In today’s algorithm-driven world, we are obsessed with “loud” leadership. We track Elon Musk’s latest public brawls and Mark Zuckerberg’s “done apologizing” tours because, in the current media landscape, volume often masquerades as value. But as business historian Martin Gutmann argues, we often confuse a good story with good leadership.
Gutmann’s research on polar explorers makes the point vividly. Ernest Shackleton’s legendary rescue mission became one of history’s great adventure stories. However, it was Roald Amundsen who reached the South Pole first and brought everyone home safely. Amundsen’s diaries? “Almost boring,” Gutmann notes. “No melodrama, no near-death cliffhangers. There were just checklists, weather notes, and incremental progress.” The takeaway: exciting stories are usually the result of poor decisions. Good leadership makes drama disappear.
This is the story of how Samsung Electronics, by choosing the boring path of monastic preparation over the loud theater of crisis, reclaimed its throne.
Samsung Electronics has long been a global leader in memory chip manufacturing. It has consistently held the largest global market share in DRAM and NAND flash chips. These are essential components for PCs, servers, smartphones, and storage devices. But in the high-bandwidth memory (HBM) market, a key component of the GPU-based accelerators that power AI innovation globally, the company found itself falling behind.
Unlike its rivals, SK Hynix and Micron Technology, Samsung’s HBM chips initially failed Nvidia’s qualification tests due to excessive heat and power consumption. And since Nvidia dominates the GPU-based accelerator market, passing these tests is a matter of life or death for those wanting to compete in this rapidly growing space.
“Just engineers solving heat dissipation problems, one failed test at a time, until they didn’t fail anymore.”
Samsung is the Amundsen of silicon. No dramatic pivots or “visionary” strategy. No CEO making headlines with bold pronouncements. Just engineers solving heat dissipation problems, one failed test at a time, until they didn’t fail anymore.
Behind the scenes, the pressure was real: new chip chief Jun Young-hyun warned in an internal memo that Samsung risked a “vicious cycle” if it kept “hiding or avoiding problems.” “We need to rebuild the culture of fierce debate that is unique to semiconductors,” he wrote in a staff memo. The company retreated into 18 months of development and repeated attempts. In September 2025, Samsung finally passed Nvidia’s qualification tests.
The payoff was immediate and massive. In the third quarter of 2025, Samsung boasted ₩12.1tn ($8.5bn) in operating profits, its best quarter in over three years. Revenue hit an all-time high of ₩86tn ($58bn).
Samsung’s quiet excellence extends to its supply chain. In a world where US-China tech decoupling could accelerate, Samsung has avoided picking sides in a loud, political way. Instead, it has pursued a dual-track strategy:
As former National Economic Council director Lael Brainard noted, Samsung is “the only semiconductor company that is a leader in both advanced memory and advanced logic chips.” By staying indispensable to both Washington and Beijing, Samsung has gained negotiating leverage that more vocal competitors lack.
Samsung exemplified this by focusing on problem-solving and product delivery.
Samsung’s leap reminds us that future readiness isn’t about making noise; it’s about crossing the river.
Ultimately, Samsung’s leap reminds us that future readiness isn’t about making noise; it’s about crossing the river. Imagine two swimmers: one splashes violently, fighting the current, eventually dragging himself to shore to thunderous applause for his “bravery.” The other studies the current, identifies the rocks, and crosses silently.
We often forget the second swimmer, but he is the one who truly leads. In an era of unpredictability, volume is overrated.
Lead quietly. Win loudly.
Samsung proved that in the AI era, the winners are the ones who deliver. Its massive climb from 20th position in 2024, to seventh in the latest Future Readiness Indicator release for the technology sector, is driven by its massive investment in research and development. To find out more about Samsung’s strategy of persistence, download our latest report, Built for shocks: The companies that keep winning when the game changes here.
The fast-growing sector needs a unique leadership archetype to realize its full potential. After interviewing key players in the industry, senior executives at WittKieffer offer a blueprint for success....
Audio available
As debate grows over whether China is winning the technology race, executives should focus instead on how its innovation system is designed – and what that means for competition....
BYD overtook Tesla’s EV annual market share in 2025 as it mastered unglamorous fundamentals and built capabilities sequentially while competitors chased disruption and moonshots....
Passion for the product is vital to launch a startup, but it’s not enough to lead a scaling enterprise. David Sluss, Katie Badura, and Yufei Zhong share a two-step approach to...
Audio availableExplore first person business intelligence from top minds curated for a global executive audience