A reporter once asked Cao Dewang: Why do you want to do charity? Is it because of the money?
Cao Dewang smiled: As soon as he talked about doing charity, Chinese thought of donating money. In his eyes, doing charity is equivalent to learning to be a person, not for others, but for himself, to cultivate the rules of being a person.
In mid-July, Henan suffered from a century-old heavy rainfall disaster, and on July 23, the Heren Charity Foundation founded by Cao Dewang released the news:
Cao Dewang donated 100 million yuan to support henan disaster relief.
The amount is not much, but the publicity is not much, he said, according to the culture of Chinese: hidden merit can accumulate virtue.
He always felt that wealth and charity were only small kindnesses, comparing his own money to "extra meat", and he could cut a lot of meat and throw it out, firstly because he had this ability, and second, because he could withstand this burst of pain.
Who is Cao Dewang?
Some called him "China's first good."
According to incomplete statistics, as of now, Cao Dewang's cumulative donation amount has exceeded 16 billion yuan, and almost all of them are donated in his personal name, which has nothing to do with the enterprise.
In the 1998 floods, he donated 3 million;
In the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, he personally went to the disaster area and donated 20 million yuan successively;
In the 2010 Yushu earthquake in Qinghai, Cao Hui, the son of Cao Dewang, donated 100 million yuan on behalf of the family;
In 2020, in order to fight the new crown epidemic, Cao Dewang donated 100 million yuan and purchased 40 tons of epidemic prevention materials worldwide;
……
Some also call him the King of Glass.
The "Fuyao Glass" he created is the only "Well-known Trademark in China" in China's automotive glass industry so far, accounting for more than 20% of the global market.
Others call him a "stupid man," and the person who says it is himself.
In a public speech, he said that all Chinese knew that Cao Dewang was the most stupid, and had been a business for decades, making only a piece of glass.
fool
A big boss who said that he was stupid, I am afraid that not only will no one believe it, but he will also be used as a high-level Versailles as a talking point after tea.
But looking at Cao Dewang's autobiography "Heart Like Bodhi", I really found such a few "evidences"——
Before becoming acquainted with glass, Cao Dewang worked as a fruit seedling technician on a farm for a while. One day the sun was shining brightly at noon, and he was sitting under a big tree to cool off, and in the distance he saw a person walking on the road. The man came and borrowed a bucket from Cao Dewang, because he had walked too far without drinking water, and he was already hot enough to suffer from heat stroke.
Cao Dewang, because he was afraid that he would get sick after drinking raw water after he was sweating, ran to the dormitory and took a large vat of herbal tea to him, knowing that he had not eaten, and took him back to the dormitory to cook a pound of rice for him, the man ate all of them unceremoniously, and asked Cao Dewang: Is there any wine to drink at night?
Cao Dewang was not only not angry, but also because of this person's "directness", regarded him as a confidant, felt that he looked up to himself, and found someone to help him borrow a bottle of Danfeng sorghum wine, a pound of peanut rice and ten eggs from the commune canteen. You know, that's seven years, and Cao Dewang's monthly income is more than forty yuan.
Doesn't that sound too smart? Don't worry, there is.
Cao Dewang and others jointly established a company that year, and the first thing he encountered after choosing a site was to retire the earth. The local mayor recommended a man to be the contractor, and that man offered a price well below the market price to contract the project. Cao Dewang felt that there was something strange, but it was inconvenient to refuse, so he pulled the mayor of the town to do a guarantee and signed a contract to protect his rights and interests.
The advance payment of 100,000 yuan was called, and the contractor began to think crookedly, giving Cao Dewang red envelopes, sending gold bracelets, and small means one after another, Cao Dewang warned him that if he did this again, he would return their contract.
Why did the contractor do this? Because he heard that the rule here is to get the contract in hand first, first quote a price lower than the market, and then modify the contract by giving gifts to do the relationship, but he did not expect to meet Cao Dewang, who is so soft and hard.
But there is a contract to contain, the other party has to perform the agreement during the construction period, the contractor is sad to rush the project, every day in the loss of money, everyone said that Cao Dewang this person is a dog, wait until the day of checkout, Cao Dewang paid him according to the market price of 2.8 yuan / square meter, not 0.8 yuan / square meter on the contract.
The other person couldn't believe his ears.
After all, how many people will do this kind of initiative to stuff money out?
But Cao Dewang has done this kind of thing more than once.
In the second half of 2006, Cao Dewang had a premonition that the "wind direction" was not right, and an economic crisis showed a precursor, and he led Fuyao to carry out self-help before the crisis really came, and even shut down the production line of four float glass.
Because of the VAM clauses that were signed, the consequence of shutting down these four production lines is that as a major shareholder, Cao Dewang is expected to lose 2.2 billion yuan in assets.
His subordinates advised him that he still insisted on the decision to shut down and eliminate low-efficiency enterprises, so that it would be conducive to the long-term development of the enterprise, although not shutting down can protect his personal assets, and the loss of the enterprise can also "operate" without a trace, but he believes that people are doing the sky, contrary to personality and morality, he will never do it.
The so-called "fool has a stupid fortune", his later success is precisely because he made a choice that many people think is "stupid".
The person who almost suffered heat stroke at that time was called Wang Yihuang, the director of a farm, and he said goodbye to Cao Dewang after eating and drinking enough, and when he left, he agreed with Cao Dewang: After the New Year, come to my place to do it. Cao Dewang did not take it seriously, and as a result, Wang Yihuang actually came to him as promised, and went to his home with a rich New Year's goods.
The contractor who tried to rely on the relationship, after that, followed Cao Dewang, starting from the first factory in Fuyao, 90% of the factory buildings of Fuyao Group were built by him, and later set up his own real estate company.
After the 2008 Olympic Games, the economic situation fell into crisis as Cao Dewang predicted, because of the advance self-help preparation, Fuyao was able to survive the crisis.
Not too small for my stage
In fact, Cao Dewang said that he was stupid, mainly because of glass.
Wu Xiaobo once described Cao Dewang in the program: constantly wrestling with people on a piece of glass, until the end.
Speaking of which, Cao Dewang and auto glass began with a coincidence.
He once went on a business trip, bought a bamboo crutch in the scenic spot, planning to bring it to his mother, he used the crutches as a flat burden, carrying things to get on the car, the driver suddenly warned him: Lao Cao, get on the car carefully, the car glass do not touch me, touched, you can not afford to lose.
At that time, Cao Dewang was already doing the business of water meter glass, knowing that the cost of glass was not high, and thought that the driver felt that he did not see it and was scaring him.
After going around the auto repair shop, Cao Dewang completely believed the driver's words, and the shop clearly marked: Mazda car, change a front windshield, 6,000 pieces, urgent, 8,000 pieces.
It was China in 1984, and most of the cars running on the road were imported. The car has cheap ones, but the car glass doesn't.
The replacement of glass needs to be imported, the road is far away, the time is also long, so many car glass is broken, the owner is sticking the tape to the top first, not good-looking, but also dangerous.
Cao Dewang moved his mind: I want to make a piece of my own car glass for China. Not only can the people enjoy the benefits, but they can also earn money, why not?
He spent 20,000 yuan to buy a set of drawings of old equipment from Shanghai Yaohua Glass Factory, and Yaohua also promised to arrange a group of technicians to help him, but according to their expectations, it would be a year later.
However, Cao Dewang was in full swing to make preparations, went to the bank to attract investment, and sent the recruited workers to Shanghai for training.
The biggest challenge is to buy the materials needed for the equipment, of which the bottom of the press needs two pieces of cast iron of about one ton, and it also needs to use a milling machine to mill, such a large milling machine, where to find?
Unexpectedly, he actually found the logistics director of the Air Eighth Army, and the soldiers of the Logistics Department of the Air Eighth Army worked overtime during the Spring Festival to help him gnaw down this hard bone.
When the materials were ready, he telegraphed the deputy director of the Yew Wah factory who sold his drawings and asked him to send technicians to install them.
The deputy director of the factory who received the telegram shouted in his office with the telegram:
Crazy crazy, Cao Dewang is crazy!
Everyone in the office also nodded: a fan is enough for him to do it for a year!
Unexpectedly, from getting the equipment map to producing the first piece of glass, Cao Dewang only took eight months.
The news that Cao Dewang's glass sold for more than 1,000 yuan quickly spread, and many people who did imported car accessories rushed to the news, and even some people directly drove to the factory to change glass.
In China in 1985, Cao Dewang made a lot of money from glass, and people's eyes were red: Where is the production of glass? This is printing money!
In 1987, Cao Dewang founded Fujian Yaohua Glass Factory in Fuqinghong Road, Fujian Province.
Auto glass is only one of Fuyao's business lines, and Cao Dewang has not yet had a mind and auto glass.
At that time, the company already accounted for a large share of the maintenance market, in the face of all kinds of small factories to the market robbery, Fuyao began to find another way - automotive glass company, industrial village company, decoration company, gas station, polymer company... It seems that the momentum of Fuyao's development is just right, but the result of busy work is that the company has not made more profits.
Cao Dewang was a little anxious, Fuyao had been listed in 1993, he did not want a listed company to fall in his hands, he took Fuyao's statement to the director of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange for consultation, and the other party did not turn a few pages, he scolded himself with a split face: You are a junk stock. Your little company does everything, who would dare buy your stock?!
Cao Dewang's face was a little hanging, but this also made him start to self-reflect.
A book called Focus on Regulations inspired him. Why is it that a convenience store in a remote mountain village has all the goods, but on Manhattan Avenue in New York, it is full of specialty stores of the world's major brands?
He understood that specialization was an important feature of modernization.
At that time, someone came to persuade him to do IT, open a repair shop, it sounds like a quick and profitable business, but Cao Dewang was already sober at that time, he decided to choose automotive glass as the main business, and it died to the end, fighting for it for life.
Over the years, because of professionalism, focus, and has its own proprietary technology, Fuyao gradually has its own irreplaceable position, and has obtained the certification of the world's eight major automobile manufacturers, their customers include Ford, Volkswagen, Audi, BMW and other world-famous car brands, and also opened factories to the United States, Russia and other countries, becoming a model for Chinese enterprises to "go global".
On the program "Let's Talk", hosted by Sabine, a girl who started a business and sold pig trotters asked Cao Dewang: I told people that I was selling pig trotters, and there would be some small inferiority, what about you?
Cao Dewang told her that there were no inferior occupations, only inferior people. After so many years, how many temptations were in front of him, he refused one by one, he once said that his ability is only enough to do one thing, "I can make everyone use my glass, I am not very successful?" ”
"I don't think my stage is small."
Cao Dewang once went to Germany, a lady with a child invited him to dinner, and the lady at the dinner talked about her child being nicknamed "Made in China" by her classmates because she was too naughty.
The other party as a joke to tell, Cao Dewang is like a fish in the throat, in the local area, "Made in China" is synonymous with shoddy, counterfeit and shoddy, at that time, many Chinese use their own "clever" means to obtain benefits, with "smart" in exchange for short-term profits, in the long run, but ruined the "Made in China" signboard.
This little thing is like a thorn that is difficult to remove, always reminding him not to smash his own signboard for temporary benefits.
In 2009, Cao Dewang was invited to participate in the EY Global Entrepreneur Awards, known as the "Oscar of the Business World", he represents not only Fuyao but also China.
That year, Cao became the first Chinese winner of the Ernst & Young Awards since it was first held in 1986.
On the way to the event, on the plane from Beijing to Europe, Cao Dewang watched the movie "Slum Millionaire", and after winning the award, he thought about the picture in the movie, and suddenly realized how similar his experience with the protagonist in the movie was.
Slum millionaire
Cao Was born in Shanghai in 1946 to the son of a shareholder of EY.
At that time, the Kuomintang regime was in turmoil, many families in Shanghai were relocating, and Cao Dewang's parents also decided to move away from work and return to Fuqing Mountain.
My father bought an iron-hulled ship and loaded the family property, but the cargo ship sank after a storm at sea.
The family's expenses could only rely on the mother's dowry to replace it with a soft, the father returned to Shanghai in order to survive, leaving the mother to take care of the six children who wanted to eat and drink, and the father's money could not be sent to the family on time.
Hunger is a common thing, the meal of the day is reduced to two meals, but still can only eat some soup and water, hungry children scream, the mother will gather them together to educate them: no one in the world will sympathize with your poverty, poverty is not terrible, afraid of no ambition."
When he was a child, Cao Dewang was very naughty, the class was not disciplined, the teacher turned to write on the blackboard, he stood up to imitate the teacher's writing posture, and when the teacher turned back, he pretended to be obedient to listen to the lecture, and before long, his title of "bad boy" became famous.
The most serious one was when the director of education educated him in front of all his classmates, and he was unhappy and planned to retaliate, and he spilled a puddle of urine on the head of the director of education who went to the toilet.
The disaster was big, Cao Dewang did not dare to go back to school, he dropped out of school, 14-year-old Cao Dewang, leading his mother to the cattle brought back by the production team, became a cowherd.
Cao Dewang, who did not have a school, became interested in reading, picked up the books that his brother spent, taught himself while herding cattle, and looked up the dictionary for words he did not know.
At the age of 15, his father, who had returned home from Shanghai, asked Cao Dewang to do business with him.
Saying that it is a business, in fact, is to go to Fuzhou to buy some cigarettes, transport them back to the mountains, and make some differences, in that era, this was "speculation", and Cao Dewang was young and not easy to attract attention.
The mountain is high and the road is far away, every time "purchase", Cao Dewang has to ride a bicycle for tens of kilometers, just like this, he followed his father to sell tobacco, but also sold fruit, but once sold tobacco, his father was arrested by the local industrial and commercial bureau, tobacco and bicycles were confiscated.
His father's condition was a warning to him, although his father was smart, he did things that the government did not support, and he made up his mind not to follow his father's old path.
He left his father to wander alone, sold white fungus, participated in the construction of reservoirs, worked as a cook in the company, and worked as a fruit seedling technician on the farm.
He was brainy, willing to ponder, and insisted on going the right way, doing every job well. In 1976, back to Fuqing Alpine to participate in the preparation of the alpine heterosexual glass factory and as a purchaser, and then the business was not well managed, continuous losses, in 1983, the Central No. 1 document was issued to encourage contracting, Cao Dewang was also at this time, together with several other people, contracted the alpine heterosexual glass factory.
In one year, the Alpine Glass Factory achieved a profit in the hands of Cao Dewang, earning 220,000 yuan, and according to the proportion, he divided 60,000 yuan from it and became a "10,000 yuan household".
Talking about the poor days he experienced before, Cao Dewang said that this was his lucky support, "I think that the poverty of my childhood has tempered my will and wisdom, which is the basis for today's success."
Years later, Cao Dewang became a veritable billionaire by virtue of his will and wisdom.
"The Word"
Cao Dewang always said that his success is that the times have created heroes, and he has good luck to catch up with the tide of reform and opening up, and before the reform and opening up, he was also as poor as a ghost.
But throughout his decades of life, his success is made up of choices.
Insist or give up, accept or reject, retain or give up.
He always had his own belief in the "Tao", "righteousness and profit", conscientiousness, concentration, and even some "clumsiness", he could pat his chest and say that he had never been paid a penny by others.
The source of that "Tao" may have been taught to him by his mother when he was a child: the most important thing in being a human being is the integrity of his personality, and what is most needed is to gain the trust of others.
It was also taught to him by his father: to do things with heart, as many things as you have, you can do as many things as you want.
With heart, sincerity, love, determination, concentration, perseverance, patience, compassion, the little child who didn't know anything at the beginning was still self-doubting: Is there so much heart?
Today's Cao Dewang, the heart that can be counted can no longer be tolerated by a pair of hands.
He wants to be an entrepreneur more than a rich man, and he wants to be a "stupid" person more than a smart person.
And what is charity in his eyes?
"That is, if there is a beggar begging in front of you, you do not throw the money over, but take out the money in your pocket and say that I don't have much money, here are five pieces, I hope you don't give up." 」