Chapter 26 Chapter 25 Culture should be built from the beginning of business

In Zhou Hongyi's view, Baidu's retrogression or weakness, or the gradual appearance of decay and decay began when the Baidu Building was officially put into use.This is why Li Yanhong proposed to eliminate petty bourgeoisie culture and promote wolfish culture.Zhou Hongyi is worried that the same problem will appear in 360. The world is changing rapidly, and enterprises need the early warning and action capabilities of wolves, but many people are so pampered that they do not realize the danger. As Silicon Valley's "happy culture" is promoted, the "wolf culture" has suffered a lot of criticism and crusade.Surprisingly, Robin Li, the founder of Baidu, the Chinese practitioner of "Happy Culture", recently published an open letter on the company's intranet, calling out for wolfishness and heartbroken for petty bourgeois sentiment.The remarks quickly aroused heated public opinion.

When Baidu went public in the United States, it created a large number of "rich people". Among the core management, 6 people were worth more than 100 million yuan, and there was a long list of multi-millionaires and millionaires behind them.It is said that Baidu's front desk staff are all out-and-out millionaires.Now, this wealthy company composed of wealthy employees has started a serious rectification movement, behind which is the reality that Internet companies are increasingly competitive, and companies will retreat if they do not advance. Seeing the word "wolf nature", many people immediately thought of Huawei, the initiator of "wolf nature culture", thinking that Li Yanhong wanted to overthrow Baidu's corporate culture and rebuild it.In fact, after careful analysis, there are still many differences between the "wolf nature" that Baidu wants to promote and Huawei's "wolf nature culture".

First of all, Li Yanhong's wolfish argument focuses on warning. "The word wolf nature was invented by another company, and it was borrowed. There are indeed some concerns about borrowing it. This word is not 100% positive in the eyes of some people, or in the eyes of many people, this word has nothing to do with Baidu culture. It doesn’t fit, there is a conflict. But their three definitions of wolf nature are very suitable for the current Baidu: a keen sense of smell, an unyielding and unrelenting offensive spirit, and group struggle.” It can be seen from this that the "new wolf culture" proposed by Li Yanhong only takes the wolf nature's "keen sense of smell, courage to attack, and group struggle" as a supplement to Baidu's corporate culture, rather than copying Huawei.

Huawei's wolf culture, the most prominent is its "aggressiveness."This wolf DNA not only includes sharpness in business judgment, swiftness in task execution, but also tenacity in life and work attitude.This is why everyone mentions the "wolf culture" and immediately thinks of the "camp beds" of Huawei employees and the reason why Huawei "crazily" grabs customers. Secondly, Robin Li's wolf-like argument focuses on the future. In different living environments and stages of development, the same expression will have different connotations. Li Yanhong said: "Petty bourgeoisie background is not necessarily your advantage, because your living environment is too comfortable, like a dinosaur, after many years it grows big, but you can't survive when the conditions become very bad. We hope to provide Good benefits, good benefits are also advertised in school recruitment, but at the same time, you can't get used to the coquettishness of the employees, and you can't get used to the habit of not being able to live a hard life."

Every organization is composed of many individuals, and the mental state of an individual directly condenses into the mental state of the organization. If the mental slack of "petty bourgeoisie" individuals is a short-term concern, then the spiritual slack of the entire organization can be regarded as a long-term concern.If you don't know how to be prepared for danger in times of peace, don't know how to change according to the situation, and just blindly indulge in the illusion of the industry's hegemony, you will sooner or later be like an elephant stuck in the mud - stuck in a dilemma, unable to extricate yourself, or even encounter a catastrophe.The most typical example is the former imaging giant Kodak.

Obviously, Li Yanhong's real purpose is to let the Baidu team eradicate "petty bourgeoisism" from the ideological level. Third, Robin Li's wolfish culture focuses on competitors. Huawei supplements its executive power with wolf culture, and Baidu supplements its early warning with its keen sense of smell, which shows that wolf culture is an "adaptive" management culture.The commercial society naturally needs wolf nature, but whether to use the sharp teeth of the wolf or the sharp ears needs to be transformed according to the characteristics of different periods and different enterprises.But whether it is Huawei's "outward attack" or Baidu's "internal purge", the ultimate direction is the same: competitors.

The only difference is that the opposite of Huawei wolf is sheep, and the opposite of Baidu wolf is dinosaur.But it's all just a projection of themselves.There is no concept of defending the city in the business field. Whether it is a strong attack or judo, they are constantly attacking the city and occupying territory, and those who are slow in responding will be eliminated.However, due to the blurred boundaries of the mobile Internet, the competition is even more fierce. "I heard that when a dinosaur stepped on a thorn, its brain would not respond until several hours later, so no matter how big it grows, it will become extinct. But we can't be dinosaurs, we have to be strong, change our minds, To be a company with a strong cloud and terminal, and to achieve Baidu's second take-off with innovation and passion." Robin Li's self-revolution really reflects an entrepreneur's preparedness for danger in times of peace.

So, what kind of corporate culture attributes do technology companies need? Google, which is also a giant in the industry, is oriented by "happy culture". Why didn't it fall into a crisis like Baidu?Why didn't employees' pursuit of a comfortable life stop Google from becoming the most innovative company in the world?The reason is that creativity is the lifeblood of Internet companies, and Google's approach is to maximize the vitality and enthusiasm of employees. Coincidentally, after moving into the brand new 360 building, Zhou Hongyi also carried out a cultural purge.But judging from the content of this purge, the culture of 360 is significantly different from that of Baidu.

First of all, the cultural core of 360 is reflection, not wolfishness or anything else.This spirit of reflection runs through every key node of 360. At the beginning of 2010, Zhou Hongyi convened a meeting, at which some people expressed their contempt for Doctor QQ.Zhou Hongyi said: "You must not have this kind of understanding. At the beginning, Rising looked down on 360, thinking that 360 was at most a tool for patching, but it turned out to belittle it and made a fatal mistake. "The day before 360 ​​moved to the new home, I came to the company by myself, and I was very emotional. Later, I told Lao Qi that it was the first time I had my own company building after so many years in the company, and this building was so tall and the area was so large. Big, the interior decoration is so fancy, I feel very excited. There are many Internet companies, but there are really not many who have a large building and a large office space. This is also a sign of the growth process of 360 companies. .”

But at the same time, he expressed his worries to Qi Xiangdong.In his view, Baidu's retrogression or weakness, or the gradual appearance of decay and decay began when the Baidu Building was officially put into use.This is why Li Yanhong proposed to eliminate petty bourgeoisie culture and promote wolfish culture.Zhou Hongyi is worried that the same problem will appear in 360. 360 launched search on August 16, 2012, which aroused great repercussions from Baidu.But the pressure from the opponent is only one factor, and the biggest pressure is the internal cause of "frozen three feet, not a day's cold".

"Comparatively speaking, the 3Q war did not trigger such a big competition from Tencent. On the contrary, Tencent made a deep reflection based on that incident and implemented a thorough reform. Now Tencent is saying to the outside world that they will embrace the opening of the Internet with an open mind. But in the 3B battle, Baidu is much more hectic, including Robin Li." Changes in the environment will bring about various changes in people's psychology. Zhou Hongyi is indeed very aware of urgency. "It turned out that when I was working in the small courtyard of Huitong, 360 had a strong entrepreneurial atmosphere. The meeting rooms had not been vacated for a week, and they were occupied again. The mezzanine office was overcrowded immediately before it was decorated. The space is small and people are very crowded. Crowded, the environment is very noisy, but the distance between people is close, the communication between teams is seamless, and the communication is smooth. And all these, after moving to the new building, are replaced by an elevator It's blocked. Even the elevator problem has become the core problem, can this not make me worry?" "The elevator in Huitong is much slower than the new building, but it has never been a problem. Every day I see people on the stairs going up and down. But it becomes a problem when I come to the new building. The offices in the new building are like a maze. , I can’t find anyone. The environment has changed, and the mentality has also changed.” Qi Xiangdong said. Secondly, the cultural expression of 360 is entrepreneurial spirit, which has not changed. "With fixed assets, many people have an illusion that it is a big company." Qi Xiangdong said, "Before the move, no one would compare Huitong's conditions with any advanced company, but after the move , Immediately look around the world and compare it with all companies. For the convenience of employees, 360 opened a shuttle bus between the company and the four subway stations. But Lao Zhou emphasized that this is a bus (bus), not a bus. Ordinary shuttle bus. The difference between a bus and a shuttle bus is that it must ensure that employees can connect with big buses and subways when they get off work at any time. He is unwilling to let employees have the concept of getting off work. elasticity." Interestingly, unlike Zhou Hongyi's advocacy of flexibility, it is said that Baidu has recently abolished the original flexible system of not checking attendance. But 360 also had problems: "Unexpectedly, when the bus opened, there were many problems, including whether the route is reasonable, whether the time setting is the best, how many stops should be set in the middle, what time is appropriate, how big the bus is, and how many people can take it. , what kind of service the driver should provide, and what kind of attitude should be. There are so many phenomena, which all indicate a problem-for a company that wants to maintain an entrepreneurial state, it has formed interference. For employees, The focus is no longer on the core business. Conflicts, blush and neck-thicking, stomping and beating the chest are not because of product differences, but about the bus.” Zhou Hongyi was very worried that after the company moved, the entrepreneurial spirit would plummet. He quickly organized a cadre communication meeting to clarify the goals and mission of 360 again.What is the common goal?It is to be a great enterprise and a great company on the Internet. If quantified from an economic point of view, the current market value of 360 is about 3 billion US dollars.This completes the first phase of listing up to now.It was this number when they went public, and it still fluctuates up and down now. What are your goals for the future?Zhou Hongyi hopes to be a $10 billion company.He listed this as the first stage goal to start after moving.When the measurement of 10 billion US dollars is reached, the Internet in China will be able to enter the first group, and it will have the right to speak in the industry. Although income is not the ultimate goal, it is also essential in this era of soaring prices. "Employees are neither white nor black. They endure all kinds of pain and hardships to fight for two things. The first thing is to make the wives, children, brothers and sisters behind them live a good life, I have a reputation and achievements in this industry. But if the company does not develop, is it possible to achieve personal achievements? After 360 went public, the resigned employees almost immediately joined the job with a salary increase, and the interview was saved. Look at those same Qihoo Entrepreneurs, such as Daqin.com, Tianya, Xici Hutong, Sanjiu Health, etc., can no longer compare with 360.” The reason is that the entrepreneurial spirit of 360 employees is first-class.And the first group that wants to enter the Internet in the future, 360's entrepreneurial spirit should not be lost. "Now not only the first group doesn't want us, but the second group is still watching jokes here, saying that you are now an informal second group, you need to be stable for two or three years. It's like a stock now. Three days a day is nothing, long-term stability is fine.” Third, the cultural basis of 360 is "teaching from users", not "teaching from oneself".This "self" refers to both leaders and colleagues. "There is an article that replied to me on the Internet, talking about the humanization of Baidu as understood by the author, saying that Baidu's employees are respectful and polite when they meet each other, and they all greet in English. But in my opinion, what Baidu lacks is Human nature: not good for customers, not good for users. "Conversely, there are often conflicts and collisions between the 360's team and leaders, including between me and the executives, and sometimes even quarreling. But as Jobs said about the grindstone culture, with this knowledge Say everything, talk endlessly, and don't rub the sand in your eyes, so you can see many problems and dare to speak out. I often say that the speaker is innocent, that is, you have the right to speak out about the problems you see. Even if you see The problem is not deep enough, and your vision may not be correct, but speaking out, making suggestions, and discovering problems with other teams and other products, I think it is a kind of contribution. I think the most terrifying thing is that the company develops to a certain level. At that time, everyone felt that they were a big company, and colleagues were friendly and could rub sand in their eyes." When Zhou Hongyi went to Yahoo, the most uncomfortable thing was that he couldn't criticize people, because Yahoo's culture felt that employees needed to be happy.As a result, whenever he scolded someone, the human resources department would talk to him.But Yahoo today doesn't care whether its employees are happy or not. The newly appointed CEO, like Robin Li, fired all employees who refused to return to the company. Therefore, the culture he has always advocated is not only superiors, not only relatives, but only users. "Because the company can develop only when the users are satisfied; when the company develops, the existing new building, bus, flexible commuting system, and of course, the salary and sense of accomplishment that employees care most about can be maintained. "Many foreign companies lived comfortably in China at the beginning, and gradually lost their competitiveness. Even many talented students who are like tigers are raised in foreign companies, and eventually become old cats. When foreign companies suddenly fail one day, Their ability to survive in society has almost degenerated. When Motorola laid off employees, Nanjing Motorola Company staged a farce. Everyone was unwilling to leave because they did not know where to go. It is actually a tragedy to spend in harmonious happiness, because today's society is very realistic and cruel. All the happiness of a person in the end is based on his strength and platform." "Companies can't outperform competitors without results, and employees' happiness won't last long. "Today, 360 can still move forward, but because it was lucky to play a safe card a few years ago, it has formed a certain brand advantage and has an inertia to move forward, but do you think this inertia is as big as Nokia's inertia? ?How far do you think our company can go if we continue to maintain this harmonious appearance and never expose any problems? Once the problems are exposed, it will be difficult to solve them. How far can our company go? At that time, the company’s assets will only be left in this building, and it will be pawned out , I will be a charterer. What about you?" "I'm glad that I have experienced all kinds of mistakes and failures before. Because of the reflection on mistakes and failures, 360 has had its own clear culture from the very beginning, neither learning from petty bourgeoisie nor learning from wolves. We believe in the power of reflection , I also believe that employees want their own business to be good. "When we talk about corporate culture, we must immediately think of big companies. When we look up the keyword 'corporate culture' on the Internet, all the giants pop up, such as IBM, General Electric, McDonald's, Sony, Panasonic, Haier, Lenovo—— It seems that without a large number of employees and a lot of money, there will be no corporate culture. But in fact, start-up companies need culture more, and the culture of successful large companies that can last forever is established from the beginning of the business. Look at Huawei, look at Google, although the content and performance of corporate culture are different, they are all consistent from the start of the business to the present. It is too important for a company to have its own culture from the very beginning, it can ensure that the development of the company will not Go too far off course and don't need to change your tone after growing big." Ren Zhengfei also said that there is nothing wrong with metaphysics, some things just need to be mechanical, dogmatic, and unwaveringly adhered to.He described the process of forming his thoughts as "cloud concept": it takes more than half a year for clouds to turn into rain.This means that after a concept is formed, it enters the implementation stage, which requires a series of bleaching process from chaos to clarity, preparation process, refinement process, and finally the process of establishing rules and regulations. Milan Kundera famously said: When humans think, God laughs.But in the real world, after all, God cannot make decisions for us.Every type of organization, whether it is a country, a school, a church, or a business, needs a guide and the direction given by the guide—culture and strategy.The Germans are the most serious people in the world, because the philosophy of metaphysics and mechanical materialism penetrates too deeply, they are often ridiculed for their rigidity and stubbornness.But it is this "true" spirit that has forged its powerful and advanced fine manufacturing industry.At the same time, Germany is also one of the countries that produces the most scientists, financiers, philosophers and even artists. To some extent, art is a pursuit of perfection.Of course, because of this, Germany was once the most formidable war machine on the European continent. In contrast, Britain's far-sightedness and balance between persistence and compromise, and the United States' tolerance and openness, and the connection between modernity and history, each has its own merits. The cloud of culture has been brewing from the beginning of its establishment.Even, some of these cultural "clouds" appeared in the form of "subversive innovation" at the beginning of brewing. After years of enterprise development, through repeated micro-innovations, they finally became clear and formed. And sublimated in self-reflection and criticism again and again.And this process must be lonely and difficult. Thought and life are endless drudgery, and so is entrepreneurship. Some people say that in a small start-up company, there is no money, no people, no one, and the daily concern is survival, sales, competition, or saving money, working overtime, or leaving people. How can we talk about corporate culture?Some people regard the incentive mechanism-stocks and options as the culture of small companies.In fact, stocks and options are big pies, and there are only a few people who can really value their value, and most people just treat it as a blank page.The real value it represents—a shared corporate culture—may be nothing else. So, what is it that is ubiquitous in start-up companies, gives people infinite willpower, and finally brews a real corporate culture?The answer is: truly people-oriented—customer-oriented, employee-oriented, and the pursuit of social truth, kindness and beauty.And these are closely related to the pattern, spirit and thought of the founder and his initial followers. First of all, entrepreneurs must have "aristocratic temperament". "The aristocrats here are not the so-called upper class that some people envy today. The real aristocrats are those who can sacrifice for their ideals like the brothers Gracchi and Marcus in ancient Rome. They can Take the lead in the environment, take the lead, gather popularity, find customers, overcome difficulties, and provide a fresh example for the team. The corporate culture of this period is actually the personification of the will of the founders. They are the soul of the company and the inexhaustible force that promotes the development of the company. power." Then, the founder must have the ability to implement his "values". "Their basic positioning of the company's development period determines that the company should take survival as the principle in terms of teams, products, customers, and markets, and use this to unify the whole team, including themselves, for good and bad, good and bad. Evil and evil, right and wrong, execution and rejection. All of this depends on the team's high degree of recognition of the founder's 'panoramic order'." Generally speaking, start-up companies start by emphasizing individual independence and initiative, advocating individuality and personal achievement, encouraging employees to strive for themselves, and implementing personal responsibility and individual decision-making.The evaluation of employees by enterprises is based on the principle of "ability". Salary increases and promotions are only based on ability and work performance, regardless of factors such as age, qualifications and education.To say "people-oriented", the culture of startups is truly people-oriented. Once the scale of the company reaches a certain level, the culture is often written down and even engraved on the wall of the hall, but it is likely to become a kind of shackles from then on, or become a piece of empty paper as a decoration. "So, I hope that everyone will never forget the original intention of starting a business. The real culture is intangible, buried deep in the heart, and it is reflected in every person, every thing, and every product of the company. It is The unspoken rules inherent in the enterprise, its core is people.”