Some time ago, when Musk visited Shanghai, he did a big thing that countless workers were envious of!
He gave 400 million yuan worth of Tesla shares to a 43-year-old guy from Northeast China.
And this Northeast guy is none other than Zhu Xiaotong, Tesla's global vice president who has been with Musk.
When it comes to Zhu Xiaotong, we are no strangers, "Tesla's Cook" and "Musk's successor" are the most dazzling labels on him.
From project manager to Tesla's global vice president, Zhu Xiaotong spent nearly 10 years, and in 10 years he achieved Tesla, and Tesla also made him.
However, the world is unpredictable, and this volume king, who is still rumored to be Musk's successor in 2023, has recently been rumored to be transferred back to China.
The so-called "peers make friends and complement each other".
During her time at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business, Zhu joined her classmates at Kaibo International, where she focused on providing professional consulting services to Chinese contractors implementing infrastructure projects in Africa.
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Soon after joining the company, Zhu Xiaotong was responsible for a $1 billion real estate project in Libya.
The situation in Libya is extremely volatile, which contains both business opportunities and hidden dangers, but Zhu Xiaotong has successfully completed the project with his extraordinary courage and outstanding ability.
Later, Zhu Xiaotong was dispatched by the company to Sudan on the edge of the Sahara Desert to participate in a $500 million desert irrigation project.
The desert was exposed to the sun and the wind and sand, and many laborers could not bear it, so they chose to flee one after another.
Faced with this situation, Zhu Xiaotong, as the project manager, did not panic, but followed behind the fleeing from a distance.
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When the laborers stopped due to physical exhaustion, he took out the water and dry food that had been prepared in time, and persuaded them to return with affection and reason, and finally succeeded in completing the project task successfully.
After completing these two overseas projects, Zhu Xiaotong was also promoted from project manager to vice president of the company.
In an interview with his alma mater, Fuqua School of Business, he shared:
"The experience at Kaibo has not only trained my leadership and teamwork skills, but also mastered the key skills of communication, coordination and optimization."
And this period is a critical time node for Tesla to enter the Chinese market.
At that time, Tesla urgently needed to improve the layout of its supercharger network to adapt to the actual situation in China.
Because American consumers are accustomed to installing charging piles in their garages, while Chinese consumers often do not have a fixed parking space, this has become a barrier to the sales of Tesla's electric vehicles.
At this time, Zhu Xiaotong's rich experience in Chinese and foreign project management, as well as his humility, prudence, straightforwardness and efficiency, deeply attracted Musk.
In 2014, Tesla ushered in an important figure - Zhu Xiaotong.
His first important task was to oversee Tesla's Supercharger program in China. After Zhu Xiaotong took over the supercharging project, he quickly threw himself into the intense and orderly work.
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He knows that the Supercharging project is of great significance to Tesla, not only about user experience, but also the key to whether Tesla's electric vehicles can occupy a place in the market.
Therefore, he first conducted a comprehensive combing and evaluation of the existing charging facilities, and found out the existing problems and shortcomings.
Immediately afterward, he led the team to conduct in-depth research on market demand and technology trends, and developed a set of practical plans for the construction of supercharging stations.
This solution not only focuses on charging speed and efficiency, but also takes into account many aspects such as site layout, device compatibility, and user experience.
During the implementation process, Zhu Xiaotong showed excellent leadership and coordination skills.
He works closely with his team to continuously refine the design to ensure that every detail meets Tesla's high standards.
At the same time, he actively communicates and collaborates with suppliers, partners and government departments to obtain more support and resources.
Soon, Zhu Xiaotong's efforts paid off.
Under the leadership of Zhu Xiaotong, Tesla successfully built nearly 40 super charging stations in China that year, and widely deployed in more than 60 cities across the country, setting up more than 600 destination charging piles.
However, what really made Zhu Xiaotong famous was the Shanghai Gigafactory that he led to build.
In July 2018, Zhu Xiaotong successfully facilitated the signing of an investment agreement between Tesla and the Shanghai Municipal Government for a pure electric vehicle project.
It only took more than 5 months for Tesla's Shanghai Gigafactory to break ground.
In October 2019, the plant was successfully put into operation, an unprecedented pace in the history of the automotive industry.
Musk, who learned of this information, specially came to Shanghai and danced a "striptease" to express his inner excitement and joy.
Why is Musk so excited?
It turned out that, to some extent, it was Tesla's Shanghai Gigafactory that saved Tesla.
After all, before that, Tesla fell into the dilemma of broken capital chain due to the production capacity crisis.
Excitingly, in the first year of operation, the Shanghai factory's production capacity quickly climbed to 250,000 vehicles, accounting for nearly half of Tesla's global production.
At a shareholder meeting at the end of the year, Musk praised the Shanghai Gigafactory, saying it was the fastest building he had ever seen.
Zhu Xiaotong led the signing, construction and production of Tesla's Shanghai factory throughout the process, and his outstanding performance made him the most relied on figure by Musk.
Of course, Zhu Xiaotong's ability to achieve such outstanding results is inseparable from his hard work and unremitting efforts.
He is strict with his subordinates, and he is even more "ruthless" to himself.
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He has a frightening amount of energy, and even at three or four in the morning, he is still able to reply to messages quickly.
What is even more surprising is that at six or seven o'clock the next morning, he can still reply to the message, as if he has not slept all night.
Regarding this state of work, Zhu Xiaotong just smiled and said:
"Because the time difference between China and North America is different, I have to maintain this rhythm in order to keep in touch with my colleagues in North America and ensure that the work is seamless."
He even admits: "Although I try to schedule a two-hour break, I do sometimes stay up all night in stressful situations." ”
In order to minimize the commuting time, Zhu Xiaotong chose to live in a public rental house near the factory, with a monthly rent of less than 2,000 yuan, and it only takes 10 minutes to drive to the workplace.
At the beginning of every day, he will personally go to the workshop to inspect a circle, communicate with the engineer in depth, and solve possible problems on the spot as soon as possible.
People can often see Zhu Xiaotong wearing a hard hat and a reflective vest, busy with the production site.
In order to better understand the actual operation of the factory, he set up his office in a room next to the production line, opened the window, observed the production status at any time, and dealt with it personally if there was a problem.
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In 2019, the Shanghai area suffered from more than 40 days of continuous rainy weather, which brought a lot of challenges to the construction of the factory.
In the process of pile foundation construction, workers often need to work in muddy environments, and the phenomenon of roof water accumulation has become especially serious under extreme weather conditions such as typhoons and heavy rains.
Once, a sudden rainstorm came unexpectedly. As the plant is still in the construction stage, the drainage system has not yet been perfected, resulting in serious restrictions on the drainage function.
Seeing that the roof was about to collapse, Zhu Xiaotong took the lead in picking up the plastic bucket beside him, braved the pouring rain, and resolutely rushed to the roof.
Even after a long day's work in the mud and rain, he would still send Musk a detailed progress report email when he returned to the office, each with an up-to-date photo of the factory.
With the factory officially opening in October, his workload has increased even further, and he thinks every day about how he can improve production efficiency and quality faster.
And when he is extremely tired, he will also make some jokes about himself on social media to relieve stress.
On December 13, 2019, Zhu Xiaotong wrote on Weibo:
"It's not the alarm clock that wakes me up every morning, it's the cow that I bragged."
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At the same time, he also attached a picture with text, which is not only unbearable, but also makes people sincerely admire Zhu Xiaotong.
Of course, this high-intensity and high-efficiency work style made Zhu Xiaotong even more dazzling, and he was successfully promoted to the president of Greater China in 2019.
In the years since, he has maintained this intense and orderly work rhythm, and by April 2023, he is regarded by the outside world as the most likely person to succeed Musk within the company.
In the spring of 2022, masks swept through the city like a sudden storm, and also brought unprecedented challenges to Tesla's factories.
During this period, Tesla's factory was forced to suspend production for a short time, which was undoubtedly a huge blow to a company known for its high efficiency and high production capacity.
However, in such a predicament, Zhu Xiaotong showed amazing perseverance and determination.
In order to restore production capacity as soon as possible, Zhu Xiaotong made a decision: "Sleep in the factory!" ”
For two months, he lived and ate with the workers, never left the factory for half a step, devoted himself to the work of restoring production capacity, and faced all kinds of difficulties and challenges brought by masks together.
And it is Zhu Xiaotong's characteristics of the "king of volumes" that also make Musk seem to see his own shadow.
In Tesla's development history, Musk has also slept on the floor at the Fremont Gigafactory and personally supervised the production progress.
Especially after the acquisition of Twitter, Musk often sleeps in the office of Twitter's headquarters to deal with various unexpected situations.
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In this regard, many people ridiculed: "Musk has finally found a CEO who can replace him and sleep in the factory." ”
Of course, Musk also spoke highly of Zhu Xiaotong's efforts and achievements.
He repeatedly praised the achievements of the Shanghai factory in public, and asked the head of the American factory in a "other people's child" tone: "Why can't it be the same as the Chinese factory?" ”
Under the leadership of Zhu Xiaotong, the Shanghai factory not only did not suffer from the impact in the extremely difficult year of 2022, but achieved a historic breakthrough in production capacity - reaching 1 million vehicles!
Behind this achievement is the hard work and unremitting efforts of Zhu Xiaotong and his team for countless days and nights.
They have overcome all kinds of difficulties to continuously optimize the production process and improve production efficiency, and finally achieved remarkable results.
Commenting on this success, Zhu Xiaotong said:
"I'm a person who doesn't give up easily, no matter how difficult a project is, as long as I put my mind to it, I will definitely complete it."
This statement is not only the best interpretation of his personal qualities, but also shows his love and dedication to his work.
It is this perseverance that keeps him moving forward on the road of Tesla's development.
Since April 2023, Zhu Xiaotong has officially served as the senior vice president of Tesla's automotive business, and after 9 years at Tesla, at the age of 43, he officially became Tesla's global management.
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On May 30, 2023, Musk's private jet successfully landed in Beijing, marking the official start of his tenth trip to China.
During this period, Zhu Xiaotong always accompanied him, like the "second person" of Tesla.
However, the world is changing, and no one can imagine what will happen in the next moment.
Since April 2024, Tesla has carried out several rounds of layoffs, six top executives have left, and only three people remain in the company's core leadership.
But Zhu Xiaotong is the only executive who is "alongside" with Musk, which shows his high status in the company.
However, in the face of Tesla's sales in the Chinese market, Musk is also worried.
After all, with the increasing rise of China's new energy vehicle brands, Tesla's current position in China is no longer what it used to be.
According to relevant data, Tesla's sales share in China's new energy vehicle market has dropped from 10.7% in 2021 to 7.8% in 2023.
Behind this phenomenon, in addition to Tesla's delay in launching more competitive new models, Tesla is also facing the potential risk of losing its price dominance in the frequent "price wars" launched by China's local competitors.
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In the face of this situation, Musk must actively explore and seek new growth momentum in Tesla's largest market in the world.
In this context, Zhu Xiaotong, as an outstanding talent who has been gradually promoted from the director of Tesla's China Supercharger project to the core leadership after 9 years, has undoubtedly become an ideal candidate to promote Tesla's development of new momentum in China.
Zhu Xiaotong once commented on Musk as follows:
"He has a light in his eyes and a passion that inspires others. It's a great blessing to work with such a manager. ”
Zhu Xiaotong's words are full of admiration and admiration for Musk.
Therefore, no matter whether Zhu Xiaotong chooses to return to China or relay Musk, perhaps he will put Tesla first.
In an increasingly competitive market environment, it remains to be seen whether Tesla will succeed in capturing new opportunities.
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Author: Yuzu Bai
Editor: Ichiyigi