Slowing down and stretching out the time will make your business more than ever before.
Text: "Chinese Entrepreneur" reporter Zhao Dongshan
Editor|Li Wei
Image source: Medium Attempt Library
On April 26~28, the 2024 (16th) China Business Mulan Annual Conference hosted by China Entrepreneur magazine was held in Wuzhen. In the "Summit Dialogue" session, He Yifan, deputy editor-in-chief of China Entrepreneur magazine, as the host, interviewed Chen Lingmei, founder of Winner Apparel and chairman of Win Ling Zhishang Apparel Technology, Zhu Yanmei, director and executive vice president of Huada Group, Han Yan, founder and chairman of Zhanlu Culture, and Hu Xiaoling, founding partner of CDH Investment, around "spiritual cultivation".
Here are some of the highlights:
1. The farthest distance in the world is the distance from the brain to the heart, don't look at it as only one foot, in fact, it is the farthest, the heart is the starting point and the end point.
2. Human beings will be integrated with AI in the future, and at this time, mental improvement is expansive, and the influence is particularly far-reaching, and the unique mind is particularly important.
3. When we do everything we can, we get angry when we meet someone who has done something wrong. But in fact, right and wrong and anger are two links, you can not be angry, you can be angry from the original day to angry for half a day, or an hour, a minute.
4. Many people think that running a marathon must be fast, but in fact it is not, for ordinary runners, what should be learned is the balance between fast and slow.
5. Setting ambitious goals is a particularly effective way to manage emotions, and you can get rid of the small troubles in the process by staring at the big goals.
The following is a transcript of the conversation, with abridgement:
What is mindfulness?
Chen Lingmei: The heart is what you think and think, sex is the temperament, whether it is selfish or altruistic, whether you are grateful or not, whether you can empathize. I understand that the so-called nature of the mind is, in a nutshell, a person's outlook on life, values, and why people want to live. How people live, how they behave, how they do things.
Zhu Yanmei: The farthest distance in the world is the distance from the brain to the heart. Don't look at only one foot, it's actually the farthest. The heart is the starting point and the end point.
The heart is a very contradictory thing to have vitality and be still. In Chinese characters, sexuality, affection, and love (traditional Chinese characters) have "heart", and resentment, sadness, and anger are also "heart", and these emotions all originate from the heart.
It may be because they have to experience a lot of pain in pregnancy and childbirth, and women have a stronger sense of the heart. If we don't have a sense of the mind, we may not be able to give birth to a new life.
Han Yan: I think "heart" should refer to a series of emotions, consciousness, and even our decisions and motivations. If you look at it from the perspective of brain science, neuroscience, or even artificial intelligence, there is one word that is particularly like: mind. Therefore, to cultivate the mind, we can start by understanding the mind.
Han Yan, founder and chairman of Zhanlu Culture
For example, the "three-gravity mental model" divides the human mind into three categories: autonomous mind, algorithmic mind, and reflective mind. After understanding this theory, you can examine yourself from these three aspects and improve it in a targeted manner. For another example, if you compare the human mind with artificial intelligence, there is a "Moravec Topographic Map of Human Abilities", which you can also understand.
Kurzweil, a well-known futurist and head of Google's X lab, once believed that in 2045, we will merge with AI and augment ourselves with computing power millions of times higher than our biological talents, and the impact of this expansion of intelligence and consciousness is so far-reaching that it is completely incomprehensible to us now.
So, what are the unique features of the human mind that can be preserved? Understanding this can prevent us from being prematurely eliminated.
The mental model provided by "Mental Models for Leaders" is based on the latest neuroscience and psychological research, and has been trained and practiced in companies such as Microsoft, Lego, Google, Nike, IKEA, etc., and is recommended for everyone to read.
Hu Xiaoling: Mind is an emotional response and mode of operation. If we want to make it more concrete, we always say muscle memory, and mental nature is also a model.
It's like when we do everything we can, we get angry when we meet someone who does something wrong. But in fact, right and wrong and anger are two links, you can not be angry, you can be angry from the original day to angry for half a day, or an hour, a minute. Xianglin's sister-in-law repeats her own scenes and emotional regrets ten times a hundred times a day, and it becomes a habit, and she is always in the remorse and negative psychological operation mode. As I understand it, the mind is the mode of operation of emotional feelings and reactions.
The experience of grinding things
Hu Xiaoling: In 2009, I came across Kazuo Inamori's book "The Way of Living", and I was very comforted that I knew that most of my knowledge needs to be practiced in real life.
In the investment industry, I have the opportunity to experience this life with more people, entrepreneurs, and more vivid people, and we have invested in 100 companies in the past 20 years, more than half of which are leading companies in the industry. The leaders of leading enterprises have a lot in common, and I follow them to behave and do things, and observe others and ourselves.
Hu Xiaoling, founding partner of CDH Investments
Over the years, I have become more and more deeply aware of the right way of believing in the right path, and I believe that I should do the right thing with a bright heart. There is an entrepreneur who has been working with me for 20 years, and I have personally experienced the reorganization of his arrangement of the interests of all parties, and he always thinks more about the interests of his partners.
We are familiar with the story and the shell, when it lost a few months because of the elimination of fake listings, but then the market share rebounded rapidly, and I feel that you are more and more convinced, small things suffer, and finally become a big fruit, God is helping you.
Han Yan: My "heart training" is actually carried out through physical exercise. I started running more than 10 years ago and completed the World Marathon Grand Slam about 5 years ago. While running, I've also published some of the world's best running books.
I've found that many people have some misconceptions about running marathons, such as the misconception that ranking first is to be fast. Actually, no, for ordinary runners, what should be learned is the balance between fast and slow. The book "Endurance" proposes an anti-common sense training method, requiring runners to learn to slow down first and develop the body's "slow muscles" first, which can not only better control heart rate and burn fat, but also increase maximum oxygen uptake and enhance endurance, so that they can run faster and longer. It's the same with being a business, slow it down and you'll see new heights that businesses can reach.
The misconception of ranking second is that you can run well if you are in good physical condition. In fact, it is more important for the best athletes to have a good mind, a good mentality, and a sense of strategy. When you are competing, there are many external factors that you can't control, such as the weather of the day, your own physical condition, etc. When the external environment and physical conditions are more uncontrollable, the more important the "internal control points" that you can grasp by relying on your mind and psychology.
Whether it is daily training or competition, we must learn to build and stabilize our sense of control from the completion of small goals, which is a very important strategy and wisdom. Everyone can use it in their own work and life, especially when the pressure and load brought by the external environment are beyond our imagination and capacity, making us feel that we have lost our sense of control, and we need to constantly focus on some small goals that can be controlled, and break them one by one.
Zhu Yanmei: Let me tell you a story about mountaineering. I started out of vanity and competitiveness, but the founder of BGI, Wang Jian, was so powerful that he climbed Mount Everest at 8,848 meters. I'm from Shanghai, and Sheshan is only 100 meters high, so how can I talk on an equal footing?
And I was too busy with work to go to Mount Everest, so I wanted to find a mountain that he couldn't climb - Xinjiang Muztag Peak. But this mountain is indeed very difficult, walking and walking, and it seems that there is no end to it. In the midst of the mountaineering, I asked myself: Why did I come here?
Zhu Yanmei, Director and Executive Vice President of Huada Group
Vanity and competitiveness can't actually convince and support me to survive this pain, only when I think of my daughter, only love can support me through difficulties, and I want to set a benchmark for my daughter.
Because I am not a mother who can cook and take good care of her children's lives, what I can pass on to my daughter is that a mother is a person who does not give up easily, does not give up easily, and can endure setbacks and overcome difficulties to get things done.
So I found a blank piece of paper in the base camp, wrote "I love Dora@Muztag is 7546 meters above sea level", folded it into small squares and put it in my backpack. The lack of oxygen in the mountains makes me probably unable to remember many things, but I firmly remember where the little note was. What can drive me to the top step by step is that I will hold this piece of paper to the top of the mountain to take a photo and tell my daughter: Mom didn't give up, Mom did it, and you shouldn't give up easily in the future.
To return to the original heart, only "love" can bring real strength. The mind can drive good and cause evil to do evil, so the mind has two sides. A lifetime of spiritual cultivation is to suppress evil things, no matter where you start, the end of a person's life is to turn himself into a better person.
Chen Lingmei: I am a native of Ningbo, Zhejiang, and my mother taught me to be a man with a conscience. I was originally a civil servant, and then borrowed 2.84 million yuan to go to Shenzhen to do business, but I lost money in less than half a month after arriving in Shenzhen, and the company also closed down. But I didn't have the face to borrow from my father, where I fell and got up, I went to the sea completely.
Before, I was doing processing with incoming materials, and there were 1,800 vests, but the customs stuck me, and he said what about your quota? I don't, which taught me a great lesson. After having this lesson, I decided not to do processing in the future, to do branding, and then all the way to a lot of difficulties, I now have ten brands, so that my company went public, my son took over, last year we increased sales by 23%, profit increased by 77%.
I should be retired, I have money, leisure, and health, but I didn't retire, and I spent 5 years making China's first high-end women's intelligent supply chain system. I spent hundreds of millions, all out of my own pocket. Later I invented shoes that never get tired. None of the manufacturers make high heels that can run and dance, which is a big risk, my husband disagrees, saying that you are going to retire, 76 years old, and you can't do well in the evening. If I don't do it, I will regret it, if I do it, anyway, the money will not be brought to life and will not be taken away from death, and I will make a lot of money after I do it.
How to manage emotions?
Han Yan: Actually, "anxiety" is not only bad for us, anxiety is like a canary in a mine or a sentinel in the army, which can help us quickly identify potential problems. For a team or family, it is easier to succeed if there is a "sentinel" who is prone to anxiety.
Our book "The Power of Negative Emotions" believes that appropriate "anxiety" can improve a person's various abilities, such as concentration, reflexes, sharing, and detection.
Of course, being overly anxious is certainly not good. Some time ago, we took Zhang Ruimin and his new book "Eternal Living Fire" to the "Walking with Hui" live broadcast room, Dong Yuhui asked Chief Zhang a question at that time, he said that he was very anxious, insomnia was very bad, I don't know if Chief Zhang has also encountered a very anxious night when he can't sleep.
Chief Zhang said that in the past few decades, he has never had insomnia, and no matter how big the problem is, he thinks of the worst outcome first, and then puts it down and sleeps when it is time to sleep. He said to Dong Yuhui, young man, life is unsatisfactory nine times out of ten, everyone is the same, I wish you a good night's sleep tonight. I pass on this sentence to you.
Zhu Yanmei: Anger and anger are "amygdala hijacking" in psychology. How do you manage your emotions? Cool down the amygdala. Repeated deep breathing can have the effect of cooling the amygdala.
It turned out that I couldn't run without headphones, otherwise I would feel too boring and couldn't run. Now I enjoy running without headphones, emptying my brain, and focusing on running. Eat when it's time to eat, sleep when it's time to sleep, and don't focus on two things. Do one thing at a time, concentrate on what you do, and don't have any anxiety about what you do.
Chen Lingmei: Everyone definitely has anxiety. During the special period, we are a traditional clothing brand, and there are very few people in the physical store, and 70% of my franchisees are closed, and we will definitely be anxious. I think so, to think positively, it's useless to worry, so what to do? Practice internal skills, we gather the backbone employees to study the problems that need to be discussed slowly in our previous operations, and solve them all, especially the supply chain, how to do intelligent supply chain, how to do excellent product planning.
Chen Lingmei, founder of Winner Apparel and chairman of Win Ling Zhishang Apparel Technology
After three years of training, our winner's annual report is still a relatively bright growth rate. It is because of this that the organizational strength, the future of the enterprise, the existing problems, and how to solve them are also thoroughly studied, and once the situation improves, we will get better. So we still have to believe in the power of believing.
Second, self-examination. The second thing that worries me is that there is no backbone, the staff is not strong enough, and I can't recruit good people. Our traditional industry is not like Ali, they must all be high-achieving students, and then our backbone, we have lost a lot of money in Douyin for two years, selling shoes, selling clothes, think about it or my fault, who asked you to recruit her, I blame myself Don't be angry, don't scold, let's summarize what the advantages are suitable for, there is really no one to cultivate, select good seedlings, one to self-reflect, one to think sunny, not to be anxious.
Hu Xiaoling: I once attended a three-day class on executive emotion management with our portfolio companies. One of the most useful methods that I was particularly impressed with was to aim a little bigger.
For example, I often talk to young investors in the company that young people in this industry are very good and self-motivated, but the common annoyance is that their results are not recognized in time, and the promotion and skipping of the annual assessment are not satisfactory. I say that instead of looking at it every year, I should set a more ambitious goal, such as growing into one of the top ten investors in the industry in seven or ten years, or one of the fifty. Set your goals there, and you will find that what you do today is to increase your value, and today's evaluation of you year by year, and the current reluctance is not a thing, and you will no longer worry about the "little things" at work.
When you focus on the big goals, you get rid of the small troubles in the process, and setting big goals is a particularly effective way to manage emotions.