Success in human society inevitably concentrates among a few, says Jeong Ha-woong; diversity and collaboration matter more than individual brilliance for organizational success
"An organization assembled from only the best talent does not necessarily produce the best results. As the 'superchicken experiment' shows, a group made up entirely of top performers tends to intensify competition and conflict, ultimately driving productivity down. By contrast, organizations where members with different strengths and characteristics complement one another consistently achieve higher performance."
Jeong Ha-woong, a physics professor at KAIST, made these remarks Friday at "KPC Humanities Travel," a CEO lecture series hosted by the Korea Productivity Center at Lotte Hotel Seoul in Sogong-dong.
"For an organization to succeed, diversity and collaboration matter more than exceptional individuals," Jeong said. "The role of a leader is to create an environment where varied capabilities can work in harmony."
Jeong delivered his lecture under the theme "The Science of Success — What If a Physicist Visited an Art Museum?" drawing on complex systems science and big data analysis to explain how individual performance translates into social success and the network forces operating beneath that process. He earned his bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in physics from Seoul National University and has pioneered the field of complex network science, now working across sociology, economics and internet studies to advance network research.
Jeong outlined the structural difference between performance and success. "Human ability and labor have physical limits," he said. "No matter how talented a person is, they cannot escape the constraint of 24 hours in a day. Physical capacity also has a ceiling beyond a certain point."
Success, however, is different. "Because success is a value conferred by society, it has no upper limit," he said. "That is why a small number of people at the top come to hold the vast majority of wealth and fame."
He explained this through the power law, arguing that real-world society is structured so that success concentrates among a few. He also cited classical music competitions and job interview studies to show that small differences in timing or environmental factors can produce wide gaps in outcomes.
A central theme of the lecture was the principle of preferential attachment — the idea that "success breeds success." People tend to direct more attention toward individuals or projects that are already successful, and that attention in turn generates new success. Jeong said this dynamic is clearly visible in crowdfunding and online petitions.
Jeong said most innovation in modern society is born from collaboration. Influential scientific papers and breakthrough products, he noted, typically emerge from processes involving specialists across multiple fields. Yet assembling only the most talented people does not guarantee the best organizational outcomes.
"For an organization to succeed, diversity and collaboration matter more than exceptional individuals," he said. "The role of a leader is to create an environment where varied capabilities can work in harmony."
Jeong also said creativity and success are not confined to any particular age group. The reason young people account for so many success stories, he argued, is not raw talent but the sheer number of attempts they make. If people maintain the same frequency of attempts as they age, their odds of success remain largely unchanged.
"A person who makes 100 attempts in their 20s and a person who makes 100 attempts in their 60s have the same probability of success," he said. "Sustained effort and perseverance are the most powerful forces for overcoming uncertainty."
freiheit@heraldcorp.com
