Chapter 40 unsolvable problem

The world always has many unsolved mysteries. In the 20th century, the mysterious disappearance of hundreds of planes and ships in the Bermuda Triangle has attracted the attention of the world, and people have not yet found the answer. Huawei is running fast on the road of internationalization, and Ren Zhengfei is also facing a series of difficult problems that are related to Huawei's future destiny.Whether they can successfully answer these difficult questions and submit a satisfactory answer sheet is a serious test for the "Godfather". Choosing a successor is like the "Sword of Damox", which is a very thorny issue.Jack Welch, the former CEO of General Electric Company, believed that a long-lived large company depends on the transmission of corporate culture and the cultivation of successors.

The first generation of private entrepreneurs in China, relying on their unique personal charm, "raised their arms and gathered responders", seized the historical opportunity, and the enterprise grew rapidly, but this stage was very speculative.At the turn of the century, most of them have reached the age of retirement, and need to find successors to carry on the inheritance so as to keep the foundation alive. In order to make a smooth transition, many entrepreneurs have started a power "handover" ceremony.Li Ka-shing handed over the power to his eldest son Li Zeju, but he still guides him from time to time; Liu Chuanzhi split Lenovo and handed it over to Yang Yuanqing and Guo Wei; Lu Guanqiu passed the power to his son and guided him behind the scenes; Unsuitable and come back again; Zong Qinghou is close to retirement age, whether the power will be handed over to his daughter is yet to be determined.

In the West, there is a mature system of professional managers, and there is no problem for companies to choose successors.But in China, especially for private enterprises, the selection of successors is very important.Successors are the key to escaping the fate of "the rich are no more than three generations old". However, in the early days of entrepreneurship, the first generation of entrepreneurs were too charming, and they were irreplaceable, and later people were overshadowed by their aura.People always feel that successors are not as capable as their predecessors and cannot convince the public.

When he first started his business, Ren Zhengfei relied on his unique charm to recruit a large number of talents to work for him.His charm once moved many employees to tears.It is the attraction of this kind of charm that the morale of Huawei people is high, and they have made great achievements through hard work and one heart and one mind.Many old employees have always missed this good time. For a long time, Huawei employees, management, and even Huawei's customers and partners have worshiped Ren Zhengfei from the bottom of their hearts. It is time for Ren Zhengfei, who has entered the "Year of Ershun", to choose a successor, but his aura is too dazzling, and it is difficult for others to catch up later.The key point for a successor who can really succeed Ren Zhengfei is to have the ability to control the overall situation, ensure Huawei's smooth transition, and achieve an everlasting foundation.

Ren Zhengfei has worked hard for Huawei and made great efforts. His ideas permeate the development of the enterprise from management to production, from domestic to foreign countries.Ren Zhengfei is a thinker. He hopes that the successor can form the charm of thinking, so that the enterprise can achieve "doing what one wants without exceeding the rules"; he hopes that the successor can be better than the blue.But Ren Zhengfei's thinking is very profound, and no one in Huawei can match it.Ren Zhengfei's successor therefore faces a severe test. Huawei has more than 100 vice presidents of various types, but so far none of them can meet his wishes.There is a technical genius but no management strategy, a management strategy but no technical talent, and both but neither outstanding, it is difficult to choose.When there is no choice, give up the choice.The final result is very likely that none of these people choose, but find someone else.

This other is unlikely to be "airborne soldiers" from overseas, because their culture is very different from China, and they may not necessarily agree with Huawei's cultural philosophy, and there are certain difficulties in communication. This other is likely to be a moderate person, not too conspicuous, and able to win the general approval of the left and right.Ren Zhengfei may be brewing the best candidate. Customers ask: "How can I help customers increase their revenue?" The Huawei person replied: "Use our equipment." The customer asked again: "How to reduce costs?"

The Huawei person replied: "Use our equipment." The customer asked again: "How to guide demand and improve business capabilities?" The Huawei people still replied: "Use our equipment." This is what a senior telecom analyst at Deutsche Bank said about Huawei's philosophy at a 3G network development meeting convened by a well-known international operator.Many people think that Huawei people don't understand what they mean, and this gap in culture and philosophy has become a difficult problem in Huawei's internationalization. With the growth of Huawei, Ren Zhengfei has the opportunity to frequently contact world-class companies such as IBM, Lucent, and Motorola. He has a deeper understanding of the narrow perspective of Huawei's culture and the gap between people, just? ?Jia strengthened his thinking: obtaining international thinking and international people is a threshold that Huawei must cross.

Ren Zhengfei is determined to achieve a high-level career and create a world-class enterprise. Internationalization is a must.However, internationalization is easier said than done. It not only requires management and processes to be in line with international standards, but more importantly, it must form a system, penetrate into people's bones, and gradually become an invisible guiding force. This is the most difficult step. Huawei's internationalization is taking a road of promoting culture and Westernization through systems. According to Ren Zhengfei's statement, "If the soft ones are not enough, we should first go to the hard ones." Starting from the most standardized "hardware" such as processes and financial systems that do not need to be questioned , From part to whole, from operation management to system management, gradually "Westernized", imperceptibly promoting the internationalization of software.

Huawei's official voice is: "Abolishing the narrow national self-esteem is internationalization, breaking the narrow Huawei pride is professionalization, and breaking the narrow brand awareness is maturity." Ren Zhengfei combined the internationalization of the system with the internationalization of people and culture.First of all, he proposed "cutting the feet to fit the shoes", "rigid first, then optimized".Secondly, at the cost of more than 1 billion U.S. dollars, please ask IBM experts for guidance.Finally, the professional human resource system designed by HAY Company was introduced, and another system was used to establish a clear benchmark to promote the transformation of employee culture and concepts.In addition, Ren Zhengfei proposed to "integrate corporate culture into the system".

However, up to now, Huawei has not completely solved the inconsistency between the soft aspects of people and culture and the system. "Ten years to grow a tree, a hundred years to grow a man", the transformation of people is a long process.If a person wants to be transformed, he must first transform his mind, and his mind cannot be transformed in a day or two.Human beings are social animals, deeply influenced by culture, tradition, etc. It takes time to accumulate a strong accumulation.If the thinking transformation is not successful, the old thinking is destroyed, and the new thinking is not established, people will have a spiritual crisis.

It may only take 5 years to use a "world-class" system, but it is not an easy task to raise people to a "world-class" level.Huawei may be slow in cultivating its own people, and may consider introducing talents.But this also faces a problem, whether the talents introduced can agree with Huawei's values, and whether they can organically combine Western experience with Huawei's reality. In 1985, the supreme leader of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev came to power and made drastic reforms to the Soviet system, putting forward the slogan of democratization and openness.However, history is ruthless, this reform ended in failure, and the Soviet Union also accelerated the pace of disintegration.There are striking similarities in history, and China's modernization is also facing this difficult problem.The Chinese government has learned from the lessons of the Soviet Union, treading on thin ice, and gradually made it public, which has achieved certain results.With the progress of social democracy, openness has become an inevitable requirement. Huawei is not listed, and many things about it are not public.So far, its equity, listing, etc. are still a mystery, and the president Ren Zhengfei is even more mythical. Ren Zhengfei and Huawei under his leadership have maintained a low profile for a long time, and Huawei's advertisements are rarely seen in the public media.Ren Zhengfei thinks: "Only with quiet water flow, can we go further inadvertently." But no matter what, "an ugly daughter-in-law has to see her parents-in-law." Ren Zhengfei, who has been standing under the neon lights, seems bright and dark, giving people a sense of hazy.It is difficult for people to get a glimpse of his true colors, and what they are familiar with is only a series of forward-looking remarks. Huawei has been away from the public for a long time, and its self-isolation has also paid the price. In 2003, Huawei and Cisco competed brutally. Cisco won high support due to its good public image and created public opinion, but Huawei was not understood or supported.For a long time, Huawei's equity has not been disclosed internally and externally. As a result, it has caused equity disputes among entrepreneurial veterans. Since 2003, Huawei has also changed.At the beginning of the year, Huawei advertisements appeared in some mass media; in September, Huawei agreed to accept interviews with influential domestic financial media. In 2004, Huawei ended its "sensational" lawsuit with Cisco and sent people to Beijing to hold a press conference to report on the situation. Once listed, Huawei will not be able to refuse the eyes of the public, and Ren Zhengfei will also face the "spotlight" of many media.Whether Ren Zhengfei, who has been staying away from the public eye for a long time, can successfully control the media again, ensure that the stock price rises all the way after listing, and win the support of the public is a big problem.