"I would never promote a person who has no grassroots work experience to be a manager, everyone is the same."
This is exactly what Huawei Ren Zhengfei said, and in fact, he did it.
In 2011, Huawei's eldest princess Meng Wanzhou served as Huawei's CFO, and at this time, Meng Wanzhou's identity as Ren Zhengfei's daughter was announced, which was Meng Wanzhou's 18th year of working at Huawei.
5 years of front desk, 5 years of cashier, Meng Wanzhou sat on the management step by step.
At that time, there were many opinions within the company: "Since she is an old and long-term woman of Huawei, why do you have to endure hardships to start from the grassroots level?" The reason is precisely the principle of Ren Zhengfei's business.
Ren Zhengfei: "Any Huawei person must sit on the cold bench for at least ten years." ”
The same is true of her daughter Meng Wanzhou.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="8" >1, not special Huawei princess</h1>
In 1992, Meng Wanzhou, who had just graduated from college, did not study abroad like most young people, but stayed in China to enrich his experience. He first worked for a year at a Construction Bank in Shenzhen and later joined Huawei. Unlike other rich families, Meng Wanzhou did not have time to be a Huawei executive, but started from the front desk, when she and her father Ren Zhengfei were tight-lipped, doing the work of the grassroots can no longer be grassroots, here she is Meng Wanzhou is not the daughter of the boss, so few people in the company know that she is the daughter of Ren Zhengfei.
The work of the front desk sister is 5 years, and in the first few years, Meng Wanzhou and the other 3 girls in the company worked on trivial things such as the transfer of the company's switchboard and document printing, because they were not skilled and were fiercely criticized by Ren Zhengfei in front of their colleagues.
Why did Meng Wanzhou go to the front desk? It is not because of the lack of people at the front desk but this seemingly simple position, which can make her lower her posture and get better experience, no father does not love his children, and ren Zhengfei is the same.
In 1996, Meng Wanzhou went to Moscow with the team to participate in Huawei's first international communication exhibition, because in other countries, different currencies could not be traded, and the leader asked Meng Wanzhou to exchange dollars for rubles.
Meng Wanzhou held a stack of dollars to the street to redeem, did not dare to count at the scene, holding the money to run to the hotel, to the hotel to lock the door Meng Wanzhou dared to breathe, the exchange of good money out of the inventory, this point Meng Wanzhou found less than 100 US dollars of rubles.
Although he was not blamed by the leader for the special situation, this experience gave Meng Wanzhou an idea - to learn financial management.
In 1997, Meng Wanzhou returned to campus to pursue a master's degree in financial management at Huazhong University of Science and Technology. Whether working or studying, she adhered to her father's advice, kept a low profile, and studied hard.
In 1998, Meng Wanzhou returned from school and rejoined Huawei, unlike in previous years, she was more professional and had a higher education; but what remained unchanged was that she still did grassroots work, from the front desk to the finance department.
Here her life is even more anxious than the days of the front desk, facing various reimbursement vouchers and documents every day, and attaching the serial number in order, and then rebinding, and the assembly line work is done for another 5 years.
Meng Wanzhou has been constantly improving herself in the past 10 years at the grassroots level, and a mistake made her determined to learn financial management. Willing to sit on the cold bench for ten years, Meng Wanzhou transformed from a newcomer in the workplace to a backbone elite, and the cold bench was finally "covered with heat".
Later, Meng Wanzhou was promoted to director of Huawei's international accounting department, established a global unified Huawei financial organization, and greatly improved the efficiency of the financial department under her series of reforms.
In 2011, It was the 18th year that Meng Wanzhou joined Huawei, and in the same year, Meng Wanzhou was promoted to Huawei CFO, at which time her identity as the daughter of Ren Zhengfei was known to everyone.
Ren Zhengfei used his daughter's example to remind the company that there is an opportunity at Huawei, but first of all, it must make achievements in its own position, and there is no grassroots work experience not to be promoted. For 10 years, the cold bench has to cover the heat on its own.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="46" >2, grassroots experience is the only way for every management</h1>
Of course, since the establishment of Huawei, not everyone is the same, willing to sit on the cold bench for 10 years. Li Yinan, huawei's "prince", who was once known as Ren Zhengfei's successor, joined Huawei and began a rocket-like promotion.
In 1970, Born in Hunan, Li Yinan was talented and intelligent, and went to Huazhong University of Science and Technology at the age of 15, far surpassing his peers, and joined Huawei at the age of 23, becoming a legend of Huawei.
This genius teenager was discovered by Ren Zhengfei from the moment he stepped into the door of Huawei, and soon after he and his brother Zheng Bao developed the 10,000-door switch C&C08, which was a milestone for Huawei at that time, for a time, Li Yinan became a hero, Ren Zhengfei paid special attention, at that time, his relationship with Ren Zhengfei was also a teacher and a friend and a father and son, and Huawei's "prince" came from this.
Valued by the boss, Li Yinan's promotion at Huawei can be described as a smooth step, and the promotion road at the speed of light begins:
He was promoted to chief engineer and president of the Central Research Department of Huawei within two years, and was only 27 years old when he became vice president of Huawei.
Li Yinan, who is full of enthusiasm, proves that the "genius teenager" is not an empty name, Ren Zhengfei has a lot of trust in it, and the company's internal "Li Yinan is Ren Zhengfei's successor" statement.
In this regard, Ren Zhengfei did train him as a successor, but the successor is not outstanding in scientific research, and management is also the top priority.
In order to exercise Li Yinan, Ren Zhengfei took him off from the height of the vice president and put it in the marketing department of the wind and sun to do promotion work, in order to grow marketing knowledge in order to become a management talent in all aspects.
In the year of his establishment, where Li Yinan could bear such a gap, in his heart he was only demoted himself and misunderstood Ren Zhengfei's intentions.
Ren Zhengfei and Li Yinan, one does not ask, one does not say; later Huawei encouraged internal entrepreneurship, and Li Yinan, who was uneasy about the status quo, chose to leave and go to the sea to start a business, and this walk stood on the opposite side of the old owner, the communication industry, and founded a harbor network company.
At first, he was also a partner with Huawei, and the relationship was harmonious, but gradually Li Yinan's appetite was getting bigger and bigger, and he extended his hand to Huawei's core business optical communication, self-developed and self-marketed so that he won large orders in the market one after another, in the face of the provocation of "Harbor", Huawei could not sit still, and then the two began to rub their fists, grab the market, rob customers, former partners, mentors became enemies.
The shopping mall is like a battlefield, and among the two Ren and Li who adhere to the same "wolf" culture, there can only be one "wolf king" after all.
Huawei's "father-son war" with Gangwan ended in the defeat of Gangwan, and Li Yinan, who was frustrated in the mall, went astray and was sentenced for suspected internal stock trading.
Li Yinan and Meng Wanzhou are both Huawei people, a talented person, in Huawei's promotion and promotion of the qingyun; a steady and steady, starting from the grassroots, 5 years of front desk, 5 years of cashier, sitting on the Huawei CFO has been in the company for 18 years; the two promotion paths are very different, when Li Yinan served as vice president, Meng Wanzhou was still a "front desk sister".
Nowadays, the current situation of the two is completely different, which shows that grassroots training is the only way for a manager, Ren Zhengfei is not sparing talents, "refining" talents, and knows that all-round development of talents can be responsible for Huawei's overall business in the future.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="47" >3, talent is the foundation of all careers</h1>
"Even if there are tens of millions of soldiers, there are still good generals who need to plot." Enterprise development needs technology, and behind the technology is people.
With nearly 200,000 employees worldwide, how does Huawei empower new people and train them to become qualified Huawei people?
In the competitive environment of "either rise or go", Huawei uses the "wolf" culture to make employees realize transformation one by one.
Ten years of cold bench from "reserve" to "general" is a must-go journey. What role do the "hero" multiplier growth mechanism, and the indiscriminate last-place elimination play? The more employees grow, the more successful the business.
Ren Zhengfei's management method told Huawei people, "Praise the virtuous and noble, and cultivate talents." "Development needs talents, and in the face of the new tasks of the new era, not only strong scientific and technological talents are needed, but also comprehensive talents are needed to participate in control." The times are constantly changing, and only by advancing with the times can we go further.
As a leader "can speak, body can do", in a high position can afford, the heart is not ashamed, ten years of cold bench will eventually be covered, for Huawei is not lacking in "turn the tide" hero, but to support the overall situation, can bring heroes to the system.
Click on the link below to see how Ren Zhengfei has supported the overall situation and led Huawei through decades of storms.
Ren Zhengfei biography ¥38 purchase