Chapter 39 - Born of This Land: My Life Story
Today’s Chapter is based on the book “Born of This Land: My Life Story”, an autobiography by Chung Ju-Yung, the founder of Hyundai.
Buy it on Amazon here:
https://www.amazon.com/Born-this-land-life-story/dp/B07YNZF25Z
Here’s what I have learned from the book:
Time is Your Best Capital
“The difference between successful people and really successful people is that really successful people say no to almost everything.”
— Warren Buffett
Chung Ju-Yung believed that “time is a form of capital provided equally to everyone”. As such, he believes that to become successful, it is important for one to made good use of his or her time. In fact, he mentions that “there is nothing more foolish than living a life according to the mantra of "doing enough just to get by," not knowing how precious one's time is.”
Chung explains that he believes that anyone can excel in any field if they make full use of their time:
“In one lifetime, we can become a revered, immortalized politician, a scholar, a revolutionary, a writer, a musician, a painter, or a businessman like those that we admire. These remarkable people did not take two or three lifetimes to accomplish what they did. They did it in one. To be sure, individual aptitude, ability, environment, or excellence differs from case to case. Not everyone can pull off such deeds in a single lifetime. However, if you make full use of your time by living diligently, you can excel in any field. Such a life would be considered a successful one.”
— Chung Ju-Yung
Chung mentions that it is extremely dangerous to stay complacent. In fact, he says that “Every day needs to be a journey towards growth. If we pause today, it is a step backward. We must move forward even if it means only one or two steps at a time. If we don't, we will be overtaken and soon find ourselves falling behind.”
More importantly, he explains that life without hard work is a life wasted. In fact, he reiterates that a life without daily self-improvement has no meaning.
“We live in order to make ourselves better. No one can control where they're born or what kind of family they're born into these conditions are naturally unique. But there is one thing we have in common. Our future will be determined by our effort. Thus, our future is our own responsibility. No matter how hard things seem today, with a positive attitude, we can all find joy in the midst of our troubles.”
— Chung Ju-Yung
This reminds me of what we have learned from Napoleon who once said that nothing was more humiliating than for one to not achieve his destiny. For him, it was all about making a name for himself to be remembered throughout history. In fact, he once said that to have lived without glory, without leaving a trace of one's existence is to not have lived at all.
And Napoleon believed that destiny can be fulfilled by the exploitation of every opportunities or accidents that are presented in front of you. This can only be done with exact calculation of all the chances, and by precise determination of the decisive moment for action. A clever man is one who understands this principle.
“All great events hang by a single thread. The clever man takes advantage of everything, neglects nothing that may give him some added opportunity; the less clever man, by neglecting one thing, sometimes misses everything.”
— Napoleon
This is awfully similar to Chung Ju-Yung’s mentality who once said that “timing and action are the keys to success or failure.” In fact, in Chung’s opinion, luck is all about understand when to seize the right moment and that good or bad luck depends on how one manages time. He also believes that everyone, poor or rich, all have roughly the same amount of time to develop themselves to be prepared to take full advantage of a great opportunity.
The difference is that people who work hard are better apt to take advantage of good timing in contrast to lazy people. As a matter of fact, diligent workers, even during bad times, understand that they still need to make continuous effort in order to minimize or avoid adverse consequences. Whereas, lazy individuals will miss the opportunities presented to them during good times and are oblivious to dangers during bad times. Thus, hard working people are deemed to be always lucky compared to others.
“And within our lifespans, I believe each person also undergoes roughly equal amounts of good times and bad times. Self-development is contingent on one's ability to make the most of the good times through hard work and diligence. When times are bad, all we can do is assess our situation and carry on. By doing so, we can overcome the bad times without needing to rely on luck. The course of one's life is not determined by the timing of one's birth, but by the choices he or she makes in both good times and bad.”
— Chung Ju-Yung
Personally, Chung mentions that whenever he is not sleeping, he is always thinking about the next business opportunity. He explains that “Like all business people, a great idea starts with one single thought. When a small idea the size of a grain of rice is implanted in my mind, I nurture it until it grows into a major project that I can visualize in head. That is a specialty of mine.”
“What has always been most important to me is how I use my time for work. Other than thinking about how to develop and grow my business, I'm actually not very interested in anything else. For me, time is the capital that must be managed most wisely.”
— Chung Ju-Yung
He is in the opinion that the desire for newer and bigger projects is the source of energy for business people. In his case, he dreams of building a Hyundai that will remain immortal. As Napoleon once said, “Everything on earth is soon forgotten, except the opinion we leave imprinted on history.” To do so, Chung insists that he is always constantly pursuing bigger projects for Hyundai.
Finally, Chung also reminds us that while it is important to dream for a brighter future, it is essential for a man to live fully in the present. In fact, he mentions that “a man who enjoys his work and who finds happiness in the smallest of things, that man will find success in whatever he does. Such a man is one who lives well. Whether you're a mid-level or highly skilled engineer, a Chinese food delivery boy, a student, or an executive, it's the same.”
Give It Your All
“Take a simple idea and take it seriously.”
— Charlie Munger
Chung Ju-Yung mentions that the saying “Do it until nothing more can be done. Give it your all ‘til the very end.” , can be defined as his essence as a person and his fundamental principle of life. As mentioned above, time is a form capital that should be used well. Chung explains that even for the most simple and most mundane tasks in life, it is important to put your best effort to achieve the best result possible.
“I realized that even simple tasks require practice. With the skills I acquired during those three nights, I soon became one of the best delivery boys in the city. Now, I was able to deliver two big bags of rice at a time. (…) My monthly pay increased to two bags and then to three. No matter how small the task, such as delivering rice on a bicycle, I pour all my energy into achieving the best possible result. Half measures, compromises, cutting corners, or "being realistic" do not exist in my world.”
— Chung Ju-Yung
This motto of his to “Do your best till there is nothing more to do” comes from his observation of bedbugs. In fact, he explains that "Even bedbugs think long and hard, and use every bit of energy they have to achieve their goal, and ultimately they succeed. I'm no bedbug, I'm a man. These bedbugs can surely teach a man a few lessons. If these bedbugs can do it, why can't we men do it? We just need to stick to it and not quit. We need to emulate these bedbugs.”
Chung Ju-Yung believes that giving it your all and working diligently can make up for any shortfalls you may have. For example, while Chung Ju-Yung stopped his formal education after the sixth grade, he more than made up for it by reading books diligently. In fact, he once said that “if my first mentors were my parents, then my second mentors were books.”
“The story of my life demonstrates that one does not need great wealth and education to become successful. Even though I was poor and had little education, I am running one of the world's most successful businesses. For those people who are in a difficult situation but continue to have big dreams, I hope my life can be an example that inspires them to push forward toward a better life through honest, hard work.”
— Chung Ju-Yung
Furthermore, Chung believes that one must work diligently every day in order to have steady improvement in life which can lead to success. In fact, he once said that “unless your life goal is wasting time, then the first thing I recommend is to be diligent. Being diligent forces you to move a lot, think a lot, and work a lot. Diligence mirrors your sincerity about living a full life. So I don't trust anyone who is lazy. If you are diligent in attending to your daily needs, then over time you will become credible and reap the benefits of your diligence.”
“If you are diligent for a day, you will sleep comfortably for a night. If you are diligent for a month, the quality of your life will noticeably improve. If you are diligent for a year, two years, 10 years, your whole life... your accomplishments will be recognized by all. The diligent lead lives a 100 times more productive than the lazy. Their lives are thus more fulfilling. If you work 10 times more than a lazy person, then you are in fact shouldering the lives of hundreds.”
— Chung Ju-Yung
This is awfully similar to what we have learned through Edward Thorp previously; the power of compounding is the main reason why steady improvement day by day can lead to success. A one percent improvement every day leads to 37x improvement in a year. Thorp once said that “Over a sufficiently long time, compound growth at a small rate will vastly exceed any rate of arithmetic growth, no matter how large!”
“Spend each day trying to be a little wiser than you were when you woke up. Discharge your duties faithfully and well. Step by step you get ahead, but not necessarily in fast spurts. But you build discipline by preparing for fast spurts. Slug it out one inch at a time, day by day. At the end of the day - if you live long enough - most people get what they deserve.”
— Charlie Munger
More importantly, while working diligently is the key to success, it can be useless if it is not done after thorough thinking. When asked how he became the richest man in Korea, Chung Ju-Yung said "I wanted to climb a mountain as fast as possible without any thought of the risks involved. And I have reached the summit before anyone.", but I do not believe that to be entirely true.
In fact, Chung explains that the Hyundai Group wouldn’t exist if he did not spent a huge amount of time and effort thinking, analyzing, and planning every detail before starting a project. As such, while he seems to be taking a lot of risks, his actions are all well thought out in advance, and as such his risks are mitigated. As Charlie Munger once said, “opportunities come to the prepared mind.”
This reminds me of the idea that we have learned from Kazuo Inamori who once said that working hard is meaningless if one does not have an objective through thinking. As Kenichi Omae once said, “Rowing harder doesn’t help if the boat is headed in the wrong direction.”
“Also, it's meaningless to do something persistently if it's done in a vague or aimless manner. The important thing is to consistently apply creativity and ingenuity. You must commit yourself to making today better than yesterday, and tomorrow better than today. The unceasing application of creativity and ingenuity is bound to produce excellent results.” — Kazuo Inamori
Unconventional Thinking
“If conventional thinking makes your mission impossible, then unconventional thinking is necessary.”
— Elon Musk
Whenever someone said that a proposed project was impossible, Chung Ju-Yung’s favourite response was “Did you try?”In fact, when Hyundai first got into the car industry, they knew that they had to partner with an American company who had superior technology. When Chung heard of Ford’s visit in South Korea, he immediately asked his younger brother to negotiate an automobile assembly technology contract with Ford. His brother was taken back as it seemed improbable to reach an agreement this quickly with a major foreign car company. Chung responded with the following saying: “Have you even tried?”
For Chung, the first rule to become a successful person is to have the mentality of thinking that anything is possible. As he explains, “If you doubt yourself, then you will only be able to accomplish as much as your doubts let you. If you think you can't do something, then you won't be able to do it.”
As a matter of fact, Chung Ju-Yung mentions the importance for a company to innovate, especially when there are competitors. In fact, he believes that running a company without competition will slow you down, because if there is no competition, “you don't need to improve the quality of your product, and there's also no pressure to shorten production times.”
In business, being complacent is the same as falling behind and if you are not leading, you’re losing. By consequence, it is essential for one to think unconventionally to succeed in business.
"I am someone who believes that if a person limits themselves to the fixed ideas inherent in common sense, they will not be very creative.”
— Chung Ju-Yung
In the case of Chung, he knew that for him to beat his competitors, he had to finish projects in a shorter amount of time than other people. In fact, he mentions that he succeeded because while others were still hesitating, he had already begun working. This is the reason why his motto is “shorten the time”. In his opinion, that is the surest way to encourage innovation and improvement.
As a matter of fact, he would often take tours of his projects and would always seek to find ways to shorten construction times in unconventional ways.
“When we worked on the Jubail project, we had to make 160,000 drill bits to build the breakwater and shore protection structures. If we built 200 every day, it would take us 800 days to make 160,000. But at the site, the workers were making them one at a time instead of using a mold to mass produce them. Their sorry excuse for this wasteful effort was that the molds weren't the right height to fix onto the end of the cement trucks.
When I saw this, I was furious. Why did these people have brains if they weren't going to use them? It didn't take a genius to realize that the outflow ramp for the concrete on the trucks needed to be raised to fit the molds. If they just followed this simple solution, they wouldn't need a crane, and they wouldn't waste time and energy. They couldn't think to adjust the concrete mixer truck, thinking it was unchangeable. Would the gods punish them for making some small adjustments? After I made the changes, we went from 200 per day to 350 per day.”
— Chung Ju-Yung
Chung believed that finding clever solutions would never come from people with conventional thinking. As a matter of fact, he mentions that “if you only think in accordance with what you learned through books, your imagination will be limited to that.”
This reminds me of the idea of “Shoshin” in buddhism that we have learned from Anton Philips. Shoshin is the concept of letting go of your expectations and preconceived notions about something and to see things with an open mind just like a child or a beginner.
It is much more useful for one to live with the attitude of a beginner and to keep one’s mind empty and open. It is only in this state that one is able to use his sense of imagination and his sense of innovation. As Shunryu Suzuki once said, “In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the experts there are few.”
“If you search for a method, it will come to you. If you can't come up with a method, it's because you didn't think hard enough. The construction project that others said would take five years only took us two years and three months. "Others build the shipyards first and the ships later." This was the kind of lazy thinking that propelled me to go my own way.”
— Chung Ju-Yung
Credibility
“A good reputation is more valuable than money.”
— Publilius Syrus
Chung Ju-Yung’s experience at Hyundai is a perfect example of how important reputation is for a businessman. He once mentioned that “a man’s trustworthiness, sincerity and honest are his capital.” In fact, he explains that while it would be ideal for a company to have enough internal capital to run on its own, it is still possible to run a business without any capital, as long as it has a good reputation.
As a matter of fact, Chung first success started when he was running a rice shop which he was entrusted by his boss due to his diligence and honesty. He was also able to get capital to start his business because of his reputation for being trustworthy.
“In my life, many business people claiming to have the next “big thing" have asked me for money. They professed that they didn't have anyone else to ask. In those situations, I always said, "What you lack is credibility, not capital. It's not because your character is flawed. It's just that you haven't established trust that would allow a stranger or a third person to lend you money. That's why it's so hard for you to get it. If you can convince the other person that you are trustworthy, money will naturally flow in.”
— Chung Ju-Yung
By consequence, whenever he ran Hyundai, Chung always made sure that his credibility would remain intact. In fact, even whenever he got into a project that would certainly amount to significant loss, he made sure to complete the project in time to make sure that his company held their words. He fully understood the meaning behind’s Warren Buffett’s saying that “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently.”
When he was once advised his brother to give up on a project, he responded with: “Trust is everything to a businessman. The moment you lose trust, it's all over. It's my dream to create the best construction company in the Republic of Korea, and you're telling me to abandon it all? Whatever happens, we're going to finish this job. We have to.”
More importantly, Chung Ju-Yung’s understood that in international projects, it wasn’t just his reputation on the line, but the credibility of the entire country that laid on his shoulders. He once mentioned that “if Hyundai were to have quit after becoming the first Korean company to take an overseas project, we would have been kicking away the ladder for other Korean construction companies trying to enter foreign markets.”
“A contract is a contract. Even if we are in dire monetary straits, we have to build Thailand the high-quality expressway they are expecting within the time we have. That's why we are here. We cannot and will not just cut and run. We have to finish what we started for the good of the Hyundai brand and for the good of the country."
— Chung Ju-Yung
As such, as mentioned above, Chung was never afraid of using unconventional thinking. This was especially true whenever Hyundai was in a dire situation and needed a way to protect their reputation by completing a project in time. He once said that "If I have to choose between reputation and money, I'll always take reputation. Finishing on time is how we protect our reputation and honor.”
Obviously, by taking risks, it may not always work out, but Chung always took failure as an opportunity to learn. In fact, whenever a project did not work out the way he planned, he would tell himself that he failed because he was lacking and that he was in need of more experience. He would see failed projects as expensive lessons. As he would often say, "As long as you don't die and remain healthy, there may be periods of hardship but never complete failure."
“If a loss yields experience, then it is not truly a loss. If you can learn from a loss, then you can turn it into a gain. Sometimes you get more from losing money than you do from making it. We lost money on the highway construction project in Thailand, but we also gained something in return. While we quickly tried to understand our failures, we gained experience and valuable knowledge, which helped us modernize. On top of that, as Korea's first construction company to build a highway, we later became a domestic leader in this field. We were able to use this experience as a stepping-stone to quickly become an international construction company.”
— Chung Ju-Yung
Beyond the Book
Read "Charlie Munger on Getting Rich, Wisdom, Focus, Fake Knowledge and More" by Farnam Street
Read "Compounding Knowledge" by Farnam Street
Read "This Zen Concept Will Help You Stop Being a Slave to Old Beliefs" by James Clear