Two Pizza CEOs face different fates
LG’s Koo orders pizzas to encourage employees
LG Group Vice Chairman Koo Bon-joon is drawing the spotlight for his years-long efforts to encourage employees by ordering pizzas.
Koo got the nickname of “Pizza CEO” in 2011, as he has used pizzas to express his gratitude toward thousands of employees across the globe. In the early to mid-2010s, he ordered pizzas as a message of encouragement to some of LG’s branch offices and factories here and abroad.
This was part of group-wide efforts to increase employee morale and enhance internal communications between executives and staff.
“When having pizzas delivered to some overseas manufacturing facilities, we have had to prepare for the delivery for two days as they accommodate thousands of employees,” Koo said as President Moon asked him to explain his nickname.
Moon invited eight conglomerate leaders here — including Koo — to Cheong Wa Dae for the first time since his inauguration in May, requesting they cooperate with the government on mutual growth between small firms and conglomerates.
Moon praised Koo for his continued efforts to communicate with his employees by boosting their spirits with the pizza delivery. The new head of state half-jokingly said he would use Koo’s idea.
“That will improve employee morale and tighten team spirit,” Moon said. “I will also buy pizzas for Cheong Wa Dae officials when they generate outstanding results in stabilizing the nation’s real estate market.”
During the meeting, the LG executive also pledged to improve partnerships with the company’s small- and medium-sized subcontractors.
“We are going to make more efforts to join hands with our equipment manufacturing partners when tapping into overseas markets,” Koo told Moon, citing LG Display establishing a 100 billion ($89.2 million) fund dedicated to mutual growth with its subcontractors, half of which is used to support their businesses.
“LG Group will also introduce a new group-wide policy to guarantee fair trade when doing business between our affiliates and their partners,” he added.
Koo is known as one of the outstanding business magnates here putting priority on human resources and management. Insiders said the corporate spirit has been handed down from LG founder Koo In-hoe.
Like most other conglomerates in Korea, LG is also a family-run company. But LG’s owner family has had little in the way of feuds involving the firm’s succession or management. Observers attribute this to its decades-long human-friendly management philosophy.