It is difficult for a person who does not read or study today to become a good entrepreneur
Text: Sun Xin
Edited by Yao Yun
Header image source: Attempt library
On April 23, the World Book Day event sponsored by China Entrepreneur magazine was held in Shanpintang Chinese College. Song Zhiping, a well-known management expert in mainland China, president of the China Association of Listed Companies, and chief expert of the China Enterprise Reform and Development Research Association, appeared at the reading club and had an in-depth dialogue on reading and practice with He Yifan, deputy editor-in-chief of China Entrepreneur magazine.
Song Zhiping talked about why entrepreneurs need to read and how reading can help entrepreneurs succeed in the new economic era. He used his own growth process, from polymer chemistry to factory work, to salesman, technician, workshop director, and even factory director, every role change is accompanied by a thirst for knowledge and the study of books.
Song Zhiping said that he actually writes a book is the kind of first doing, then speaking, and then writing, not writing a book for the sake of writing a book, but really feeling that he has some experience before writing it, so that it is not difficult to write a book. Song Zhiping also revealed that he did not have any utilitarian intention in writing a book, he no longer needed to prove himself in the enterprise for more than 40 years, and his only purpose in writing a book was to pass on his past experience or lessons to the younger generation, so that they could know the roads and pits that the older generation had walked, and insert road signs and signs for them to move forward.
Song Zhiping's wonderful views are as follows:
1. Today, arbitrage opportunities are gone, and it is difficult for people who do not read and study to become a good entrepreneur.
2. In the "six major leadership", I put the ability to learn in the first place, how well you learn, is the foundation of leadership, of course, the most important thing in learning is reading.
3. No matter where I go, my schoolbag is full of books, so my schoolbag is very heavy, do you know how heavy Guan Gong's big knife is? That's my "big knife".
4. Reading should not only be urgently used to learn first, learn and apply lively, but also keep pace with the times, combine with practice, and more importantly, refine your own things, especially things that are different from books.
5. "Reading and understanding it" means that from the level of knowledge to the level of wisdom, reading should not only read knowledge, but also read wisdom, knowledge is changing, and wisdom is very rich and can cope with changes.
6. When writing a book, I will be careful and accurate to every word and every punctuation mark, and I will think a little bit about whether this is my real idea, and then express them truthfully in words.
Photo: Deng Pan
The following is a transcript of the conversation, with abridgement:
Ivan: Let's start with a fundamental question. We also know that there are many entrepreneurs who don't read much, but the company is doing very well, how do you view this phenomenon?
Song Zhiping: Ivan's question is also a question that everyone often asks: Why do entrepreneurs study? Can entrepreneurs not study? Why do some entrepreneurs do well without reading?
Why do entrepreneurs want to study? Because entrepreneurs are faced with problems in production and operation, technological innovation, and other aspects, I think it is a major prerequisite for entrepreneurs to learn to read. In the past, sometimes entrepreneurs may have "courage quotient", I was bold, encircled a piece of land, seized the opportunity to make a lot of money at once, everyone thought it was luck, as long as you had courage and luck. But as you know, today is actually the era of high technology and the new economy, and it is really difficult to read a lot of books, and say that I want to become an entrepreneur and make a fortune. Even if you are bold and have no knowledge, you can't do it, so I think as an entrepreneur, first of all, he should be a learner, and he should also be a reader. Of course, not everyone who reads can become an entrepreneur, and if he reads and has the characteristics of an entrepreneur, I think he can become an entrepreneur. Today, I think it is difficult for a person who does not read and study to become a good entrepreneur.
Reading books is learning from other people's practices. Our own practice is to rely on ourselves step by step, but we must know that reading is to see how others are doing, and other people's practice is also very important, which can make you reduce detours and reduce pitfalls.
When I graduated from university, I studied polymer chemistry, but I was later assigned to a factory, where I worked as a salesman, technician, workshop director, deputy factory director, and factory director. Along the way, I also came by reading books. For example, when I was doing sales, I didn't understand the market. At that time, there were a lot of books in my bag about salespeople, market analysis, etc., so my sales performance was still very good at that time. Later, I worked as the deputy sales director for 7 years, and then became the factory director, managing thousands of people in Beijing New Building Materials. At this time, I couldn't just read sales, so I started reading books on business management, and I think those books had a great influence on me.
Who was the first to read? Read the book by Iacocca (note: Lee Iacocca, a legend in the automotive industry, who was president of Ford Motor Company and later president of Chrysler Motor Company), and the book was called "Turning Defeat into Victory", also known as "The Autobiography of Iacocca", which was first photocopied in the 80s, and I read that book with great enthusiasm. At that time, Iacocca came to China to give a speech to us Chinese entrepreneurs, and I was a fan of him, and I went to him and asked for a photo of him autographed, which was later pressed under the glass pane of my office.
Why am I talking about this? I was very young at that time, and I was very influenced by him to do business, and it is very important to be an entrepreneur to have an indomitable spirit. Personally, I think that if I don't study, I can't do a good job in sales, a factory director, and of course a job in two central enterprises (Note: Song Zhiping used to be the chairman of China National Building Materials Group Co., Ltd. and the chairman of China National Pharmaceutical Group Co., Ltd.). So I think reading is very important to me. In the "Six Leaderships", I put learning ability first. People sometimes say: "Mr. Song didn't expect you to put your learning ability first." "I think that in today's business, especially as a business leader, how well you learn may be a foundation of leadership, of course, the most important thing in learning is reading.
I remember that at that time, I was asked to be the chairman of two central enterprises, and I asked the leaders of the SASAC at that time, why did I make two chairmen because medicinal materials and building materials are not related? But it is true that after I arrived at Sinopharm, I spent 7 days reading 8 books on the first holiday, and after systematically understanding the pharmaceutical industry, I established a framework in my head, and later went to do some research. During the 5 years I was the chairman of Sinopharm, no one thought I was a layman, because I read a lot of related books.
From my personal experience, I think reading has made me who I am. That's why I often tell you to spend your time on studying and your mind on work. The young man asked, "Mr. Song, then don't do anything else?" I said, "What else do you want to do? "I remember that the chairman of Hyundai Korea wrote a book in which he said that the students that Hyundai recruits every year are very good. But after 3 years, some of them became very good, and some of them became mediocre. Later, they did a survey on how these people were differentiated, and they found that all those who became excellent spent their time outside of work studying and reading. So whether you read or not will be the difference between a person being excellent and mediocre.
So I want to tell you through these examples that reading and learning are very important for doing business. Some people also say that entrepreneurs don't actually need to read, and put a bookshelf behind them to pretend to be. There are indeed pretenses, and you can't say no. But if you always have books in your bag, you don't pretend. I have a school bag, and my school bag really holds books. I remember once when I went to a restaurant, the waiter mentioned to me, "Mr. Song, your schoolbag is so heavy?" and I said that it was full of books. Do you know how heavy Guan Gong's broadsword weighs? That's my "broadsword." Wherever I go, my bag is full of books, whether on the plane or on the train, I must be reading books. I think books have made me and my career, and from my personal experience and what I have seen, I also want to say to the younger generation that everyone really needs to find time to read more books.
He Yifan: Following the question you just mentioned, for entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs, how to solve the problem of the unity of knowledge and action? Just now you compared the book to Guan Gong's big knife, but many people can only put this "big knife" on the weapon shelf, not on the battlefield?
Song Zhiping: This question is also very good. How can reading books be able to apply what they have learned, I think there are two main aspects to solve such a problem:
First, we should study and apply our studies. Look for books on this before doing anything like I'm doing. I wanted to know what other people's practices were doing on this issue, so I read a lot of these books. After reading the book, I slowly experienced these things in my work and used them little by little. In the process of using it, if I feel that there is something different, not exactly like in the book, this is my most important experience. Practice produces true knowledge, which is different from the book, and this is very important. Reality changes all the time, and the books we read are summaries and generalizations of the past. Although we are familiar with these things after reading books, the things we encounter are often new, and it is impossible to find a complete answer from books.
Second, we also need to explore and create on our own in practice, and combine these two things. Why are some people book-based and nerd, because he is a dead reader, and he thinks that things will be the same as before, in fact, everything is changing. Therefore, I think that in reading, we should not only learn first, but also keep pace with the times, read in combination with practice, and refine our own things, which are different from those in books, which I think is also very important. After refining your own things, you can also write them into a book. The book you write may have the inheritance of the previous and the development of the later, and the later development is done by yourself. For example, when I teach MBA, EMBA and DBA business administration courses, some teachers teach theory, and I teach everyone practice, and the two complement each other, that is, the unity of knowledge and action that you talked about.
Knowledge and action must be one. No matter how many books you read or how much knowledge you have, the key is how well you do in the end and what kind of effect you have. If you do it well, it means that the book was not read in vain. If you don't do it well, it means that you have read it for half a day in vain, and you are dead reading, and you have not read the true essence of the book.
We have two kinds of knowledge, one is to get knowledge from books, and this is very important. For example, we said today that if we want to learn a large AI model like ChatGPT, we must first learn these new things from books. The other is wisdom, and wisdom is very important. When you are reading, you will communicate with wise people, and through communication with them, you will be able to access their wisdom. Wisdom is very important, and it is applied well, which is what I mean by "reading books and reading to understand", understanding wisdom from the level of knowledge, not just memorizing that bit of knowledge. Knowledge is changing, but wisdom is abundant, so I think we really need to read wisdom when we read.
Photo: Deng Pan
He Yifan: You are different from many entrepreneurs who love to read, not only do you read books, but you also write your own books. Maybe you have written more books than many entrepreneur friends have to read in two or three years, when did you start writing books, why did you have the idea of writing books, and how to ensure that the content of each book is different?
Song Zhiping: This is also the question that everyone always asks me. I write books first because I read books, and I love to read. After reading a lot, I want to write a book. I don't have any other hobbies, as I said before, I have nothing to do in my life, but to study. I don't smoke, I don't drink, I don't play ball, I don't play cards, what do I do all night? Read a book for about 2 hours every night.
How did I remember to write a book? I read too many books. In 2010, I met my old leader, Director Chen Qingtai, who also wrote a book himself. He once said to me: "Zhiping, you are a person who can write things by hand, and we Chinese entrepreneurs can't all start from scratch if we want to write some books." "He gave me a lot of encouragement. I remember the first book I wrote at that time was called The Power of Inclusion. Why did I write this book? I was about to restructure and bring so many companies together, and a big question was whether we were inclusive, whether you could tolerate everyone, and tolerance was actually inclusive of differences, not the same.
After that, he began to write books one after another. Everyone thinks that writing 23 books must be tiring and painful, but I am not like that. For example, I wrote a book that I think is very good, called "Business Strategy". How was the "Business Strategy" written? 350,000 words of my 10 million-word speech over the years were taken out of it, and they were put in the book in their original form, a total of 290 short paragraphs. The advantage of it is that it is real, and many people still read that book to this day. Someone else said, "Mr. Song, I can't write a summary of my work, so I'll flip through your book, there must be something corresponding in it." ”
Later, Wang Ling, the head of the management department of the Business School of the University of Political Science and Law, brought a few EMBA students, who came to me every week to ask questions, and I answered, and everyone heard things that were realistic. I'm a business person, so I don't talk about flashy and empty things. This book is called "Asking Management", and you can read it. Although it is not a regular and regular book, I dare to say that the views and content in this book are particularly suitable for our entrepreneurs today, and you will definitely find what you need in it.
In fact, I write a book is the kind of thing that I do first, then speak, and then write, not to write a book for the sake of writing a book, but to write it when I really feel that I have some experience, so that it is not difficult to write a book. I have been a business for more than 40 years and no longer need to prove myself, and my sole purpose in writing books is to pass on my past experiences or lessons to the younger generation, so that they can know the roads we have traveled and the potholes we have stepped on, and put signs and signs for them to move forward.
Ivan: After you finished writing the book "Sound Business", what is the theme of your next book? I just heard from you that you have a preparation, what is your next writing plan?
Song Zhiping: Spoilers in advance. My plan for myself is to write 2 books a year for everyone. Now the main inspiration for me to write a book is that I go to more companies, I now go to dozens of companies every year, in the past few years I have been to more than 200 listed companies, to more than 100 non-listed companies. Because I have been a business for the past 40 years, I don't do business anymore, I look at enterprises. In-depth research in enterprises and in-depth conversations with entrepreneurs. We're all together today, and I think that's especially meaningful. I thought about it a lot, so I wrote it down.
"Sound Management" is easier to read, and I also have an important book - "Effective Operators". In the old management era, Drucker wrote a book 66 years ago called "Effective Managers", which everyone still likes today. Today, in the era of management, the biggest problem we entrepreneurs may face is choice, including the effectiveness of innovation, the integration of resources and the creation of value. I've written a new book on these things, and I think it will be published in June or July.
Next year, I plan to write two more books for you, which I am currently lecturing at, one is "Ten Strategies" and one is "Core Competitiveness". In the 90s of the 20th century, Michael Porter (Harvard Business School University Professor, Harvard University's highest honor recipient, Michael Porter is the fourth professor in the history of the university to receive this honor) wrote "Competitive Strategy", which talked about the "three general strategies", which later developed into core competitiveness. I am going to write a book on how our Chinese enterprises can improve their core competitiveness.
The other is "Ten Strategies". Every morning after 5 o'clock, I started to write, and I wrote for about 2 hours. Of course, there are revisions, for example, I wrote this book "Effective Managers", and I am now revising the 7th draft. Because I will be serious about every word and every punctuation mark, I will think about whether the core ideas in the book are correct little by little, and then I can express them truthfully in words. It's a bit difficult and takes some time.
Ivan: Let's end with a light-hearted question, how do you write and read books so frequently, how do you not become short-sighted?
Song Zhiping: I'm a bit dazzled, and when I want to read small print, I have to wear reading glasses. When I speak, speak, and read the script, I can't see it clearly, but I feel that wearing glasses makes others think it is weird, but my memorization is okay, of course, I don't read it completely, I am more to tell everyone, so people can't see me wearing glasses.
He Yifan: Thank you, Mr. Song, for the Chinese entrepreneur community, entrepreneurs like "Kazuo Inamori" are needed, not only do well in the enterprise, but also be able to continuously export their own ideas. Mr. Song is not China's "Daosheng", but China's Song Zhiping.
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