The Leader's Role: An Organizational Engineer

There is a big difference between deeply understanding and carrying out real work and simply handing the work off to an AI tool.

Practical experience is what lets you give AI the right context and precise instructions, and past experience with things like data processing forms the basis for asking AI good questions. The deeper your practical knowledge, the more it determines the quality of AI output, and the more a leader's ability matters.

Leaders must clearly define what good AI use means within the organization. A concrete definition of 'using AI well at our company' is needed.

Companies that succeed in AI transformation share a common trait: they break down the technical skills members should reach into concrete benchmarks, much like a mock exam.

What AI cannot replace is human relationship-building that is not mechanical.

Rather than working mechanically, leaders should stress the importance of process, the way a doctor emotionally communicates while working through a problem together. AI can deliver results, but relationships built on sharing the process of thinking cannot be replaced.

Oh Tak-min emphasized the importance of a leadership style that values human communication and collaboration.

A good leader is closer to a quiet engineer than a charismatic person. Oh Tak-min says it is important for leaders to understand each member's character and build the processes and environment that let them produce results.

Organizational engineering is the process of getting members to look in the same direction and function well. A leader's role is not to control, but to help people collaborate smoothly and realize the organization's values.

Leaders must clearly define abstract goals and provide guidelines for each situation. Without such concrete direction, a culture that expects people to 'figure it out' eventually fails.

Only with such clear definitions can members work toward the same goals and direction, maximizing the performance of the whole organization.

Differences in digital environments can create different generational values, and leaders must acknowledge this. Oh Tak-min says understanding it is an important role for leaders.

When a junior employee fails to understand that a dinner with a minister is not just a company dinner but an extension of work, the cause is the leader's failure to explain. Leaders must logically persuade people of why such situations matter.

Rather than demanding blind overtime, explaining clearly why a certain occasion is needed and how it connects to the organization's purpose earns members' empathy.

Oh Tak-min thinks it is fine to be a 'kkondae' (an old-school boss). He believes members feel a leader is a kkondae when the leader acts on personal whim without clear rules about direction.

A leader who explains purpose and rules is not a kkondae. Leaders should settle their beliefs into clear organizational rules and persuade members why those conventions are needed.

Oh Tak-min says employees do not need to share the leader's mindset, and the leader has no reason to feel hurt by that. What matters is that people follow the company's rules.

A leader's role is not to expect personal passion, but to create rules and systems for the organization. Rather than individual work styles, clear systems should be built so people meet the company's requirements.

A good leader focuses less on imposing their own opinions and more on setting the organization's rules. Clear rules are the core of running an organization.

When recruiting from outside, leaders must clearly communicate workload intensity, compensation, and the impact environment. The larger the gap between how the organization looks from outside and how it feels inside, the more members may become dissatisfied and angry.

An example is a CEO who wants people to work hard while publicly emphasizing autonomy or work-life balance.

Honestly and clearly communicating the organization's real values and actual conditions is a core function of running it. When this transparency is lacking, it leads to turnover and internal conflict.

Before anything else, analyze your own work style, how you create results, and the pace you prefer.

You also need to analyze in what situations you produce results and what pace you prefer. It is also worth checking intuitively the atmosphere and comfort you feel with the people you meet in interviews.

Oh Tak-min sees attracting talented people as an important indicator of a company's performance. When looking for a leader, check whether they have a mental model similar to your own values.

You can judge a leader's qualities by analyzing how they produced results and the process behind them. It is important to spot the point where good talent flows in, before performance indicators like revenue or stock price show up.

Leaders should guard against Charlie Munger's 'man with a hammer' syndrome. If you insist on only one tool, every problem starts to look like it can be solved with that tool.

Leaders should have the ability to use a range of tools suited to each situation. At the root of leadership is establishing your own philosophy and setting an example by acting in line with it.