Chapter 43 Text Yu Minhong: An idealist's real life lesson plan (3)

Bravely experience and fully experience for a valuable dream Once when he went to Mount Tai, Yu Minhong said with emotion: "Taking the cable car to Mount Tai no longer has the pain of feet. But a mountain like Mount Tai has history, culture, and vicissitudes all the way. If you don't climb up by yourself, how can you experience it?" A true journey is not just about finding new views, but about having new eyes. Recalling this trip later, Yu Minhong had a lot to say: "Climbing is convenient, but the porters on Mount Tai are unemployed. Although modern tools make people's lives more convenient, when we lose the porters on Mount Tai, are we also At the same time, will it lose a kind of courage and spirit of perseverance? Will human civilization become superficial because of this?” Along the way, Yu Minhong also saw those simple farmers who burned incense in groups. They started from the Dai Temple at the foot of Mount Tai. Passing through the mountain temple, various Buddhist temples, Guandi Temple, and all the way to Yuhuangding, people worship every temple devoutly regardless of who the gods are.Yu Minhong said with emotion: "In reality, ordinary people in China are bullied so much that they bow their heads whenever they see an official. It is reflected in religion that they worship any god when they see..." Although it is just a few words, it is enough to make us see a The real Yu Minhong, a Yu Minhong who loves life and looks far away.

If experience is inevitable, then experience should be. As a Peking University student, teacher and entrepreneur, Yu Minhong believes that the breadth of life is controlled by himself, and within the same period of time, he should naturally experience it fully. To have deeper feelings, not only to experience life, but more to experience nature, history, humanities and society, these will be eternal and beautiful wealth. In the comments of "Win in China", Yu Minhong pointed out directly: "A person's more experience does not mean a higher level." Because if the experience does not improve your level, and the experience is basically the same, no amount of experience is beneficial. Yes, the improvement of personal charm and ideological realm also needs to be poured into the experience.

For a long time, Yu Minhong insisted on reading as a very important thing every day. Yu Minhong once said: "I am a somewhat scholarly businessman. Because I write articles that other businessmen can't write. My travel diaries, feelings In fact, it can bring confidence to employees. New Oriental needs some nourishment of humanistic feelings if it wants to be long-term.” Humanistic spirit will undoubtedly be the best medicine to cure the impetuous and weak symptoms of modern society. Humanistic spirit is actually the richest “teacher” in China "——Yu Minhong's deepest belief, Yu Minhong has maintained the rapid development of New Oriental by virtue of his humanistic spirit.No matter what you do, achieving the highest level is doing culture. Yu Minhong and New Oriental are the best proof of this.

The acquisition of the humanistic spirit is exactly a kind of harvest after the full experience and precipitation of life.Yu Minhong believes that people should further pursue the spiritual experience and the sublimation of the soul in the real experience. He wrote: "People are on the road, this is life. Whether you like it or not, the first thing we learn after birth is Walking, we have been on the road since then. We have walked on two roads all our lives, the road of the soul and the road of reality. These two roads complement each other and enrich each other. The road of the soul guides the road of reality, and the road of reality enriches the road of the soul. When our soul no longer longs to cross mountains and rivers, the soul loses its vitality and nutrition; when our path of reality has no spiritual guidance, even walking around the world is just a walking dead. Year after year we continue to walk, Everyone's life goes so differently."

If experiencing life is a path of reality, experience is a path of the soul. Once, Yu Minhong traveled abroad and went fishing with his friends. The friend told Yu Minhong that this fishing was for fun, and it was "catch and release", which means "catch and release".At that time, Yu Minhong thought to himself: "It's fun to catch it and release it. It's nothing to look for." But when he really arrived at the scene, he found that the reality was beyond his expectations. Every time a fish was caught, everyone was so excited that they were dead. Although all the fish were released in the end, Yu Minhong and his friends had a very good day.

This incident touched Yu Minhong deeply. Harvesting mood is sometimes more important than harvesting specific things, and the most important thing to harvest mood is to personally participate and work hard. He said: "If we buy these fish from the farmers' market Shrimp, can we reap the same mood? The answer is obviously no. And if we just sit by the river, what can we reap? It must be the boredom caused by doing nothing, the loss caused by seeing others get fish and shrimp, The envy of someone else's joy, the emptiness of someone else's unforgettable past." Obviously, experience is actually a matter of how to deal with time, whether to stay out of time or to devote oneself to it eagerly. In contrast, Yu Minhong chose the way of survival experience of active participation, hard work and happy life in the long river of time , and this is actually the most correct attitude any of us can adopt right now.So what is life pursuing?The pursuit of life is joy and unforgettable, not just living. Joy is living in the present, and unforgettable is savoring the past.

It took Yu Minhong 13 years to forge a listed company. This experience is bound to be unforgettable, because what he gained from it is not only wealth, experience, but also more happiness. He said, "It took 13 years for the whole of China to There are not many people who go from penniless to billionaire, but this standard does not mean that you are successful. I think the standard to measure is whether you have a happy life in 13 years and whether it is worth it. Don’t live this life, if it’s worth it, go on with it.” To bravely experience, fully experience, and seek sublimation for a valuable dream

If experience is necessary and experience is accumulation, then sublimation is a qualitative change in life.This point can be most practically fulfilled from the New Oriental spirit, looking for hope from despair and seeking the ultimate sublimation in the heaviest reality.What Yu Minhong taught his students was not only language, but he also used the spirit of New Oriental to inspire those students who have "repeatedly failed and fought repeatedly" to find hope in despair: "Despair is a mountain, but as long as you can cut down a stone of hope, you will be able to find hope." There is hope."

Although the so-called New Oriental spirit, what exactly is it?It is difficult for us to sum it up in one word.For outsiders, one of New Oriental's school mottos, "Finding Hope in Despair" is just a slogan, but for many people who study and work in New Oriental, it is a real portrayal of life. For New Oriental’s entrepreneurs, it is Xu Xiaoping’s passion to start a new business across oceans and seas, and it is Wang Qiang’s determination to give up the generous treatment at Bell Labs and resolutely return to China; With a hoarse voice, he continued class by candlelight, used inspirational stories to motivate students when they were confused, encouraged them with loud and clear songs when they were tired, and recited texts with students to resist in the classroom where the temperature was over 40 degrees in summer The heat; the New Oriental spirit, for the students of New Oriental, is to explore a bright avenue of life in loneliness and despair, it is the hardship of squeezing from one bus to another in an unaccompanied city, it is the hardship of being on the side of the road The diligence of memorizing vocabulary while eating lunch is the determination to muster up the courage to get up again after failure...

Looking for hope in despair, life will eventually be brilliant, this is a slogan that everyone who is familiar with New Oriental knows.However, for Yu Minhong, these were more like hysterical cries again and again, because in Yu Minhong's life, God threw him into the abyss of despair at least three times.Every setback can put him into the bottom of the failure, and finally reduce him to an unknown little character. However, what is amazing is that he used his extraordinary efforts to turn every setback into a breakthrough that made him leap high. springboard.The culture and spirit of every enterprise are inseparable from its founders and leaders, and New Oriental is no exception. To explore the spiritual core of New Oriental, we should start from the suffering of Yu Minhong.

The first time was the failure of the college entrance examination.Yu Minhong, who came from the countryside back then, was defeated in the college entrance examination in the first year, and still failed in the college entrance examination in the second year, and was finally admitted to Peking University in the third year.He will never forget the taste of failure, hard work and success. Therefore, he defined New Oriental's school motto as: "Pursue excellence, challenge the limit, find hope from despair, and life will eventually be brilliant." The second time was the shattering of my dream of studying abroad.At that time, China's economy had not yet taken off, and there was relatively little room for personal development. Studying abroad became the first choice for graduates of prestigious schools. Peking University was in the midst of a boom in studying abroad, and the popularity can be imagined. Under the pressure of family and society, Yu Minhong also joined.Unexpectedly, the tightening of the study abroad policy in the United States shut out Yu Minhong, who was not particularly outstanding. After three and a half years of hard work, he painfully gave up his dream of studying abroad.Yu Minhong, who failed to go abroad for further studies, stayed in China to develop. As a senior "Trust School", Yu Minhong is familiar with various procedures of going abroad, and has a richer personal experience of the difficulties in preparing for the exam and the psychological dynamics of many students. These experiences will help him run New Oriental well. very important.Later, several classmates who had studied in the United States returned to China to devote themselves to New Oriental, and Yu Minhong once again benefited from failure. The third time was being "exiled" by Peking University.After graduating and staying in school, Yu Minhong, who came from a poor background, went to teach part-time outside in order to raise funds to go abroad. He was punished for violating the interests of Peking University. In order to save face, Yu Minhong had to leave Peking University.He lost his job and housing, rented a farmer's bungalow, and worked as a tutor for the landlord's children to pay the rent. In the eyes of those around him, his future was bleak.However, during his career as a part-time substitute teacher while teaching at Peking University, he accumulated rich experience in English teaching. After resigning, Yu Minhong devoted himself to English training and founded Beijing New Oriental School.If he stayed in Peking University, Yu Minhong would be an associate professor at best. If he didn't stay in the admirable Peking University, it would be the biggest opportunity in Yu Minhong's life. The times make heroes, and heroes know the times.Facing Yu Minhong who is always smiling and humorous, who can understand the vicissitudes of his face and heart?This is forged by the humiliation, ups and downs and bad luck in his life. Just like Andersen was never admired by girls in his life, but he wrote so many popular fairy tales about love. Yu Minhong, who was loved by girls, has millions of lovely students. Yu Minhong said to the contestants of "Win in China": "A man's strength is reflected behind his smile, not his serious appearance." With the strength behind his smile, the man Yu Minhong experienced life through suffering and silently accumulated strength. Finally, he stood out from the flames of reality again and again and gained a proud new life.This is the sublimation of life, and it is reserved only for those souls who have prepared for a long time and are devout enough to bear the burden of humiliation. In fact, the meaning of life is far from being limited to new life and development. Career and work have also acquired more universal values ​​and meanings in society through sublimation time after time.Yu Minhong’s dream was initially to change his personal destiny, but in the end it changed the society’s understanding of the value of the training industry and the trend of going abroad. Not only that, Yu Minhong’s outstanding significance also lies in the completion of a kind of "compatibility" and "compatibility" of the rising market economy in China. On the "main board", because of the mastery of "knowledge resources", a "commercial revolution" has been completed - breaking a "record" in the history of the ancient East: the integration of teachers and businessmen. Even if it is not successful, it will not be a blank. With this kind of thinking along the way, it often produces more valuable social impact.Whether a person can be remembered by the world depends more on whether the society has gratitude and admiration for the value he dedicates, and this kind of value cannot be planned or imagined before. Only down-to-earth and calm If you keep walking on the path you believe in, maybe one day the world will be surprised to discover your existence and your value. This is the whole meaning of sublimation, to be reborn in the fire and become a miracle in the ordinary. A dream, a valuable dream, to bravely experience, enrich the experience, and seek sublimation for a valuable dream, the process of this journey is actually such a process of slowly expanding and gradually becoming great. Big things are done in a hurry, and there is no room for impetuosity and slack. ##eternal endless road When "Win in China" is advancing fiercely season after season, we witness batch after batch of walkers fighting bravely and fearlessly, when they bring wisdom and glory to more people, and they finally retire. When we step off the stage, we often think that everything seems to be over. But everything never ends. Entrepreneurship is actually a pursuit of a one-way street. It is a journey with only a starting point and no end. Once every player in the game enters, there is no possibility of stopping, because there is no way to stop in life. This is the truth that Mr. Faust only realized after he went to heaven and earth. When we sigh "stop , how beautiful life is" moment, we also surrender our souls to the devil. Competitions may have winners and losers, but the reality does not. We pay attention to "Win in China" and who will be the final winner, just like we pay attention to Yu Minhong's life path. However, in fact, we pay more attention to the reality. Among them, those who have been "on the road" to explore, try and struggle. What's more, we ourselves are not like this-always "on the road". A person's entrepreneurial path may seem to be an independent choice, but in fact, this road never leads to a private secret garden. The pioneers have personally proved that it extends in all directions—directly bordering on social needs, It is connected with the grand and solemn themes of the country, economy, responsibility, and belief.Even, this road is already a part of history. Those people on the road have made great achievements, but they have also fallen short, but it is their deep and shallow footprints that have made the most vivid history of China's economic development. annotation. So, as a walker, on this endless journey, you have no choice. Even if you are Yu Minhong——your name is now more popular than any university president in China in Harvard and Yale; even if the Beijing New Oriental School founded by you dominates the overseas training market in Beijing and even the whole country. I have trained tens of thousands of Chinese students in the United States and Canada; even if you are proficient in English and good at vocabulary, the GRE vocabulary series written by New Oriental students is called the "Red Book" by New Oriental students; Get perfect scores in the TOEFL and GRE exams, so that you are honored as "the godfather of studying abroad" by them. In many cases, an enterprise is more like a life. You create it, take care of it, and then it develops and grows day by day. It might even have its offspring.This process seems to be controllable, but sometimes it is difficult to suppress. Therefore, more than ten years ago, Yu Minhong could not have imagined the strength and status of New Oriental today. Today, Yu Minhong will also find it difficult to imagine the situation of New Oriental a few years later. For Yu Minhong, who has done great things, what kind of "seeds" he possessed to make his great cause come true? It is really hard for us to say, but we can be sure that Yu Minhong must have some kind of successful quality. He once told the reporter very confidently Said: "If there was no English training class at that time, I would do other things, such as open a soy sauce shop, maybe now I have turned it into a large chain mall." Today, all the achievements of New Oriental have become facts, and Yu Minhong still shows a sincere and peaceful smile as a living existence. Everyone knows that he is truthful and frank, although after New Oriental went public, Yu Minhong, who is responsible to international shareholders, has no choice but to face all kinds of situations that will happen to the company in the future, and has no way out. And Yu Minhong, just as people have commented: under his simple and peaceful "sheep" appearance, he has the firmness and ambition of a "wolf". In 2001, New Oriental’s upper-level conflicts intensified, almost to the point of disintegration. Yu Minhong once again faced difficulties. The violent turmoil at the top made New Oriental look like a giant ship with a weak foundation and huge structural defects. The rapid expansion made it overwhelmed , almost to the brink of teetering.After several efforts, Yu Minhong finally turned the tide and miraculously transformed it into a virtuous circle. New Oriental seemed to have experienced a phoenix-like rebirth and became a New Oriental with a modern corporate structure.Although there is no doubt that Yu Minhong has paid the price in this turmoil, but he has received more rewards, not only established absolute leadership, but also won a stable and united situation. He said: "If you really get It will be a very sad thing and it will mean the end of your leadership.” Yu Minhong’s insight and courage have been tested once again, and he used his actions to stabilize himself. As the chief rudder of New Oriental, he exchanged the smallest price for the greatest return, which once again showed his calmness and confidence. Indeed, the confident Yu Minhong is as ambitious as ever.New Oriental has been going all the way, and the challenges seem to have never stopped, and he has never stopped further planning and vision for New Oriental.As early as October 2000, when the opening ceremony of New Oriental Guangzhou Branch was held, Yu Minhong expressed his desire to make New Oriental the best private university in China—China’s Harvard and Yale. He also emphasized the value of private universities. Private universities will represent a high school-running realm and concept, and will be a supplement to the rigid Chinese education system. Not only has he not stopped, but he has always had a forward vision and a clear direction.In fact, if we look back at Yu Minhong's growth process, it is not difficult to find that none of his ideals seem to exceed the results he finally obtained.At that time, he only wanted to pull out the farming roots, but he went to Peking University by accident. Later, with the dream of going abroad, he finally created a huge New Oriental Education Group.So we have reason to believe that he is fully capable of turning the ideal in front of him into a reality in the future. my heart Will Go On When you are born in this world, you will face sorrow and pain, and you will face despair.Life is like this, and so is business.Therefore, on this endless journey, dreams will continue, and challenges and difficulties will always exist.Since it is an eternal road, there should be always young and strong passers-by. It is said in the Buddhist scriptures: "No one will age just because of age. We age because we give up our ideals. Age makes the skin old, but giving up enthusiasm makes the soul old." Although Yu Minhong and the principals of New Oriental have discussed for many times whether to change New Oriental's school motto of "Finding Hope from Despair", and discussed whether it is still suitable for the current era?However, Yu Minhong has always insisted that this is an eternal philosophy of life.Indeed, despair is a kind of confusion in reality or life, and this kind of confusion will not disappear because of the increase in wealth and status.Yu Minhong himself thinks so, and he conveys this understanding to the students in the same way. He hopes that the students will be stronger, and he hopes to let the students feel and understand: never turn back when going through pain, and persevere after despair Continue to pursue relentlessly, and gather strength again after trembling.Many students who have trained in New Oriental describe New Oriental as a spiritual alma mater. In addition to studying how to deal with foreign entrance examinations and how to get a visa, they also know: "Finding hope from despair" is An eternal way to maintain faith and vitality. As Carnegie, the master of success, once said: "If you have faith, you will be young, and if you have doubts, you will be old; if you have confidence, you will be young, and if you are afraid, you will be old; Enthusiasm breaks the soul." Yu Minhong, who is looking for hope from despair, his soul is always restless, as he himself said: "There is a call in my heart, which always leads me to the unknown distance. Even if I sit in the room Here, I also hope to have a window that allows me to look at the distant horizon.” He seems to be destined to live a passionate life on the road, which is a young life because of yearning and hope. At the beginning of September 2006, a few days before New Oriental went public, Yu Minhong, who was in the United States, got through to Xu Xiaoping.The two couldn't help chatting about their entrepreneurial history back then. When it came to excitement, Yu Minhong couldn't help but said to Xu Xiaoping, who was about to go to the United States: "Xiaoping, by the way, bring some admission brochures and distribute them in the New York subway... just forget about the paste. There are plenty of stickers here.” This is Xu Xiaoping’s vivid description of that story at a New Oriental IPO celebration meeting. Yu Minhong’s bookish spirit and pure temperament seem to be the same as the Yu Minhong 13 years ago, carrying a bucket of paste in the cold winter. The difficult years of posting advertisements everywhere in the cold wind are always a knot in his memory. Compared with his entrepreneurial legend, this "Godfather of Studying Abroad", who personally created China's largest private educational institution and successfully listed in the United States, has always been in his heart. They all remember the fiery and hard-working life in the initial stage of entrepreneurship, and are deeply gratified. Just a few days later, in September 2006, New Oriental went public. Yu Minhong, the chairman and president of New Oriental, owned 31.18% of the company's shares, and his total assets reached at least 270 million US dollars.The listing of New Oriental not only made Yu Minhong the richest teacher in China, but also created a group of rich teachers. In addition to Yu Minhong, another founder of New Oriental, Xu Xiaoping, holds 10% of the shares of New Oriental, and Bao Fanyi holds 4% of the shares. , Qian Yongqiang holds 2.5% of the shares.On the first day of listing, the stock price rose by 46.67%. Yu Minhong's net worth exceeded RMB 1.9 billion, making him the richest teacher in China.He sat by the Harrison River in New York that day. He watched the scenery for more than two hours without any excitement. "Can I still control my future and the ideal of New Oriental?" He told reporters that he thought the most at that time. Yes, is the future of New Oriental. People have witnessed Yu Minhong's wealth growth and changes in social status, and people will continue to witness Yu Minhong's step-by-step success.However, behind these auras of success, Yu Minhong does not seem to have changed. He is still the peasant boy from Jianghuai, who is very thin from his face to his hands. Sports shoes are quite different from the imaginary identity of the rich and powerful head of New Oriental.Talking about his own success, he said: "Success is something that has historical conclusions. Businessmen don't care whether they are successful or not, because the business world is always turbulent and dangerous. If you define yourself in the business world, there will be no success. If you write A book that has been judged by history and read by people for thousands of years is a success, like Chen Zhongshi’s and Feng Gong’s sketches, it’s a success. New Oriental still doesn’t have such eternal things.” In Yu Minhong's view, success must have a tacit correspondence with eternity.Without the arrogance and superficiality of those people who climb rich overnight, he still maintains a calm and open heart, just like when he was young and had nothing. In Vancouver in 1995, Xu Xiaoping asked Yu Minhong what else he lacked?Yu Minhong pondered for a moment and said: "There is still a little sense of sublime." Perhaps it is this sense of nobility that enabled Yu Minhong to keep a clear mind when his wealth soared to 1.9 billion overnight, and made Yu Minhong no matter how much his wealth and status changed over the years. But he has always maintained a pure heart and a full state. This eternal state of mind is the common feature of idealists. Regardless of pain and glory, they stick to this ideal background. Yu Minhong has written and will continue to write the reality that belongs only to him on this background. The journey of life is like a "realistic version" life lesson plan for idealists, and after we have read all the phenomena in the world, if we can increase our expectations and firmness in our hearts, then maybe each of us Every life will eventually become a successful lesson plan. Let us, like Yu Minhong, give ourselves strength and hope frequently: May I work hard and be diligent, may I keep my promises, and may I be firm Courageous, persistent and persistent, may I be kind, kind, compassionate, may I be humble, peaceful, serene, composed, serene, may I be on the perfect path and serve others perfectly.