South Korea is renowned for its dynamic business landscape. It is home to global powerhouses, such as Samsung, Hyundai, CJ, and LG, which have set benchmarks for innovation and excellence. As the 10th largest economy in the world, Korea thrives on a culture of hard work, resilience, and precision. Korean businesses are characterized by their rapid adaptability, technological advancement, and competitive spirit, making them formidable players in the global market. At the heart of this success are Korean leaders whose distinct motivations, leadership styles, and behaviors shape their organizations’ achievements and set the tone for navigating a fast-changing and demanding business environment.
Hogan Assessments has a database of personality data about employees and leaders across the world. Hogan’s benchmark of more than 1,000 people in Korea spans industries, from IT to manufacturing to banking and financial services. Reviewing the data of current leaders in Korean organizations helps us understand preferred leadership styles, the characteristics a country tends to promote, and even unconscious biases of leaders at the top of organizations.
By exploring trends of Korean leaders’ bright side, dark side, and inside of personality, we aim to uncover invaluable insights into Korea’s evolving business landscape and the executives who lead key companies.
What Do Korean Leaders Want?
Hogan’s Motives, Values, Preferences Inventory (MVPI) measures the core goals, values, drivers, and interests that determine what people desire and strive to attain.
Recognition
Korean executives’ strongest motivator is Recognition, valuing visibility and public acknowledgement. In fact, Korean leaders score 17 percentile points higher than the global benchmark of executives on this scale. Those who score high on Recognition care about being the center of attention and genuinely want their accomplishments to be acknowledged. These leaders likely come across as interesting, self-confident, and independent. Korean leaders seek work that allows them to be noticed internally and externally, and they may create a culture of recognition by creating opportunities for visibility, such as “employee of the month” programs or other employee recognition awards. With a focus on high Recognition, Korean leaders tend to be very concerned about the reputation in their organizations. Also, interestingly, despite their high Recognition, they have a very low score on Power—17 percentile points lower than the global benchmark of executives. This finding suggests that while Korean leaders want to be recognized for their value and performance, they do not seek to gain more authority and influence through high performance.
Security
Korean leaders’ second highest scoring motivator is Security, which means they tend to prefer structure, order, and predictability. When looking at the global benchmark of executives, this is the lowest average value around the world. In contrast, Korean executives score 19 percentile points higher than the benchmark. Those who score high on Security are often perceived as cautious and conforming. These individuals care deeply about physical safety and financial stability, including job security. They may be described as polite, unassertive, and even potentially risk avoidant. In combination with high Recognition, Korean leaders want their work to be seen—not to expand impact—but to solidify job security while avoiding risks of expanded power.
Altruism
On the other hand, Korean executives’ lowest scoring value is Altruism. Compared to the global benchmark of executives, Korean leaders score 14 percentile points lower. Those who score high on Altruism enjoy helping others and providing service to their employees and teams. Those who score low on this scale may expect others to pull their own weight. As a result, these leaders may come across as tough, uncommunicative, and even materialistic. They focus on their work without getting distracted by the emotional and relational demands of others. These leaders prefer task-oriented work environments and focus on productivity above staff morale or employee development. Despite their preference toward task orientation, Korean leaders should mindfully consider opportunities to develop their teams to ensure their staff is upskilled and ready for the challenges of the market.
How Will Korean Leaders Get What They Want?
The Hogan Personality Inventory (HPI) measures how we relate to others when we are at our best. It provides valuable insight into how people work, lead, and achieve success.
Prudence
On average, Korean executives’ scores on the HPI’s Prudence scale are 11 percentile points higher than the global average of executives. Those who score high on Prudence are likely seen as dependable, structured, planful, and responsible. They hold high standards for their work products, and they orient their life and work toward procedures, plans, and processes. They are good organizational citizens who are attentive to rules and details.
However, these individuals may come across as overly controlling and have issues delegating tasks. According to Jeonga Lee, PhD, director at ORP Institute, a Hogan authorized distributor in Korea, high Prudence can lead to excessive micromanagement. For example, a leader may stay up until dawn to make final changes to the work done by employees. This leader may become immersed in individual contributor-level work rather than the responsibilities required of an executive role. Dr. Lee also observes that the risk avoidance associated with high MVPI Security may contribute to high Prudence among Korean leaders.
Interpersonal Sensitivity
On the other hand, Korean leaders’ lowest scoring scale is HPI Interpersonal Sensitivity—12 percentile points lower than the global average. Those who score high on Interpersonal Sensitivity (INT) may be described as warm, diplomatic, and even conflict avoidant. Those who score low on INT tend to use honest, direct communication. They are not afraid to enforce rules and procedures, and they are not easily swayed by others’ emotions, especially when it comes to objective business decisions. However, they may come across as insensitive, blunt, and indifferent to others’ feelings.
In combination with their MVPI motivators, Korean leaders likely use their directness, task focus, and process orientation to drive successful projects, ultimately gaining them visibility and publicity in their organization and field and helping them to achieve their job security. Additionally, Korean leaders may expect their employees to “pull themselves up by their bootstraps” and rely on personal organization and detail orientation, rather than structured employee development opportunities.
According to Dr. Lee, recent cases of leadership failures with good performance but poor organizational management have increased the need to change task- and process-oriented leadership. For example, Dr. Lee shared about a leader with 20 years of experience who was evaluated well by senior leaders because of excellent work expertise, passion and energy, and successful projects. However, the leader did not provide individual support for employee engagement in the work. Additionally, the leader’s communication style was abrasive, which often caused complaints from employees and drove away key talent. This exemplifies the need for more leaders to modify their behavior, as the existing performance-oriented leadership paradigm is no longer effective in the Korean market.
What Will Get in Korean Leaders’ Way?
The Hogan Development Survey (HDS) measures overused strengths that emerge in times of increased stress, pressure, or boredom. If not managed, these qualities can damage reputation and relationships, derailing one’s career and success.
Leisurely
Korean executives’ highest scoring derailer is Leisurely. In fact, Korean leaders score 25 percentile points higher than the global average of executives on this derailer. Those who score high on Leisurely may be perceived as outwardly agreeable and cooperative, but inwardly stubborn, irritable, and mistrustful. For example, they may seem cooperative during a meeting, but they may express their dissatisfaction or anger in indirect ways, such as working according to their own timetable or procrastinating on projects they don’t deem as important. When colleagues make demands of them at work, they may question coworkers’ competence or feel mistreated. These behavioral tendencies in stress and pressure can make Korean leaders difficult to work with because of procrastination, stubbornness, passive aggression, and a tendency to avoid constructive criticism.
Dutiful
Finally, compared to the global benchmark of executives, Korean leaders score high on HDS Dutiful—20 percentile points higher. Those who score high on Dutiful may be perceived as overly eager to please, deferential, and ingratiating to those in authority. When dealing with those in leadership above them, they may defer to their judgment and be reluctant to go against the status quo. Those who report to high Dutiful leaders may find them to be indecisive, reluctant to act independently, and excessively reliant on others for decisions. When considering Korean leaders’ MVPI motivators, high-risk Dutiful behaviors likely help Korean leaders maintain relational and job security, but in times of stress and pressure can delay their responses to changing business and market conditions.
What Can We Learn from Korean Leaders’ Personality Data?
In summary, Korean executives demonstrate a unique blend of everyday strengths, values, and challenges that shape their leadership style.
Their strong desire for MVPI Recognition and Security drives them to seek visibility and structured work environments, and their high HPI Prudence supports a dependable and detail-oriented approach to achieving their goals. As a result, they set realistic goals with a high probability of success rather than aggressive goals. Korean executives typically plan, adhere to procedures and rules, and take responsibility for achieving goals. They are hands-on leaders with excellent execution skills, and, with such low MVPI Power, they prefer to work collaboratively rather than compete with others. However, they tend to avoid the risk of failure and maintain what has produced results in the past, rather than being agile, responding to changing trends, and actively taking risks. Korean organizations need to foster a culture that tolerates failure and embraces creativity, new ideas, and diverse opinions to support innovation.
Also, Korean executives’ relatively low HPI Interpersonal Sensitivity and MVPI Altruism indicate they might be inclined to focus on tasks more than relationships, which could impact team dynamics and morale. As a result, they might build relationships only when necessary, and they might be less sensitive to employees’ emotions. Furthermore, Korean leaders may be less skilled at encouraging employees to be engaged in their work. As more members of Gen Z join the workplace, the call for change about performance-based leadership becomes increasingly visible. Therefore, it’s important for Korean leaders to pay attention to and consciously support employees’ needs.
Under stress, HDS Dutiful tendencies like excessive deference may emerge, potentially hindering effective decision-making and adaptability. By exploring Hogan data that includes executives, middle managers, and key talent, we see high Dutiful scores across all job levels. This finding may emerge because Korean organizational culture rewards people who support their bosses’ decisions and execute them well. In addition, leaders are more likely to be tolerant of people with similar personalities to their own, and they are more likely to have unconscious biases against people with opposite personalities. Therefore, efforts are needed to accommodate people with different personalities.
According to Dr. Lee, South Korean leaders can benefit from balancing strengths, taking mindful efforts to develop all employees, and embracing agility in navigating change. As calls for change in entrenched leadership styles increase, South Korean leaders need to strengthen talent management systems to ensure key talent isn’t excluded from leader selection processes simply because their values or strengths are different than the current South Korean leadership paradigm. Organizational selection processes that rely on objective personality data can better facilitate individuals of diverse personality strengths and values to rise to executive leadership positions in Korea.