When vision has a desk

The word vision has a biblical ring to it, evoking people crossing deserts and seas in search of unknown land. Or, mutatis mutandis, in search of a new solution – an app, a vaccine, a robot – to human needs. For Kim Sung-Joo, vision is not only a necessity in today’s increasingly automated world, it is also her job. She is the Chief Visionary Officer (CVO) of the Sungjoo Group, a multinational fashion business with 500 shops and 15,000 employees around the world. Her motto and that of her company is “Faith, Hope, Love,” based on her Christian beliefs. “My vision comes from God,” she says.

Despite being a frequent attendee at CEO-heavy and male-dominated business summits like the World Economic Forum in Davos, which she first attended as a Young Global Leader in 1997, she continues to stick out. The only CVO in attendance at the St. Gallen Symposium, she wears sneakers and jogging pants. The informal dress code puts her in line with some of today’s most famous visionaries, often dressed in hoodies à la Zuckerberg. During the Circle of Benefactors Dinner “all the men were looking at me – ‘how dare she?’” she laughs.

The visionary method

Kim, a scion of one of the country’s leading chaebol (industrial conglomerates) families, defied her father’s reluctance for her to enter business. She founded her company in 1990 and brought brands like Gucci and Marks & Spencer into South Korea. The turning point in her career came in 2005, when she bought MCM Holding, a German luxury brand. “I had no idea what to do, but I was convinced I could do it,” she says. “In the last ten years, Sungjoo Group has grown ten times bigger.”

Her method sounds simple. Every morning, she reads the Bible and prays. “I become Braveheart. Without praying I cannot be focused and, if you are not focused,you cannot see clearly.” And, it goes without saying, if you do not see clearly, you cannot be a CVO. Next comes what she calls a “global macro view,” which gets reflected in a “microscopic action plan,” thanks to a “collective effort.”

Four years ago, Kim felt her company was growing too fast. She took a step back and became head of the Korean Red Cross. The South Korean CVO claims that money is just “a tool to serve society.” “The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism” by German sociologist Max Weber is her other “lifelong book,” besides the Bible. “Now, I am back and we are growing at 40-45% again.” The Sungjoo Group is currently going through a three-year long process of digital transformation to upgrade its e-commerce business and adapt to the new dynamics in the fashion industry, increasingly driven by millennial tastes. “After that, we will fly.”

CVOs are a rare species, not only at forums like the symposium, but also in the professional world. Kim says that is too bad. “‘CEO’ or ‘President’ are very boring titles. They come from the old school and are very authoritarian; top-down, very passé, gone,” Kim says.

A rare job title

Einar Stefferud, an American computer entrepreneur, is thought to have become the first CVO in 1994. Almost 25 years later, the term’s usage is still confined to certain sectors and countries. A  search on LinkedIn shows most CVOs work in the IT industry, followed by marketing and professional coaching. The United States is clearly the epicentre of the CVO trend. Canada and India lag far behind.

Is it a meaningful addition to the company’s governance or just a hollow title? “It can be both,” says Omid Aschari, professor of strategic management at the University of St. Gallen. “Vision is one of the key components of an executive, but if it is compartmentalised into a job, it can be difficult to disseminate to the rest of the top management.”

So can a singular vision be … blinding? “Vision has the function of aligning an organisation, but one needs to make sure the diversity of opinions is not ignored,” Aschari says.

Kim describes herself as a good listener. She’s an advocate of “horizontal leadership,” the latest buzzword for a non-hierarchical management style. “Being a leader is not day-to-day policing of what employees are doing. You have to tap into young people and the different departments. You need to be a sponge.”