Chapter 29 Culture is endless

When it comes to Coca-Cola, it represents the brand culture of freedom, openness and self-release in the United States; when it comes to Sony, it represents the Japanese brand culture of self-improvement and continuous innovation; when it comes to Nike, it represents the free street sports and basketball culture in the United States; To Adidas, it represents Europe's long football culture and rigorous German culture.The reason why a brand becomes a brand is that it contains culture and can satisfy people's spiritual needs. When talking about national competitive advantage, American scholar Michael Porter said that the advantage based on culture is the most fundamental, most difficult to replace and imitate, the most durable and the most core competitive advantage.This also applies to businesses.

Ren Zhengfei advocates the power of culture. "Resources will be exhausted, and only culture will continue to grow." He believes that only when culture penetrates into the bones of Huawei people and forms a conscious unconsciousness can Huawei achieve "governance by doing nothing" and become a world-class leader. Enterprises move forward. Anyone who has been to Huawei Bantian Base in Longgang District, Shenzhen will see that all the roads in Bantian Base are named after famous Chinese and foreign scientists, such as Bell Road, Chong Road, Madame Curie Road, Jiaxian Road, Zhang Heng Road, etc. Wait, these road names are all named by Ren Zhengfei himself, which makes the original village-like Saka? ?The town suddenly flourished.

Ren Zhengfei's respect for scientists who changed human history is not only reflected in this.When he visited Bell Labs at the end of 1997, the first thing Ren Zhengfei said was: "I admired Bell Labs very much when I was young, and my admiration surpassed love." Pull over and take a group photo in front of the commemorative column of Mr. Badin, the inventor of the transistor.After visiting the laboratory, Ren Zhengfei walked to the workbench where Bardeen invented the transistor 50 years ago with reverence, and stood there for a long time.When the staff of the laboratory gave him a souvenir to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Bardeen's invention of the transistor, he sincerely expressed his great honor and praised Bardeen not only as Bardeen of Bell Labs, but also as a tribute to all mankind. Badin.

Many Huawei leaders were puzzled by Ren Zhengfei's inclination to work with companies such as Lucent and Marconi.In fact, if we understand Ren Zhengfei's growth experience, we know that the admiration and admiration for those inventors and technological sages in his youth is an important factor. Ren Zhengfei was born in a "poor family" and changed his own destiny with knowledge; Huawei is a "poor family" company that also needs to change its destiny with knowledge. "Knowledge is power. If others don't learn it, you must learn it. Don't follow the herd." His father's words have always influenced Ren Zhengfei, and they have also influenced Huawei through Ren Zhengfei.Therefore, in the crazy age of "everyone goes to the sea", Ren Zhengfei is not moved by immediate interests and insists on research and development of technology. He will use the power of knowledge to change Huawei and make Huawei bigger.Ren Zhengfei's focus on the IT industry is his choice to believe that knowledge creates value.

In the process of running a business, Ren Zhengfei has a very strong desire for talents and technology.He insisted that although it may temporarily increase production costs, it is correct for Huawei to gather outstanding talents and increase the proportion of talents.Therefore, when discussing the "Huawei Basic Law", Ren Zhengfei especially emphasized that "the goal of human capital appreciation takes precedence over the goal of financial capital appreciation" must be included. In 2001, the president of the China region of a well-known multinational company visited Huawei and accidentally chatted with Ren Zhengfei about the real estate market in Shenzhen.Ren Zhengfei expressed his emotions impromptu, pointing out the flaws in the market positioning of Huangpu Graceland, and Huangpu Graceland is the "flagship" project of Cheung Kong Enterprises under Li Ka-shing in the central area of ​​Futian, Shenzhen.The visiting president took the opportunity to chime in: "If Huawei had also been engaged in real estate back then, perhaps Vanke would not be the real estate boss today." Ren Zhengfei smiled without commenting.However, a person close to Ren Zhengfei later said: "The boss must have thought at the time, 'In that case, I am afraid there will be no Huawei today'".

"Knowledge is power", using knowledge Ren Zhengfei changed his own destiny, created a "benchmark" enterprise in China's communications industry, and opened up a new path for the development of Chinese enterprises in the new era. German sociologist Max Weber believed that it was the Protestant ethics that created the glory of capitalism today.Protestant ethics pay attention to the direct communication between man and God, and doing the work bestowed by God will increase the glory of God and obtain eternal happiness. "For the glory of God" became the driving force for the development of capitalism.

Culture is the spiritual accumulation of the long-term development of human society. It penetrates into everyone's heart and becomes an invisible force that drives people.The impact of corporate culture on corporate development is even more so.Ren Zhengfei said: "The material resources that human beings possess are limited. One day, oil, coal, forests, iron ore... will be exploited, and only knowledge will increase." He admired the Israelis very much. In the desert area with harsh ecological environment, the Israelis not only survived, but also became a powerful country. "The country of Israel is an example for us to learn from. It says that it has nothing but one head. A Jewish nation that has been separated for 20 centuries. After returning to their homeland, they create They have achieved unbelievable miracles. Their resources are smart heads, and they have created miracles in the world by relying on their spiritual and cultural power."

At the beginning of 2002, Ren Zhengfei invited eight philosophy professors from the Department of Philosophy of Peking University and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences to give lectures on Chinese and Western philosophical thoughts for middle and high-level leaders of enterprises, with an emphasis on Max Weber's "Protestant Ethics and the Spirit of Capitalism".According to Weber's concept, religious ideas such as "vocation" and "abstinence" advocated by Protestantism have a major impact on the origin and development of modern Anglo-American capitalism. When people regard work as a "vocation"—a duty assigned by God , People have established basic values ​​such as responsibility, dedication, and dedication.

A good culture can be revealed in the subtleties.In IBM's office, all garbage has two outlets, one for recyclable garbage and the other for non-recyclable garbage. All employees are very conscious.This is not only a responsibility, but also the culture of the company. On a prominent place on the wall of the Huawei Research Center, there is a sentence like this: "The bench will sit on the bench for ten years." .Ren Zhengfei advocates "love life, love family" and requires employees to hand over their first month's salary to their parents in order to show filial piety to their children.

There is a "Good Song": "Everyone says Huawei is good, so I ran to the cafeteria early, the hall was unlit, the air conditioner was unbearably cold, I got out of bed at two o'clock, slowly squeezed the car, chatted during work hours , People ran away before get off work.” In order to get rid of these bad habits, Ren Zhengfei mobilized Huawei people to be brave in self-criticism. "Whether Huawei can make progress depends first on whether our core values ​​can be accepted by our cadres; second, whether we can criticize ourselves." Through self-criticism, these bad habits have been eliminated.

Huawei stipulates that you go to work on time, not just to sit on your seat when the working time is up, but to enter the working state when the working time is up.Resolutely oppose extravagance and waste, and develop a good habit of thrift.