Chapter 5 The 13-year-old public relations master, the reason why he has never smoked for life

A year passed, and I finally picked up the 500 carts of stones.The next task is to use the cart with my brother to transport various building materials to the construction site.My brother is taller and stronger than me. He pulls in the front and I push in the back. Building a house requires a lot of yellow sand, and the price at that time was 4 yuan a ton.It is very particular about buying yellow sand, because this ton is calculated on the basis of ten pallets.When shipping, whether it is a flat car or a car piled high, the actual weight is very different.There are two people in the place where yellow sand is sold, one is the gatekeeper and the other is the ticket teller.The bill clerk usually collects the money and invoices and walks away. It is the janitor who oversees our shipment.My older brother was rather shy, and he was afraid and unwilling to talk to others, so the task of building relationships fell on me.

Later, I found that talking alone was not enough, so I got some cigarettes from my father and smoked them for them every time.The brand of cigarettes my father smoked was called Tianma, produced by the Shanghai Cigarette Factory, and cost 30 cents a pack, which was already considered a good cigarette at that time.Father himself was not too willing to smoke.Before I go every time, I find an empty cigarette box, put three or four cigarettes carefully, and carefully put them in my trouser pocket. When I went there, I mainly chatted with the old man at the door.When I see that he is in a good mood, I will say: "Old man, smoke a cigarette, you have worked hard for a long time." If he accepts my cigarette at this time, it means that the joint has been cleared and everything is fine, even if my brother and I No matter how high the yellow sand is piled up, he will let us go.At most, say something like "I can't do this next time, but forget it this time".So the key to everything is whether he accepts cigarettes or not.If the other party is in a bad mood and refuses to accept the cigarette, we will honestly fill it up a little.Because if it is too full, it will be flattened instead. It is better to only have a little more, and he will probably just turn a blind eye and close his eyes.

Since then, I have had a deep-rooted idea in my mind: cigarettes are too precious! One cigarette can be exchanged for hundreds of catties or more of yellow sand.But it only takes a minute or two to finish smoking a cigarette.To me, this is an unacceptable luxury.So I still don't have the habit of smoking. Apart from the yellow sand, the wooden rafters used for laying the roof are also materials that need to be purchased in large quantities.Regardless of the diameter of the rafters, they are calculated according to the number of rafters.If I got acquainted with the rafter sellers, they would let me pick and choose from a pile of rafters.Thin rafters can only be used as one when taken back, while thick rafters can be split into two, and one becomes two.For me, who was desperate to save money on building materials to keep costs under control, this was a great deal.

Sometimes my father also went to buy materials with us.Gradually, my father also discovered my special talent.Later, I basically did all the public relations when buying building materials. Optimism leads to success My ability to do these things is also related to my personality.I am very sunny, very optimistic, the kind of person who thinks about the best in everything.This is a very important point in my character. Both my father and my brother were stubborn, and if someone refused to accept his cigarette, he wouldn't try it again.Father's character is to think the worst of everything, and he will feel that refusing his cigarettes is an insult to him.And not only do I not feel wronged, but I also think that it may be inconvenient for others to smoke or don’t want to smoke, and I can give it to him when I don’t want to smoke now.Then I will think of other ways, do something for others, and see if he is in a good mood before passing the cigarette.If it fails once, try again, if it fails twice, try a third time.In this way, others see me as a child, and most of them will eventually take my cigarettes.

This optimism has also served me well in my career. At the beginning of 2003, when I was the president of Microsoft China, Bill Gates planned to visit China, and the date was set on the third day of the Lunar New Year.For the Chinese, choosing the right time to visit is very bad.So I called and communicated with Gates' secretary. The secretary said in a strong tone that Gates' itinerary was arranged a year ago.He also told me that if I still don't give up, I can go directly to Gates himself.So I talked to Gates again and patiently explained the situation to him, but Gates' tone was even more impatient.I thought for a while and said tactfully: "Mr. Gates, I know your itinerary was arranged a year ago, but the Chinese Spring Festival was set five thousand years ago." Convinced Gates to change the dates of the trip.This example also amply illustrates:

As long as you have a good communication mentality and find a suitable communication method, there is no problem that cannot be solved. As I grew older, I gradually understood that my parents wanted to build a house at all costs, although I couldn't agree with this idea.At that time, the quality of a marriage partner usually depended on whether the man had a house, and if he had a house, he could find a girl who was more beautiful and with better conditions.Sad to say, this habit of the Chinese has not changed.My parents have an instinctive fear of the future, and they are extremely worried about the future of their three children.This kind of psychology was very common to many parents in that era, but it was especially strong in my parents.For them who have no money or power, building a house is the only feasible way to ensure their children's future.

After the new house is built, there are not many opportunities to use it.We still prefer to live in an old house in the city.After I went to college, I saw more friends and classmates. During the winter and summer vacations, some people came to visit, and I would occasionally live in the new house for a few days.Later, all three of us brothers went abroad, and our parents also immigrated to the United States. The house that was built with so much painstaking efforts did not come in handy in the end. Father's unjust case, from the fire of vengeance to the heart of gratitude There is an old saying: "When a person sits at home, disasters come from heaven." After the house was built, the whole family breathed a sigh of relief, and no one expected that a big trouble would follow.

When I came back from school that evening, my mother had just brought the prepared meals to the table when two serious men walked into the house, saying that my father’s work unit wanted to talk to him.Looking at the posture, everyone knew in their hearts that it was impossible to just talk.Sure enough, my father went there for a month.The logic of the person who censored the father is: If the father did not do anything like corruption and bribery, how can an ordinary family have the financial ability to build a house by themselves? Those days and nights, I watched my mother shed tears, and sat at the door after get off work, hoping that my father would come back.I couldn't do anything, I didn't even know how to say words to comfort her, so I could only sit beside my mother without saying a word, for fear of making her angry again by saying the wrong thing.

On the fifth day, someone from the factory informed my family that my family could deliver a change of clothes to my father, but the condition was that my mother could not go, and only I, who was a child, could do it.When I went there, I saw my father locked up in an office of the unit. There was a small bed inside. Several people were asking him to write inspection materials. There were three people in the front row and two in the back row. The atmosphere was as tense as an enemy. . When I met my father, there were also guards nearby to prevent us from conspiring to confess.When I met my father's eyes, I could hardly hold back my tears.I desperately said to myself in my heart: "Don't cry!" To my surprise, my father stretched out his arm and hugged me without letting go.This is the first time I can remember being hugged by my father.I feel his tears dripping down my hair and neck.It was also the first time in my memory that I saw my father cry.I said something incoherent, "The family is fine, we are waiting for you to come back, mom wants you to be nice to yourself" and the like.The clerk on the side looked at it dismissively and urged me to leave quickly.Father held my hand again and clapped my hands together.Suddenly, there was a note in my palm.At that time, my heart was beating extremely hard, and I grasped the note tightly like a reflex.

After I came out of my father's factory, I walked a long way to see that there was no one around. I squatted under the wall of a house before unfolding the crumpled note.It read: "Don't worry, I didn't say anything, I have nothing to say, tell mum I'll be home soon." Standing up, I walked on the way home, crying all the way.I even had to cover my mouth desperately to keep myself from crying too loudly.I cried all the way and thought all the way: staff in the factory, if you see what my three children, especially my father and mother have been eating, wearing, and using every day in the past years, you will also Tears... In order to save the money to build a house, that is simply not the life an ordinary family should live... Even my first and only schoolbag was made by my mother with old cloth (for fear of being laughed at by classmates , I have never used it)... I will work hard, I will work hard, I will "rescue" my father, and I will make this family a success no matter how hard or tiring my life is...

I am a tiger, according to the book of the zodiac, a man who belongs to the tiger is soft on the outside and strong on the inside.I am easily emotionless.In my memory, since the end of my childhood, I have only cried emotionally twice.This was the first time, and the second time was when I left Microsoft, where I had worked for 10 years. Soon, the neighbors and classmates in the school all knew about it.Every day I have to accept the glances of strange eyes from all kinds of people.After his father was imprisoned for half a month, because the food in the factory was too expensive and he had to pay for it himself, he asked his family to bring him food.My mother also entrusted me with this task.Every time I go on the way, I seem to be able to hear someone else's voice: "Look, I went to deliver food to his father again." This is another torture that I will never forget. The end result, of course, was that nothing was found.After all, my father is just a small section chief of the quality inspection department, and has nothing to do with the factory's finances.A month later, my father was finally able to go home. The day my father was "released", I rode my bicycle to drive him home.When we were approaching the entrance of the alley, my father asked me to stop the car, and the two of us walked home.As he walked, he raised his voice and said: "Although you can check it, what can you find? Didn't you let me come back!" I knew that my father wanted to tell those people who were jealous of our new house and waiting to see our jokes Listen.Later, my father also went to the factory to fight again and again, but in the end he did not get any form of apology.I pushed my bicycle and walked silently beside my father. On the stone road under the setting sun, the shadows of my father and I, one short and one tall, were stretched out. Since then, I have had the belief of revenge in my heart-one day, when I have the ability, I must personally send the leaders of the two factories who framed my father to prison.I made an oath that I must take revenge, no matter what method I use. Thanks to everyone on the road of life Many little things that happened in the early years will become important factors that affect a person's future path.Their influence, too, tends to slowly manifest itself in unexpected ways.After I went abroad to study, I was really capable, but my idea of ​​revenge gradually began to change. I thought, if I didn’t have this experience of my father being wronged, maybe I wouldn’t study hard, and if I didn’t study hard, I wouldn’t be able to get into college, or even if I got into college, I wouldn’t be able to go abroad, let alone my later achievements.Therefore, the result of the deduction turned out to be that without those two people who framed my father, maybe I would not be where I am today.therefore, All the previous experiences are the only way for me to grow up.If I am satisfied with what I am today, then I should be grateful for everything and everyone on the road of life in the past. Thinking of this, my state of mind completely calmed down.Since then, I have never thought of revenge again.Instead, so far, I have always embraced a grateful heart.This kind of gratitude has benefited me a lot in my career growth. While working at Microsoft headquarters, Ms. Ronat was a department manager at the same level as me.Because of the cooperative relationship at work, our two departments have worked together for a period of time.Not only did she cooperate with me very happily, but she also gave me great support and help.To express my gratitude, I send her an e-mail card every year and holidays to wish her a happy holiday - at the time, I did this to anyone who helped me.Even though she once lost her management position in the company's internal personnel changes, I kept communicating with her out of gratitude.This moved Ms. Ronat very much. In the summer of 1997, Microsoft decided to establish the world's fifth "technical support center" in Shanghai.Before that, Ronat's old boss at IBM joined Microsoft as a vice president, and she was also promoted and became a member of the jury.It was under the strong recommendation of Ms. Ronat that I stood out from 18,000 applicants inside and outside the company and became the general manager of the Greater China Technical Support Center.