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Samsung CEO Jong-hee Han has died

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Re: Samsung CEO Jong-hee Han has died

#41
post #30

Heart attack at 63. What a shame. Guy worked at the company longer than I’ve been alive and all he has to show for it is an inheritance and obituary. Makes you wonder what we’re working so hard for.

Maybe you're not familiar with the Chaebol system in Korea, but the leadership of Samsung is like some kind of modern-day monarchy-(not necessarily the CEO but the founding Lee family are royalty in the inheritance sense)- Samsung the company exists as a sort of independent nation-state that drives the Korean economy. (this guy was in charge of about 1/4 of the GDP of the entire economy of Korea) Saying "all he has t…

Well that and over 30 years more life…

Re: Samsung CEO Jong-hee Han has died

#42
post #35

Heart attack at 63. What a shame. Guy worked at the company longer than I’ve been alive and all he has to show for it is an inheritance and obituary. Makes you wonder what we’re working so hard for.

It's common for Asian people, especially Asian men, to work like hell for their parents and children, and not really think about what other life choices they have. That's caused by social values and expectations – people think you are disrespectful to your parents if you don't provide them and carry on the family name. That happened to my dad too. He worked really hard for his family, but as his child, it is crystal…

Is that an improvement, or is it just more of a western mentality? I was raised by asian parents (who had no life of their own), and my wife was raised by Anglo American parents (who “put more focus on their own life”). And from my perspective as a child, I’d rather have my upbringing than her’s.

And I’m happy to pay it forward and do for my kids what my parents did for me. I think “choices” are vastly overrated. I don’t think my kids would be happy if I quit my high paying job to pursue my dreams or whatever. Not that there’s anything else I would want to do! Part of what makes the Asian mentality work is that you avoid “grass is greener on the other side” thinking that will just leave you discontented. For all the talk of “choice”—Americans don’t really that happiness is itself a choice. You can choose to be happy doing what you have to do.

Re: Samsung CEO Jong-hee Han has died

#43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a good question. My home was recently destroyed by fire (not a total loss of dwelling, but 95% of contents due to smoke and water), and I'm quitting tech to accept being a rancher and body builder. I love tech, but tech doesn't love me. So, #yolo on to the next thing.

Sorry for your loss. But may I ask, about the comment "I love tech, but tech doesn't love me" Where does this really arise from? I have some theories and feel free to tell me which one is the right one:- 1)Does this arise from the fact that tech is excessively used to create AI coder assistants to take the coders out in the first place 2)Does this arise from the fact that you feel as if you are a working machine in a…

Not OP but the business of western tech places absolute minimum value on individuals and relationship building. It's all short term gain at the expense of all else. I'd expect the average tech employee to live shorter less fulfilled lives despite their wealth.

[1]: What makes a good life lessons from the longest study on happiness (Harvard) - https://www.ted.com/talks/robert_waldinger_what_makes_a_good...

[2]: The secret to living longer may be your social life - https://www.ted.com/talks/susan_pinker_the_secret_to_living_...

Re: Samsung CEO Jong-hee Han has died

#44

Heart attack at 63. What a shame. Guy worked at the company longer than I’ve been alive and all he has to show for it is an inheritance and obituary. Makes you wonder what we’re working so hard for.

It's a good question. My home was recently destroyed by fire (not a total loss of dwelling, but 95% of contents due to smoke and water), and I'm quitting tech to accept being a rancher and body builder. I love tech, but tech doesn't love me. So, #yolo on to the next thing.

Just a heads up, this only works well if you have a nice cushion of cash to do it on.

Someone with 30% tech ability will easily out-earn someone with 100% ranching ability. And have way more free time. And live way more comfortably.

Don't be fooled, the greenest grass is in the tech sector (and finance too).

Re: Samsung CEO Jong-hee Han has died

#45

Heart attack at 63. What a shame. Guy worked at the company longer than I’ve been alive and all he has to show for it is an inheritance and obituary. Makes you wonder what we’re working so hard for.

More like you are pushing your perspective out here. You think he didn't enjoy being in charge of an organization that was building some remarkable products and pushing the possibility of what humanity can build?

I think maybe you would prefer sitting on a beach doing nothing but I bet you this person enjoyed what they were doing on the whole.

Re: Samsung CEO Jong-hee Han has died

#46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, maybe he meant to point out that south korea as a country focuses way too much on this work culture and he might've sacrificed his precious family time / just became a "well off cog" in this huge machine. Maybe he was passionate. Maybe he felt obliged / motivated even to prove to others who helped him get to CEO that he was the right choice. But in the end , like all people , he died. In the end , all he had…

Not SK in particular but the point of all of this in general, especially for those who have reached such heights. 63 is a young age to die in a rich country, especially for a corporate titan. Warren Buffett has been at the helm of Berkshire Hathaway an entire-my-lifetime of years between him and Jong-hee Han. Gabe Newell famously has yachts around the world, explores the oceans and seems to be enjoying the fruits of…

Beautifully Written! I think this was sort of what I was also saying, though you wrote it out more succint.

In fact, I might argue that why not take this step further! Like yes, gabe newell has his yachts and he's having fun. But I might argue that its not his yachts that we aspire. Its his freedom. And I think its this freedom of having fun which we need to maximize (let's try to df/dx it ,jk) and in my opinion, you don't need tooo much money (100 Million-esque) to do that.

I think even a million - 10 Mill can be great, but even better could be something like how the 4 hour work week recommends. Though, to be honest, my issue with the 4h work week is that you are forced to leave the comfort of job security for once and he says that you can enter any time soon but I genuinely believe that the current job market is rough, so that's the only caveat I have.

For that, I think that you have to be frugal and have a huge emergency fund. Something which suits me quite well actually.

Re: Samsung CEO Jong-hee Han has died

#47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, maybe he meant to point out that south korea as a country focuses way too much on this work culture and he might've sacrificed his precious family time / just became a "well off cog" in this huge machine. Maybe he was passionate. Maybe he felt obliged / motivated even to prove to others who helped him get to CEO that he was the right choice. But in the end , like all people , he died. In the end , all he had…

Not SK in particular but the point of all of this in general, especially for those who have reached such heights. 63 is a young age to die in a rich country, especially for a corporate titan. Warren Buffett has been at the helm of Berkshire Hathaway an entire-my-lifetime of years between him and Jong-hee Han. Gabe Newell famously has yachts around the world, explores the oceans and seems to be enjoying the fruits of…

I actually think we should discuss such things more publicly.

So many people glorify their role in the cog. Not realising that nobody cares.

Re: Samsung CEO Jong-hee Han has died

#48

Heart attack at 63. What a shame. Guy worked at the company longer than I’ve been alive and all he has to show for it is an inheritance and obituary. Makes you wonder what we’re working so hard for.

The guy was making ~$4M per year. Presumably he was living a quite nice and comfortable life.

This makes me think... how is it that in 2025, a 63 year old super rich guy can die of a heart attack.

By now, we should have some sort of portable appliance a medication that would save us from sudden heart attack.

Re: Samsung CEO Jong-hee Han has died

#49
post #42
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's common for Asian people, especially Asian men, to work like hell for their parents and children, and not really think about what other life choices they have. That's caused by social values and expectations – people think you are disrespectful to your parents if you don't provide them and carry on the family name. That happened to my dad too. He worked really hard for his family, but as his child, it is crystal…

Is that an improvement, or is it just more of a western mentality? I was raised by asian parents (who had no life of their own), and my wife was raised by Anglo American parents (who “put more focus on their own life”). And from my perspective as a child, I’d rather have my upbringing than her’s. And I’m happy to pay it forward and do for my kids what my parents did for me. I think “choices” are vastly overrated. I d…

Having seen both perspectives I think a happy medium is possible. The self centered nature of some parents of the western societies doesn't really end up helping out the children whereas the complete abandonment of self for the sake of family also has limitation.

Re: Samsung CEO Jong-hee Han has died

#50
post #40
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's common for Asian people, especially Asian men, to work like hell for their parents and children, and not really think about what other life choices they have. That's caused by social values and expectations – people think you are disrespectful to your parents if you don't provide them and carry on the family name. That happened to my dad too. He worked really hard for his family, but as his child, it is crystal…

> It's common for Asian people It is only common in Northeast Asia (China, Japan and Korea).

+India :)
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