Making Hyundai, Remaking Seoul

This could have been a remarkable autobiography of Lee Myung-bak, president of the Republic of Korea. When he was a boy, his family suffered under the Japanese invasion of Korea, and he was later imprisoned for his opposition to Korea's postwar military dictatorship. Despite abject poverty, he rose to become Hyundai's CEO and then South Korea's president. However, there should be no mistake about the purpose of this book: its aim is to praise the concept of the "humble" leader and to promote world capitalism as the panacea for all problems. The book reads like a collection of highly sanitized, public-relations press releases whose sole purpose is to humanize the leader, leaving out any mention of the rampant corruption in Korean business and government. The major themes of this book can be best summarized in Lee Myung-bak's "six strategies for success"—efficiency, brand name, sustainable growth, marketing, balanced development, and coordination. Simple answers for difficult situations.