply that individual owners can try things directly.

This change in environment creates a culture that tolerates failure and becomes an important driver of creating something new.

Relationships inside organizations are shifting from vertical hierarchy to a horizontal structure in which people meet as clients or colleagues.

The fact of having worked together is now seen as an honor in one's career and a valuable future asset, and the culture is changing from lifelong commitment to flexible relationships where people stay briefly and then disperse.

This change makes organization members recognize relationships with no 'above or below', only 'alongside'.

As AI takes over simple tasks, people must build the capability of a 'complete person' who oversees the whole.

An era has arrived in which only those who carry out the entire process themselves and put their own name on the results, the 'original humans', can survive inside an organization.

The first step toward becoming an original human is to personally oversee the entire process of one's work.

The second is a 'publishing' process, in which finished work is released to the outside world and gets recognized.

The third and most important step is to put one's own name on the results, to build one's own narrative rather than collective creation.

Through these three methods, an individual can grow into an irreplaceable 'original human'.

The formula handed down by the older generation, of getting into a good school and then landing a job after earning certifications, no longer holds. Now that the old formula for success has been discarded, preparation for a new era is needed.

In a changing environment, for the next generation such as nieces, nephews, or one's own children, discovering oneself comes first. Rather than following the success rules of earlier generations, one should look for one's essence from the start.