A record of innovation that foresaw the future and overcame challenges.

"Light and Future" is a management essay that traces the footsteps of L&F, which began as an LCD monitor parts manufacturer and grew into a global unicorn company leading the secondary battery cathode materials industry.

L&F's success didn't happen overnight.
This is the result of the hard work, dedication, and innovation of our researchers, management, and production staff.
This book explains the process step by step in detail.
The story of why a successful electronics parts company decided to venture into the chemical industry, the story of the difficulties it faced and the frustration it faced from the start, and the story of its desperate struggles to overcome these obstacles are all contained in detail.

Years later, the process of successfully achieving technological innovation and becoming a global company will be a great inspiration to businesspeople and young people.

A three-part journey of management and challenge.

'Part 1: This is how I built the foundation for a unicorn company' contains the story of starting from the BLU manufacturing industry, discovering secondary battery cathode materials as a new product, and successfully commercializing it.
The process of intense thinking, strategic decisions, and a new leap forward is vividly and excitingly depicted.
Part 2: A Record of L&F's Growth presents the author's management philosophy and specific examples of how he led the organization based on trust and communication during the company's operations.
L&F's success story of pioneering new markets without fear of failure will send a powerful message to all managers.
Part 3: The Path to Management: Thoughts That Create Success contains insights and vision as a manager.
The management philosophy of trust, innovation, and people-centeredness resonates deeply and authentically.

Trust-based management, a testament to hope

"Light and Future" is not a book that simply lists success stories of companies.
This book is written by a businessman who has struggled on the front lines of management for decades, offering dreams, courage, and possibilities to struggling managers and young people.

This is a meticulously documented account of a professional manager from the countryside who started a new company in his 60s and enjoyed great success, but then predicted that the business would face difficulties within a few years and developed a new future food source.
It is truly a management report written with blood, sweat, and tears.

Therefore, by reading this book, you can learn not only practical management know-how, but also the attitude and wisdom to predict and prepare for the future.
The author's philosophy that "even in the best of times, we must anticipate the worst of the future and innovate" will give everyone hope and courage that they can do it too.

LNF is like a child to me.
Although most management decisions were made under my own judgment and responsibility, the success is not solely my responsibility.
Success would not have been possible without the help and luck of many people, including employees who worked hard together, clients, partners, research institutes, related universities, and local governments.
Thanks to their help, I was able to overcome difficulties and frustrations.
I would like to take this opportunity to once again express my gratitude.
---p.4 From "L&F and I"

L&F was a small-to-medium enterprise in Daegu that produced backlight units (BLUs), a component of LCDs. As the LCD market grew rapidly, the company expanded its production capacity through facility investments.
However, I judged that it would be difficult for BLU to remain competitive in the long term.
So, from the time when BLU was at its peak, we started looking for new future food, or new species.

What caught my attention was the cathode material, a key material for secondary batteries.
At that time, only one foreign company was producing in our country.
I took on the challenge of developing secondary battery cathode materials, and after much hardship, I succeeded in developing and mass-producing the world's first innovative NCM cathode material in Korea.
And by supplying the cathode materials to the world's top battery companies, the company was able to grow into a global materials unicorn company.
---p.8 From “The Structure of This Book”

It is not easy to predict a crisis when it is not visible.
It's especially difficult to feel a sense of crisis when things are going well.
Because everyone likes comfort and hates anxiety.
So it is easy to fall into the devil's temptation of 'no way' and become complacent.

Even in moments like this, when danger is blatantly visible, it's human nature to ignore it and pretend not to see it. Who would want to wallow in anxiety during a time of good fortune? Our company was also constantly expanding its facilities to accommodate the rapidly growing customer base, driven by the LCD market's rapid growth.
So, in a situation where we were running around like crazy, unable to even observe holidays properly, how could any employee understand a CEO who wanted to develop an unfamiliar chemical product without any experience, technology, or people? Above all, I lacked the confidence to convince the executives.

As I was pondering this, I opened my desk drawer and happened to see an abacus.
It was a worn-out abacus that I had been using since high school.
Then, I remembered the time when I devoted myself to abacus in commercial high school, but then I fell behind in the flow of change, became discouraged, and wandered.
---p.32 From "When a crisis strikes, it's already too late"

It was when I was building a building.
I asked the architect who designed the building.

“Please design it so that it can withstand an earthquake.”
Then the architect said casually.
“Our country’s legal standards have been raised, so you just need to design according to the law.”
After hearing that, I asked.
“Does an earthquake obey the law?”
The architect looked embarrassed and changed the design to be 10-20% stronger than the legal standard.
The architect later told me:
“That house is the most solidly built house I’ve ever designed in over 20 years.”

Isn't this what a sense of ownership is?

Even if you live as an ordinary salaried worker, if you become the master of your work, you are living a life where you are the main character, but if you work thinking of it as someone else's business, it is like living someone else's life.
Will you spend your entire life doing other people's work? Or will you live each moment with pride and self-esteem, doing your own thing? The choice is yours.
But that is what will determine your success or failure in life.
---p.227 From "Do Earthquakes Obey the Law?"

As I have stated several times in this book, I have placed trust above all else.
We have made great efforts to gain and maintain the trust of our employees, customers, and domestic and international partners.


This is something I saw, learned, and ingrained in me as I grew up.
My grandparents and parents were both quiet and simple country people.
He never lied or bragged.
Perhaps because that was the family tradition, I also grew up with a personality that didn't know how to suspect others?

So I lived in this world without doubting others.
Especially when I was working, I started by believing.
There have been cases where I have been disappointed or suffered painful betrayal because I trusted the other person too easily, assuming that they were the same as me.
But I don't regret trusting people.
Even if it is an unwise action, there is nothing to say.

Instead of doubting others, I doubted myself.
I doubted my items, I doubted the company, but what I doubted most was my own judgment.
This means that at this very moment, I must always question whether I am making the right decision.
I also think about whether the products or services I create, the way I do things, and the way I treat life and others are always the best.
Isn't it mental laziness to trust oneself without such doubts?
---p.230 From "Doubting Yourself"

A house will not collapse even if a few rafters break.
But if a beam or pillar breaks, the house is finished.
Managers should enjoy taking bold risks, but they must also be able to anticipate when the worst-case scenario will occur: a rafter, a pillar, or a beam will break.

When deciding to venture into or develop a new business, you may have to take the risk of breaking a few rafters.
Of course, it depends on the size of the expected return, but I have always done so and have told my employees and those around me the same.
If you are too scared to take on the challenge, your entire house could rot away, or you could be swept away by an incoming flood or tidal wave.
Sensing external changes and seeking survival through bold challenges is the responsibility and privilege of a manager.

There is nothing more thrilling than enduring everyone's opposition and ridicule, sticking to your convictions, and ultimately perpetuating and developing your company.
That's why it's called a privilege.
Those who have not experienced it can never know this feeling.

---p.238 From “I can’t do something that could uproot the pillars if I fail, but I’ll take the risk of the rafters breaking.”