A comprehensive edition of 'Yi Sun-sin management,' which reinterprets Chungmugong's achievements from a manager's perspective, has been published.
It is the fourth historical management essay by Yoon Dong-han, chairman of Kolmar Korea and the first doctor in Yi Sun-sin studies, titled 'The Great Management of Admiral Yi Sun-sin.'
The book is the result of Yoon's effort to organize the 'Yi Sun-sin management' he learned through real-world business experience after growing Kolmar Korea into a large business group 36 years after its founding. It highlights the spirit of preparing for every contingency and the leadership of listening carefully.
The publication event for 'The Great Management of Admiral Yi Sun-sin,' held on the 25th at El Tower in Seocho-gu, Seoul, was organized to introduce the book's content and background, and to reflect on the modern meaning of Chungmugong's spirit. Former Korea Institute for National Unification chairman Lee Tae-jin, Catholic University of Daegu president Sung Han-gi, and Member of the National Assembly Shin Dong-wook attended and offered congratulations. Former National Assembly speakers Chung Sye-kyun and Kim Jin-pyo, as well as film director Yoon Je-kyoon of JK Film, also sent video messages of congratulations.
Yoon, who has long named Admiral Yi Sun-sin as the person he most admires, described him as a genius of tactics and strategy and as a manager who cared for the people's livelihood with outstanding solutions. Yi built warships on his own without asking even the king for help, and produced everything from military grain to cannons and gunpowder. Yoon has applied Yi Sun-sin's spirit to actual management practice. In particular, he has emphasized the importance of research and development, just as Admiral Yi modified the panokseon to create the turtle ship.
Yoon also founded the nonprofit Seoul Yeohae Foundation in 2017, taking its name from Yi Sun-sin's courtesy name, Yeohae. The foundation runs the Yi Sun-sin Leadership School for employees of small and mid-sized companies, with the goal of spreading Yi Sun-sin's leadership, training experts, and nurturing 'small Yi Sun-sins.' To date, the cumulative number of graduates has exceeded 1,000.
In addition, Yoon wrote 'General Jeong Geol,' a book about Admiral Yi Sun-sin's mentor Jeong Geol, in 2019, and published 'The Mother Who Protected Joseon,' which sheds light on the life of Chungmugong's mother, in 2022. In 2023, he supported the modern Korean translation and publication of 'The Complete Works of Admiral Yi Sun-sin,' a collection of Chungmugong's poems, official reports, and the Nanjung Ilgi. In 2024, he earned a doctorate from the Daegu Catholic University Graduate School's Yi Sun-sin department with a dissertation titled 'A Study on Yi Sun-sin's Victory Strategy Using the Geographic Advantages of Gohado Island and Gogeumdo.'
"After spending my life building a company and studying Yi Sun-sin, I have reached the conclusion that he can rightly be called the greatest manager in the history of the Korean Peninsula," Yoon said. "Through this book, I hope that 'small heroes' who inherit Chungmugong's management spirit will continue to emerge in this country."
Kim So-hyung, reporter compact@sportschosun.com
