If a man is rejected as "stupid" by his wife, what will be the reaction?
Ren Zhengfei, a name that can never be avoided in the history of Chinese business. He started a business with two million in debt at the age of 44, leading Huawei from a small company with no name to the hegemony of the global communications industry today. But it was such a business genius who revealed in a media interview that he was often scolded by his wife and daughter at home for being "stupid to death". However, Ren Zhengfei said happily, "I am very stupid." People have shortcomings, and imperfection is perfection. ”
Everyone expects themselves to be perfect, so why does Ren Zhengfei only think that imperfection is good?
Ren Zhengfei: Perfect people are useless
The famous American management scientist Lawrence Peter once proposed a theory called "short board theory", also known as "bucket theory". The theory is that the ability of a barrel to hold water is determined by the shortest plank that makes up the barrel, and the longest plank is useless no matter how long it is. If we want to fill more water, we must find a way to make the short board longer. Many successful entrepreneurs are a firm believer in the "short board theory".
For example, Yu Minhong, the founder of New Oriental, once said: "All our virtues come from the struggle to overcome our own shortcomings." Countless people regard this passage as the Motto of Guigao, believing that people are like barrels, and only by finding ways to make up for their shortcomings can we make our comprehensive ability stronger and survive better in this society. However, in Ren Zhengfei's view, the pursuit of perfection in all aspects is useless, and it is good to be stupid.
Ren Zhengfei believes that if people put their minds on the pursuit of perfection, they will consume too much energy, always thinking about where they are not doing well, where they need to improve, and their eyes will only focus on their own shortcomings, and even produce unnecessary anxiety about their own ability, strangling their wings and forcibly putting shackles on themselves.
The talent Huawei wants is not this kind of person who pursues perfection, but someone who is allowed to have shortcomings but a longer board. As long as your ability in a certain aspect is outstanding enough, Huawei welcomes you to join. Ren Zhengfei said that his role is to glue thousands of troops and horses together, organize excellent people together, use the team to make up for shortcomings, and play a long board.
Second, the Russian mathematician who loves to play games
In enterprise management, if a leader only pays attention to the shortcomings of his subordinates, there is no one available in the world, and conversely, there are people available in the world.
Huawei once had a mathematical algorithm institute in Russia. The head of the institute was hired by Ren Zhengfei for a high salary of $2 million. But the Russian mathematician is introverted, socially awkward, not good at words, holding a computer all day long, either in a daze or playing games, and even his colleagues don't know what he's doing at work. Generally, such unsocial employee leaders will enlighten, but Ren Zhengfei did not interfere. But ask him about the progress of his work, and the annual funding will be allocated as usual, as he likes to do. It is this Russian mathematician who only suffocates his own work to return to Huawei that in 2008, he will open up the standard algorithm from 2G to 3G.
This news made Huawei ecstatic, because this breakthrough means that Huawei can process both 2G and 3G signals with only one base station, reducing the size and weight of the base station by 50% and reducing the cost by 30%. Huawei named this new base station Single RAN. With this lightweight new base station, Huawei "killed all four parties" in the European communication equipment market, defeated large enterprises such as Ericsson, Siemens, and Nokia, and sat on the throne of the first market share of communication equipment in Europe.
Behind the research and development of the new base station of Single RAN, the Russian boy is certainly indispensable, but there is also a heavyweight who has to be mentioned. That was Yu Chengdong, who led the wireless business team at that time.
Third, crooked melon crack jujube "Yu bold", "Yu big mouth"
Many people inside Huawei call Yu Chengdong "Yu Bold" because he has a kind of stupid stubbornness in doing things. For example, a few days after he first joined Huawei, he called Ren Zhengfei and said, "Boss, I am optimistic about CDMA." Ren Zhengfei hung up the phone and asked the secretary, "Who is this person?" ”
It is this Yu Chengdong, with outstanding personality and outstanding ability. When he entered the European communications market, Yu Chengdong insisted on investing costs first, developing his own technology, and making innovations that were different from existing products. Many Huawei executives feel that Yu Chengdong is saying beautiful things, and no one is optimistic about him. Only Ren Zhengfei chose to trust him and let him boldly do it. Yu Chengdong, under tremendous pressure, opened up the situation of Single RAN in Europe, leaving those who were not optimistic about it to have nothing to say.
In addition to "Yu Bold", Yu Chengdong also has a nickname called "Yu Dazui". Because he sometimes says some things that sound incredible, for example, Yu Chengdong once made a bold statement that Huawei mobile phones will use 3 years to surpass Apple, and then use 3 years to surpass Samsung. After hearing this sentence, Ren Zhengfei was furious and issued a gag order inside Huawei: Whoever talks about surpassing Apple and Samsung will be fined 100 yuan.
You know, it was 2012, Yu Chengdong cut a large number of OEM mobile phones, determined to enter the field of high-end smart phones. Initially, Yu Chengdong launched the D1, a smartphone with a price of about 3,000, but the market response was cold. It is rumored that when Ren Zhengfei tried D1, D1 frequently crashed, so angry that Ren Zhengfei threw his mobile phone into Yu Chengdong's face.
At that time, many people felt that Yu Chengdong's decision-making was wrong and his ability was not good, and Huawei's mobile phone terminal even set off a "residual movement" inside. However, at the critical moment, Ren Zhengfei stood up, believed Yu Chengdong again, and publicly stated that "not supporting Yu Chengdong's work is not supporting me." ”
Under the protection of Ren Zhengfei, Yu Chengdong made a drastic move to carry out large-scale personnel changes to Huawei terminals, and also proposed seven adjustments to Huawei's consumer business online. 6 years later, the goals proposed by Yu Chengdong have been achieved one by one, Huawei mobile phones are not only leading the world in 5G technology, but also in the first quarter of 2020, Huawei mobile phone sales exceeded Samsung and Apple, achieving the world's first smartphone sales, which is the peak that no domestic mobile phone can reach even now.
Yu Chengdong not only proved his ability, but also verified Ren Zhengfei's way of employing people: there are shortcomings that are not terrible, I want to use you, that is, to let you give full play to your longboard.
There are no perfect people, but there are perfect businesses
Ren Zhengfei believes that although there are no perfect people, there can be perfect enterprises.
There is nothing wrong with the "short board theory", what is wrong is that many people focus on him on the individual, without opening up the horizon and pattern. If an enterprise is regarded as a barrel, the "short board theory" can play its advantages. Seeing people as barrels, we cling to the pursuit of unattainable perfections. If you think of the enterprise as a barrel, the shortcomings of individuals are not terrible. As long as you make good use of everyone's long board, combine it, and everyone in the enterprise cooperates together, you can get a barrel that is a long board, and the company can stand proud in the cruel competition.
As a technology company, Huawei has always been technology-oriented. Therefore, Ren Zhengfei will reuse people who have the ability in science and technology, such as Russian boys, such as Yu Chengdong, and even Xu Zhijun, Guo Hua, Sun Yafang, Li Yinan, who are familiar to us today.
They may not be sleek enough in their dealings, not likable enough, but so what? In the R & D position, do a good job in technology, and do a good job in dealing with the outside world in the market position. Huawei does not insist on a perfectly skilled and sleek employee. As long as everyone can do their job perfectly, the company will naturally grow stronger and stronger.
5. Conclusion
Ren Zhengfei once said that we don't need heroes who turn the tide, we need a team of heroes.
Many times, we fall into the misunderstanding of pursuing perfection. But Ren Zhengfei's way of employing people tells us that people do not need to be perfect, as long as they have a skill. What you have to do as a manager is to give full play to the strengths of employees, and glue people with different strengths and different advantages together, which can create a perfect enterprise. Huawei's glorious journey today is the best proof of Ren Zhengfei's theory that "imperfection is perfection".