The Story of Two Men Who Saw the Future in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms the Moment They Turned On YouTube

One man organizing Three Kingdoms artifacts in a Ganghwado Doyuen Brotherhood Café, and another man solving problems at the frontlines of corporate AI transformation. When these two people stood before the same question, everything began. "If we reread the characters of the Three Kingdoms from the perspective of future talent in the AI era, what could we discover?"

In early 2024, Kim Gap-yong, CEO of the Three Kingdoms AI Talent Research Institute, and Shim Jae-woo, CEO, decided to turn this question into video content. Through the YouTube platform, SamMinNam TV was launched—not as simple historical commentary, but as an inquiry into why Zhuge Liang's personal excellence was never converted into repeatable organizational capability. This was not merely a channel launch. It was the moment when ancient knowledge and future questions met to create a new learning space.

The Three Kingdoms-related books, artifacts, and records that CEO Kim Gap-yong had collected for nearly 30 years in Ganghwado were not mere collectibles. They were a vast repository of knowledge about humans, power, organizations, and relationships. The evidence of this execution was the expansion of these stories through the Ganghwado Doyuen Brotherhood Café and Three Kingdoms-related exhibition spaces, allowing people to directly see and feel the stories from books.

However, after COVID-19, as the digital world accelerated, a certain gap emerged. How could the depth of offline experience be connected with the breadth of online platforms? Within this question, YouTube naturally emerged as a choice.

* Digitalization of 30 years of Three Kingdoms archiving based in Ganghwado
* Development of methodologies to reconstruct exhibition and café experiences as video content
* The video production process itself as a senior YouTuber serving as a case example of FDE-type execution

Shim Jae-woo has long researched corporate AI transformation, FDE (Forward Deployed Engineer) capabilities, and ontological thinking. In his world, Zhuge Liang was not a simple classical figure. He was an ancient FDE-type talent who discovered ambiguous problems in the field, connected strategy, diplomacy, administration, and logistics to create actual results.

The problem started here. While Zhuge Liang as an individual was exceptional, why did the Shu Han organization fail to create a problem-solving system that could operate without Zhuge Liang? The realization that this was not simply a historical question but also a current question facing organizations in the AI era became the core theme of SamMinNam TV.

* Absence of systems to convert individual tacit knowledge into organizational explicit assets
* Interpretation of the difference between AI tool usage ability and on-site problem-definition ability
* The organizational design differences revealed by Cao Cao's talent portfolio versus Zhuge Liang's individual concentration

The process from the decision to launch SamMinNam TV through video planning, production, and editing was an interesting experiment. Two middle-aged men had to learn a new tool called YouTube, collaborate with technical teams, and translate the classics of the Three Kingdoms and the future of AI into video form.

This process itself became a case demonstrating the five stages of FDE. First, they discovered the gap in the field (bringing deep knowledge online). Second, they understood and translated the language of the video production team (connecting operations and technology). Third, they integrated Three Kingdoms content with AI interpretation (combining data and process). Fourth, they validated value through small pilot videos (MVP execution). Fifth, each episode became systematized into a repeatable format (institutionalization).

* Differentiation from existing Three Kingdoms commentary channels: interpreting "relationships and structures" rather than character evaluation
* The technical learning process of senior YouTubers functioning as a story element
* Architecture where each episode is composed not of individual interpretations but of accumulated theory

SamMinNam TV's episodes pose entirely different questions from typical Three Kingdoms commentary. "Why was Zhuge Liang the best individual but failed to complete an organization?", "If Cao Cao were today's interviewer, what kind of person would he hire?", "Was Guan Yu a loyal talent, or a high-performing, high-risk talent that endangered the entire organization?"

These questions transcend historical curiosity and directly connect to present-day corporations and individuals. With the recognition that as AI becomes universal, people's competitiveness shifts from "tool usage" to "field change," the success and failure cases of the Three Kingdoms take on new meaning.

* Zhuge Liang's Longzhong Strategy: ontological thinking connecting terrain, forces, talent, legitimacy, alliances, and time as one
* Cao Cao's tuntian system: precedent for organizational design that engineered agriculture, household registration, logistics, administration, and talent into one operating system
* Sima Yi's long-term strategy: prioritizing resource depletion, political trust, succession structure, and time management over warfare

SamMinNam TV was not a standalone YouTube channel. It was the first stage of an ecosystem expanding into publishing ("Why Zhuge Liang Could Not Create an FDE Organization"), YouTube, diagnosis and education, corporate workshops, exhibition and café experiences, and knowledge platforms. It was a structure where offline assets in Ganghwado and digital content operated simultaneously.

The Three Kingdoms AI Talent Research Institute pursued all these projects based in Ganghwado-gun, Incheon. A book was completed, simultaneously YouTube episodes accumulated as video, and workshop participants experienced ontological thinking, creating a feedback loop.

* Book publication → converting each chapter into video, lectures, diagnostic questions, and exhibition commentary
* Formation of overlapping community between YouTube subscribers and offline workshop participants
* Integrated model simultaneously satisfying both depth of Three Kingdoms content and applicability to the AI era

The true value of this project lies in the concrete development of Before-Process-After.

Before: Deep but isolated knowledge in the Ganghwado Café, organizational gaps created by rapid AI adoption in corporate fields, scarcity of channels through which middle-aged people could speak on digital platforms.

Process: The two CEOs meet mediated by the question "Why could Zhuge Liang not create an FDE organization?" Reinterpreting Three Kingdoms characters and events within the frame of "on-site problem definition × relationship translation × execution × institutionalization of learning." Designing systems expanding into YouTube, books, and workshops. Building an ecosystem where each channel operates complementarily rather than independently.

After: Companies and individuals seeking future talent in the AI era gain concrete cases and frameworks. Securing new speaking power as senior YouTubers. Creating an integrated business model combining offline assets (Ganghwado-based) and online platforms.

Q: Why use the Three Kingdoms specifically for interpreting future talent in the AI era?

A: The Three Kingdoms transcends war narratives to present a vast compendium of organizational cases for finding talent, creating alliances, and deploying resources in uncertain environments. If you only look at characters, you're reading the Three Kingdoms halfway. When you see relationships and structures, the conditions for future talent become apparent. Moreover, for explaining ontology ("thinking that sees what connects to what and why"), few classical texts are as suitable as the Three Kingdoms.

Q: Is it accurate to call Zhuge Liang an "individual FDE"? He's an ancient figure.

A: The modern definition of FDE is "a role that discovers ambiguous problems in the field and creates actual results by connecting technology, data, and people." Zhuge Liang diagnosed the weaknesses of Liu Bei's forces (problem definition), read the structure of the world (field penetration), designed alliance with Sun Quan (relationship translation), executed through the Longzhong Strategy (experimental execution), and attempted to leave all of this in Shu Han's administrative system (institutionalization). Only the names of the era's technologies differ; he was a figure possessing all five competencies of FDE.

Q: Then why was Zhuge Liang unable to complete an organization?

A: There are broadly five limitations. First, excessive concentration (judgment and execution concentrated in one person). Second, lack of authority delegation (successors lacked opportunities to experience actual responsibility). Third, tacit knowledge dependence (judgment standards and know-how were not structured). Fourth, insufficient failure learning (challenges and trial-and-error did not become organizational assets). Fifth, succession vulnerability (absence of key talent directly converted into organizational gaps). It means possessing top talent and creating a top organization are entirely different problems.

The framework presented by SamMinNam TV transcends mere historical interpretation. The argument that we must move from "organizations seeking Zhuge Liang" to "organizations cultivating Zhuge Liang," and further to "organizations operating without Zhuge Liang," is a practical question for all current organizations.

As AI becomes universal, people's competitiveness shifts from tool usage to field change. The ability to define problems, understand the field, connect people and data, and leave execution results as organizational assets. This is the condition for FDE-type future talent and the principle shown by the successes and failures of the Three Kingdoms.

SamMinNam TV's inception was to create a space where companies and individuals could together experience this realization. Knowledge accumulated in Ganghwado met the on-site experience of the AI era to create a new form of learning. The Three Kingdoms AI Talent Research Institute, based in Ganghwado-gun, Incheon, is expanding this ecosystem by connecting publishing, YouTube, education, and exhibitions.

Is your organization seeking Zhuge Liang, or cultivating Zhuge Liang? Before this question, the ontological thinking and FDE capabilities presented by SamMinNam TV provide practical answers. If you are exploring new directions in corporate AI transformation, individual future competency development, and organizational design, please contact Shim Jae-woo's jaiwshim@gmail.com or 010-2397-5734.

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Comparative Analysis of Core Elements in SamMinNam TV and FDE Organizational Theory

| Item | Zhuge Liang's Individual FDE | Shu Han's Organizational System | Corporate Challenge in AI Era |
|------|--------|--------|-----|
| Problem Definition | Strategic insight concentrated in one person | Absence of successor education system | Need for organizational problem-definition capability |
| Field Penetration | Data collection through direct visits and observation | Limitations of reporting systems | Essential structuring of field data |
| Relationship Translation | Individual networks and trust | Absence of systematized communication processes | Standardization of language between stakeholders |
| Experimental Execution | Rapid execution of individual capability | Failure learning not capitalized as assets | Institutionalization of MVP and feedback loops |
| Institutionalization | Remains as tacit knowledge | Incomplete conversion to organizational assets | Accumulating experience as explicit guidelines |

Core Insight: "When an individual's excellence is not converted into an organization's repeatable capability, genius becomes the organization's greatest risk."

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