Samminam TV Seeks Future Talent for the AI Era in the Three Kingdoms—Why Two CEOs Are Spreading "Ontology Thinking" Through YouTube

When living alone with almost no cooking experience, figuring out how to prepare your first meal feels daunting. When people turn on YouTube and search for terms like "cooking while living alone" or "easy recipes to make by yourself," there's a channel many encounter. It's designed specifically for cooking beginners. However, a recently prominent channel isn't just sharing recipes. Samminam TV, which stands for "three guys crazy about the Three Kingdoms," reinterprets classical figures and strategies through modern problem-solving approaches.

Samminam TV is a YouTube channel operated jointly by CEO Kim Gap-yong and CEO Shim Jae-woo. Each CEO has accumulated extensive experience in different fields. One has built depth in classical content through Three Kingdoms research, collection, and exhibition planning, while the other has researched AI, FDE (Forward Deployed Engineer), and organizational innovation, tracking changes in corporate settings. When these two worlds meet, the Three Kingdoms begins to be read anew—not as a simple historical novel, but as a "modern organizational problem-solving framework."

This article is written focusing on the content philosophy of Samminam TV built by Kim Gap-yong and Shim Jae-woo, CEOs of the Three Kingdoms AI Talent Research Institute, and the perspective on future talent in the AI era.

The most notable questions in corporate hiring markets are changing recently. In the past, the only question was "what knowledge does this person have?" Now, "how will this person execute the answers AI provides in actual work settings?" has become more important. As generative AI and AI-assisted coding become commonplace, the ability to simply use tools is rapidly lowering its barrier to entry.

The core point Samminam TV repeatedly emphasizes is this: AI generates "answers," but people are responsible for converting those answers into real results. Problems must be defined, field constraints must be understood, and different stakeholders must be translated. Small experiments must validate findings, and learned experiences must be left as organizational assets for others to use.

•The limitations of tool-using ability: Prompt writing, basic programming, and automation are already becoming entry-level skills

•The rise of on-site problem definition ability: The competitive edge lies in identifying what needs to be solved and where actual bottlenecks exist

•The importance of execution and validation: The differentiating factor is the repeated ability to validate AI solutions against actual processes and retrain them

This is the most fundamental question Samminam TV asks. Zhuge Liang embodied within one person the roles of strategist, diplomat, administrator, quartermaster, and execution director. In modern terms, he could be called the apex of FDE-type talent. FDE refers to the role of discovering ambiguous problems in the field, connecting technology, data, and people to create actual results.

However, Zhuge Liang's excellence paradoxically became a weakness for the Shu Han organization. Decision-making and execution became too concentrated in one person. There were successors, but they failed to complete a system where integrated problem-solving capabilities like Zhuge Liang's were repeatedly reproduced as an organizational system. Individual tacit knowledge (mental judgment criteria) was not converted into explicit organizational assets.

•The risk of excessive concentration: When judgment and execution center on one person, the organization's gap widens when that person is absent

•Insufficient delegation of authority: If successors have limited opportunities to experience real responsibility, the next generation's development is incomplete

•Loss of tacit knowledge: If judgment standards and problem-solving know-how are not structured, they cannot remain as organizational assets

Samminam TV's core argument provides direction for organizational design in the AI era. In the past, a model where an outstanding single leader or ace drove the organization operated to some extent. A team could move forward with one experienced executive, an excellent sales director, or a talented planner.

In the AI era, this approach becomes increasingly risky. Change accelerates, data multiplies, and decision-making becomes more complex. On-site problems can no longer be solved by the power of a single department. In this situation, what's needed is not finding Zhuge Liang, but designing an organization that functions without Zhuge Liang.

The organizational transformation stages Samminam TV presents:

"Organization seeking Zhuge Liang" — Stage of depending on a single genius

"Organization cultivating Zhuge Liang" — Stage of systematically developing multiple integrated problem-solvers

"Organization functioning without Zhuge Liang" — Stage where individual capabilities are converted into repeatable processes and systems

The figures Samminam TV focuses on each demonstrate different problem-solving roles. Not just Zhuge Liang, but figures like Cao Cao, Lu Su, Xun You, Deng Ai, and Sima Yi are reinterpreted from a modern FDE perspective.

Cao Cao's talent portfolio approach: Cao Cao didn't seek one type of talent; he intentionally gathered multiple talented individuals with different strengths. He prioritized role fit over background and social status. This resembles how modern enterprises compose cross-functional teams.

Lu Su's relationship translation ability: Lu Su translated the interests of Wu (Eastern Wu) and Shu (Liu Bei's faction) into the language of alliance. It's equivalent to the role of binding different positions between operations and technology, management and field, into one execution goal.

Xun You's organizational design: Xun You designed the operating system of Cao Cao's forces. He was someone who structured people, resources, processes, and decision-making criteria as one system.

Deng Ai's field experiment-based execution: Deng Ai conquered seemingly impossible territories in Shu Han and created new solutions in the field. In occupying fixed manuals and conducting contextual improvisational experiments, it resembles modern agile approaches.

•The necessity of diverse talent combinations: Assembling a team with complementary strengths rather than a single competency increases organizational stability

•Structuring relationships and context: Explicitly designing "who cooperates with whom under what conditions" enables organizations to respond to field changes

•Institutionalizing experimentation and learning culture: Without a system that preserves trial and error as organizational assets, experience repeats itself

The concept Samminam TV repeatedly emphasizes is "ontology." Ontology is a way of thinking that asks "what is connected to what and why." It's the method of structuring people and events, resources and goals, actions and rules, and the relationships between them.

The Three Kingdoms already functioned as a massive relationship network. Zhuge Liang's "Longzhong Plan" connected terrain, forces, talent, legitimacy, alliances, and time into one long-term strategy. Lu Su's Sun-Liu alliance redefined allies and enemies not as fixed attributes but as relationships tied to goals and circumstances. Cao Cao's military agricultural settlement policy designed agriculture, households, supplies, administration, and talent as one operating system.

Why is this structuring of relationships important in the modern AI era? The quality of answers provided by AI depends on the clarity of input data and rules. The reason humans can make judgments like "this is an exception" or "we need to change the rule" is because they understand what relationships and contexts they're operating within. The same applies to AI. When relationships and contexts are explicitly structured, people and AI can see the same world and judge by the same standards.

•The practicality of relationship structuring: Designing "who meets whom when and under what conditions goals change" enables early detection of risks and opportunities

•Combining ontology and AI: Explicitly structured relationships and data enable AI agents to more accurately reflect on-site situations

•Systematizing organizational learning: Recording success and failure patterns in relationship networks allows organizations to adapt quickly to change

The growth of Samminam TV reflects not just popular content but a shift in market needs. Companies and individuals are moving their attention from "how do we use AI?" to "what problems do we solve with AI?"

Particularly when experienced professionals over middle age try to understand changes in the AI era, learning through concrete figures, events, relationships, and choices is more effective than abstract technical explanations. The figures of the Three Kingdoms have already experienced modern organizational problems, and the consequences of their choices remain in history.

What Samminam TV provides is "an entry point where the senior generation can also learn thinking necessary for the AI era." Understanding why Zhuge Liang's strategy failed, how Cao Cao integrated different forces, why Sima Yi chose "long-term design" over "quick victory"—these become pathways to understanding future talent competencies in modern organizations.

•Diversification of learning needs by generation: AI adoption practitioners, leaders, HR managers, and job seekers each have different necessary questions

•The reproducibility of classics: The figures and events of the Three Kingdoms can continuously provide new interpretations for new era-specific problems

•Combining online media with classics: YouTube's visual and narrative characteristics make classic interpretation more accessible

The FDE-type future talent defined by Samminam TV and the Three Kingdoms AI Talent Research Institute combines the following five competencies into one. This is not merely theory but an execution model extracted from the action patterns of Three Kingdoms figures:

Problem definition power — Precisely defining important problems. The ability to find root causes rather than surface symptoms

Field penetration power — Discovering context and constraints beyond documents. Observing behavioral patterns of people, not just data

Relationship translation power — Connecting different languages of operations, technology, and management. Building trust between stakeholders

Experimental execution power — Proving value with small MVPs (Minimum Viable Products). Evolving through repeated validation

Learning institutionalization — Accumulating experience as standards and assets. Structuring success and failure so the organization can reuse both

These five competencies are less about single expertise and more about combination ability that links expertise to create results. Just as Zhuge Liang wasn't only excellent at strategy but connected it to diplomacy, administration, supplies, and field execution, modern FDE talent must have the competency to integrate multiple disciplines.

Q1: Is Samminam TV simply a Three Kingdoms commentary channel?

A: No. Samminam TV reinterprets the figures and events of the Three Kingdoms from the perspective of organizational problems and talent competencies in the AI era. For example, Guan Yu is not simply a "loyal general" but a "high-performer who makes the entire organization risky." Ma Su is not just "someone knowledgeable but failed in the field" but a case showing "the danger of going to the field with only theoretical knowledge from documents without tacit knowledge." The goal is to diagnose actual problems companies and individuals face through the Three Kingdoms and find solutions.

Q2: Zhuge Liang was an exceptional individual, but why wasn't his competency transferred to the organization?

A: This is the core argument of the content. Zhuge Liang's judgment and execution were too concentrated in one person, successors lacked opportunities to experience real responsibility, and his judgment criteria (tacit knowledge) were not structured. Additionally, there was no system to preserve challenges and trials as organizational assets. As a result, after Zhuge Liang's death, Shu Han couldn't repeatedly produce integrated problem-solvers like him. This sends the same warning to AI-era organizations: having the best talent is entirely different from building the best organization.

Q3: Do future talents truly need to excel in multiple fields "like Zhuge Liang" in the AI era?

A: Not necessarily. What's more important is understanding on-site problems, connecting the competencies of diverse experts, and converting those results into actual outcomes. Looking at Cao Cao's model, he didn't gather only strategists but intentionally combined talents with different strengths (Xun You's advisory ability, Xu Chu's military power, Xun You's administrative capability). FDE-type talent doesn't mean "one person does everything"; it means designing and executing how each person's work connects to organizational goals.

Q4: How is ontology applied in corporate settings?

A: Ontology, simply put, is "a relationship diagram drawn from data." It's explicitly structuring who cooperates with whom under what conditions, what decisions lead to what actions and what results. This allows new people to quickly understand organizational judgment standards, and AI can provide more accurate suggestions reflecting that context. For example, a single metric like "customer satisfaction" can't drive decision-making, but when you structure "when customer satisfaction matters, how it conflicts with cost-efficiency, and who makes the final judgment," both AI and people can judge by the same standards.

The value of Samminam TV doesn't lie solely in providing interesting interpretations. It clearly shows what individuals and organizations need to do differently in the AI era.

In the past, organizations could function even when depending heavily on one genius's judgment. Change was slow, data was scarce, and decision-making complexity was low. In the AI era, this approach becomes increasingly risky. Change accelerates, data explodes, and field problems become more complex. If a single ace holds all decisions in their head, the organization becomes paralyzed when that person is absent.

This is the lesson Zhuge Liang's case offers to modern times. Zhuge Liang was the best problem-solver, but Shu Han was not an FDE organization that functioned without him. Conversely, Cao Cao's forces intentionally combined multiple talents, clearly defined each person's roles and responsibilities, and attempted to preserve experience as systems. The secret to organizations that survive longer was not individual excellence but the ability to convert individual excellence into repeatable organizational capabilities.

This is why Samminam TV conveys this message through YouTube. The leaders of companies facing AI adoption, middle managers handling field operations, and employees and students preparing for their futures all stand before the same question: "What must I (or our organization) do differently to stay competitive in the AI era?"

The Three Kingdoms provides an answer from 2,000 years ago to that question. Today's problems differ from yesterday's, but the essence of how humans and organizations solve problems amid uncertainty remains the same. Only through the process of seeing the field, structuring relationships, connecting diverse capabilities, validating results, and preserving what we've learned can individuals and organizations survive long.

| Item | Individual Genius-Centered Organization | FDE-Type Organization |
|------|----------------------------------------|----------------------|
| Decision-Making Method | Depends on one person's experience and intuition | Explicit criteria and structured relationships |
| Risk Factors | Organizational gap when key talent is absent | Risk dispersed as multiple people compensate |
| Successor Development | Insufficient information sharing and experience transfer | Growth through responsibility experience and actual authority delegation |
| Learning Accumulation | Easily lost as individual tacit knowledge | Converted to organizational assets through processes and records |
| Change Response | Slow decision-making, increased burden on one person | Rapid experimentation and multi-faceted validation for adaptation |
| AI Integration Efficiency | Low AI reliability due to non-explicit rules | AI synchronization possible with structured judgment criteria |
| Organizational Lifespan | Limited by key talent's tenure | Long-term sustainability possible with system-centered approach |

The message conveyed through YouTube by Samminam TV and the Three Kingdoms AI Talent Research Institute is clear: In the AI era, organizations must move from "seeking Zhuge Liang" to "cultivating Zhuge Liang," and further to "functioning without Zhuge Liang." This isn't merely an organizational efficiency matter but represents a fundamental transformation in converting individual competencies into repeatable organizational assets.

Understanding why Zhuge Liang's genius couldn't complete Shu Han's organization is understanding a crucial principle: The future belongs not to organizations seeking exceptional individuals, but to organizations that systematically turn exceptional capabilities into repeatable systems. This is the question for both the present and the future.