Chapter 31 Chapter 9 The Real Ren Zhengfei: A Mysterious Entrepreneur Exuding Personal Charm

There is a joke that says: If you drive at 12 o'clock in the middle of the night and stop at a red light, there are only Germans in the world.The impression of the German nation to the outside world is rational, rigid, paranoid, and lacking in passion.But the paranoid character makes them form a character of integrity, not so tactful, a character that must be done when it comes to speaking, and form a desire to be more serious, not so sloppy, and to do it to the extreme.As a result, a particularly rigorous spirit and a professional ethics spirit that can achieve career success have been cultivated. Many of the great scientific discoveries of the 20th century were mostly made by German speakers.

"Only the paranoid can survive", Ren Zhengfei has always believed in the famous saying of the former chairman and CEO of Intel Corporation.Ren Zhengfei also has the stubbornness and paranoid "one muscle" of the German nation, and the energy of "not dying until the Yellow River" has made Huawei's success. This kind of paranoia has become a characteristic of Ren Zhengfei, which embodies the true entrepreneurial spirit in him. He does business with a business attitude, does not take shortcuts, and is determined to find a breakthrough at the most difficult moment, and finally achieve the joy of success.

Mencius has a famous saying: "Wealth and honor cannot be promiscuous, poverty and lowliness cannot be moved, and power cannot be subdued. This is called a real man." If you want to achieve a career, you can't do it without extraordinary concentration.Perhaps, it is precisely because of this "stubbornness" that Ren Zhengfei achieved his great success later. In 1949, the People's Republic of China was founded, and the Chinese nation, which had suffered from vicissitudes, stood up.Due to long-term internal and external troubles and continuous war damage, the economy is on the verge of collapse.After the founding of New China, the economy was devastated and everything was left to be done.Ren Zhengfei grew up in that era. He was born at the bottom of the society, with seven brothers and sisters, struggling to survive on the meager wages of his parents.Logically speaking, as the eldest son in the family, he has already chosen to find a job to support the family.But "poverty and lowliness cannot be moved", his parents were not so short-sighted, and they saved their son's education for college.

Ren Zhengfei's life experience is full of vicissitudes.He experienced the suffering "Cultural Revolution", at that time "overthrow all authority", only workers and peasants were the most popular.As an intellectual, his father was also affected, but he still taught his son: "Remember that knowledge is power. If others don't learn it, you have to learn it. Don't follow the crowd." It is precisely because of these that he studied tirelessly in the age of impetuous people and "passion burning", which laid the groundwork for him to change his own destiny later.

In the 1980s, men, women and children "went into the sea" to catch big fish.The "soap bubble" of the economy is getting bigger and bigger, many people become millionaires overnight, and many people are immersed in the dream of getting rich.Businesses change careers, investments invest...impetuousness and opportunism are prevalent.However, in such an era full of temptations, Ren Zhengfei was not tempted to get rich and did not earn a stable income as an agent, but embarked on the road of independent research and development whose future is still unknown. When the IT bubble expanded, the world's major communication equipment manufacturers gave up research and development of existing switches, and turned to the research of next-generation NGN switches. Ren Zhengfei still increased his research investment in traditional switches. After the "bubble economy" burst, Western companies began to waver the next-generation NGN switches they admired, and became confused about the next trend of the world. "Adding insult to injury", the financial situation was not good, and a large number of layoffs began.However, Huawei firmly believes that NGN will definitely replace traditional switches. It is only a long process, and it has been increasing its investment in NGN, so Huawei has caught up with them and entered the forefront of the world.Currently, Huawei's traditional switches account for 16% of the world's total, while the next-generation NGN may account for 28% of the world's total.

"Only the paranoid can survive", "The entrance to science is hell", Ren Zhengfei insists on the power of knowledge, indifferent to fame and fortune, not intimidated by poverty, not tempted by getting rich, and sticks to his ideals and beliefs. Now, many companies are diversifying after they grow bigger.They all want to follow the example of GM and adopt Welch's diversification strategy to rapidly upgrade their brands, but the "Welch Way" is a bit "acclimatized" in China.At the beginning, Vanke Group continued to grow bigger and diversify, but problems continued, so it had to shrink and become more specialized. Now it has achieved healthy development; Sanjiu Group has failed seriously in moving from specialization to diversification; Wuliangye Group is slowly diversifying , but a crisis has emerged.

Enterprises must have their own brand, that is, the external "public image".A brand is the "facade" that supports an enterprise and has intangible value.But building a brand is by no means a matter of a day or two, and requires long-term hard work.Only by concentrating and doing only one thing in a period of time can enterprises strive for excellence. "Looking around", seeing the big profits, it is difficult to make your own characteristics. Ren Zhengfei was so paranoid that he only made communication products, which was confirmed in the "Huawei Basic Law". Article 1 of Chapter 1 of the "Huawei Basic Law" stipulates: "Huawei's pursuit is to realize the dreams of customers in the field of electronic information, and rely on bit by bit and perseverance to make us a world-class leading enterprise." Thirty-seventh Article once again emphasized: "Our short-term and medium-term investment strategy still insists on product investment, in order to maximize the concentration of resources and rapidly enhance the company's technical strength, market position and management capabilities. When we make major investment decisions, we do not necessarily pursue Today's high-margin projects should also focus on the growth opportunities of emerging markets and new products with great potential. We do not engage in any non-related diversification that diverts company resources and top management energy."

Ren Zhengfei is determined to do a high-level career, and he has to stand the test of the limelight.The initial investment of communication products is large, the cycle is long, and the product development may not necessarily meet the market demand.But Ren Zhengfei, this "paranoiac", doesn't care about these at all. Once his goal is established, he must stick to it to the end. For this reason, under the pressure of going bankrupt, he invested huge sums of money in the development of third-generation mobile communication products.In order to raise funds, he sold Ansheng Electric, sold shares in Huawei 3Com, and gave up the profitable PHS.

The reason why Huawei can achieve today's impressive performance is that Ren Zhengfei "put all his eggs in one basket", put all his eggs in one basket, put all his eggs in one basket, and made unremitting efforts in the research and development of communication equipment. Ren Zhengfei is clear that although Huawei has made great achievements, it is still growing, and there is still a big gap between Huawei and established international companies.For the rapid development of the company, Ren Zhengfei has continuously integrated corporate resources, and invested all his energy and funds in the research and development of new products, production and service systems, striving to learn from each other's strengths and rapidly enhance the Huawei brand.

It is with this paranoid energy that he led Huawei people into the highly competitive overseas market.In 2005, his name appeared on the list of "The 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2005" selected by Time Magazine in the United States. From the C&C08 machine to the establishment of the Beijing Research Institute despite all difficulties, to the 3G "big gamble", he was not dazzled by the victory, and he made communication products, and he did it to the best. 3G is a hotly debated topic in the communication industry at present.The so-called 3G technology, that is, the third-generation mobile communication technology, is more advanced than the previous two generations and can provide more colorful information services.In a certain sense, whoever grasps the opportunity of 3G will be able to grasp the commanding heights of future communications market competition and gain a superior competitive advantage.

Ren Zhengfei took aim at this momentum and firmly believed that the next generation of network technology will be the era of 3G.Therefore, he put all his eggs in one basket and began to work hard for his paranoid "belief" at the expense of "putting all his eggs in one basket". An employee of Huawei Southern Research Institute said that Huawei's enthusiasm for 3G has reached the level of "starting from the chip", and the cost of each casting (delivering the designed chip to the IC factory for production) is several million yuan The above, together with the high investment in equipment, has reached 4 billion yuan in total. For 3G, Ren Zhengfei paid a high price.ZTE, a brother in the same city, made a lot of money because he devoted himself to the development of 3G and neglected PHS.For the sake of 3G, CDMA was neglected, resulting in two rounds of bidding for China Unicom's CDMA, Huawei lost one after another. The year 2002 was the most severe year for the world communication industry in more than ten years.The international telecommunications industry has stagnated, and the revenue of many equipment manufacturers has dropped sharply, and their business has begun to shrink on a large scale. "The coldness of winter penetrates people's bones." But even so, Ren Zhengfei did not admit defeat.Regarding the mistakes in CDMA and PHS, Ren Zhengfei said very unconvinced: "PHS technology is not an advanced technology, but I didn't expect to continue to build it for five consecutive years. This is caused by policy, but I don't regret it. I have to come back in a few years." Summary." He "broke through the south wall and never looked back", and continued to invest a lot of money and research and development efforts in 3G technology. However, the huge investment was not immediately recouped.Ren Zhengfei invested ambitiously, but China's 3G industry standards have been repeatedly delayed, and the 3G market has been unable to start.Regarding this point, he said in a self-deprecating way: "The one who laughs last is the real winner." According to news from the 3G Global Summit held on October 30, 2003, due to the delay in the improvement of 3G standards, the immaturity of terminal technology, the unsatisfactory development status of the mobile data service market, and unpredictable prospects, etc., many Some operators began to ask for a postponement of the issuance date of 3G licenses.In this context, the Chinese government may slow down the process of 3G licensing. Sure enough, the Chinese government's plan for 3G has been postponed repeatedly, and until January 2005, there was no clear news.Ren Zhengfei waited hard, hoping that 3G would see the light of day. But Ren Zhengfei is still not discouraged, he believes that choosing 3G is right. In 2005, after the 3G bubble passed, the domestic 3G industry environment has been formed, and the system solutions are becoming more and more mature.Huawei called on the Ministry of Information Industry to take this opportunity to launch 3G.Xu Mutu, a senior consultant of the Ministry of Information Industry, believes that with the technical maturity and commercialization of 3G mobile communication systems, the Ministry of Information Industry will issue 3G operating licenses according to the needs of the development of China's telecom business market. Some industry analysts said: Huawei's bet on 3G is not foolproof.According to information disclosed by the Ministry of Information Industry, China has invested 150 billion yuan in the procurement of 3G infrastructure equipment. This era, known as the last large-scale construction of China's telecom infrastructure, will be completed within 3 to 5 years. The purchase volume is 30 billion to 50 billion yuan.If calculated according to the annual market capacity of 30 billion yuan, how much can Huawei get from it?In addition to Huawei, ZTE, Lucent, Nortel, Alcatel and many other international giants are also vying for this share.With the hard work and solid strength of those international giants in the Chinese market for many years, it is very difficult to prevent them from being divided in half, so what is left for Huawei is only more than 10 billion purchases.Therefore, even if the 3G era is coming soon, Huawei's domestic space for 3G business is very limited. However, Ren Zhengfei did not waver. As long as 3G is launched, Huawei can achieve a lot. Ren Zhengfei has made great achievements with Huawei, but he always wears a veil of mystery, hiding behind the scenes and half covering his face, so that people "do not know the true face of Lushan Mountain".Whether it was on the "Forbes" magazine rich list in 2000, or the fierce confrontation with Cisco in 2003; whether it was a visit by a local leader, or an interview with a big-name media; Entrepreneur"... He dismissed all this, he refused to accept the award, refused to interview... With such a big "airframe", it is really difficult to visit him. However, there are also some people who are easy to meet with him, and that is the client.Ren Zhengfei is an extremely realistic person. He said: "It's not that I don't see people, I always see clients, even the smallest clients." On April 22, 2004, Huawei and Brunei Telecom jointly organized an international seminar, which was held at the most luxurious hotel in Brunei. Huawei invited more than 40 operators around the world to discuss the commercial use of Brunei's next-generation network. deployment and market development. Early that morning, Ren Zhengfei stood at the entrance of the conference hall in a suit and leather shoes, holding a large stack of business cards. When he saw customers entering the venue, regardless of size, Chinese or foreign, he personally presented his business cards one by one, smiling and respectful. , in Mandarin with a local accent: "I am from Huawei, and my surname is Ren." Ren Zhengfei only sees customers, and he only sees customers paranoidly. In 2002, Morgan Stanley chief economist Stephen Roach led an institutional investment team to Huawei headquarters, and Ren Zhengfei only sent Vice President Fei Min to receive it.Afterwards, Roach said with regret: "What he rejected was a $3 trillion team." But Ren Zhengfei didn't take it seriously: "He is not a client, why should I meet him? If it is a client, I will meet the youngest What does it have to do with me when he brings institutional investors? I sell machines, so I need to find people who buy machines.” Once, a former ministerial official made a special trip from Beijing to Huawei headquarters in Shenzhen, hoping to meet Ren Zhengfei.The person in charge of the introduction spoke dryly, even though he traveled thousands of miles and did not give him face, he had no choice but to go back the same way. Li Ka-shing said: "Keep a low profile, so that you can avoid being a big fan, and you can avoid being the target of others' attacks. If you don't show yourself too much, you won't provoke hostility from others, and others will not be able to capture your falsehood." He is also very indifferent to the media.He often said: "The media have their own rules of operation. We don't want to participate. Don't be happy when the media says you are good. You may not be really good." When explaining why he did not accept media interviews, he said: "What do we have Seeing the media? We communicate directly with customers every day, and customers can criticize us more. They say that we can improve. For the media, we can’t be good forever! We can’t brag when we are a little better.” Ren Zhengfei firmly believes that customers are the foundation of Huawei's survival, and serving customers is his and Huawei's responsibility.For the media and other famous people, he advocated "keeping a low profile" and not being overly ostentatious. Ren Zhengfei doesn't like to mingle with local officials and make friends to build relationships.He does not eat and drink with ordinary officials, giving the impression that he is ascetic and stays away from officialdom.It is said that several deputy mayors of the Shenzhen Municipal Government have visited Huawei many times, and Huawei always sent a vice president to receive them, but Ren Zhengfei never showed up.However, Ren Zhengfei, who is "very airy", is extraordinarily enthusiastic and respectful when dealing with the relationship with high-level political figures. Ren Zhengfei is taking the upper-level route.In the long corridor of Huawei's headquarters, enlarged group photos of Ren Zhengfei and state leaders are everywhere.Even in the article "My Father and Mother", Ren Zhengfei did not forget to mention his contact with President Hu Jintao. As early as 1994, Ren Zhengfei was cordially received by Comrade Jiang Zemin. In 1996, Zhu Rongji inspected Huawei, brought Huawei a life-saving loan, and gave Huawei enough political attention. In November 2000, Vice Premier Wu Bangguo personally named Ren Zhengfei to visit Africa with a delegation. In January 2001, when the then Vice President Hu Jintao went abroad for a visit, he pointed out that Ren Zhengfei was visiting with the delegation. From April 11th to 12th, 2003, President Hu Jintao went to Shenzhen to inspect work and inspected Huawei again, asking Huawei to do something and not to do it, and speed up the pace of "going out". In 1999, Jiang Zemin went to Shenzhen for inspection, planning to visit Huawei.Ren Zhengfei attached great importance to it and personally arranged the reception.After arranging the tasks, he went to the production department to check the preparations, and suddenly found that the equipment had obviously been rearranged, not the way it was in regular production—this was tantamount to deceiving the leadership.Ren Zhengfei hurriedly called a responsible director over, he was too angry to speak, how can you deceive others?In a fit of anger, he even kicked the director. The other party hid away and instinctively wanted to run away. Ren Zhengfei said, "You still run, come back and put the equipment back." The generation that experienced the baptism of the "Cultural Revolution" is still uneasy, full of worries, and full of fear.Ren Zhengfei, who has long been successful and famous, is not like this!Trembling, like walking on thin ice, like facing an abyss, it is not difficult to understand the upper route. Ren Zhengfei is so paranoid, sticking to the upper-level route can not only avoid the suspicion of government-business collusion, but also create favorable conditions for Huawei's development.