In June 1996, Professor Qian Weichang, who was also known as "Three Moneys" with Qian Xuesen and Qian Sanqiang, visited Huawei, and Qian Wei said to Ren Zhengfei in a serious tone: "Don't bow to foreigners!" I came back from the United States to give my head to Chinese! ”
Now, 25 years later, Ren Zhengfei has not disappointed Qian Lao, and has extended Qian Lao's thoughts. Not only is it holding high in front of foreigners, but it has also attracted nearly 30,000 foreigners to work for Huawei.
<h1>1. 30,000 foreigners working at Huawei</h1>
Thanks to Qian Weichang's advice to Ren Zhengfei not to bow to foreigners, since 1998, Huawei has begun the fastest 10 years of international expansion. Around 1998, Huawei introduced IBM's IPD and ISC management systems, compiled the huawei basic law, the first internal "regulation" in China, and jointly built a management platform suitable for Huawei's internationalization with top consulting companies in many countries around the world, such as the United States, Japan, and Europe.
Today, Huawei conducts business or establishes R&D bases and marketing centers in more than 160 countries and regions around the world.
Employees from different countries, nationalities, and beliefs can find career paths at Huawei. According to the development report previously released by Huawei, as of 2018, the total number of foreign employees of Huawei exceeded 28,000, and the localization rate of overseas employees was about 70%. In the United States, Europe, Japan and other countries, many of Huawei's local executives are foreigners.
For example, in 2019, Huawei's chief security officer, Andy Perdy, an American who broke fire in China because of the "war of words" with the US media. In addition, Andy Perdy's immediate boss, John Suffolk, is a Briton who serves as Huawei's global cybersecurity and privacy officer. There is also Joe Kelly, an Irish national who died in Shenzhen at the age of 55 and is responsible for Huawei's vice president of media affairs.
It can be said that Ren Zhengfei not only gathered a large number of foreign talents, but also let these foreign talents bow down for Huawei and die later. How does this work?
<h1>Second, Ren Zhengfei: Foreigners can also be CEOs</h1>
When Andy Perdy angrily rebuked the American media, he said: "Huawei has undergone the strictest inspection in the world, if it wants to be fair, let American companies try it too." "Why is Andy Perdy so protective of Huawei? Because at Huawei, expatriates can not only do their favorite business and earn a good salary to take care of their families, but more importantly, at Huawei, as an expat, they can also get the same rank as Chinese.
Ren Zhengfei has long advocated that if Huawei wants to globalize, it must use foreigners. If you want to embrace all kinds of rivers, you must abandon the talent bias of China and the West. Foreigners can also be the CEO of Huawei. If the ability is enough, it can even be Huawei's "successor".
Looking at Chinese entrepreneurs, how many chinese entrepreneurs have such ideas and dare to speak out boldly? However, when Huawei first recruited overseas talents, it was not so easy.
In the 1990s, Huawei won the first place in the market competition with domestic communications giants such as ZTE, Julong, and Datang. But looking at the international stage, Huawei is still a fledgling stunned youth. In 2000, after China's accession to the WTO, as more and more domestic products were sold to the United States, Huawei's switches began to emerge in the U.S. market. But soon, high-tech companies represented by Cisco began to launch infringement lawsuits against Huawei, although only 1 year later, Cisco took the initiative to reach a court settlement with Huawei, but many foreign personnel still had a skeptical look at Huawei, not to mention that they could not recruit R& D talents and even foreign drivers.
Therefore, Ren Zhengfei set the "2 principles" of Huawei's overseas recruitment.
1. Inclusion.
For a long time, the Middle East countries represented by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have abundant oil resources, strong foreign exchange reserves, perfect social security systems, and more importantly, the religious concepts of the locals are very deep. When the time comes, people will pray in groups and continue to work after the prayer is over.
In the hearts of many Chinese people, Huawei people advocate wolf nature and dare to fight, but in the eyes of the people of many Middle Eastern countries, Huawei is unusually "Buddhist". For example, when Huawei opened up saudi business, Huawei people followed the customs, and the working hours were consistent with the prayer rhythm of the locals, fully respecting the freedom of belief of employees. For example, Huawei has a base station set up in the local "holy mountain", and non-local employees will not take the initiative to enter. Gradually, Huawei has also won the trust and respect of the locals.
In this way, in the Middle East, where many Western multinational enterprises have no income, Huawei people have made the "main production area" of the entire Huawei operating income. Today, Huawei employs more than 400 people in Saudi Arabia alone, and more than 60% of its employees are locals.
2. Willing.
Many people may not know that around 2000, Huawei was able to break through the 2G to 3G algorithm because of a Russian mathematician. Ren zhengfei said in an interview that Huawei paid the mathematician an annual salary of $2 million at that time and set up a separate research and development center for him in Russia. But this mathematician almost all played games after coming to Huawei, and there were executives who complained to Ren Zhengfei, and Ren Zhengfei waved his hand and said: "Let him go." Why?
Because the Russian R&D center is only one of Huawei's 16 overseas R&D centers. Huawei must be willing to cast a wide net, maximize the "black swan of science and technology", and not miss the impact of the technological jump in the ICT industry. In the tech space, we often see a phenomenon where many of the innovations that disrupt an industry don't come out of a big company, but are scattered around the world. If you are not willing to cast a wide net, even the United States Bell Labs, which has developed epoch-making products such as computers, satellites, and electron microscopes, will decline.
Later, the SingleRAN developed by Russian mathematicians was not only small in size, stable in signal, but also cost only 1/3 of the previous one, which greatly enhanced the competitiveness of Huawei's wireless division in the European market.
<h1>III. Conclusion</h1>
Recruiting foreigners is also called "introducing high-nosed talents" in ren zhengfei's words. With global integration and frequent financial crises, seeking global wisdom can mitigate the impact of external changes on Huawei.
Today, Ren Zhengfei has lined up and lined up all over the world. Nearly 200,000 Huawei people, 30,000 are expatriates. They come from 160 countries and regions, with different genders, ages, education, beliefs, and educational backgrounds, and under the leadership of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei, they have cut through thorns and thorns across five continents and four oceans.
Have you ever seen such a magnificent scene in China's business history?