Business Bootcamp

"Work is not a place to survive. It's a place to grow."

The one book for anyone who wants to truly design a career

Let go of the illusion that you just have to grit it out — your career exists for "growth," not "survival."

Business Bootcamp (비즈니스 부트캠프) is a hands-on management book that goes beyond simply "surviving office life" to answer the real question: how do you learn, grow, and move forward? The author, a management PhD who built his expertise in the field, has held a wide range of C-level roles — CFO, COO, CMO, and CHRO — at global financial firms and law firms. Drawing on that experience, he lays out a strategic career roadmap spanning an entire working life, from the fundamentals every professional needs to the insight required of an executive.

It offers insight tailored to each position and role: the fundamentals every professional must master, the leadership and organizational skills every team leader must know, and the essential nature and perspective every executive must have.

A three-stage career strategy

This book is written for new employees who want to "start off on the right foot" (Part 1), leaders who must "guide a team" (Part 2), and executives who must "run a growing organization" (Part 3). Spanning the path from working professional to executive, these stories are filled with forty years of experience and insight — not the abstract theories and past case studies taught in business school, but vivid lessons learned on the front lines of work, along with heartfelt advice for those who will follow.

• "What matters in a promotion isn't how fast you climb, but how high you reach — like a professional mountaineer."
• "The workplace is a pro sports team, and the employee is a professional athlete. Every game is real, and every moment is under evaluation."
• "Your salary is your worth converted into currency."
• "What's demanded of an executive is the sharp insight to find the story hidden in an analysis written overnight, and to connect it to the next chapter."
• "Persuasion isn't coercion — it's the process of guiding someone so they can change their own mind."

Business Bootcamp is a precious compass — for juniors, for colleagues, and for anyone seriously wrestling with their career — to help design a career built on real growth.

Prologue. The Field Is the Best Classroom for Management 04

Part 1. A New Beginning — Here's What You Should Know

   01 From Campus to Corporation, From a College Soccer Club to the K League 15

02 Defining the Working Professional: Calculate Your Own Worth 22

03 Record to Adapt, Adapt to Survive 29

04 Learn the Basics First — A Strong Foundation Lasts 35

05 Work Smart: The ABCDEs of Working Smart 41

06 Speak Simply — That's How It Gets Through 49

07 Listening Is a Skill Too — Practice with CARESS 53

08 The Two Faces of Communication: Give the Wound, Then the Cure 59

09 The First Step in Risk Management: If It Feels Off, Disclose It 68

10 Do You Know the Way? Do You Know Accounting? 73

11 The Power of Relationships: Practice Seeing It from the Other Side 80

12 The Legend of Delivery: The Field Expert They Called 'Lightning' 86

13 The Meaning of Promotion: Lessons from a Block-Stacking Game 92

Part 2. Leadership Beyond the Classroom

   01 Followership Comes First 101

02 The Combat School's Slogan Holds the Answer 106

03 The Core of Team Leadership: 3C 2S 114

04 The Textbook Case of Team Leadership: Lessons from a Construction Site Foreman 122

05 A Team Leader's Communication: From Dialogue to Persuasion and Negotiation 127

06 The Shortcut to Wrecking an Organization: Do the Opposite 133

07 What to Close and What to Open: Reflecting on a Leader's Virtues 140

08 Energizing Teamwork: Link the 4D Environment to Team Roles 145

09 The Power of Cooperation: A Real Leader Draws Out Collaboration 153

10 Motivation 3.0: A New Paradigm 159

11 Four Types of Team Members: The Loyalist, the Escapee, the Mercenary, and the Hostage 166

12 The Relational Leader: Become a Strategic Giver 172

13 Leave Your Specialty: Let Go to Gain Something Bigger 179

Part 3. Talking About Management

   01 What Is Management? Lessons from the Great Merchant Im Sang-ok 185

02 Why Do We Call a General a 'General'? 190

03 The CEO's Stakeholders: Customers (C), Employees (E), Owners (O) 197

04 A Flood of Analysis, a Shortage of Insight: Find the Story in the Numbers 202

05 Signals of a Sinking Company: It's Only a Matter of Time 208

06 The Internet, Robots, and AI: Digital Transformation 214

07 Innovation and Change Management: One Alone Isn't Enough 222

08 Competitive Advantage for Sustainable Management: Win on PQS 230

09 The People Who Keep Coming Back to Hanilgwan: A Story of Sustainable Management 235

10 CSR, CSV, ESG: The Three Musketeers of Sustainable Growth 240

11 Is Personnel Everything? Personnel Is Everything 247

12 Management Is Service: Seek Solutions, Not Just Kindness 255

13 Management of the People, by the People, for the People 261

Epilogue. Now Your Bootcamp Begins 266