I often hear people say, "I have a relationship," and as soon as I hear that, I feel like I'm going to do something. Every country in the world is made up of people, and foreigners certainly have relations, but in the United States and Europe, it is rare to hear people talk about it.
In my opinion, the so-called "relationship" is not to cover up and take advantage of the law, let alone to break the law.
How much we do is because of relationships, and we ourselves should reflect on it. "I have today by relationship", "I achieved this achievement by relationship", "I reached this goal by relationship". If so, then you're not really good. If you rely half on relationships and half on luck, then you have no ability at all.
In July 2009, Russia arrested 166 Chinese businessmen in a market. This incident alarmed our country, and I heard that the vice minister of commerce flew to solve this problem.
There are not only Chinese in the market, but there may also be Singaporeans, Japanese, Koreans, why are only Chinese arrested?
We Chinese have a habit of always unknowingly bringing "relations" to foreign countries. Counterfeiting, shoddy, violating laws and regulations, thinking that paying money and bribing foreign officials can turn the danger into a disaster, unscrupulously engaging in promiscuity, and even evolving into smuggling crimes, as a result, foreign governments have begun to sweep up.
I am not sympathetic to these people, but I just feel that this kind of problem should not go from the inside to the outside, and when I go to foreign countries and still engage in relations every day, there will definitely be problems.
Being a person first is not to ask you to engage in relationships, but to bring the team well and then start to set various goals. Because without a good team, without execution, even simple goals cannot be implemented.
To be a person, the key is to communicate and motivate, communication can understand the problem, motivation can mobilize work emotions. To be a person is by no means to pull friendships, drink and eat.
When I was working in the United States, I observed: do business with Americans, don't pull him to eat and drink all day long, he will think that you have a problem with this person, your purpose is to cut corners; with your good colleagues, even if they go to the bar with you every day, it does not mean that he will agree with your incorrect ideas and practices, and he will oppose you when meeting.
Chinese always mix "being a person" with "doing things", which is actually wrong. I once taught a course called "Leadership Quotient", which is about: How to be a leader? How do you do something important and urgent? How to do things that are efficient and effective? How to use charisma to take your men...
It does not talk about inviting guests to dinner and drinking, but about the essentials of communication with customers - how to make people understand the speech? How do we interpret people's words?
Nanlu Chen is the President of Swire Group China, but the Britons at Swire headquarters believe him so much.
He is known as the "King of bridges" (a man with many ideas) in Hong Kong, who knows both Hong Kong and the mainland, and does not do things in a hurry, always able to achieve his goals, whether by means or for people to be convincing.
I don't believe that he leads such a large Swire group, leads so many cadres, and wants to do a good job of docking between Britain and China, and relies on drinking and eating. This shows that being a leader is not about inviting guests to dinner and drinking.
So, let's talk about a smaller company, Hong Kong HengxingXing. Hengxingxing was founded in Hong Kong in 1960 as a dry seller and later opened a restaurant. Many tour groups go to Hengxingxing to eat nutritious meals and buy dried goods and herbs when they arrive in Hong Kong.
Why can people do business for so long? Because they take care of things, not to drink and eat to make friends, but to use motivation, communication and other methods. In fact, most successful companies do not rely on relationships.
Many people will say, how do I do business without engaging in relationships.
I ask myself, I dare not say that I have not relied on relationships in my life, but I dare to say that my abilities and opinions do not come out of relationships.
I also don't want to use relationships, because this will not only involve myself, but also make people look down on them. For me, what is more important is not how people see me, but what I rely on to win, quality and technology are the most important.
Relationships can never replace quality, nor can they replace technology. Do you use Apple, Samsung, or Huawei phones because they have a relationship with you? Do you use cosmetics because the clerk has a relationship with you? Do you drive a Mercedes-Benz and BMW because of relationships?
Relationships are no substitute for brands. All brands are not built on relationships. Those boutiques are not popular because of their relationships, and a brand-name product is not what it is today. Some brands last for hundreds of years, do you think a relationship can last for hundreds of years?
Intel is one of the top three electronics companies in the world and has always stood firm. As long as you open the laptop, it is not pasted with Intel or Microsoft icons, is that pasted by relationship?
All the brands in the world, I have great respect for them. I think that doing a good brand is definitely not dependent on relationships, but on continuous efforts to improve technology and quality, and only today is today.
I'm not saying it can't be a relationship at all, but it must not be excessive. We can reduce the proportion of public relations according to a proportion, such as reducing about 1/5 to 1/4 of each year, and slowly reduce the proportion of public relations and reduce the dependence on public relations.
There is no company in this world that does not rely on public relations, but it can never be interpreted as breaking the law, pulling friendships, engaging in cats, and making fake and shoddy, so it is not right.