▲ Professor Paek Jee-yon(International Office Administration)
About ten years ago, when I studied business related subjects, I had come to believe that the goal of company was to maximize profit. One day I read a case study about a US power plant company, and a statement of the CEO caught my attention. He said that profit to a company is just like breathing to a human. Without breathing a person cannot live, but a person does not live to breathe. Just like that. Without profit a company cannot survive, but a company does not exist for profit.
Specific research about the profit and success factors of companies described that successful companies in every industry can be categorized into two major groups, gold medal and silver medal groups. The research showed that both groups of companies had at least 50 years of existence and showed great profit to shareholders. However, gold medal companies showed a double increase in the company’s value, and the key difference between gold medal and silver medal companies was in a company’s core values. The core values of the silver medal group companies include profit maximization, but the core values of the gold medal group of companies include values other than profit, which the company has been preserving, and those companies experienced financial sacrifice to keep their values.
This story is not limited only to companies, but can also be applied to individuals. According to a survey of the Career Development Center, more than 90 percent of Ewha freshman students come to study in college to get a job. Why do students want to get a job? Why do students want to make money?
Family and society may expect students to get a job so that they can be financially independent, which is partially true. Without making money or having a job, a person cannot live independently. However, a person cannot live only for independence, but should have something else to accomplish or to preserve. They expect students to look for value, purpose, and meaning in life and to accomplish these.
Do you know what you like to do? Do you know what you can do well? Do you know what value you put weight on? The answers to all of these questions will guide your way as you look for a career. During the process of deciding on a career, we should have dignity and value to preserve. Before we get a job, we seem to be weak. However, if we do not preserve our dignity and value, there will be more chances to be tempted later on. After getting a job, we should preserve even more dignity and value, not compromising to the bondage of community mores. That is why we have a career. Now, shall we find out what value we are pursuing through our lives?

*Professor Paek Jee-yon is Assistant Professor in the Department of International Office Administration at Ewha Womans University. She earned her Ph.D. in Human Resources Development from Ohio State University and MBA from New York University. Professor Paek majored in International Office Administration at Ewha.

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