Chapter 8 Chapter 8 Keeping pace with the times, pioneering and innovating

When it comes to the automobile industry, one cannot fail to mention Henry Ford.Looking back at the development of Ford Corporation and the trajectory of the automobile industry, it is not difficult to find that Henry Ford was a great industrialist with a keen mind and kept pace with the times in his early days. Although Henry Ford, who was born as a farmer, did not receive a higher education, he developed a good habit of being diligent, studious and thinking.The rapid development of science and technology and the rapid development of industrial production deeply stimulated Ford, especially the invention of the automobile, which made him even more excited.He is determined to produce and drive this kind of transportation machine himself, and keep pace with the times.

Henry Ford has been involved in the automobile industry since 1888.But the future was full of thorns, and the Detroit Motor Company and Ford Motor Company he founded successively failed.These two failures did not deter Ford, and he founded the Ford Motor Company for the third time. Different from the previous two ventures, this time Henry Ford paid more attention to the use of talents, the adoption of modern production methods, and the establishment of a sound management system. Henry Ford found James Kurtzins, an expert, as the company's manager.With the help of James Kurtzens, a business genius, Henry Ford made three historic decisions:

The first is to make market forecasts.Through market forecasting, Henry realized that only cheap can sell more.At that time, the price of cars was very high, and although the profits were huge, they could not enter the working class and peasant families.Starting from this, Henry Ford presided over the formulation of a manufacturing plan for a lightweight, powerful, reliable, and cheap Model T car. Second, adopt the assembly line method.Because it wants to be cheap, it must be mass-produced in an assembly line like military industrial production.For this reason, under the recommendation of Kuzins, Henry Ford invited Walter Flanders, known as the "genius of mechanization", and two other designers, and built a modified assembly line in 1913— —The world's first assembly line for automobiles, from which Model T automobiles are continuously produced.The production efficiency has also been greatly improved, from the production of one car in 12 hours and 28 minutes in the past to the level of one car in 9 minutes.

Again, establish a sales network.By 1912, thousands of firms were engaged in selling Ford vehicles.This allowed the cheap and durable black Model T car, which was just born, to rush to the world. In addition, while establishing an efficient management system with his courage and courage as a modern entrepreneur, Henry Ford took the lead in implementing the 9-hour working day system, shortening the working time by one hour, and taking some enlightened measures. Policies, such as a $5-a-day minimum wage, and the hiring of disabled and ex-criminals.These not only did not have negative effects, but stimulated the enthusiasm of workers, eased labor relations, reduced manufacturing costs, and increased sales profits. More importantly, the company survived the Great Depression period from 1931 to 1993.

Henry Ford's innovations at the Ford Motor Company led to a revolution in the world automobile industry.Since then, the world automobile industry has developed rapidly.Although Henry Ford also made the mistake of being self-sufficient and arbitrary in his later years, and caused Ford Motor Company to go downhill for a while, and was caught up by General Motors, finally Henry Ford had to give way to his grandson.However, Henry Ford's innovative spirit and boldness in the 1920s and 1930s cannot be denied.From another perspective, Henry Ford's forced abdication also illustrates the importance of entrepreneurs keeping an idea that keeps pace with the times.

History is cruel and ruthless. Whoever does not fit the times will be cruelly eliminated. This is true of Ford I, and so are all other leaders.The result of standing still and being complacent is only backwardness. China was once the most powerful country in the world in history. It was admired by thousands of barbarians in the Tang Dynasty. Even in the Qianlong Dynasty, foreign countries were amazed by China's prosperity.However, in the late Qing Dynasty, due to the long-term seclusion of the country, it encountered a situation of falling behind and being beaten! A leader is essentially a traditional breaker. Only by breaking through old ideas and catering to the needs of the development of the times can one become a real leader.

George Soros is not only a speculative investor, but also a great philanthropist.That is to say, he not only wants to make money, but also returns the money he earns to the society in a timely manner. Since 1984, he has established 35 funds in more than 20 countries to support the development and construction of the host country. Once George Soros realizes that he has made a mistake, he will never stick to his own opinion and will make the mistake. He will completely change the direction of his operation without delay.Regarding his own success, this great investor with a general demeanor said something like this:

"If you think you are successful, you will lose the process that made you successful. One must be willing to admit mistakes and accept pain. If you have made mistakes and are not willing to admit, accept pain, or even stop feeling the pain of mistakes, then you will If you make another mistake, you lose your winning edge." From the investment career of George Soros, we can see that this hero of the times in the world investment circle is actually a modern pragmatism investor.He invests in a way that best suits his temperament and interests, and has a deeper understanding of the value of the investment object than the timing of the investment.

As a modern pragmatist investor, George Soros has no persistent theories, does not believe in any legal precepts, and is not bound by any operating mode.Whether growth stocks, value stocks, stocks, bonds, currencies, or futures, they are all just tools to make money. George Soros was always judging the situation, waiting for the opportunity to succeed.He can be said to be a master of "slalom".Today, when investment is becoming more and more professional, real financial managers and investors will switch to a new method when they find that a method has been used for a long time and there is no preemptive advantage.Even if you use the same method, you are good at grasping the timing, sometimes jumping into the market, sometimes jumping out of the market, and never stick to a corner.

When successful investors summed up the experience of getting rich as a certain investment method and was regarded as a standard, modern pragmatism investors represented by George Soros quickly changed their investment as the environment changed. Method and investment concept.They are always ahead of the market and ahead of the general stockholders. General stockholders and most investors cannot surpass the market, because they are the market themselves. A leader is not only a grasper of opportunities, but also a creator of opportunities. By staying close to the market and grasping opportunities, he can become the mainstay of the market.If you look at the opportunity and surpass the market, you will change from passive to active, become a dark horse in the market, drive the market to operate, and become the leader of the market.But to surpass the market, the most basic thing is to seize the opportunity and accumulate experience.When the camera jumps, it must find a good springboard. If the springboard is made of rotten wood, it may fail to leap and be swallowed by the market instead.

Therefore, as a creative leader, we must constantly innovate, assess the situation, attack decisively, identify blank spots in the market, and do what others can't do, and what adults can't do. In the fierce market competition, if an enterprise wants to stand out from the crowd, it must be led by an entrepreneur with resourcefulness and courage. Li Huazhong, general manager of Anshan Iron and Steel Company, with his resourcefulness and courage, together with other leaders of Anshan Iron and Steel, steered the "Steel United Fleet" with a history of more than 70 years, marched along the navigation mark of reform and opening up, and sailed to harbors of harvest one after another. In January 1986, Li Huazhong was appointed as the general manager of Anshan Iron and Steel Co., Ltd. after four years of separation from Shanghai Baosteel.What is the situation at Angang at this time?Iron-making and steel-making production are seriously out of touch; technological transformation, which is related to the fate of Anshan Iron and Steel, has been planned for ten years and debated for ten years, and it is difficult to make decisions.Faced with the predicament, Li Huazhong made such a decision with his own wisdom and courage: insist on the road of self-accumulation, self-reform and self-development, and determined the strategic policy of "organizing production centered on ironmaking". However, the implementation of any new decision is not smooth sailing, and Li Huazhong, an entrepreneur, cannot escape the entanglement of difficulties.After he made the above decision, in order to mobilize the enthusiasm of all aspects of production, with the support of the party committee and labor union, he decided to launch a "55018" (comprehensive coke ratio below 550 kg, blast furnace utilization factor above 1.8) in the whole company. The code-named competition to seize iron and protect steel.Unexpectedly, on the third day of the competition, a rare blast furnace accident fell from the sky.Due to the negligence of the operator, no coke was added to No. 11 blast furnace for 5 hours, but only ore was added. As a result, thousands of tons of cold material solidified in the furnace.The "difficult production" of the blast furnace has greatly affected the iron production of Angang Iron and Steel Co., Ltd., which was already insufficient. Faced with this major accident at Anshan Iron and Steel, Li Huazhong was quick to come up with two solutions to the problem: one was to grate the furnace to take out the ore and molten iron; the other was to use continuous air supply to heat up.And compared the two schemes quickly, it was concluded that the former takes a long time and suffers heavy losses; the latter takes a short time and has great risks.After a short period of calm consideration, Li Huazhong resolutely made three scientific decisions that were both risky and left a way out: first, deal with the accident first, and then investigate those responsible, so that those who have done meritorious deeds can make up for their mistakes; Research and propose griddle options. Nine days later, Li Huazhong finally won in a narrow danger. As the saying goes: "Illness comes like a mountain, and sickness goes like a thread." The arrival of a crisis is as sudden as the disease, and sometimes the crisis is treated like a disease. First, "see, smell, listen, and ask" to find out the cause of the crisis The sticking point.The crisis is not a single factor, but has its origin, accumulation and outbreak process.Only by understanding the nature of the crisis can we prescribe the right medicine, see the fish and cast a net, research a solution, and then find a solution with moderate risks and benefits among these solutions, and implement it decisively. "When you hit a snake, you have to hit seven inches", and the same is true for dealing with crises, because if you hit a snake wrong, you will startle the snake, which may endanger your life, but if you handle the crisis wrongly, it is enough to kill the company.