CEO Kwon Encourages Employees to Innovate and Lead at First Anniversary Speech

In honor of his first year at POSCO, CEO Ohjoon Kwon encouraged more than 2,700 employees and board members to have a leader’s attitude and innovate even further during a speech on Feb. 28, 2015.

CEO Kwon’s Special Lecture on ‘POSCO Business Innovation and Leader’s Attitude’

During his speech, Kwon shared three lessons for the company’s future: promoting Innovation POSCO 1.0, having a leader’s attitude, and achieving management objectives and priorities.

“Many people say that the whole world is in a crisis this year, but a business that keeps its ‘top position’ can overcome such a crisis,” Kwon said.

He added that in a situation like this, the company should increase its competitiveness and not rely on outside factors to make it successful. Kwon referred to a few case studies of businesses that overcame a crisis and shared POSCO’s future direction to achieve its five priorities.

Management objectives and priority promotion direction/plan in 2015

CEO Kwon thanked all the employees who worked hard for the company in order to reach last year’s business goals. In his speech, Kwon emphasized the company’s future direction to achieve its next goals. The five main priorities include strengthening the profit structure based on solutions; accelerating business restructuring and clarifying the balance sheet; establishing a commercialization foundation of newly growing core businesses; establishing and expanding work processes based on projects; and strengthening group management efficiency and synergy.

He said to pay particular attention to a platform business model based on technology, a strategy for solution marketing that applies to “steel (hardware), application techniques and commercial support (software).”

Total Leadership and Leader’s Attitude

In order to achieve this year’s business goals and the promotion plan, CEO Kwon says the company needs to focus on “total leadership.”

In his outline of the three main principles of a total leader, Professor Stewart Friedman from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School said authenticity, integrity and creativity makes up “total leadership.” To match with POSCO’s philosophy, the company set Top POSCO, One POSCO and New POSCO as the next steps to achieve “POSCO the Great.”

CEO Kwon’s speech gave employees the opportunity to reflect on the true qualifications of a leader and where POSCO hopes to be in the future. With these principles in mind, POSCO looks forward to achieving its goal to become “POSCO the Great” based on total leadership, which encompasses Innovation POSCO 1.0.

We hope you stay with us as we strive toward our goals!