[Book Review] Again, Super Gap: What Is Priceless Is Ultimately Insight

In an era where AI replaces knowledge, the only weapon left to humans is ‘insight.’ Reading Kwon Oh-hyun’s <Again, Super Gap> confirmed this truth once more. Now, how much you know is no longer a competitive advantage. What matters is a uniquely human capability that data cannot imitate: the ability to ask questions and imagine, starting from curiosity. That is the key to survival.

Insight emerges only after crossing the threshold of knowledge and experience. The most honest and economical way to build knowledge is unquestionably reading. Reading eclectically across history, science, philosophy, and art, without being trapped in a single field, makes rigid thinking more flexible. This indirect experience of living another person’s life becomes an opportunity to learn the hidden side of the world that I could not otherwise see.

In addition, conversations with people who have nothing to do with one’s own line of work become an opportunity to break down the walls of one’s assumptions. Only when you stop settling for comfort among similar people and expose yourself to unfamiliar stimuli do you develop the muscle to ask the right questions. That is why the saying that you can gauge a leader’s capacity by how often they meet people unrelated to their work is both painful and accurate.

In the end, a leader’s ability is proven not by ‘doing more,’ but by the resolve to cut away what does not need to be done. If management is the functional domain of carrying out assigned tasks properly, then business management is the lonely domain of finding the tasks that must be done and deciding the direction. This is a situation like the ‘Red Queen Effect,’ where you must keep running just to stay in place, but more important than running blindly is the power of insight to decide where to go. To move beyond survival and toward growth, a leader must devote everything not only to their own capabilities but also to expanding the capacity they can hold.

Again, Super Gap

Kwon Oh-hyun, 2026, Sam & Parkers

A collection of memorable lines.

• Now we must become first movers, literally those who go first.

• The talent we need is someone with a ‘spirit of challenge’ who is not afraid of failure, ‘creative ability’ to make what others have not thought of, and a ‘cooperative attitude’ that allows them to work with talent from other fields as well.

• It means that knowledge is no longer the whole of competitiveness.

• To gain competitiveness in the future... it is the uniquely human capability that AI cannot replace: the ability to start from curiosity and ask questions and imagine.

• In the AI era, what matters more than how much you know is whether you can ask the ‘right questions.’

• Reward according to performance, and promote according to potential.

• It is difficult to give every employee an official award. However, a kind of bonus-like ‘nudge effect’—personally praising and encouraging them, or giving a small gift—is useful for motivation.

• World-class startups can emerge only when startup founders are given dual-class voting rights and employees are provided with extraordinary stock option systems.

• Repetitive work can be done the next day, but when an idea flashes, you must immerse yourself completely.

• Ultimately, what determines the direction of culture is the leader’s mindset and attitude.

• Lately, communication has become more difficult... the mindset of those in power must change first.

• To communicate well, you must first approach from the other person’s perspective, not your own.

• True communication begins in an atmosphere where members can speak about discomforts or difficulties without burden.

• When Chairman Lee Kun-hee promoted New Management, he summarized the core of leadership in five characters: jihaeng-yonghun-pyeong. In other words, a leader must know, execute, use people properly, train them, and evaluate them.

• Adding one more, it becomes jihaeng-yonghun-pyeongyang. Here, ‘yang’ means cultivating a pool of potential successors and establishing procedures and systems that can carry out delegated authority.

• Capability is necessary for survival, but wisdom is needed for growth.

• To last a long time, you must develop talent and also create a culture in which that talent can grow. A leader must have both ‘ability’ and ‘capacity’ to keep an organization alive and help it grow.

• There is no longer anything left to copy. Now, it is said that insight into deciding ‘what’ to do has become more important.

• To develop insight, you fundamentally need knowledge and experience. First, you must build up knowledge sufficiently.

• Without real experience, management is difficult. There must be a process of directly confronting and feeling reality.

• What is the most effective way to build knowledge and experience? ... The easiest and cheapest way to accumulate indirect experience is reading... Only when you read books, meet experts, and reflect on the ideas you gain from them do they truly become your own. That is the beginning of insight. Insight does not arise for people who merely seek the right answer without diverse stimuli and thought.

• Conversations with experts working in diverse fields are the surest way to broaden your thinking.

• Even when reading, he did not remain in one field. He read books in various areas such as management, history, science, psychology, philosophy, and art.

• When judging whether a leader has insight, look at how often they meet people unrelated to their main work.

• I always ask those preparing to start a business in B2B: “Who will you sell to? Do you have a channel to meet the final decision-maker?” If you cannot answer this question, no matter how good your technology is, there is no place for you in the market.

• Companies must identify and decide what they absolutely need to secure. In areas where they possess their core competencies, they must fight to secure competitiveness at all costs.

• Once insight takes hold, what is needed next is decisiveness.

• In the fast follower era, a strategy of moving slowly but preparing perfectly worked, but in the first mover era, quick decisions matter even if they are somewhat imperfect.

• Even if you have insight and decisiveness, it is useless if execution does not follow.

• The first step to improving execution is planning well.

• The second step to improving execution is having the proper method for carrying it out. ... You must first write down the things that do not need to be done. ...People easily write down what needs to be done, but when asked to write down what should not be done, they struggle.

• A common trait of loss-making companies is that there is too much work.

• The first priority is restructuring to make a profit, even if it means accepting a decline in sales.

• You only need to do one delicious gomtang properly. That is the power of selection and focus.

• If you want to create an excellent organization, you must first cultivate excellent talent. And then you must create a culture in which they can grow.

• Unpredictable situations will continue to arise in the future. The talent needed in such an era is not someone who repeats what others have done. It is someone who accomplishes what others have not done; that is the truly capable person.

• When selecting talent, it is recommended to first filter out ‘people you absolutely must not use’ rather than trying to find someone who is definitely good.

• You must definitely avoid people who do not listen.

• People with a negative and passive attitude are also not good.

• People who say one thing behind your back and another to your face, the so-called ‘behind-the-back gossip type,’ are also dangerous.

• You should also avoid people who form cliques within the organization.

• People who see their current position only as a stepping stone should also be avoided.

• Overhyped talent should also be avoided.

• It means assigning routine tasks to others—work that is necessary but does not require you to do it yourself.

• It is not about delegating direction from the start; rather, the structure should expand authority in the order of ‘method -> approach -> direction.’ First, delegate detailed execution methods, then gradually entrust the approach to the work, and finally allow them to decide the strategic direction on their own.

• By continuously asking questions, you let them notice what is wrong on their own and find solutions. But when they reach a satisfactory conclusion, if you say, “Yes, that seems like a good way to do it,” the subordinate thinks they found the solution themselves rather than being ordered to do it.

• A person like the eldest brother in Hua Tuo’s family

• Crisis is ‘not preparing for the future’

• The most inefficient work during working hours is meetings

• Management is doing assigned work properly, and business management is doing what is necessary and must be done.

• In the AI era, machines have more knowledge than humans, so the standard for intelligence should become wisdom rather than mere continuity, and the standard for diligence should become thinking ability rather than just action.

• The way of working should move toward ‘autonomy and responsibility.’ Give autonomy and take responsibility accordingly. That is the basic principle.

• In ordinary times, listen to even the small things. Even if it seems unreasonable, for now it is better to say, “Yes, I understand,” and handle it quickly.

• Persuasion depends less on logic or eloquence and more on how much credit you have built up, how good an impression you have left, and when you speak.

• Red Queen Effect: a situation in which you must keep running continuously just to stay in the same place

• In the New Normal era, we need not a reactive leader who is dragged along by change, but a proactive leader who leads change and innovation.