Introduction: This article sorts out the 66 business thoughts of TSMC founder Zhang Zhongmou, which to a certain extent explains why TSMC can become the world's hot "chip king".
Zhang Junzhi | Written by Gravel Business Review | produce
TSMC, founded with $200 million, now occupies 60% of the global chip foundry market, with a net profit of more than $34 billion and a market value of more than $700 billion.
Apple, Intel, AMD, Qualcomm, Broadcom, NVIDIA and other technology giants all need to rely on TSMC's technology and production capacity to achieve competitive advantage. At a time when seizing the heights of semiconductor chips is equivalent to occupying the commanding heights of science and technology, major economies in the world such as Europe, the United States and Japan are even more pulling together TSMC electrodes. TSMC has thus become the most powerful company in the global chip game field.
The person who created TSMC's great cause is Zhang Zhongmou.
Before founding TSMC, Zhang Zhongmou also created a series of brilliant business records: led Texas Instruments to defeat Intel to become the first in the industry; Pioneered the semiconductor foundry manufacturing industry; ended IBM's foundry technology hegemony; joined hands with ASML to crush the overlords of lithography machines Canon and Nikon; thwarted Samsung's attempt to dominate the chip industry... The American press called him a man who made opponents tremble.
In addition to career success, Zhang Zhongmou's life is also outstanding. When he was young, he studied Harvard, MIT, Stanford, the three top universities in the United States, became the highest-ranking Chinese among the top companies in the United States at the age of 41, and started a business at the age of 56 and made TSMC, now 92 years old, but in the global chip industry battle, he is still a word.
Successful people have their own way, what is Zhang Zhongmou's way to success? In his view, lifelong learning, independent thinking, grasping direction, flexible management, decent management, etc., are all key factors. This article sorts out 66 business thoughts of TSMC founder Zhang Zhongmou to help readers explore the secrets behind his excellent life and career.
One
The two most important things in life: lifelong learning and independent thinking
1. Business is learning, and technology business operators who do not understand technology are failing to pass, but they are really not experts in the field? It is necessary to have sufficient knowledge before you can have the ability to judge.
2. Lifelong learning has two parts, half reading and half listening.
3. Lifelong learning is not the so-called "living to learn as you age", but "planned, systematic and disciplined" reading.
4. Having a plan is to make a plan for reading and learning, and it should start with at least a half-year plan and a one-year plan. I studied mechanics at MIT, I didn't even know what a transistor was, and when I entered the semiconductor industry, the first plan I made was to read semiconductor-related books, and I continued this plan all my life because I have always worked in the semiconductor industry.
5. Systematization refers to a complete system for learning. To be a manager, you need to have a complete set of learning things, such as knowing how to read financial statements, to understand the stock market, etc., even if these contents are already familiar, the vision can continue to expand, such as to care about the international situation, macroeconomics, etc. Some CEOs of world-class companies are just CEOs, not world-class people, but many are indeed world-class figures, who not only care about the company's own business, but also know the world economy and geopolitics, which are all world-class CEOs should know.
6. Discipline means to determine how much time you spend reading every day. My advice, don't spend too much time on socializing, save time to read and think.
7. The other half of lifelong learning is "listening." Reading is learning from books, and listening is learning from other people. Chatting with friends, or even having meetings, can learn a lot. Moreover, listening often makes reading more effective, and the so-called listening to a gentleman's words is better than reading a book for ten years.
8. Everyone needs to "listen", but "listening" is "too neglected art", most people are not good at listening, if they can really listen it will be even greater. If a person interrupts you a lot, you know that the person probably won't listen, and he is impatient, and this kind of person is often very smart because he thinks he already knows what you will say, especially when you meet people like me, who speak more slowly and are often interrupted. Very smart people often interrupt me and help me finish, but if he guesses 90% of what I want to say, then he loses the opportunity to learn, of course I will correct him, but not every time.
9. Those who listen are more tired than those who speak. The speaker knows very well what he is saying, and the listener must not only "listen", but also "think", in addition to integrating what the other person says and the information presented, but also pay attention to the other person's body language. If you really "listen" to others, you are far more tired than the person who speaks.
10. Another reason why you will not listen is that there is no room for different opinions, as long as the other party is slightly different from you, a little criticism, this person's attitude immediately changes to a defensive position, if you want to refute it, you will lose the opportunity to learn.
11. Another most important thing in life is independent thinking. The ability to think independently is even more lacking than lifelong learning habits. Moreover, both habits are developed from a young age. It doesn't matter what someone tells you or what you read from the article, don't believe it right away. You have to think about it, what evidence did he say? Is his evidence biased? He may have given a few examples, but nothing else. Even if he gives good examples, does the evidence lead to his conclusions?
12. How to cultivate independent thinking ability? One is the attitude problem, to have an attitude of critical thinking; The second is the problem of vision, independent thinking also depends on how much data you have, if you see very little, then you have very little material for independent thinking; The more you listen, the more you see, the stronger the ability to think independently, any thing you will hear two sides, three different conclusions, then you have more independent thinking materials.
13. The steps I call thinking are observation, reading, learning and thinking, of which observation at work accounts for about 2/3, observation outside work accounts for 1/3, reading at work accounts for 1/5, and reading after work accounts for 4/5. Learning is the result of observation and reading, and as for the most important thinking, thinking about work is only a small part of my life, and most of my thinking is outside of work. When I talk about a world-class company, I am a company that is always learning and thinking.
Two
Leaders need to know which direction to go
1. The CEO of a technology company must come from a technical background and continue to keep up in the rest of his career, because technology is always improving. Intel's previous CEOs weren't technologists, so how could their companies do well?
2. A leader needs to do two things, one is to have someone to follow, and the other is to know which direction to go. This is not the definition of a good leader, but a necessary skill for any leader.
3. Authoritarian leadership is fundamentally different from strong leadership. Authoritarian leadership is completely dependent on authority, just like the same thing, what is said above and what is done below, while strong leadership is characterized by strong opinions about major decisions, often consulting others, being good at decisions other than directional and strategic, and not spending much time convincing everyone.
4. A leader's values must have a "big self", otherwise honestly no one will follow. Even if someone follows him temporarily and finds out that he is just a "little me", they will walk away.
5. Enthusiasm is also a value that a leader must have, I don't see a leader who is indifferent, not enthusiastic, if there is such a leader, he can lead is probably very little.
6. Tolerance is also very important, no matter where I go, I rarely take people with me, because these so-called "teams" will eventually form small circles, and we should not limit ourselves to small circles.
7. Be sincere with employees. Sincerity is not the same as honesty, employees should say it harshly if they do it well, and they are not satisfied with their subordinates but do not let the other party know, which is not sincere. Sincerity will lead you to another realm of the enterprise, because sincerity can touch people's hearts and drive employees to follow you, and then you are truly a leader.
8. You can be strict with colleagues, but you must be fair and have clear rewards and punishments.
Three
Business management is a living science
1. Business management is a "living science", unlike physics or engineering, you can solve problems if you learn these theories. There is no complete set of things to teach you to apply, because the model is always changing. Management is not a one-size-fits-all approach that can be used in every situation, nor within the same company.
2. Drucker, a master of business management, also said that in the past, it was considered a good system to involve everyone in the decision-making process, but if a ship is about to sink, does the captain have to seek a solution through a meeting? It was better for him to give orders directly.
3. Some people ask me, do I mainly rely on intuitive thinking and judgment when making decisions, or mainly by analyzing relevant financial information? In my personal experience, a good manager has most decisions that come from intuition, but there must be objective data to help him determine whether to do or not to do.
4, senior managers often have burnout (exhaustion) situation, that is, there is psychological pressure, because intuition is not enough, no matter how much data is not enough, he has no sense of security will cause burnout. But intuition is not innate, intuition requires long-term observation, reading, learning, thinking and other abilities, hard work, if you accumulate these abilities more, with intuition to make decisions there is little psychological pressure.
5. The general manager should not worry too much, but spend most of his time thinking about the future. If everything has to be reported to the boss to be solved, it is tantamount to self-obstruction.
6. The general enterprise organization will inevitably form a pyramid structure, but the disadvantage of this model is that it has to go through several levels when the next level is reached, and when the highest level hears it, it is not only too late, but the information is also "filtered" by only one-tenth. I am not in favor of a "pyramid" organization, I am in favor of a "fluid-shaped" organization.
7. Fluid-shaped organization, that is, people at the same level can manage other people's affairs. This kind of participatory management can establish an open environment of "constructive contradictions", with more opportunities for interaction, and many problems can be solved at the same level.
8. Another characteristic of fluid-shaped organization is that responsibility attribution is very important. Although in such organizations, everyone has to take care of other people's affairs, and people in the same position can alternate with each other, the most important aspect of organizational ethics is the attribution of responsibility. In the process of making decisions, no matter what level, a supervisor can ask friends or colleagues, but after the decision is made, the responsibility must be on the supervisor himself.
9. The best way to train employees is to give him things and responsibilities, ideally a supervisor is in charge of seven or eight employees, this supervisor is like a lifeguard in a wide boat.
10. Usually everyone likes to talk about authorization, but there should be more responsibility than authorization. If the authorized person does not expect to be held accountable, then he should not be authorized at all. Empowerment is like gravity created by yourself, for example, someone is promoted and empowered, but he does not have power immediately, but only if the people below respect you, will he begin to have power.
11. In the process of power and responsibility, responsibility comes earlier than power, and when young and promising people have the courage to be responsible, power will slowly come in. Those who insist on having power before responsibility, or those who want power and responsibility to come together, often end up with neither.
12. Both China and the West emphasize that rewards and punishments must be proportionate, Chinese often say that rewards and punishments must be clearly distinguished. However, in the corporate world, the proportion of rewards exceeding penalties is actually very large, and few people are punished, but the number of people who are rewarded is as large as that of a carp crossing the river.
13. A company must change the culture of "unwilling to review others", and only when a company can review others will it progress.
14. When carrying out performance appraisal, few supervisors are willing to tell their subordinates frankly, in fact, how to tell subordinates his weaknesses is also a kind of training for supervisors, especially subordinates who are selected as heirs, to observe his weaknesses more carefully, supervisors must be sincere, and the advice provided to subordinates should be constructive.
15. Performance appraisal is a system that is designed to motivate and shape the system, but there are few successful examples because the focus is often on performance appraisal and neglects "shaping". PAS focuses on "nurturing and shaping" rather than just looking at past performance.
16. The by-product of the performance appraisal system lies in the process of identifying the best and worst 10% or 5%, which can achieve both the incentive effect and the communication effect.
17. When an employee is promoted, not only look at his past work records, but also see whether he agrees with the company's business philosophy.
18. The research of general psychologists roughly divides incentives into two categories, one is "maintenance factors", including basic living expenses, which can make a person go to work, but cannot make people fully engaged in work. Maintenance factors also include a comfortable working environment, a company restaurant, dormitories, etc. The other category is "motivational factors", including a sense of achievement, money to get rich in addition to the base salary, team fun, and recognition.
19.Psychologists believe that it is important to cultivate a person's initiative and satisfaction with achievement. If you want to find a group of people to work with you, you have to find people with the potential for achievement, if you find a group of people whose main purpose is to make money, my experience is that making money is certainly one of the incentive factors, but this incentive is not as strong as the sense of achievement factor, and it is not a long-term solution, and often people lose the incentive factor and leave after making money.
Four
The big strategy looks at the market, and the small strategy looks at the opponent
1. As a business leader, I pay more attention to the two aspects of business model and strategy. In particular, the business model level is higher. This is TSMC's most important innovation (the principle of only doing OEM and not competing with customers sustainably).
2. The business model is based on "who is the customer", not "what is the product". Starbucks was able to sell $4 for $2.50 coffee, largely because it positioned its customers as people who knew how to enjoy life, rather than those who drank $4 and kept on their way. I admire Starbucks very much.
3. The strategy of the enterprise should be divided into two parts: large strategy and small strategy. The big strategy is to look at the trend and look for the big "blue ocean" outside the big "red ocean"; Small strategies should look at customers and opponents, and find out the needs of customers and opponents' weaknesses from the competition. Both big and small strategies depend on the insights of leaders, and insights come from constantly thinking about the future and planning for the future.
4. Successful strategic planning contains one-tenth of inspiration, which can also be said to be strategy formation, then strategic planning decides how to do it, then looks at how many resources and core advantages can be used, and finally the process of execution.
5. The scale of TSMC's measurement strategy is to meet customer needs, including: what is customer demand; Provide technology that sets customers apart from the competition, or at least competitive with their competitors; TSMC's flexibility in its ability to respond to demand; low prices; Short cycle; quality and reliability; design services; seamless communication; turnkey service; protect customer proprietary information; Immediately work to resolve any issues that may arise; TSMC's cooperative attitude and behavior.
6. Leading technology, superior manufacturing and customer trust are TSMC's three competitive advantages and housekeeping skills, if we lose one of them, it is not the TSMC we want.
7. (TSMC) to become a marketing and service-centric company. Each employee is a salesperson of the company, of course, he is a professional engineer, accountant, supervisor, etc., but he is also the sales person of the company. In addition to being excellent salespeople and professionals, the upper management must also be excellent businessmen. If they are not, they should train themselves or be trained to be like this.
8. Everything that cannot be quantified cannot be managed. Quantifying the indicators of management is the importance of corporate fundamentals.
9. The so-called corporate culture should be regarded as a model of corporate behavior, rather than being naturally formed with the growth of the company; It is also the responsibility of the leader to set it up by the founder or CEO as a guideline for taking the initiative.
10. The members of a company should be like-minded, the so-called "will" is the vision, and the "Tao" is the corporate culture, but the Tao is different, and they do not conspire against each other.
11. The spirit of long-term cultivation is required to operate an enterprise, and many enterprises in Taiwan lack the spirit of long-term cultivation, and shareholders also lack this spirit.
12. An enterprise must go international, and it must also have the moral concept of decent operation.
13. TSMC has four core values: integrity, commitment, innovation, and customer trust.
14. Integrity represents the character of the company and is the most basic and important concept. As for the rules when executing business, the first is to tell the truth, the second is not to exaggerate, do not show, the third is not easy to promise, once promised, go all out, compete fairly with peers within a reasonable scope, respect the intellectual and financial rights of the industry, do not allow corruption, factionalism, and corporate politics, and the primary conditions for employing people are character and talent, not relationships.
15. Commitment is a two-way commitment. The company must have a commitment to the employees, and likewise, the employees must have a commitment to the company, because without commitment, there is no faith. A person without faith and without a soul will not be a happy person. If you don't commit to yourself, give up on yourself.
16. Innovation is the common denominator of all world-class enterprises, and innovation does not refer to technology alone but innovation in all aspects. In the digital economy, organizations must continue to innovate to build a successful business model.
17. Customer trust is the core of TSMC's business model. We are always worried about someone grabbing orders, but we are happy to say that in the competition with Samsung and Intel, we will win the trust of customers.
Five
I don't aim for glory in life
1. I do not do my life goal with glory or glory, I do my life goal with health and happiness.
2. Taiwanese say that "love to fight to win", "fighting" seems to mean overtime, which I completely disagree with. I strongly disagree that work should be "replaced by quantity", and I do not believe that a life with only work will be a happy life.
3. In addition to work, life also has life, family, spouse, children, friends and interests, if there is no life, life will not have much fun.
4. Work with only one purpose, that is, to do the right thing efficiently.
5. In 1955, I started working at the age of 24 for 55 years, which translates to about 3,000 weeks. Whether as a junior engineer, general manager, or chairman, my working hours hardly exceed 50 hours a week. I also ask my colleagues to do this and never call them after work.
6. When I began to pay attention to the work hours, I found that the company still showed movies in the auditoriums of each factory for employees to enjoy after work, and I terminated this measure because I thought that employees should not confuse work and life. Why stay at the company after work? Seeing the same faces all the time? It is my philosophy that the company should be responsible for providing employees with a fun working environment, and that employees should be responsible for their after-work life. Only by handing over the leadership to employees will they actively seek work-life balance.
7. The fact that others are richer and more successful than you does not mean that they are more capable than you, nor does it mean that they are wiser than you, the problem is that you fail to grasp the two important factors of time and opportunity to achieve yourself. People don't have to compare with each other, but they should be open-minded.
8. Since the age of 20, I have developed a lifelong and healthy living habit to strictly control my body, including regular work and rest, no overtime and no pay, light diet, continuous exercise, reading and learning, listening to music, etc.
9. No matter life or career, it is like running a marathon, success is often a long-term effort, not a year or two can be done.
![Intel CEO Kissinger Whirlwind Visits Taiwan and TSMC may not be sincere[fig]](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=)