By Oh Young-jin
It definitely requires some explaining.
First, the 22-meter-high metal statue of the Hammering Man set up in front of Heungkuk Life Insurance Building in downtown Seoul could assume a little bit more in meaning than just another tribute to the workers of the world by sculptor Jonathan Borofsky, if you come to know of one particular denizen in the building.
Second, there is a reason the statute is not called “the man with a hammer” because the metal man swings his hammer with regularity. It gives viewers the impression that they too can be disciplined and dynamic, pursuing their goals with determination.
Let’s set aside the philosophical side of the hammering man and talk about one man in the building who displays the character of this iron man.
Jeroen Plag, country manager in charge of Korea for the Netherlands-based ING Bank, which is located in the building, feels he is an addicted type ― he just can’t give up running marathons which he took up 10 years ago despite repeated promises to himself that each should be his last.
His goal is to go the distance of 42.195km or 26 miles and 385 yards in four hours. It stands now at 4:20. His next run is in New York this month.
Maybe, his favorite singer, Amy Winehouse, captured his spirit when she sang, “They’re trying to make me go to rehab, I said no, no, no.” The rest of the lyrics, as we know, may be too “black,” as she sang, but the intensity may be similar.
Once he takes off his athletic jersey and pants, he, figuratively speaking, turns into the head of the lion’s lair ― ING’s emblem being a lion sitting on its four legs with a whipping tail.
Plag is the only Dutchman as well as foreigner in the outfit that thrives on a focused kind of investment banking ― natural resources, for example ― taking advantage of its global network and acting as middleman connecting a growing number of Korean conglomerates and public firms with holders of oil, minerals and others in a variety of forms of businesses.
In other words, ING strives to bring value to a particular segment of clientele in niche markets. This contrasts with HSBC’s attempt to offer something to everybody, which is suffering from a severe case of indigestion at the moment.
Here is the discipline portion of Plag’s approach ― “I try my best to under-promise and over-deliver.”
He observed that as soon as one starts to promise more than he or she can deliver, the relationship with customers sours and, once customer’s trust is lost, it is extremely hard to restore.
ING Bank in Korea reports its performance as part of the bank’s Asian operation but Plag said that his business was good. However, he is also quite pragmatic about the role he is playing as head of the bank’s Korean operations ― shortening the distance between the headquarters and the theater where action takes place.
One striking feature in the hour-long interview with Plag is his unique approach in educating his children. He wants them to develop passion rather than simply focus on high grades. It is definitely different from the Korean way of accenting academic achievement in school with the ultimate goal of material success or doesn’t exactly comply with western ways of making a responsible citizen. Maybe, it is more like a parents-sanctioned Tom Sawyer-method of luring others to pay to take part in his chore of painting a fence.
As a matter of fact, he affectionately wrote in a local newspaper about his 12-year-old-son selling refreshments to weekend mountain climbers passing his house on their way up in partnership with his school mate. The six-year-old younger son hawked for his elder brother, riding on a bicycle and shouting friendly greetings in Korean to prospective customers. “It is a practical lesson about economy,” he would say.