About Rainmaker

Rainmaker

“The power of many changes the world, but the power of one starts the change.” A famous quote from the film titled “the power of one” by John G. Avildsen echoes in my brain.

Set in South Africa during 1940s and 1950s, the film centers on the life of P.K., a parentless child raised under apartheid and experienced a conflicted life to become a rainmaker through diverse careers as a boxer, a choral conductor, and a teacher for night school. The rainmaker is of a mythical person who brings peace to all of the tribes in Africa, ending the distress from racial discrimination.

Such a social divide still exists in the current society. However, I have considered ICT is a powerful technical method to reduce the social divides existing between: the less developed and the highly developed; the poor and the rich; the people with disabilities and their able counterparts; and the less educated and the highly educated. With the assistance of highly developed ICT, I sincerely hope to serve as a rainmaker who contributes to build the society where everyone can live together - transcending differences in nationality, race, gender and/or culture.

Digital Innovation

Digital innovation and digital government are my major interests, which have been well applied to my previous professions. Beginning with graduate studies in Administration, I have served diverse positions at work to realize digital innovation and digital government, such as a researcher and a chief information officer in Daegu metropolitan city, and director general of eGovernment and Record Management Bureau, Presidential Committee on Government Innovation and Decentralization. My journey to realize digital innovation still continues. As the incumbent president of LX, I publicly announced in Vision 2030 that LX shall become a national information platform to lead a smart society - realizing the smartest government in the world.

In an effort to implement a horizontal leadership, I frequently use SNS to communicate with my coworkers. As a certain organization grows bigger, the work place becomes more bureaucratic. As part of digital innovation, SNS successfully lowers the bureaucratic barriers at work by allowing communications easier. Indeed, it effectively updates and shares my business trips, important meetings and even daily routines like having a lunch with my coworkers.

Reading Management

My beloved father often said that reading is the most important habit in life. His strong affection in education is well shown in my name, Changhak. It means ‘prosperous learning’ which influenced me to have a good reading habit. To explain, books have quenched my thirst for education in my younger ages as well as provided clear life directions during trouble times. Here is one quote engraved in my heart. As one of the greatest teachers in ancient China, Lao-tzu in his book titled “Tao Te Ching” emphasized that the supreme good is like water, which nourishes all things without trying to. It is content with the low places that people disdain.

Another habit learned from a long-time self-promise is to exercise one hour per day. Walking has become part of my life. Interestingly, walking teaches a valuable lesson to life in that grasping one’s stride prevents overwork by realizing one’s ability; walking teaches how to love and take care of oneself. That is why I became a huge admirer of walking.

Education

  • PhD in Administration, Daegu University

  • completed doctoral coursework, Daegu University

  • MA in Administration, Daegu University

  • BA in Administration, Daegu University

  • Cheonggu High School, Daegu Metropolitan City

  • Daeryun Middle School, Daegu Metropolitan City

Work Experiences

  • President, LX

  • President, Daegu Digital Industry Promotion Agency

  • President, Spatial Information Research Institute, LX

  • President, Korea Culture Information Service Agency

  • CEO & Founder, eGov Consulting

  • Director General, eGov Bureau, Presidential Committee for Decentralization

  • Chief Information Officer, Daegu Metropolitan City

  • Researcher/Associate Producer, Daegu Metropolitan City

  • Lecturer, Daegu University

Family Introduction

As the sixth of seven siblings, I was born in Yecheon, one of the small counties in Gyeongbuk Province, Republic of Korea. My parents struggled with raising their children during the Korean War. It reminds me the saying that parents’ love is immeasurable as the father tirelessly worked and studied to improve the life of the family, as well as the mother silently supported seven children with endless tears and patience.

As most Korean family has its family motto, mine has one, “A will shall be strong like steel, while a mind shall be clearly reflective like mirror”. Having the family motto in mind, my spouse and I tend to avoid unnecessary, impatient comparisons incurred by short-sighted, caged experiences when rearing two sons and a daughter. Instead, we try our best to open up the caged experiences to maximize our children’s potential, therefore they are able to make independent decisions on their lives.