Chapter 10 The Wise Man Through the Jungle of Humanity

China does not lack entrepreneurs, but what it lacks are entrepreneurs with ideas.Ren Zhengfei is one of the most thoughtful entrepreneurs in China today. He has a deep understanding of Laozi and Zhuangzi, and at the same time deeply empathizes with Michelle Waldrop.Ren Zhengfei advocated "grey scale management" in Huawei, and proposed a new perspective to grasp the balance and rhythm in the chaos and trembling.He pointed out that the important qualities of a leader are direction and rhythm, and his level is the appropriate gray scale.The unwavering correct direction comes from gray scale, compromise and tolerance.

"Gray scale of management" is the accumulation and sublimation of Ren Zhengfei's more than 20 years of successful experience in corporate management.The core point of his "grayscale" thinking is compromise and tolerance.When it comes to "compromise", it is easy to think of the "middle way" in traditional Chinese culture, but Ren Zhengfei's thinking is quite different from it. "The Doctrine of the Mean" emphasizes being impartial in doing things and taking a compromise method, that is, the so-called way of standing up for oneself without merit, but without fault.The "compromise" mentioned by Ren Zhengfei is actually a very pragmatic and flexible jungle wisdom.All wise men in the jungle of human nature know how to accept other people's compromises at the right time, or to compromise with others. After all, people rely on reason, not emotion, to survive.Compromise is a necessary path to professionalism.Everyone must maintain enough tolerance, compromise or grayness in such a complicated situation.Forgiving others is actually forgiving ourselves.The more tolerance we have for others, the more room we have in our lives.

The value of "grey level management" depends on how far-reaching the goals and vision of the enterprise are.In fact, many Chinese companies are now entering the large-scale stage of conglomeration. However, Huawei is facing the same problems as those companies in terms of how to reasonably manage and control the work responsibilities, power distribution, mutual communication, and institutional constraints of the company's middle and senior employees. of.Therefore, Ren Zhengfei, as a business leader, needs to come up with more precise management thinking in a timely manner to deal with it.Undoubtedly, promoting principled compromise ideas within the enterprise will help wash away many of the problems left over from the early days of entrepreneurship.As Ren Zhengfei said, "Our employees have been influenced by the habitual force of the company's early days in the past 20 years, and their own thinking and operations are not yet fully professional."

For long-term development, dare to take risks to change the reality, which used to be the value of Chinese enterprises.However, after the financial crisis, the uncertainty of the market environment has greatly increased. It is difficult for decision makers at the top of large enterprises to see the environmental factors involved in various business decisions. Therefore, to make the best decision, the point of view should be closer to the market. It has become an inevitable requirement for the subordinate agencies or other departments of the organization to compromise. The "compromise" that Ren Zhengfei emphasizes is not to completely abandon principles, but to make progress by retreating and ensure the realization of goals through appropriate exchanges.He believes: "In order to achieve the main goal, we can make appropriate concessions on the secondary goals. This kind of compromise is not to give up the principle completely, but to make progress by retreating and ensure the realization of the goal through appropriate exchanges. Wise Compromise is an art of concession, and compromise is also a virtue, and mastering this superb art is an essential quality for managers." This is his long-term strategy using "grayscale" thinking to grasp and guide himself.

In the formulation of long-term strategies, many companies now regard "innovation" as an important direction, but how many companies are successful? Ren Zhengfei believes that in management improvement, we must continue to adhere to the principle of "seven objections": "resolutely oppose perfectionism, resolutely oppose cumbersome philosophy; resolutely oppose blind innovation, resolutely oppose partial optimization without overall benefit improvement, and resolutely oppose no overall view cadres lead the reform, resolutely oppose people without business practical experience participating in the reform, and resolutely oppose the application of processes that have not been fully demonstrated.” Because he knows very well that “perfectionism” stifles management innovation, and “cumbersome philosophy” is to make If the improvement is stranded, "blind innovation" is suicide, "partial interest" is the devil, the ruler "has no overall situation" is self-mutilation, "empty theory" is taboo, and the process without sufficient demonstration is short-lived.Ren Zhengfei used the words "resolutely opposed" to each of them, which shows his deep hatred.That is the essence of innovation and change that failed again and again.

In terms of defining "grey scale", Ren Zhengfei believes that the positive effect of improvement is greater than that of change, so he does not advocate drastic changes, but makes decisions before moving.This will make Huawei more stable in its development process, especially in the post-crisis period, which has guiding significance for most Chinese companies.In addition, "grayscale" thinking also has a guiding role in organizational management.At present, many enterprises in China still adopt a pyramid-shaped hierarchical command and control system, and each department acts independently and is oriented towards self-interest.Under the control of vertical management, the functional behavior between departments is inefficient due to the lack of organic connection.

Wang Yukun, a well-known management expert and director of the Entrepreneur Research Center of Peking University, believes that in Ren Zhengfei's "seven objections", the focus is on the "grey scale" and "rules" of change.Ren Zhengfei especially cherishes and values ​​the kind of freedom in each key scene.He is committed to achieving that transformation: "Gray in management is our tree of life. We must have a deep understanding of openness, compromise, and grayscale." Ren Zhengfei's explorations are of far-reaching significance. For the various departments, project teams and their supervisors, with the implementation of the personal performance commitment system, they are no longer purely functional departments or functional managers. Transformed into a manager who integrates management and operation functions.Therefore, managers are faced with an urgent problem, that is, to achieve a balance between personal management ability and management ability through role positioning and transformation, thus forming a virtuous circle: at the individual level, to achieve a dynamic balance between personal ability and job responsibilities; At the corporate level, achieve a dynamic balance between departmental business objectives and management efficiency; at the company level, achieve a dynamic balance between performance and profit, operation and management, organizational strategic goals and organizational capabilities.

Ren Zhengfei summed up Huawei's management reform in this way: "We have proposed a positive cash flow, positive profit flow, positive human resource efficiency growth, and a decentralization of power through authorization, exercise, and supervision. Granting direct combat troops is also a change. This change may be in conflict with the direction of decision-making over the years, and it will also involve the opportunities and futures of many people, but I think we must have mutual understanding and tolerance .” Ren Zhengfei believes that tolerance is a kind of strength, not weakness.The concession embodied in tolerance is purposeful and planned, and the initiative is in one's own hands.Helplessness and compulsion cannot be regarded as tolerance.Only a brave man knows how to be tolerant, a coward will never be tolerant, this is not his nature.Tolerance is a virtue.Only tolerance will unite the majority of people to recognize the direction with you, and only compromise will reduce confrontation in the unswervingly correct direction. Only in this way can you achieve your correct goal.

If you learn to be tolerant and keep an open mind, you will truly reach the "grey level" state, and you will be able to go further and more solidly on the right path. Ren Zhengfei has clearly realized that "in the face of future risks, we can only use the certainty of the rules to deal with the uncertainty of the results. Only in this way can we do whatever we want without breaking the rules and gain freedom in development." Ren Zhengfei's "grey-level management" thinking solves the difficulties faced by managers in grasping the direction of enterprise development, innovation ability, brain drain, principles and scales. Perhaps his "grey-level management" thinking can help more managers Solve the difficult problems of enterprise management very well.