01 People do not have strengths and weaknesses, only characteristics.
We have a saying that character determines destiny. It is difficult for a person to change their character.
But this character is like this: when you are in a low position, your character is your weakness; when you are in a high position, your weaknesses become strengths, that is, "the winner takes all."
Let's take a look at Ren Zhengfei's temper, which has always been very irritable. When he was young, his temper prevented him from achieving anything, and for a long time, he couldn't even join the party. Later, in 1978, he participated in the National Science Conference, and the party branch of the party member group discussed that Ren Zhengfei could not participate. Why? Because he was not a party member.
You see, Ren Zhengfei had already been a deputy regimental officer in the army at that time, so why hadn't he joined the party yet? Because of personnel relations, he often expressed different opinions, and the branch did not approve. Later, the leader of the mechanical and electrical engineering troops designated Ren Zhengfei to immediately join the party.
You can see that Ren Zhengfei's weaknesses, when he became a leader in Huawei, "being decisive" became a great advantage. In fact, the person himself did not change, but in different levels of career, the application of these characteristics will have different results.
So I think people should not be eager to change themselves, but there is a prerequisite that they must strive for victory. If you can achieve victory, your weaknesses will become strengths; if you cannot achieve victory, even if you are a perfect person, your strengths will become weaknesses.
This has been the case since ancient times. Although we say "heroes are not judged by success or failure," but each of us lives in the world, and no one is pursuing failure every day. Everyone wants to succeed. How to succeed?
It is what I said, "pay the price and strive for success."
Just like when Jack Ma applied for venture capital, he faxed a photo to Beijing. They said this person doesn't need to come for an interview, he's just a fraud. Because he looks too strange. Today, some people say Jack Ma is ugly? The media reports on Jack Ma today, calling him very distinctive.
Jack Ma's appearance hasn't changed. But what was once his most embarrassing weakness has now become a brilliant strength. The person hasn't changed, but the world has changed. How did it change? It's because you succeeded and rose to the top.
So I have always disagreed with the method of judging people based on their strengths and weaknesses. We say that strengths and weaknesses are a symbiotic entity that together make up a person. In specific situations, it may be a weakness, but in another situation, it becomes a strength.
So I believe that people should not focus on how to overcome their weaknesses, but rather on how to leverage their strengths, think about their strengths, and how to maximize them.
We have a famous military commander in our army, Han Xianchu. He had a low level of education and was a cowherd in the Dabie Mountains of Hubei Province. But in 1951, he led three volunteer armies to occupy Seoul. After returning to China, many reporters surrounded him and asked him to summarize the key points of the battle.
When Han Xianchu started to summarize his experience, talking about the nature, significance, characteristics, and rules, his lack of education became apparent. He couldn't summarize it. In the end, Han Xianchu came up with a sentence, "The key to all my battle tactics is that the enemy doesn't know how powerful I am." What a great statement.
So I say, if you want to be an entrepreneur, you must be a unique entrepreneur like Ren Zhengfei. Don't always talk about your flaws, such as loving to drink and smoke, and being lazy. Don't always think about changing your flaws, think about your strengths, and create your own outstanding qualities. That's how you can succeed.
02 The key to a leader's decision-making: be pleased with criticism
But in business management, leaders should have a critical spirit.
Chinese entrepreneurs are the most dynamic, never satisfied, always seeing the flaws and problems in their businesses. When Ren Zhengfei visits Huawei's branches around the world, if the branch manager comes to pick him up at the airport, he will be fired on the spot, saying, "Your butt should face me, and your face should face the customers. Whoever wants to serve me well will be dismissed."
This is the spirit of an entrepreneur, never accepting defeat, and never satisfied with the status quo. Even when they reach the top, they still see the risks and problems that may exist.
In the past, we talked about Konosuke Matsushita as the god of management. I think Ren Zhengfei is the god of management in China after Konosuke Matsushita. The reason why Huawei has grown to what it is today is closely related to Ren Zhengfei's spirit and temperament. He left me with two deep impressions: a critical spirit and a spirit of seizing opportunities.
Ren Zhengfei said that there are too many people praising Huawei online now, and there is no opposition. So he suggested organizing a "blue army" with self-raised funds specifically to find faults in Huawei. Every time a strategic brainstorming meeting starts at Huawei, the blue army is the first to speak, pointing out Huawei's flaws.
For example, in 2014, Huawei's six major development plans all failed; in 2015, at the Huizhou conference, a very important conference in Huawei's development history, several major spirits proposed were all in vain. Every year, they criticize one by one, very harshly. In the end, even the old man couldn't take it anymore and said, "Okay, Comrade Blue Army, you can go down now."
Another characteristic is Huawei's spirit of seizing opportunities. I attended the strategic brainstorming meeting at Huawei for two days, including the meeting on Huawei's future development plans. All the top executives of Huawei were present. The materials for the meeting were not allowed to be taken away, only allowed to be placed in the meeting room.
But Ren Zhengfei told me that I could take the materials with me. I said I wouldn't take them, according to Huawei's regulations, no one is allowed to take them. He said others can't take them, but you can. He trusted me highly. The theme of that meeting was how Huawei could seize the commanding heights in the situation of decoupling from the United States.
At the same time, Huawei's spirit of seeking truth from facts is very strong. On that day, there was an episode during the meeting. Ren Zhengfei instructed to play a video before the meeting. What video? It was a video of students from Hengshui Middle School doing morning exercises and reciting at 6 o'clock in the morning. The scene was extremely spectacular.
The old man told me that he personally didn't agree with the model of Hengshui Middle School. He still preferred a more Western-style, open, and divergent education. But in China, the model of Hengshui Middle School is very effective, and we must learn from their model. You see, Ren Zhengfei combines ideals with reality, and he combines them very closely.
But there was a problem later. That night, in order to prepare for the video, the Huawei executives used my Huawei laptop, but it was very inconvenient during the preparation. There were many problems with the video conversion between Huawei laptops and Apple laptops with the MAC system.
One of the executives complained, saying, "Mr. Ren, this Huawei laptop is not good, it doesn't work here, it doesn't work there, there are many problems. If it were an Apple laptop, it would be done in two or three steps. It's been an hour and a half and it's still not done."
The old man was very happy when he heard this and said, "So the laptop has a problem. Tomorrow, when Yu Chengdong comes to the meeting, you can mention it." This is called "being pleased with criticism."
How does Huawei conquer the world? By seeking truth from facts and exposing all the problems. So when Ren Zhengfei hears that there is a problem, he is particularly happy, and when he hears that someone is singing praises, he gets angry.
This entrepreneurial spirit is often something that cannot be sought. Sometimes we say, "Three mediocre people, one Zhuge Liang." The power of the masses is infinite, and good ideas emerge when people come together.
But in business, it is not like this. The decision-making of business leaders is crucial, and their insights are crucial. So improving one's own abilities is to give life to the business. The decline of abilities brings disaster to the business.
03 The road to destruction is wide, while the door to happiness is narrow
We say that the beginning of correct strategic thinking is to have foresight and to go beyond.
But how many people today are full of complaints, complaining about the overall environment, the specific environment, the financial situation, the market, and the stock market. Opportunities lie within people's complaints. This is strategic thinking.
Pay attention to this sentence: the road to destruction is wide, while the door to happiness is narrow. Only a few people truly succeed. Only a few can taste the huge waves.
So strategic thinking also has an important characteristic: never follow the crowd. If everyone is doing something, you should do the opposite. Don't do what others are doing, do something different. You must have your own independent ideas, you must have a far-sighted vision, and you must go beyond the current difficulties and interests.
Why is it said, "Mount Tai remains unchanged despite the collapse in front, and the deer remains calm despite the rise on the left"? It means that you must think clearly about what you want to do, what your goal is, and be clear about it. Be persistent in pursuing your goal, not being distracted by the rise on the left or hindered by the collapse in front.
But many people will say that they don't have a specific place to exercise. In fact, every day is a place for exercise. Every day, we are being tested and challenged. In the accumulation of time, we either grow or decline, either form strategic thinking or lose it. It is a process like this.
Since I joined the army, I have always written this sentence in my diary: Do difficult things, and you will gain something. No matter what you do, do difficult things, don't do things that are easy. Doing things that you can do with your eyes closed is called repetition, not improvement. Doing things that you haven't done before, that's a challenge.
Of course, there is also occasional luck in success. We often talk about having a benefactor. Actually, I also have benefactors in my career. Without benefactors, it would have been over.
Let me give you an example. When I was studying communication technology in the Beijing Military Region, there was a highly abstract theory of a phase-locked loop in wireless communication that I couldn't understand no matter how hard I tried. Many others had graduated from university, so they had a foundation. I didn't have a foundation, I didn't even have a technical secondary school education, so it was very difficult for me to learn.
At that time, the communication training brigade had to watch a movie every Wednesday night. I didn't want to go, but I couldn't. It was against the rules not to go. All the trainees had to go. So I went, with the book on the theory of wireless phase-locked loops in my pocket.
When the movie started, I sneaked into the restroom next to the theater. There was light there, although not very bright. The restroom had a strong smell, but I still read the book there.
Then the captain of our trainee team, I still remember his name, saw someone in the restroom and asked, "What are you doing here?" I said, "Teacher, I'm reading a book." He asked, "What book are you reading?" I handed him the book, it was about the theory of wireless phase-locked loops. After he finished reading it, he didn't say anything, he just left the restroom after using it.
The next day, he announced in the trainee team that from now on, everyone must go to watch the movie, except Jin Yinan. This is what I call a benefactor. He understood what I was doing and made an exception for me.
If you look at the various jobs I have done, I have been a lathe worker, a glassblower, a radio technician, a librarian, and an educator. I have done everything, but I have never been tired of my work. No matter what I do, I do it with all my heart and strive to do it well. Sometimes I even feel that I don't have any great ambitions.
I have never thought about changing jobs. I just want to do well in what is in front of me because if I do exceptionally well, someone will pick me out, not because I want to change careers, but because there are always these turning points.
In other words, when you reach a certain level in something, I think it's like what Buddhism says, "With a sincere heart, everything is possible." Suddenly, opportunities arise. When you reach this level, opportunities will come.
04 Knowledge is powerful only when applied
Finally, I have talked about the decision-making and forward-thinking strategic wisdom of leaders, but how is this wisdom generated?
I think wisdom comes from two sources: learning and reading, and practice. For entrepreneurs, the latter is more important than the former, mainly from practice.
We have a saying, "Focus on application." Why do we learn? We learn MBA, EMBA, and learn a lot of things, but if we can't apply them, then it's useless. The things we learn must be applied.
Knowledge is always something external to you when you don't apply it. It's not yours, it's what others have told you. When you memorize it, it's called knowledge. When you apply it and turn it into your personal wisdom, then it becomes yours.
Learning is never empty. It's about expanding and applying what you have learned, not just coming together for centralized learning. It's about how you apply what you have learned to your own practice and how you improve yourself through practice. This is the most fundamental progress.
So for entrepreneurs, they should not only learn from practice, but also learn while doing, learning while working. Another important thing is learning through setbacks.
Experience comes from failures. When you are beaten black and blue, experience emerges. Success studies and inspirational stories are unlikely to provide anything useful. True experience is hidden in failures, not only your own failures but also others' failures.
Mao Zedong once said that if a person can turn other people's things into their own, then this person is great. It's not about saying that I have to fall and break my knees before I say that this place must not be crossed, there is a hurdle. If someone else has fallen, you don't have to fall, you can see how others fell and learn from their experience.
In addition to that, there should also be a spirit. We see that Jack Ma was rejected everywhere before, and then he appeared. He has this kind of perseverance.
Our generation is full of smart people, with smart brains, but being smart alone is not enough.
So I tell my students, today it's not about whether you are smart or not, it's about whether you have the spirit to never turn back even when you hit a wall. What really brings you success is perseverance, not intelligence.