[Interview] Impact Ecosystem Multi-Directional Interpreter (Part 1): The Connector of the Social Impact Ecosystem

 If I were to pick someone I met most frequently during my years as a journalist, he would undoubtedly be at the top of the list. Wherever people were being connected, and whenever communities and networks were taking root, Jung-woong Park was always there. This is the story of Jung-woong Park, Team Lead at Impact Alliance.

 

I reached out to him for an interview to record his journey on this blog. Looking back, despite him constantly moving across the field to connect South Korea's social impact sector, this was actually our first formal interview. During our conversation, he smiled and shared a metaphor:

 

'The night sky is beautiful because stars are scarce. Even if there is only a single North Star in a dark, pitch-black sky, that star shines immensely bright and beautiful. I believe that if our world has just that many good people, it is already bright and beautiful enough.'

 

This article captures the interview with Jung-woong Park, who is dedicated to building networks and communities across South Korea.

 

Impact Alliance, where he works, is an association of 'impact-driven organizations' seeking social value. It brings together diverse actors comprising the social solidarity economy ecosystem—from social ventures, social enterprises, and non-profits solving problems on the ground, to impact investors and intermediaries supporting their growth. Beyond individual sectors and organizational forms, Impact Alliance operates with the mission of promoting ecosystem-wide collaboration and building a sustainable environment for all impact-driven entities.

 

Jung-woong Park, Team Lead at Impact Alliance. (Source: Provided by Jung-woong Park)

Q: You are widely recognized as a community specialist in Korea's social impact sector. Could you introduce yourself in your own words?

 

A: When introducing myself, I say, 'I am a multi-directional interpreter who bridges all stakeholders and people aspiring to build a better society.'

 

For instance, the language of social value, the language of social impact practitioners, and the language of generate-revenue businesses are all distinct. Furthermore, the languages spoken across different regions and industrial domains vary significantly. I see my role as translating and interpreting between these different languages. Just as an interpreter bridges two people who speak different languages—like English and Korean—I translate the nuanced languages used across various sub-sectors within the social impact ecosystem.

 

On a personal level, I am an absolute 'geek' for the social impact ecosystem. I simply love this space. When I first started working here, it felt like pure entertainment to me. Just like a fan passionately following their favorite music artist, I read and researched every single interview and article related to the social impact space. Because of that, I might actually know the history of organizations founded over ten years ago better than their current employees do! (Laughs)

 

Q: Please introduce the organization you currently work for, Impact Alliance.

 

A: Impact Alliance is a community that is both typical in some ways and quite unique in others. Legally, we are an incorporated non-profit association. What makes us unique is our origin. Usually, non-profits in Korea are established by a founding secretariat, which then invites people to join the board through governance.

 

Impact Alliance took the opposite path. Key figures across the social impact ecosystem gathered to form the board of directors first. Once the organizational foundation took shape, the board established the secretariat. As a result, the board, the secretariat, and the general assembly cooperate while maintaining healthy checks and balances. The board doesn't just serve an advisory or decision-making role; it operates actively like a working group. In short, the board is our founder group.

 

To put our work simply, Impact Alliance operates along two main pillars: Policy & Institutional Affairs and Community.

 

In terms of Policy & Institutional Affairs, we act as an interpreter between the practical field solving social problems and the language of policy and governance. Instead of merely passing along information, we translate policy language into field-level terms for practitioners. Conversely, we gather frontline voices and translate them into policy language for decision-makers.

 

As for Community, during the early days of our sector, diverse actors could unite under singular umbrella terms like 'Impact,' 'Social Value,' or 'Social Enterprise.' That allowed for strong collective momentum. However, with Korea's social solidarity economy spanning nearly 20 years, and the wave of solving social problems through new entrepreneurship reaching its 15-year mark, the ecosystem has become highly fragmented.

 

Broad umbrella terms are no longer sufficient to unite people or communities. While operational organizations in the field tend to split as they grow, investment, finance, and infrastructure networks endure over time. Consequently, communities are now forming around specific industries or distinct social issues. As each domain becomes more specialized and distinct, the need for interpretation within the ecosystem itself has grown. As individual domains sharpen their identity, overall understanding of the macro-ecosystem naturally wanes.

 

To summarize, Impact Alliance translates languages between policy and the ecosystem, both externally and internally, while building 'ecosystem friendships.' While our tasks are organically shared, I primarily oversee the Community department.

 

Q: I heard that instead of formal, solemn meetings, you build trust and solidarity through 'tea time.' However, some might feel that 'tea time' sounds too casual or that conversations simply evaporate once the cup is empty. How do you build a solid community through tea time?

 

A: Our strategy began with defining our core value proposition: 'What is the core value we deliver to our stakeholders?' We clarified that value, identified the primary activity that contributes most to it, and poured all our time into that single activity to scale its impact.

 

We conducted numerous experiments along the way. When I joined as the community lead after the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic—a time when authentic community activities needed to resume—we experimented with various approaches. We held educational sessions, considered building a dedicated app, and explored creating a digital information hub on the web.

 

After evaluating various approaches, we realized the answer was simply 'Meetings.' Our data clearly showed that frequent meetings built real relationships, generated inbound inquiries, and sparked new connections.

 

At first, I questioned, 'Can this really work?' I studied relevant literature and conducted meetings with various people, and proved that community building was indeed happening. That's when we realized, 'This is it,' and adopted the more approachable term 'tea time' instead of 'formal meeting.'

 

In business, customer interviews are essential to understanding frontline problems. Simply put, these meetings are customer interviews. On lighter months, I conduct about 25 meetings, and on busier months, up to 50 meetings. I have maintained this pace for four years. That is why I naturally accumulate a deep understanding of the field.

 

I view today's community not as a complicated system (a goal-oriented, deterministic system), but as a complex adaptive system (a system where diverse individual components interact to create new, emergent phenomena). Complicated, deterministic markets are already dominated by large corporations and mainstream players. However, most innovation and startup ecosystems operate as complex adaptive systems—and so do communities.

 

The formula for a complex adaptive system is not cause-and-effect, but Emergence. In a deterministic system, 1+1 always equals 2. In a complex system driven by emergence, 1+1 can equal 2, 5, or even 100. To harness emergence, you don't calculate linear outcomes; you increase the probability of valuable interactions. You increase the frequency of collisions so that breakthrough moments can happen.

 

However, since you cannot predict where a breakthrough will happen, you must not keep the insights from those meetings to yourself. I document the conversations in text and share them transparently. That transparency is what amplifies emergence.

 

Furthermore, people in Korea are perceptually acute about how others receive their words. During a one-hour meeting, people typically stick to formal company updates and business matters. The genuine stories that build personal relationships and real friendship only surface after the first hour. That is why I always request a default time of 90 minutes for my tea times.

 

In short, we embrace the complex system approach—riding the waves of uncertainty rather than avoiding them, while strategically leveraging transparency as our greatest asset.

 

Q: What is your definition of a 'successful network'?

 

A: My answer to this is clear: A successful community is one where 'the next generation of leaders'—not just 'the next generation'—is continuously nurtured.

 

If you observe closely, societies rarely train leaders. Developing leadership requires deliberate, conscious effort. That is why Impact Alliance began intentionally inviting leaders in their 20s and 30s to our Board of Directors 3 to 4 years ago. We view ourselves as a community that actively cultivates the next generation of leaders.

 

To become an effective community leader, one must not have a personal agenda. Having a personal agenda means using the community to fulfill one's own private vision. To summarize, a true community leader must possess emotional composure (or the self-awareness to maintain it) and be free of personal agendas.

 

👉👉To be continued in Part 2

 

❓❔Do you have questions for Team Lead Jung-woong Park?👀

We value your curiosity! If you have specific questions for Jung-woong Park, please send an email to [Email Address]. We will gather your questions and conduct a follow-up interview to address them in an upcoming post.