Lee Jae-yong meets with branch managers of Samsung Life

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong met with young branch managers of Samsung’s insurance affiliate Samsung Life. On Wednesday, Vice Chairman Lee reportedly had talks with the young branch managers and sales reps in their 30s at the Samsung headquarters in Seocho-dong, Seoul. In the meeting, the employees of Samsung Life shared their concerns and life goals as well as some episodes at work with Lee.

Reportedly, Vice Chairman Lee had expressed his wish to have face-to-face conversations with young employees and managers from Samsung’s financial affiliates. “Mr. Lee led the conversation quite naturally with kind gestures of spraying hand sanitizers and opening the beverage bottles himself for each participant,” said an official, who attended the event.

The vice chairman made a surprise proposal to take them to his personal office at the headquarters. At the office, he reportedly showed the visitors his family photos and souvenirs from his business partners. Lee also showed them a specially designed world map centered around the Korean Peninsula as well as an upside-down atlas in an executive meeting room. “This was specially made to inspire creative and new ideas,” Lee reportedly said. “Our offices around the world are marked so that they stand out at a glance.”


Choong-Hyun Song balgun@donga.com