More than 120 attended the online presentation in September of the 40th YSB A/S Special Lecture, the long-awaited next installment in a series YSB provides for the continuing education of alumni. The circumstances posed by COVID-19 had caused its delay.

The lecture was given by Professor Young Chan Kim on the theme of "A New Normal Age: Managing the Future." Professor Kim first emphasized that human beings are living in the future, not the past, then introduced 4C, a shorthand title for Collaboration, Convergence, Customization, and Connectivity that he said describes the approach to successful marketing management in a postpandemic New Normal Era.

Professor Kim first defined the new normal as a new standard that would be considered abnormal in the old normal state and describes an economy of low growth, low prices, and low interest rates. He emphasized that it is necessary to accept the new environment as normal and consider how to use it.

Then, Professor Kim explained that historically, the change in the market began with the change of humanity, and the emergence of a new human race called “phono sapiens” in the current hyperconnected society. Phono-sapiens is a generation, he said, that struggles to think or live without a smartphone. Humans can no longer go back to the past in a hyperconnected society in which various revolutions are made with the development of technology. Humans who are accustomed to this situation, he said, define a new humanity that differs from the existing homo sapiens.

He emphasized that it is important to understand that the emergence of such a new humanity has led to a new market form. It spreads freely through platform companies and social networks, and in turn, business models have changed rapidly.

He advised the alumni to not “forget that management is a practice, and try at least one or two things with the 4C of the company you manage or of the company you belong to. Don't forget that a crisis could also be a great opportunity. Innovation is not about technology, but a matter of perspective."