Kyobo Life CEO Shin Chang-jae: Eccentric, humanitarian entrepreneur

When Shin Chang-jae took the helm of Kyobo Life Insurance Co. in 2000 the South Korean insurance firm was reeling from the aftermath of the 1998 Asian financial crisis.

Back then, Kyobo was bleeding but its employees were complacent, hardly believing that the big company could fail.

The new chief executive and company board chairman thought something “radical” was needed to instill a sense of crisis among them to bring about changes.

One day, he was delivering a speech in-house when a live news broadcast interrupted his speech with the announcement that Kyobo Life had filed for bankruptcy.

The employees panicked. Soon, however, they found out the announcement was false and engineered by their boss.

In another eccentric incident that illustrates how far he would go to make a point, he sent his staff on courses that simulated their own funerals, supposedly to make them realize the intrinsic value of insurance.

Such extreme and unsettling tactics paid off.

Under his unorthodox leadership style, Kyobo Life transformed into a blue chip company, earning hundreds of billions of won annually.

Kyobo is now Korea’s third-largest life insurer after market leader Samsung Life Insurance Co. and No. 2 player Hanwha Life Insurance Co.

OB/GYN-TURNED-HUMANITARIAN ENTREPRENEUR

Shin, the eldest son of Kyobo’s founder Shin Yong-ho, was an established obstetrician and was a medical professor at the country’s top Seoul National University for nearly a decade.

With his unique background as a former practicing physician, he often describes the life insurance business as “humanitarian” – one built on a genuine love for humans.

His ethical management philosophy, under which he practices “human-centered stakeholder relationship management,” has been recognized by the industry.

Last year, he was honored by the International Insurance Society (IIS) as the 2023 Insurance Hall of Fame laureate.

Billed as the Nobel Prize of Insurance, the award is the industry’s top honor recognizing the recipient’s contributions to the development of the insurance industry through innovative activities.

Notably, he has followed in his father’s footsteps to win the honor – the industry's first to do so. His father, Shin Yong-ho, was inducted into the IIS Insurance Hall of Fame in 1996.

James Vickers, chairman of the IIS honors program, said the junior Shin was selected for the award because he has embodied the spirit of the Insurance Hall of Fame through his innovative and insightful leadership as well as his “people-first approach.”

Last year, Kyobo was also selected as Korea’s top insurer, measured by the Korea Sustainability Index (KSI) of the Korea Standards Association, maintaining its position as the industry leader for 14 consecutive years.

CARING AND RESPONSIBLE MANAGER

Kyobo Life, which marks its 66th anniversary this year, is a success story of growing independently without any external support such as receiving public funds.

Industry officials describe Shin, who owns a third of Kyobo Life, as a dedicated, austere but caring manager.

"Kyobo Life's sustained growth is partly attributable to the CEO’s people-centered management philosophy and transparent and ethical management, which seeks shared growth with stakeholders, rather than solely pursuing profits,” said Lee Dong-gi, a professor emeritus of Seoul National University.

When Shin had to pay an inheritance tax of 183.1 billion won ($137 million) in 2003 following the death of his father, he willingly offered his Kyobo Life shares to meet the tax obligations as he and his family were short of cash – a move that helped dispel the widely held perception among Koreans that chaebol owners are often “tax dodgers.”

KYOBO BOOK CENTER, YOUTH ATHLETICS CUP CHAMPIONSHIP

Kyobo runs a chain of Korea’s biggest bookstores, set up by Shin’s father, who stressed the importance of education.

The senior Shin faced strong objections from company executives, who recommended the leader build a more profitable commercial complex, instead of a book store, underground the Kyobo Life headquarters building in central Seoul.

Kyobo Book Center now operates 43 stores across the country.

The insurance company has also been running the Kyobo Life Youth Athletics Cup Championship project for four decades to support budding talent in becoming leading national athletes. 

The championship, also called the Kyobo Life Cup Dream Tree Sports Festival, is the only national competition operated by a private firm for elementary school students.

The insurer has been holding the competition since 1985.

The company said more than 145,000 athletes have so far participated in the competition, and about 450 of them have borne the national flag on their chest to represent Korea in international games.

These athletes, including figure skaters Choi Min-jeong and Lee Sang-hwa, track and field athlete Woo Sang-hyeok, table tennis players Ryu Seung-min and Shin Yu-bin, swimmer Park Tae-hwan, judo player Choi Min-ho and tennis player Chung Hyeon, have won over 200 medals at the Olympics and Asian Games.

"The Kyobo Life Cup competition is a highly anticipated event for many elementary school students," says Ryu, a member of the International Olympic Committee’s Athletes’ Commission.

Write to Mi-Hyun Jo at mwise@hankyung.com


In-Soo Nam edited this article.