Chapter 47 Chapter 47: Calmly respond to various emergencies

PepsiCo is the biggest player in the beverage market, and has competed with Coca-Cola for supremacy several times.However, in the course of fierce competition, an unexpected incident almost caused Pepsi to fall into the crisis of being squeezed out of the market. This is the "needle incident". Mrs. Williams, who had heard of the freshness of Pepsi for a long time, bought two cans of Pepsi from the supermarket for her child.After returning home, she drank a tube and thought it tasted good. She inadvertently turned the can upside down on the table, and even a needle was poured out. Mrs. Williams was shocked and immediately revealed the matter to the press. Coca-Cola The company also took the opportunity to hype its own products. For a while, Pepsi was rarely interested in anyone.

As soon as PepsiCo got the news of the "needle incident", it immediately took measures. On the one hand, it apologized to Mrs. Williams through the press, and asked her to tell the story of the incident, thanking her for her trust in Pepsi, and thanking her for ensuring the quality of Pepsi. , consoling Mrs. Williams with a handsome bonus.It also announced to consumers through the media: whoever finds similar problems in Pepsi will be rewarded.On the other hand, stricter quality inspections were carried out on the Pepsi production line, and Mrs. Williams was invited to visit, which convinced Mrs. Williams that Pepsi was of reliable quality and won the lady's praise.

There is actually a needle in Coke, which is something that Pepsi has never encountered. It is an almost impossible event, and it happened so suddenly, which directly affects the company's reputation, market share and competitiveness. Emergencies are unpredictable, and emergencies are often related to the safety of the organization. It requires leaders to control the development of the situation in time to avoid falling into crisis. After PepsiCo obtained the information about the "needle incident", it launched the above-mentioned series of measures in a timely and decisive manner.Demonstrated a strong innovative spirit, flexibly and flexibly put the decision-making power on the scene of the incident to the greatest extent.According to the change of the scene, temporary decision-making was made, which eased the contradictions, dispelled the concerns of consumers, and stimulated the curiosity of consumers. Not only did it not reduce the sales volume, but it doubled the number of consumers who bought Pepsi.It can be said that the leader of Pepsi has superb leadership art, successfully defusing emergencies and turning harm into benefit.Another one with the same purpose is Panasonic's "10,000 light bulb bet".

Konosuke Matsushita, chairman of Matsushita Electric Co., Ltd., worked in Osaka Electric Lamp Company in his early years.He was fascinated by light bulbs. In order to realize his idea of ​​improving the lamp base, he devoted himself to the improvement work and formed Matsushita Electric Company.Unfortunately, at the beginning of the company's establishment, it encountered an economic crisis, the market was weak, and sales were difficult.How can the company get out of the predicament and turn the crisis into safety?Konosuke Matsushita weighed and weighed again and again, and decided not to do anything, but to continue, and took out 10,000 light bulbs for publicity purposes, so as to open up the market for light bulbs.

The light bulb must have a power source in order to function.To this end, Matsushita visited the chairman of Okada Dry Battery Company in person, hoping that the two parties would cooperate in the production and publicity of the product, and give away 10,000 dry batteries for free.Okada, who has always been bold and straightforward, couldn't help but be surprised when he heard this, because it was obviously a very unreasonable adventure.But Matsushita's sincere and courageous attitude was really touching, and Okada finally agreed to his request. Panasonic's light bulbs paired with Okada's dry batteries played the best publicity effect.Soon the sales of light bulbs skyrocketed, and orders for dry batteries also flew in like snowflakes.Matsushita Electric Co., Ltd. at the beginning of its establishment not only did not go bankrupt, but has since become famous and its business is booming.

For Matsushita Electric Company, which has just been established and has a modest family background, 10,000 light bulbs are not a small number.However, Panasonic dared to put all one basket in the face of the crisis, worked hard, took the most desperate marketing action to win supporters, and finally succeeded. In short, the situation and information in different fields are complex and changeable, requiring leaders to deal with non-procedural issues with superior leadership skills.As an extreme form of non-procedural problems, emergencies require leaders with higher leadership qualities. In the ever-changing political world, the confusing business world, and other fields where uncertain factors lurk, for unexpected emergencies Incidents and resulting crises, use the leadership art of innovation, response, and decisiveness, etc., to obtain proactive and satisfactory handling results, so as to avoid losses or minimize losses.

Unforeseen events and crises often cause major changes in some factors in the environment around the leader, so that the environment has an extremely adverse impact on the leadership work.This increases the uncertainty of the leader's decision-making. At the same time, because a sudden crisis is suddenly destructive to the organization, it is a test for the leadership's ability to adapt. On the other hand, emergencies are sudden and unruly incidents, which are always unpredictable and unprepared, but they are also related to the safety of the organization. They must not only be dealt with, but also be handled well.Compared with the daily work of an organization, emergencies are really unexpected, but there is always a profound inevitability at work behind this contingency and unexpectedness.In this sense, emergencies can be grasped. While creating difficulties for leaders, crises are also challenges and opportunities.If leaders are good at seizing opportunities and meeting challenges with innovative thinking and actions, then leaders will be able to avoid losses caused by emergencies, improve leadership effectiveness, and promote organizational development and progress.

In ancient Chinese political struggles, the most typical use of preemptive strikes was the "Xuanwumen Incident" launched by Qin Wang Li Shimin. After the unification of the world was returned to the Tang Dynasty, Li Shimin and Prince Li Jiancheng began to compete for the succession to the throne.Li Jiancheng was established as the crown prince as the eldest son, and obtained the traditional legal status.Although Li Shimin is Li Yuan's second son, he played a very important role from the initial planning of raising troops to the unification of the world. In fact, he was the real founder of the Tang Dynasty.The long-term campaign made him have a lot of talents, including Yuchi Jingde, Qin Shubao, Cheng Yaojin and other famous generals, as well as Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, Xu Maogong and other resourceful scribes.They all hope that Li Shimin will replace Jiancheng and become the prince.In addition, Li Yuanji, Li Yuan's fourth son, the king of Qi, also coveted the position of prince, and threatened: "As long as you are not the king of Qin, it is easy to be a prince." Li Shimin has already seen that he is in the vortex of this power struggle, or he will die , or the net is broken, but the time is not yet ripe, Li Shimin did not dare to act rashly.

Just as this political storm was simmering and yet to break out, just as the Turks invaded the border of the Tang Dynasty again, Prince Jiancheng took the opportunity to speed up the persecution of Li Shimin.Therefore, Li Shimin used his superior resourcefulness and decisiveness to preemptively seize the position of the crown prince.First, he ordered his eldest grandson Wuji to recall Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui from the palace to the palace to discuss matters together; then, he instructed the courtier Fu Yi to play Li Yuan: Taibai Star appeared in the division of Qin, indicating that King Qin would rule the world.In the end, he personally met Li Yuan and threw out a trump card he had held for a long time: exposing Jian Jian and Yuan Ji's promiscuity in the harem, which prompted Li Yuan to decide to interrogate the prince and King Qi in the early court.On June 4th in the ninth year of Wude (626), Li Shimin and his generals sneaked into the Forbidden Palace and fell at the Xuanwu Gate.When Jiancheng and Yuanji walked to the Linhu Hall, they realized that the situation was not right, and when they turned their horses around, Li Shimin led the crowd to kill Jiancheng, and Yuchi Jingde also shot Yuanji to death with an arrow.Later, Li Shimin forced Li Yuan to issue an edict that "all the troops will be punished by the King of Qin". Six days later, Tang Gaozu Li Yuan made Li Shimin the crown prince.In August of that year, Emperor Gaozu abdicated and Li Shimin ascended the throne as Emperor Taizong of Tang.

In military activities, the use of sudden tactics actually has the meaning of preemptive strikes. At 4:50 am on September 1, 1939, while the Polish army was still soundly asleep, the German army dispatched 2,300 planes and tens of thousands of cannons to bombard and shell the entire territory of Poland.Immediately, 64 divisions of the German army advanced at a speed of 30-50 kilometers per day and night, and the Polish army was defeated in less than a month. At 4 o'clock on June 22, 1941, the German army dispatched 181 divisions, 218 brigades, 4,980 aircraft, and 3,350 tanks to launch a "lightning" attack on the Soviet Union.Within a week, it invaded hundreds of kilometers into the territory of the Soviet Union, causing the Soviet Union to suffer heavy losses in the early stages of the war. From 23:00 in the middle of the night on August 20 to the early morning of August 21, 1968, the Soviet Union gathered Poland, East Germany, Hungary, Bulgaria and other countries, dispatched 250,000 troops, 800 aircraft, and 7,000 tanks, and launched a joint ground and air attack on Czechoslovakia. The sudden attack basically took control of the Czech Republic in just 6 hours.Although the above-mentioned military actions are all unjust, their successful experience in using preemptive strikes in military response is not without enlightenment for us.

During the reign of Emperor Suzong of the Tang Dynasty, Shi Siming rebelled against the Tang Dynasty again, and the war situation began to reverse.Li Guangbi, a well-known scheming and war-fighting general in the Tang Dynasty, wrote to Emperor Suzong of Tang Dynasty, asking for an order to mobilize Shuofang soldiers to join him, force to attack Weicheng where Shi Siming was stationed, and challenge Shi to fight.However, this strategic decision was not implemented because Yu Chaoen, the palace supervisor, was jealous of Li Guangbi's military exploits and obstructed it.In March of the second year of Qianyuan (759), Guo Ziyi, Li Guangbi and others led an army of 600,000 to fight Shi Siming's 500,000 elite soldiers in Hebei, Anyang.Just when the two armies suffered half and half casualties, and the victory was not yet decided, a strong wind rose, flying sand and rocks, the sky was dark, and the two armies could not recognize the opposing sides, and they fled separately.Since Tang Suzong did not have a commander-in-chief, he only used the eunuch Yu Chaoen as a guest envoy to observe the army. The 600,000 army did not have a unified command and could not cope with this change. The army suffered particularly heavy losses, and the Tang army fell into a passive position.In July of the same year, Tang Suzong summoned Guo Ziyi back to Beijing, and worshiped Li Guangbi as the deputy marshal of the world's soldiers and horses, taking over Shuofang's military affairs.Li Guangbi led 500 Hejiang cavalry to Luoyang, the eastern capital.Li Guangbi, who was known for his strict and orderly administration of the army, after he took office, gave orders, and the soldiers, barriers, and banners took on a new look.In addition, Li Guangbi used tactics to defeat Shi Siming's attacks many times and won successively, reversing the passive situation of the Tang army. As a contingency strategy, the key to mending after a dead sheep is to be good at learning lessons from mistakes and mistakes, so as to learn a lot of wisdom.That way, even if you pay the price first, you can learn from it so you can bounce back. Mary Kay, chairman of Mary Kay Cosmetics Company of the United States, also experienced failures and took many detours at the beginning of her business.However, she was neither discouraged nor discouraged, and finally became a late blooming "queen" in the cosmetics industry.It was the early 1960s, and Mary Kay, who was middle-aged, retired home. The lonely retirement life made her suddenly decide to take a risk.So, she invested all the 5,000 yuan she had saved in her life and founded Mary Kay Cosmetics Company.In order to support their mother's "fanatic" ideal, the two sons resolutely resigned from the job of a life insurance agent with a monthly salary of 480 US dollars, and the other also resigned from a position in Houston with a monthly salary of 750 US dollars to join the company founded by his mother. I would rather only get a monthly salary of 250 yuan. Mary Kay knew very well that this was a desperate fight and a big adventure. If she failed, not only her hard-earned savings all her life would be wiped out, but also the bright future of her two sons might be ruined.At the first exhibition after founding the company, she grandly launched a series of skin care products with unique functions. She thought it would cause a sensation and be a big success, but who would have expected that the entire exhibition would only sell skin care products worth 1.5 yuan.The cruel failure made her unable to control herself, and she cried bitterly. When she got home, she reflected on herself in the mirror.Before she reviewed the exhibition, the company never took the initiative to invite others to order, nor did it send out purchase orders, but only hoped that women would come to buy things. No wonder the exhibition failed.So, she wiped away her tears, stood up from the first failure, and strengthened the construction of the sales force while focusing on production management.After more than 20 years of painstaking efforts, Mary Kay Cosmetics Co., Ltd. has developed from 9 people at the beginning to an international company with more than 5,000 people and a sales force of 200,000 people. The company's sales volume exceeds 300 million US dollars. Of course, after all, it is a bit of an afterthought, although this kind of "after the fact" is very necessary.However, we should still advocate careful thinking and practical measures in advance to make up for it before it dies.This can not only reduce some unnecessary losses, but also, from the perspective of strain, can also take the initiative and avoid detours. When the cause of the crisis is closely related to oneself, it is a very effective contingency technique to use the method of active relief to get rid of the crisis. According to legend, when Chen Ping, a famous strategist in the Qin and Han Dynasties, was young, after losing a battle, he fled alone from a small path with a sword to cross the Yellow River.Seeing his handsome appearance and walking alone with a sword, the boatman knew that he was a fugitive general and guessed that he must have gold, silver and jade in his waist.Chen Ping also saw the boatman's plan. Although he was very anxious, he still dealt with it calmly.He took the initiative to take off his coat and helped the boatman to puncture the boat with his bare arms. The boatman saw that there was no treasure hidden in him, so he crossed Chenping and crossed the Yellow River smoothly.There is also a story about a large ship sailing on the river, and a passenger took out a brass cup to drink. The boatman thought the cup was golden, and stared at it many times, trying to plot something wrong.The traveler saw it too.After a while, the passenger approached the side of the boat to wash the cup, and deliberately dropped the cup into the river. The boatman thought he had lost the golden cup, and felt very horrified and sorry.Taking advantage of the situation, the passenger explained: "This is a brass cup, not gold, so it is not worth regretting." Like Chen Ping, the passenger took the initiative to relieve himself and avoided a disaster. The most characteristic function of active liberation is to retreat bravely in the torrent of officialdom, so as to avoid the ending of a dead dog. After King Goujian of Yue returned to Yue after destroying the Wu army, the monarch and his ministers had a banquet to celebrate his achievements. The musician composed the song "Fighting Wu".Observing this detail, Fan Li immediately aroused deep thinking: In order to destroy Wu Xingyue, Gou Jian did not hesitate to bear the humiliation and bear the burden of humiliation.Now that he has achieved his wish and achieved fame, he doesn't want to give credit to his subordinates, and his suspicion and jealousy have already begun to emerge.Under the big name, it is difficult to live for a long time.It is better to retreat bravely in the torrent as soon as possible, I am afraid that there will be no place to be buried in the future.Therefore, Fan Li submitted an application for resignation to Gou Jian the next day.Goujian refused.That night, Fan Li left without saying goodbye, and took his family and private relatives, precious jewels and jade, in a flat boat, waded through three rivers, entered five lakes, and came to Qi State.After Fan Li arrived in Qi State, he and his sons plowed by the sea and worked hard.Not long after, due to his good management, his family property reached hundreds of thousands, and he moved to Dingtao to do business. After a short time, he accumulated huge wealth and became the richest man, known as Tao Zhugong.Wen Zhong, another hero, refused to listen to Fan Li's advice to leave the Yue Kingdom, and was soon jealous of the Yue King and committed suicide with his sword. Zhang Liang, Liu Bang's main adviser, was known for his strategy all his life.Every time at a critical moment, after his foresight and foresight, he always puts forward countermeasures with a long-term perspective.Wang Anshi of the Song Dynasty praised him for "in the midst of the survival of the Han industry, Liu Hou should be calm."Zhang Liang is not only good at strategy, but also very familiar with and proficient in the essence of Huang Lao's art in ancient Chinese culture, and he personally practiced the thought of "successful work, retreat, and the way of heaven" that Lao Tzu said.After the foundation of the Han Dynasty was firmly established, he not only rejected the fiefdom of 30,000 households in Qidi, but chose the small place of Liuxian as his fiefdom, and he also stayed behind closed doors, taught himself the way of immortality, and expressed his philosophy of life by retiring and living in seclusion. , Also use this as an excuse to protect yourself wisely. Rushing all boats is an extreme contingency strategy that people use in the face of crisis. Its extreme point is that it uses the method of putting oneself to death to boost morale, unite and struggle, and seek common survival.This method of "falling into the dead and then reviving" often plays a great role in promoting the realization of the established goals. In 1988, the winery in Boxing County, Shandong Province saw that the beer and sparkling wine market was good, so it hurriedly produced a batch of sparkling wine.However, due to the poor quality, they could not be sold, resulting in a backlog of 108,000 bottles.These backlogs of sparkling wine not only occupy the capital of the factory, but also occupy the warehouse.what to do?The factory department decided: "Pour it out!" The wine was poured in a grand manner, the purpose of which was to motivate the whole factory staff in this way, and also to encourage the society to supervise the quality of their factory's products.The winery's act of "breaking the boat" has deeply imprinted the brand of "quality first" in people's hearts.Since then, the factory has focused on quality work and developed a batch of high-quality wine.The "Yuye fine wine" produced by them has been well received by consumers after being put on the market. In the second half of 1984, the loss situation was reversed.By 1987, the factory's annual profit and tax had reached nearly 10 million yuan, and its products were sold to more than half of China. The strategy of breaking the boat and sinking the boat is actually a strategy to cut off people's retreat and make people feel a sense of crisis, so as to motivate people to forge ahead.Therefore, creating a crisis through artificial methods is also a clever use of the strategy of breaking the boat.Japan's Hitachi is famous for its production of household appliances.Since the 1960s, due to the continuous growth of the demand for household appliances in the international market, Hitachi has also developed smoothly, and its products have been selling well.In order to overcome the complacency of subordinates and motivate them to forge ahead, Hitachi adopted some measures to artificially create a crisis to maintain the sense of crisis in the enterprise.For example, in September 1974, the company announced that the situation was not good, and that 22,000 subordinates had to go home temporarily to wait for a month, and those who were unemployed could receive unemployment benefits of about 80% of their wages; The management personnel will reduce their salaries in different proportions from the upper level to the lower level; the general manager will be reduced by 15%, the ministerial level will be reduced by 10%, and the section chief level will be reduced by 5%. Through these means, all subordinates will feel the crisis and dare not slack off , This is tantamount to breaking the boat and sinking the boat. If you don't advance, you will retreat.Isn't Hitachi's brilliant strategy worth learning from? Unnormal procedural decision-making in dealing with emergencies is very risky. Therefore, the political quality and ability of leaders play a decisive role.Leaders must have the courage of an explorer, the spirit and ability to take risks and take risks. First of all, leaders must have political morality, courage and insight, and a high sense of responsibility.Second, leaders must be adventurous. There are many factors involved in ability, such as knowledge, skills, intelligence, emotion and so on.Here, the reason why leaders dare to take risks is that they have accumulated a wealth of knowledge, and the leader's imagination is especially important.The decision to deal with emergencies is completely uncertain and the most difficult decision. The risk of making this kind of decision is much greater than other non-programmed decisions. Leaders must have the vision of a prophet, be full of optimism and confidence, and thus Make timely, decisive, and prudent decisions in the confrontation of opposing ideas and the collision of different viewpoints, so that even if you "cross the river by feeling the stones", you will be able to reach the other side smoothly. On June 22, 1995, British Prime Minister Major announced his resignation as the leader of the Conservative Party, asked the Conservative Party to hold an early leadership election, and stated that he himself would run for election.If he fails, he will resign as prime minister.The move shook British politics.Public opinion believed that this was the biggest "gamble" in Major's political life. The fuse that prompted Major to make this decision was his meeting with more than 60 "Eurosceptics" in the Conservative Party on June 13, 1995.During this meeting, these MPs violently attacked Major's European policy, strongly demanding that the UK not join the European Monetary Union and the European Single Currency Plan, and besieged Major very unceremoniously.The meeting gave the impression that Major had lost his grip on them and that they would challenge him at or before the Conservative party's annual conference in November.Major deeply felt that his authority had been seriously damaged, and under such circumstances, his policies could not be carried out. Therefore, in order to deal with the crisis, Major began to consider how to deal with these opponents.Subsequently, Major also spent a lot of time thinking about this issue during his attendance at the G7 Summit in Halifax, Canada. His guiding ideology gradually became clear. Instead of sitting still, it is better to take a risk. After returning to China on June 18, he immediately discussed specific measures with his trusted ministers and aides. After several days of discussions, he decided to adopt a pre-emptive strategy of resigning from the leadership of the Conservative Party.After all cabinet members expressed their support and understanding and pledged not to run for the leadership of the Conservative Party, Major officially announced the decision at a regular meeting of reporters at 10 Downing Street on June 2. Major has been unable to resolve the conflict with "Eurosceptics" for many years, which has left the Conservative Party in a state of split for a long time.Since Major came to power, the government has been unable to fulfill its original promise of tax cuts, but instead increased taxes, which has made voters very dissatisfied; moreover, various corruption scandals within the Conservative Party have continued, causing the Conservative Party to lose popular support.Since Blair was elected leader, the opposition Labor Party has announced new policy proposals, such as revising the Labor Party’s constitution and public ownership clauses, which are very popular. Many opinion polls show that the Conservative Party’s support rate among voters is only about 20%, lagging behind the Labor Party. Nearly 40 percentage points, and it was first verified in the local elections in four or five months.Many Conservative MPs worry that they may lose their seats if they participate in the general election under Major's administration.It was precisely because of this situation that some of the Conservative backbenchers lost confidence in Major.They figured that with a suitable replacement for Major, they would be less likely to lose in the next general election.So the "Eurosceptics" took Major's European policy as an opportunity to make this potential crisis surface, forcing Major into a dangerous situation. After Major announced his resignation as Conservative Party leader, he thought that as long as the cabinet members did not participate in the election, he could be sure of victory.As long as he was re-elected as the leader of the Conservative Party, he could strengthen his position and regain his authority, leading the Conservative Party to a showdown with the Labor Party in the first half of the 1997 general election. The "Eurosceptic" Welsh Minister Redwood resigned on June 26 and challenged Major, announcing his candidacy for the leadership of the Conservative Party, which was a serious blow to Major.The powerful figures in the Conservative Party, Minister of Industry and Trade Heseltine and Employment Minister Portillo have also begun to waver, and a considerable number of Conservative Party backbenchers who used to be moderate have gradually lost confidence and patience with Major. Jie's status is threatened. Under such circumstances, Major could only retreat and put all his eggs in one basket, trying to keep his position in the party first.After all, Major is a veteran in the political arena and has extraordinary leadership skills. He has taken various measures to make voters understand the national conditions of the UK and the benefits that European policies will bring to the British people. He is optimistic and confident about the prospect of the UK joining the European Monetary Union. The evidence won the support of voters and Conservative MPs, which eased the internal contradictions of the Conservative Party, and Major was still elected as the leader of the Conservative Party.