Chapter 48 11. Entrepreneur (Part 1) Wang Shi

I met Wang Shi for the first time in the first half of 1993. At that time, we had just made our first pot of gold and established Vantone Group. The power and responsibility relationship among our six partners had also been clarified. At the beginning of 1993, as soon as we moved to the new building to work, we immediately launched a round of advanced learning activities.I have a root disease, I like to learn from the advanced since I was a child, in elementary school, middle school, and university, I like to write letters to the most amazing people in China. At that time, I had no other way to contact these people, so I had to write letters. During the "Cultural Revolution", I wrote many letters, including to Huang Shuai.Some people paid attention to me, and most people ignored me, but I was not discouraged. Every time a story about a "hero" was published in the newspaper, I would write letters to communicate with them. In the summer of 1976, a classmate and I went to Shanghai to find those people to learn from. Because we were too young, others didn’t want to talk to us, but we were still full of enthusiasm and kept running, catching "advanced youth" to study.Therefore, in 1993, I proposed a plan to list the good companies in China and clarify my learning goals.

We made a list and went door to door.The name Vanke was told to me by Gongquan. I remember that Gongquan said at the time: “There are a group of boys in Shenzhen who are also intellectuals. , Hong Kong and Macau Group, etc.The first time I went to Shenzhen was I went with Gongquan.We met Wang Shi in his office, and we talked there all afternoon, a lot.The conversation at that time left a deep impression on me, because we talked about passionate young people, not talking about anything else, just talking about our own ideals.During the chat, Wang Shi asked a lot of questions, which can be summed up in two main points: one is to question our idealistic passion, and suggest that we think clearly whether the cooperation between the six of us is based on interests or ideals .At that time, we believed that we were business partners based on ideals, but Wang Shi said: "Impossible, you will encounter conflicts of interest sooner or later." Then there are issues of diversification and specialization. He advocated that we focus on real estate.

Regarding that conversation, my general feeling is that our thoughts are very different from Wang Shi’s, because he has come here, he started earlier than us, looking back today, he left well earlier than us 7 years, so he could see it more clearly; while we were just starting at that time, many contradictions, many differences, and many problems were not so obvious. After meeting for the first time, we didn't connect much.Until 1996, the company experienced some changes, some partners left, and the company's business also encountered a great crisis and adjustment.At this time, I called him once, and he happened to be in Beijing. I said I wanted to chat with him, so I asked him to have dinner at the Capital Club, where we chatted for a long time.Because of the problems encountered at this time, I recalled that some of what he said back then were correct, so we chatted very speculatively.Since then, we have become good friends, and he and Vanke have become role models for me to observe and learn anytime and anywhere.More than ten years have passed in a flash, Wang Shi, as a business leader, is almost a myth; Vanke under his leadership has gone through 23 years and has become the largest housing company in China, and is expected to enter the world's top 500.Vanke's success or Wang Shi's success, what special power does an entrepreneur reflect?Compared with other similar entrepreneurs, I still found some special features in Wang Shi.

The first is what many people don’t pay attention to or pay attention to. That’s what I told Wang Shi recently, “The most correct decision you made at that time was not to be the boss.”why?Among the entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs of that generation, very few started their own businesses without being the boss, and Wang Shi was the only exception.Vanke was founded by him alone, he did not become a boss, he pursued the position of a professional manager.The purpose of the vast majority of entrepreneurs is to be their own boss, but Wang Shi is not a boss, which is a very strange thing in itself.Because he was not the boss, the path he took and the problems he encountered were completely different from ours. This is probably one of the secrets of Vanke's super success.I have raised this issue with Wang Shi more than once, and he has two explanations.One is the background at that time. His company was state-owned at the beginning. When it was restructured into shares, he voluntarily gave up taking the majority of the shares. A small portion (approximately 30%) of shares.He personally spent 20,000 to 30,000 yuan to buy some stocks. After 18 years, the market value of these stocks is only a few million, which is less than 0.1% of Vanke's total market value.So at that time, under that situation, Vanke took the path of restructuring a state-owned enterprise, which was different from the private path we took from the beginning in terms of historical logic.

Another thing is that he has been thinking that fame and fortune can only be chosen one by one. In China, gaining wealth is very dangerous. If he is not willing to be lonely, he must be named relic.Looking back, he is indeed like this: he is not a rich man, no one in society says he is rich; he is not a rich man, he has never been on the rich list; but he is always on the list of good people and good deeds. , it is easy for him to survive in Chinese society.If he is a rich man and likes to show off at the same time, then Vanke will have problems, and he will definitely not be able to live now.

Another explanation is that Wang Shi once had the opportunity to be the boss, but he didn't do it.The main reason was that there were many old people who started businesses with him at that time. If he wanted to be the boss, those people should also be the boss, and many things would not be easy to settle.So he chose the position of manager, there is no problem of partners, and other people can go wherever they want: if they want to continue working, they can be a manager, if they want to be a boss, they can leave. A contradiction that is often difficult to resolve between generations.On the other hand, everyone who is a boss has a problem of original sin, so I think Wang Shi's choice not to be a boss is very unique, and it is the most unique choice among all entrepreneurs in China.It is this choice that frees him from original sin and makes all his life and company different from others.For example, regarding the issue of partners, Wang Shi chose not to be the boss to avoid this kind of crisis.After we started our business, because we all chose to be bosses, a group of bosses emerged; once we became bosses, it brought about a partner crisis, and the solution to this crisis is different.

Vantone's crisis solution method is to enter in the way of rivers and lakes and exit in the way of businessmen.But this is also a small minority. Most of the partners of private enterprises are very unhappy in the face of this crisis. They even fight and chase each other. If you send me to (prison) today, I will send you to prison tomorrow You send it in.Wang Shi does not become a boss, so there is no such contradiction. Vanke has entered a stable state very early on, and will not cause shocks and waste limited resources for this, but those who choose to be a boss will definitely disperse resources and internal affairs for partners. Make an "earthquake".Once there is trouble, it will turn into a big problem if it is not handled well.I also thought about it later, if I hadn’t been the boss at that time, there might not have been so many things, there would have been no problems of family separation, and there would not have been so many problems left over from history. with ".And once you become a partner, both people and assets will be scored when you break up, and the company's resources will be dispersed.In 1995, we managed more than 7 billion assets. The company was divided into partners, and after adjustment, there were still more than one billion yuan left; after the separation, the partners almost had to start from scratch.

The second difference between being a boss and not being a boss is the business orientation of the company.If you choose to be a boss, you will have "original sin", so it is easy to generate demand for huge profits.Because to solve the crisis, a large sum of money is needed. How did this big money come from?You have to make huge profits!Therefore, the company tends to have a tendency to make huge profits, prefers to gamble heavily, and is opportunity-oriented. The purpose is to solve its own crisis by grasping this today and doing that tomorrow.Because you are the boss at this time, the urge to make money comes from you, and the fear of crisis also gathers in you; both the urge to make money and the urge to solve the crisis will lead you, the boss, to do desperate things, pursue huge profits, and continue to gamble, such as violating regulations Misappropriating money, bribery and corruption, and trading money and power; and if you don’t choose to be a boss, these things will be gone, and your mentality will be balanced, and you will make many fewer mistakes.In addition, as a manager, one's own reputation is the most important, professional ability and moral character are the most important, and the amount of money earned is not the first important thing; the risk is small, the ability to make money, professionalism, and good morality are the first. of.

The third difference is the difference in values. Vanke adheres to the values ​​under the sun, and Wang Shi calls it "creating wealth under the sun".That's why Vanke has always said "no bribery".Wang Shi did not take bribes, why?He's not the boss should be one of the reasons.Usually managers rarely take the initiative to bribe, and it is the boss who bribes.Since the manager himself does not pursue huge profits, he does not need to do so many risky things for things that are not his own.Wang Shi's personal impulse for profit is not very great, because he himself decided not to take profit for his name, so his personal income has always been low, and the income of Vanke's employees has been relatively low for a long time.These are all conducive to his formation of a correct set of values, which is Sunshine's values, not to bribe, and to avoid risks reasonably.Therefore, Vanke clearly stipulates that projects with more than 25% profit will not be carried out.

Finally, we have to talk about his governance structure.Since he is not a boss but a manager, he must have a board of directors and must form a manager culture instead of a shareholder culture. Therefore, in the early days of Vanke, the shareholder culture was relatively weak and the manager culture was relatively strong.After the rapid growth in the past five or six years, he has continuously raised funds in the market and created value for shareholders. The shareholder culture has been improved and greatly improved.Vanke has always been a transparent, professional and publicly listed company, and its governance structure has always been relatively good.

Most of the early entrepreneurs in China ignored the corporate governance structure and became the boss themselves. Their own money was not separated from the company’s money and shareholders’ money, and their family affairs were not separated from the company’s affairs. As a manager again, I can't supervise myself.The so-called governance structure refers to the company's internal power structure and operating rules. A good governance structure should be that everyone has limited authorization, limited responsibility boundaries, and limited space.A complete private boss, it is easy to set power without boundaries, and do whatever you want 100%.Therefore, after Wang Shi chooses not to be the boss, he must be one of the managers under the management of the board of directors and shareholders, and is subject to regulatory constraints: he is not only restricted by the company's shareholders' meeting, board of directors, and board of supervisors, but also by the external Securities Regulatory Commission, regulatory authorities, and capital markets. He has been restricted for 23 years.Vanke's governance structure has always been very good, and Wang Shi has no way not to be a good person, nor can he not be a good company.If he had chosen to be the boss, I believe his governance structure would not be as good as it is today. Therefore, when I was studying Wang Shi, I found that one of his great characteristics is that he did not choose to be a boss when starting a business, which is different from all entrepreneurs.This has led to him being able to concentrate resources, have a good manager culture, have a good value, have a good governance structure, and be able to continue to grow in the professional field, thus surpassing all of us, and Eventually become a great entrepreneur.