Vol. 1 - Ch. 7 - Change and Innovation, Maybe?

Yoon Jae-Hee’s thought process was getting all tangled up. Of course, there were no important meetings or discussions. As she pondered how best to respond, Jae-Yoon spoke up, “I am very much looking forward to it.”“Ah, yes. I will pass that on.”

Even though Jae-Hee had not even worked there for a full year yet, she was quick-witted. Right now, there didn’t not seem to be a situation where Team Leader Park could slack off...? Why was he going to such lengths to play dumb?

'This should be enough.'

He had given them the excuse of a meeting, so the rest was up to him. He was proud to say that he had given a heartfelt performance. How it would all play out would be up to the team leader, who was clearly more experienced.

Team Leader Park Choong-In; he had been well-known even before joining the company.

It’s Group, the parent company of It’s Food, had a legendary figure at its helm. Min Kyung-Jun, Min Ho-Jun’s older brother and the chairman’s eldest son. And Director Park was Min Kyung-Jun’s right-hand man.

It’s Food’s market capitalization was approaching 5 trillion won, but that alone would not have been enough to get a rookie employee’s attention.

Judging that the food manufacturing business had limited growth potential, he had masterminded the expansion of the business into food distribution and food services, creating It’s Foodway.

Director Park’s only heir was Park Choong-In.

There were even rumors that Park Choong-In was the next in line to be CEO of It’s Home Shopping. Some said that was why Park Choong-In had created the strange General Team. Still… That doesn’t make Team Leader Park a Min, does it?

Rumors were just rumors. There had to be a reason why they had deliberately put Min Ho-Jun in the CEO position. Those guys were not the kind to let things slide.

[ Team Leader, the CEO wants you to come to his office right after the meeting. He wants a progress report. ]

That should be enough to get the message across. Jae-Hee was just putting her phone in her bag when it rang.

“Ms. Yoon, I told you I was in a meeting, didn’t I?”

“Yes, Mr. Park. I did the best I could.”

“Our busy CEO is considerate enough to be concerned with a team leader’s meeting? Isn’t that touching? Right, Ms.Yoon?”

“I don’t think now is the time for jokes.”

“Yoon Jae-Hee. Are you nervous? Don’t worry. I’ll come up since you sound so sincere.”

After Park Choong-In hung up the phone, Jae-Yoon exhaled a deep sigh from the depths of her soul.

Team Leader Park, it looks like you’ve fucked up. The real golden lifeline is somewhere else, it seems.

“Okay, since Team Leader Park had to go to a very important meeting, why don’t we go ahead without him?”

Jae-Yoon scanned the faces of the nine people. The fact that they were sitting here was proof of their performance and attentiveness. It was just that the balance between performance and attentiveness varied slightly.

Of course, they did not show their true feelings. Home shopping MDs were experienced salespeople. The team leaders had all been through the same process. They could easily hide their level of irritation with a social smile.

“Okay, let’s get started. Section Chief, can you set up the things I asked you to get this morning?”

As if they had rehearsed it beforehand, the secretary’s office staff quickly set everything up. The team leaders silently observed the actions without even knowing what was going on.

“By any chance, this isn’t some kind of surprise present, is it?” The Sports Team Leader made a silly grin while asking the question. It was his own effort, but what came flying at him were sharp glares.

For a moment, everyone’s eyes chased Jae-Yoon. What kind of answer would he give after all? Will he show irritation at the random question?

But, Jae-Yoon’s reaction was unexpected. He even snapped his fingers, showing a positive response.

“Oh, Mr. Kim from the Sports Team, that was a good way to put it. A present... Yes, it could be a present for someone.”

Team Leader Kim quickly came up with what to say next. Although Jae-Yoon’s reaction was odd, it was not bad.

With his sense and eloquence, he had made it this far. On his first day in his new position, he held his first meeting. He had come to the conclusion that there was no better way to gain an advantage than to make a strong impression.

“Ooh~ I hope it’s a present for me then.”

“Given that it’s Mr. Kim, I believe that’s likely. Okay, open it up.”

Everyone’s eyes turned to the boxes on the table. S~ᴇaʀᴄh the NƟvelFɪre.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

The most frequently seen item on the home shopping channel. A cardboard box with the It’s Home Shopping logo, taped up with colorful tape, one placed in front of each person. The varying sizes of the boxes amplified everyone’s curiosity further.

In front of the Food Team Leader sat a cooler box. In front of the Sports Team Leader sat an enormous box the size of a wardrobe. In front of the Sundry Goods Team Leader sat a tiny box the size of his palm… Along with the boxes, small box cutters had been prepared.

The first to react was the Male Fashion Team Leader. While pushing up his cute chick-patterned sweater, he pretended to play it cool.

“Wow...! This is a Jack Nicol slacks 3-piece set. Wow, to see this here. Huh? What’s this? Team Leader, please open this quickly. Huh? Is this Team Leader Choi’s Jo Jin-Ah moisture bomb cream? That’s why I told you to take care of your skin regularly.”

While some team leaders still had question marks floating above their heads, others let out sighs of ‘ah’. By now, they should have noticed something.

“I’ve carefully selected these. Now, does anyone have any questions?”

It was a kind of filter. Who here was really a slacker? Or was there even a hidden gem?

Numbers don’t lie. The team members were the ones who created those numbers. It was the team leader’s role to set the stage for the team members to create beautiful numbers. And it was also the quality of a team leader to remember the products that created those numbers.

“A gift…”

“Mr. Kim, do you have something to say?”

“No… I don’t.”

There were some who were hesitant, but no one spoke up rashly. On the other hand, there were those whose minds went blank and those who tried to squeeze their memories to remember. Several minutes passed without any eye contact. The conference room was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.

Team Leader Oh Chan-Seong of the Sundry Goods Team seemed to have made up his mind and spoke up,

“Men’s wallet from Gucci parallel import. The colors were black and brown, and the prices were the same at 359,000 won. The customer value was 10% in-app points, and there was an immediate discount of 10,000 won for a lump sum payment. The broadcast time was Wednesday, March 20th, at 10 p.m. The target was housewives in their 30s to 50s.”

The conference room went quiet.

Team Leader Oh Chan-Seong made eye contact with Jae-Yoon, who just nodded his head slightly.

“All 1800 units of black were sold out, but brown was only half of the expected sales volume, at 600 units. With a 20-minute special broadcast, the sales were about 86 million won, and the highest sales per minute were 9 million won. The MC in charge was Jo Eun-Ah; and there were no special circumstances... I’m sorry. That’s all.”

He bowed his head and sat down, regaining his characteristic dry expression.

The team leader of the Sports Team, sitting next to him, stood up from his seat. With a haunted expression on his face, he rubbed the palms of his hands together behind his back.

“Ah... I’m from the Sports Team…”

“Mr. Kim, you don’t have to introduce yourself.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I’m a little nervous... Coral Sports’ camping wagon. The total sales volume was 6300 units. All colors were sold at a similar rate, regardless of preference. Ah... Let me see... It was the most popular product at the camping fair. It sold out online. It was a really great product for our team.”

Next, and next.... The confident reports continued until it was the ninth person’s turn. The ninth and final one. The most senior team leader sat down and thought, Could this be some kind of test?

He had prepared a fairly plausible test, but it was easier than falling off a log. He was a team leader, after all. Besides, the product that Jae-Yoon had prepared was a rare-hit product. Of course, he could not forget it. He found it funny that they were trying to test his abilities with something like this. They pretended to have prepared something diligently, but it was nothing more than this.

Just then, the team leader of the Sports Team raised his right hand and licked his lips. His mouth was twitching.

“Yes, Mr. Kim. Go ahead.”

“Oh, come to think of it, there’s something these products have in common. They all exceeded expectations and sold out.”

“Oh! That’s a good analysis, Mr. Kim. That’s right. These products all have something in common. Shall we delve a little deeper? Team Leader Kim has given us an important clue.”

At first glance, they seemed similar: the sales of the product, the sales time slot. Of course, Jae-Yoon did not want such obvious answers.

It was a lack of qualification not to know the history of a popular product that had been launched not too long ago. If you were a leader of a core department of a home shopping company with annual sales of over 1 trillion won, that much was basic. After all, none of them got their team leader positions by playing Go-Stop.

“There were continuous sales on the home shopping mall even after the broadcast ended.”

“Hey, that’s too obvious. Some team leaders have already mentioned the online mall sales.”

“The MCs were all female.”

“Yes, most of the popular MCs are female.”

Jae-Yoon was sure of it; this was an act. Some of them were definitely pretending not to know. Surely, they must have noticed with the hint of ‘products that exceeded expectations and sold out.’

Let’s see. Who’s going to take the bullet?

Again, several minutes of silence passed. Team Leader Oh Chan-Seong of the Sundry Goods Team, who was the first to speak up during the first question, stood up from his seat. He made eye contact with Jae-Yoon and began to talk.

“All of these products are ones that failed once and were reorganized. They’re products that replaced the flops and became hits.”

“Mr. Oh, do you think that’s a coincidence? If not, what’s the reason?”

“It’s definitely not a coincidence. It’s us sitting right here who didn’t approve the plans.”

The conference room began to buzz. The sharp gazes of the other eight team leaders flew towards Team Leader Oh Chan-Seong.

Jae-Yoon breathed a sigh of relief. He had been worried that all nine people sitting here might be slackers. Fortunately, there was one ripe nugget mixed in.

“Mr. Oh, what are you talking about? Mr. Min, he hasn’t been a team leader for that long, so he doesn’t understand the situation…”

A sharp criticism flew from a team leader with ten years of experience. Oh Chan-Seong continued speaking without paying any attention, his gaze fixed on Jae-Yoon,

“For your information, this product was planned by Team Leader Kang Ji-Sun of our team. It’s also true that we didn’t sign the first plan. It was because we were worried about securing the quantity. However, Mr.Kang contacted the import company herself and succeeded in securing the quantity. It’s true that it was my mistake not to be confident about securing the quantity. I hope you will forgive me for my mistake as a rookie team leader.”

“The team leader with the least experience found the common thread. A team leader rejected it, but by chance, it became a hit? Doesn’t this seem strange? How could you not remember something like this?”

It was satisfactory. It was even more gratifying because the story came from Team Leader Oh, who he had been keeping an eye on. Jae-Yoon looked around the conference room once more and spoke up,

“The employee survey we conducted last year. Do you remember? I think the topic of the survey was ‘What is the most necessary item for the structural improvement of It’s Home Shopping?’ A whopping 78% of the employees answered ‘change and innovation’. Does anyone remember?”

Anxious glances filled the conference room. It was a perfect situation to make a big fuss if they made eye contact. It was best to look at the diaries they had prepared. Everyone was making such nervous expressions when…

“What efforts are you making for change and innovation? If the result is 78%, it means that at least six people here chose that item.”

No one could answer Jae-Yoon’s question.

Change and innovation, my ass. It’s nice to say change and innovation, but it’s fortunate if old fogey talk isn’t heard.

Most companies were like that, let alone the advertising agency subsidiary that boasted it had the most free-spirited culture. It was still following the organizational culture from the 80s.

The oldest team leader stood up and replied with a dissatisfied expression, “Change and innovation. We want it more than anyone else, but as you know best, Mr. CEO, it’s impossible unless we overhaul the organization. We can’t change the system. That’s why we can’t do it.”

Another team leader sitting next to him chimed in, “I think it would be better if you thought of it as a difference between fieldwork and management.”

Hmm? Are you saying that you’ve never done fieldwork and are just talking out of your ass?

“It seems like the people here who want change and innovation the least are you guys.”

“So you want it?” They did not say it out loud, but the look in everyone’s eyes clearly said so.

“Fresh ideas from team members. If it weren’t for such a coincidence, they would have been taking up space in the planning document folder and just occupying server data. Don’t you all know better than anyone, and aren’t you acting too confidently as if it were your own achievement?”

“Well, there certainly were justifiable reasons back then…”

“Yes, there understandably must have been good reasons. The colors were too flashy, or it was a style the managing director hated, or the model style was too tacky, or it was still an unproven product. Statistically, young people tend to like this stuff. Sheesh. The reasons for rejection were diverse. I don’t know how you came up with these. With things being like this, is change and innovation really possible?”