In this blog post, I’ll reflect on the meaning of choosing one’s path in life by following one’s interests and passions—and committing oneself fully to that path—through the book ‘CEO Ahn Cheol-soo: A Challenge with Soul’.
This book was published about 10 years ago, and I came across it two years after that. During my military service, I picked up a book with a thin layer of dust on it and thought, “Huh? It’s by Ahn Cheol-soo?” I opened it simply to pass the time on a boring weekend.
At the time, there was a craze surrounding the figure of Ahn Cheol-soo. Outwardly, the man behind the three characters “Ahn Cheol-soo” was a university professor, but he was accompanied by an overwhelming number of titles. He had worked as a medical student, a vaccine programmer, the CEO of a venture company, and then a university professor, and later exerted influence in the political arena as well.
Since his title at the time was Dean of the Graduate School of Convergence Science and Technology at Seoul National University, I will refer to him as “Dean” from here on. Two years ago, Dean Ahn was serving as Dean and Professor at Seoul National University’s Graduate School of Convergence Science and Technology. However, since I felt there was hardly a single person in South Korea who hadn’t used the security program called “V3”—developed by Dean Ahn’s research institute—I still remembered him as the CEO of a startup. In fact, until I read this book, I had thought of him as “a very intelligent person who gets things done efficiently just as he wants, and who has achieved both wealth and fame.” And for good reason: he graduated from Seoul National University College of Medicine, served as the head of the pre-medical department at Dankook University College of Medicine at a young age, and—using his extraordinary intellect—taught himself programming to develop South Korea’s first computer antivirus software, later founding AhnLab. As a man in my early 20s interested in the venture business, he was simply someone I envied and admired.
Wondering what exactly the book contained, I started by skimming the table of contents. While no particular chapter titles stood out, I didn’t find any section I felt I could skip. So, I read the book from cover to cover. As the title suggests, the book tells the story of a “battle fought with soul” that unfolded during the establishment and growth of a venture company. The stories I read in the book weren’t significantly different from those of many other venture company CEOs I already knew. They simply had an interest in a particular field, and as that interest grew, they became well-known in that field. Then, to take responsibility for their own interests and passions, they began working in earnest. People often assume that those who are socially successful must have agonized over every decision and laid out grand plans for the future before taking action. However, in most cases, this is merely a retrospective assumption made from a third-party perspective; in reality, things often happen “by chance.”
Of course, the content covered in this book and Director Ahn Cheol-soo’s life story did not simply come about “by chance.” It was not an easy decision to boldly abandon the path of a “doctor”—a profession that was socially very stable and guaranteed a high income at the time—and start a business in a different field. Furthermore, I believe that sacrificing sleep and, to some extent, compromising his health to prepare for everything himself was an investment he made to achieve success.
I’d like to introduce another individual who shares the common ground of being a venture entrepreneur. He is Mr. Kim Taek-jin, CEO of NCSoft, who once ranked among South Korea’s top 10 wealthiest individuals and is rumored to be the “arch-enemy” of South Korean parents. I recently had the opportunity to hear him speak during a lecture on campus. Through that talk, I discovered some similarities between the paths he and Director Ahn Cheol-soo have taken in life. CEO Kim Taek-jin, who majored in electrical engineering as an undergraduate, recounted that during his very first class, his professor said to the class: “Do you know why you’re sitting here facing me? It’s to eliminate the motor inside this Walkman I’m holding right now.” To elaborate, at that time, a major focus of research in electrical engineering was the design and production of semiconductors. The statement that the motor inside the Walkman—an electronic device—needed to be eliminated meant that the goal was to make all the devices we use in daily life more convenient through semiconductor development. CEO Kim Taek-jin said that while taking that class, he thought, “Yes, but that’s the professor’s dream; I have my own dream.” After earning his master’s degree in electrical engineering, he worked as a researcher at a company for a while before beginning his Ph.D. program in computer science. It was a challenge he undertook to realize his own dream. While I cannot go into every detail in this article, both Director Ahn Cheol-soo and CEO Kim Taek-jin had their own areas of interest and quietly pursued the work they wanted to do in those fields. Fortunately, with the support of society, their respective businesses were able to thrive.
Dr. Ahn Cheol-soo pioneered the field of antivirus software and launched his business; as concerns about the Millennium Bug grew and related incidents actually began to occur, his company started to expand. Furthermore, as the internet became more widespread, demand for antivirus software surged significantly, and Dr. Ahn’s business—which began under the name “AhnLab”—continued to grow.
CEO Kim Taek-jin, on the other hand, entered the gaming industry and, driven by the popularization of the internet and the explosive growth of the gaming industry, built up the business of a company called “NCSoft.” Although no one was certain that this industry would grow, when they started their businesses, Dr. Ahn Cheol-soo gave up the stable path of a doctor, and CEO Kim Taek-jin gave up the secure path of a senior engineer. They poured their passion into their work and reaped the fruits of success.
I imagine that you, the reader of this article, are also wrestling with the question of what to do after you graduate from college. Of course, I am no exception. To elaborate on these concerns, I believe there are fundamental dilemmas—such as having too many things you want to do, or having a specific goal but lacking the current circumstances to pursue it right away. I, too, am grappling with the exact same concerns mentioned above. However, I have made up my mind. The “just happened to” situation I mentioned earlier had already begun to take shape. Since my freshman year of college, I’ve been very interested in “venture companies,” and over the years, I’ve cultivated that interest through related club activities and hands-on experience in the venture industry. And recently, through a truly serendipitous opportunity, I was able to embark on a career as a venture investor. At the same time, an opportunity arose to work at a major South Korean conglomerate. The older generation around me and many others hope I’ll join a large conglomerate and lead a stable life. However, I decided to trust my own “just happened to end up here” and take that path. And I resolved to go all in on this “all-or-nothing gamble.”
The message I want to convey through this article is that while you cannot ignore changes in the social environment, the opinions of those around you, or your own circumstances when deeply contemplating your future career path, you should always continuously explore what you truly want to do and strive endlessly toward that path. The title of the book, ‘A Gamble with Soul’, makes quite a striking first impression. I believe that if you’re desperate enough to stake your “soul” on your own efforts, whatever that endeavor may be—and regardless of whether you succeed or fail—it will be a deeply valuable experience and an opportunity for personal growth. I think the message Director Ahn Cheol-soo sought to convey through this book is in line with this sentiment. I’d like to cheer on the dreams of everyone reading this, including myself.
