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From TV presenter to guest media founder, this transition is like a marathon — long, painful, but more than that, a sense of gain and accomplishment.
Looking back on the road ahead, Wu Ting expressed her current understanding of life and work in an exclusive interview with the Global Times. This understanding has both a rational side, "should go, should stay, should continue, should disappear." In the end, no one can go against the tide. There is also no lack of emotional cognition, "growing slowly like an oak tree", and eventually becoming a person who accompanies hundreds of entrepreneurs and grows up with tens of billions of viewers.
Wu Ting loves to run, I know. When she walked quickly and lightly into her own office in a lemon yellow sports top, it further validated my cognitive impression of her. From a TV host 10 years ago to the founder of today's guest media company, Wu Ting has completed a gorgeous identity transformation - once a running "backward student", now has participated in 6 marathons; once unable to distinguish the difference between the chairman and the general manager, she thinks that she will never be in business, but now she has founded her own company. Such a big change, in the eyes of others, the biggest role is her own bold choice.
At Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business, there is no one who does not love long-distance running
"Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business is very popular with running." The topic of the interview naturally begins with running. Before going to Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business, Wu Ting only ran 800 meters at the longest, watching the students of Yangtze River running marathons and "punching cards" in the WeChat group every day, she also gradually became moved. "On the first day of running, I went out wearing board shoes and cotton clothes, and although it was painful, I even insisted on 5 kilometers."
Wu Ting said that running, like most things in the world, goal setting is very important, and then she went to Chongqing to run a half marathon, and then flew to Berlin, Germany to run a full marathon. "There's a church at the end of every stretch of the Berlin Marathon, and when you run, you know that there's always a goal standing there, which gives you momentum." Wu Ting was impressed by the respect and care of the locals for each other, "For example, some people run and run with their shoelaces scattered, they will first retreat to the side of the road, and then bend down to tie their shoelaces to prevent affecting the running rhythm of others." For example, when I ran 35 kilometers, my body was already very tired, which was equivalent to limping, and many runners would whisper when they passed me, 'Are you okay?' Can I help you? I was particularly touched by this concern from strangers. ”
Since long-distance running is so painful, what is the point of keeping running? Wu Ting said she wants to make long-distance running a milestone in her transition period. The time when she frequently participated in marathons also happened to be the time when she resigned from the TV station and decided to start her own business. "I said to myself at the time, from now on, I want to become an entrepreneur, from a craftsman and screw in the system who knows nothing about the environment to a 'manager' and 'responsibility bearer' who faces the world alone, and there are too many unknowns in front of me to learn and overcome." Long-distance running is equivalent to giving her the courage to touch the unknown.
A life-and-death river crossing in the Kenyan steppes
Wu Ting is literary and artistic in her bones, she has been a columnist, and she will record her own feelings about life in words, including travel. In her text, you can read about Bangkok's "Night of Horror" caused by acute gastroenteritis, you can see Japan's nuanced service culture, and you can also taste the aroma of books in Taiwan.
"People who love to read dream of having a 24-hour bookstore in their city. So when you get to Taipei, you must go to Eslite Bookstore. "Wu Ting went to Taiwan on a business trip, and after finishing her work, she immediately took a taxi to Eslite," although it was very late at that time, there were still many readers, standing or squatting or simply sitting on the ground. Eslite Bookstore has quality, readers also have quality, so large an area, quiet only the sound of flipping books. "Wu Ting is a literary and artistic youth, and Taiwan is a series of literary and artistic films in her eyes. Kenting reminded her of "Cape Seven", the vast blue sea made her just want to run wildly; when she rested in the cafes along the way, she recalled the idealistic sisters in "The 36th Story"; in Kaohsiung Harbor, she remembered her favorite "One Day" in the "Kaohsiung City Image" series of movies, the love of the male and female protagonists was moving; the men and women and children who came and went on the streets of the city, seemingly ordinary but had their own hearts, which reminded her of the movie "One One". Several members of an ordinary family, each with his own hardships.
Last summer, Wu Ting took her family and her classmates from Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business on a trip to Kenya together. "We made some donations at a local Maasai primary school." The so-called school is just a small mud house, Wu Ting said, although the Material conditions of the Maasai people are not good, but the children still dress neatly out to greet them, "Marseille is cheerful, can sing and dance, some children also teach these Chinese children English, and a 5-year-old child took my hand and said to me, 'I am willing to make friends with you, you have to come every year', the look of speech is particularly free." ”
What impressed Wu Ting was not only the enthusiasm of the Maasai people, but also the grandeur of the animal migration. Before this trip, she had seen a documentary called "The Great Migration", in which the wildebeest was swallowed by a crocodile during its migration, and walked from the screen to the real world tens of meters away. "We stood by the river and saw a lot of wildebeest crossing the river being dragged into the water by crocodiles and swallowed to death. At that moment, everyone was quiet, not because of bloody fear, but because of the reverence for nature's predatory food chain. When recalling these pictures, Wu Ting's speech speed is slow, as if she has returned to the vast grasslands of Africa, back to the river that flows silently and silently, and the unknown river contains the shock and understanding brought to her by life and death in nature. Even if you, as a human, can feel the hopelessness and compassion in the eyes of the wildebeest, but it has no way to save anything, it must turn its head again, and then resolutely continue to move forward. The river is not wide, but only when it crosses over and continues forward can there be grass to eat. The walk that should go, the one who should stay, the one that should continue, the one that should disappear. All the changes in fate are in that moment, but in the end no one can go against the tide. ”
Want a trip for two people
On the trip to Kenya, Wu Ting also brought her daughter, this little girl who had just entered the first grade of primary school was a little timid, when the Maasai people drove them in an open-top jeep to drive on the prairie, from time to time there were lions passing by, and leopards lying on the trees on the roof of the car, Wu Ting herself was frightened, but her daughter did not care. "She told me, 'Don't be afraid, mom, they're just passing by."
Wu Ting's husband is a documentary filmmaker, when Wu Ting was pregnant and had a big belly, the two of them also made a novel short film, the theme of the short film is to ask the people around them "Do you guess a boy or a girl", and then record the picture of them answering. Wait for the 100-day banquet after the birth of the child, and then cut out this film and broadcast it to everyone. "When I was pregnant, 90 percent of people guessed I would have a boy, but I would prefer to be a girl myself, so it was interesting that the documentary cut out with a flipped ending."
Wu Ting's life photos are mostly taken by her husband, who said that she often has friends leave messages in her circle of friends, envying her other half who can take pictures. Chen Xiaoqing, the general director of "China on the Tip of the Tongue", is a friend of the couple, and once, Xiaoqing left a message in wu Ting's circle of friends who posted photos, "There are only two kinds of boys that girls want to marry, one is very rich, and the other is to take pictures." ”
"Last night, I also asked my husband, 'Have we ever traveled with two people?' The two of us thought about it carefully, and we never had, either going out with the film crew to shoot films together, or taking the elderly children on vacation, in short, there were no two people who traveled alone. Speaking of this, Wu Ting had the idea of planning a trip for two people this year, "You can go anywhere, as long as it is exclusive to two people." ”
"The trip I yearn for is not to have a job, it is a free trip, rest when you want to rest, and get up when you want to get up." However, it backfired, and most of Wu Ting's travel was work-related. In January last year, she went to the United States to shoot the international electronics exhibition CES, and the whole schedule was very tense, in her own description, "I was tired to wear makeup and fell asleep all the time, and I immediately interviewed when I opened my eyes, day and night, and the whole team was particularly hard." ”
"Ten years later, I want to be someone like an oak tree"
In the past, when she was a live program host on a TV station, every day at the specified time, Wu Ting had to appear in the live broadcast room on time, year after year, this feeling of being trapped made her feel depressed by nature, and even for a long time, she would repeat the same dream - she had been on the high-speed rail or plane, had sat down in her seat, and as a result, the TV station called herself back with a phone call. She felt that it was time to change the rhythm of life, so she had a series of decisions to go to Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business and leave her job to start a business.
What are the commonalities among entrepreneurs? Wu Ting believes that it is the word "persistence". "What is entrepreneurial success?" Listing does not mean success, listing means that you have reached a new stage, to face more difficulties, greater challenges, listing and delisting. Is a unicorn equal to success? No, many important enterprises are not profitable, and the pressure is very high. You said that Huawei was successful in this way, right? Highly respected by everyone, but Huawei does not dare to say that it has succeeded, and it also has a book called "Will the next fall be Huawei". In Wu Ting's view, entrepreneurship is a road with no end, "entrepreneurs have goals, but there is no end." Just like the churches on the road of the Berlin Marathon are their goals, but entrepreneurship is a myriad of marathons strung together, and persistence is essential. ”
Wu Ting, who was the host of the TV station's people's livelihood program 10 years ago, has founded her own company, and media and education have entered the scene at the same time. So, what will she look like in 10 years? Wu Ting gave an answer that I had never thought of, "In 10 years, I want to become a person like an oak tree." "The characteristic of the oak tree is that it can grow in a harsh environment, not picking the soil, not picking the temperature, not picking the water, not picking the sunlight, it will grow slowly, and eventually form an ecology of its own." Today, our company's shareholder pool has more than 30 people, the guest students have more than 100 entrepreneurs, and hundreds of millions of people are watching our programs and case reports. In 10 years, this number may be from hundreds to tens of thousands of entrepreneurs, hundreds of millions to tens of billions of users, I have accompanied them to help them grow, this is not the happiest state. ”
Wen 丨 Hu Qianru