Chapter 99 SynTao 98 Dare to be Smart

The essence of business: Wen Shang’s shrewdness is well-known.In their eyes, shrewdness is not a sin, but a unique business wisdom. The savvy of Wenzhou merchants is well-known. In their eyes, money is everywhere, but many people don't know how to make it.There is no doubt that there are shrewd people among businessmen everywhere, but there is naturally a degree of difference in comparison with each other, and the attitude towards shrewdness itself is also very different.The Chinese are not unsavvy. If they are astute to the point of "great wisdom is like a fool", it can be said that their shrewdness has reached the extreme.However, it is precisely from the fact that "great wisdom" needs "ruoyu" that we can see that in the hearts of Chinese people, shrewdness is like a buffoon who can't get on the stage, and is more or less given a derogatory meaning in real life.

Wen Shang is different.Wen Shang not only appreciates, values, and respects shrewdness very much, but also appreciates, values, and admires them openly, just like their attitude towards money.In Wen Shang's mind, shrewdness seems to be a thing of itself, and shrewdness can exist in the form of "smartness for the sake of shrewdness".Of course, this does not mean that shrewdness can be so shrewd that it has no practical effect, but that it is generally difficult to measure shrewdness by other value measures except practical effect.The following joke can be said to be the most vivid and concentrated expression of Wen Shang's mentality.

After the United States and the former Soviet Union successfully carried out manned rocket flights, Germany, France and China also jointly developed a plan to travel to the moon.The rocket and the capsule are ready, and the next step is to choose the space pilot. The staff asked the candidates: "Under what kind of treatment are you willing to participate in space flight?" "Give me $3,000, and I'll do it," said the German candidate. "Keep $1,000 for myself, $1,000 for my wife, and $1,000 for a house fund." Next the French candidate said: "Give me $4,000. $1,000 for myself, $1,000 for my wife, $1,000 to pay back the mortgage on the house, and $1,000 for my lover."

The last Chinese applicant said: "I am capable for $5,000. $1,000 is for you, $1,000 is for me, and the remaining $3,000 is used to hire Germans to drive spaceships!" As soon as everyone heard it, they all praised the shrewdness of this Chinese man. After careful questioning, they found out that he is from Wenzhou! In this joke, the shrewdness of Wenzhou people can be said to be displayed extremely vividly.Wenzhou people don’t need to engage in practical affairs (opening a spaceship), but only need to fiddle with numbers, they can get $1,000 for themselves, and they can also give staff $1,000 in favors. This kind of shrewd thinking logic is the most prominent in the management style of Wenzhou people One of the features.

In all fairness, the Wenzhou people did not exploit the Germans, and the Germans could still get the $3,000 he asked for.As for the asking price of the Wenzhou people themselves, since they are allowed to report themselves, there is nothing wrong with him asking for a higher price. How to arrange it is purely his personal freedom, just like the French who openly treat their wives and lovers equally economically.Therefore, in this joke, the shrewdness of the Wenzhou pilot did not exceed the "legal" limit.And to be honest, in terms of the results alone, any country's pilots would be satisfied if they were in this "$1,000 for themselves" position.But whether in joke or in real life, they will not make such a request, and they will not even think about it, because this "too explicit shrewdness" is denied at a subconscious level-they will do it for themselves. Ashamed of his shrewdness!

But judging from the joke itself, we don’t feel at all that Wenzhou people are ashamed of being “too shrewd” for themselves. There is only a kind of pride, a kind of idea that is so shrewd that it can’t be realized because it’s so shrewd. And the "smug" mood.As for whether it is "too blunt", this consideration will not affect their shrewd calculations at all, let alone their appreciation of shrewdness itself.They regard shrewdness as something dignified and even worth showing off!It can be said that nothing is more crucial and more important to the development and prosperity of the shrewd than this kind of frank attitude.It can be said that Wenzhou businessmen are becoming more and more shrewd while laughing at their own fruitful shrewdness!

In reality, most of the jokes about Wenzhou people are shrewd jokes, but in real life, Wenzhou businessmen are more shrewd people, and they are also shrewd people who have the same frank and innocent attitude towards shrewdness. In old Shanghai, there was a well-known wealthy Wenzhou businessman. He was the only Wenzhou man who came to Shanghai from abject poverty to riches. His shrewdness is well known in Shanghai, and it has almost become a legend, and he is also regarded as a Wenzhou businessman. typical. At that time, at the age of 24, he wandered from Wenzhou to Shanghai.He was alone, with nothing in his pocket, and finally managed to find a job as a janitor in a foreign company, living in a dirty and smelly handyman's dormitory.Watching the door is a low-level job that can't make you rich, but it's different once this shrewd Wenzhou boy does it.After only working for a few days, he knew everything about the foreign firm like the back of his hand, especially he also knew that most of those who came to the foreign firm to do business came to discuss the business of black goods such as tobacco, so he shook his head and came up with a ghostly idea to make a fortune.

Before that, people who came to do business only had to say hello to the guards before being let in. This time, the working method of the Wenzhou boys has changed.He put a registration book at the door, and all visitors must register first, then sit on the bench at the door and wait, and enter the door in order.This made those tobacco merchants very anxious, because they were eager to sell the black goods.Some clever businessmen guessed the intention of the new young janitor, so they took out 1 yuan, put it lightly into his hand, and begged: "I have something urgent, can you accommodate me?" The Wenzhou boy went inside immediately. Run for a while, come out and say, "Come in, please."

Over time, other businessmen also saw the trick, so they also gave him 1 yuan when registering.For some individual businesses that need "goods" more urgently, they will add two yuan more and ask for "insert number".This change in the way of guarding the door not only enabled him to earn an extra 20 to 30 yuan a day, but also left a good impression of being smart and capable on the manager of the sales department.Because in the past, the office of the steward was always crowded with customers from morning to night, and they were scrambling to discuss business, which made the steward dizzy.Suddenly from a certain day, the merchants came in and out in an orderly manner, and almost all the big deals were in the front row.The steward was quite puzzled, so he deliberately took the time to go to the door to investigate, only to find out that "so it is", and he couldn't help but look at this Wenzhou boy differently in his heart. "This young man from Wenzhou is smart and capable. Wouldn't it be overkill for him to be a janitor!"

Soon, the manager of the sales department talked to the young man from Wenzhou, praised him for his hard work, smartness and ability, and asked him what he thought about the business of foreign companies.How could this bright-minded Wenzhou native let go of this opportunity to show himself in front of his superiors, and hurriedly said: "I think we can increase our turnover by mortgage."Using mortgages and promissory notes can not only increase the turnover, but also have a lot of room for development. In this way, the Wenzhou boy was quickly appreciated by his superiors, and he was promoted as a business manager, foreman, and clerk like a helicopter. In 1901, after he had saved enough funds, he independently opened a foreign firm, specializing in real estate. This Wenzhou native has grown from a penniless janitor to a rich man with a lot of money, which can be described as "smart" extraordinary!

In Wen Shang's mind, shrewdness has never been derogatory.And in their view, what real shrewdness requires is a state of mind, a state of mind about shrewdness itself.Anywhere, not only to be shrewd in ways, but once a shrewd idea is conceived, to be carried out with conviction, regardless of what other people may think.On this point, businessmen of other ethnic groups are not ignorant of shrewdness, but dare not be shrewd compared with Wenzhou businessmen. Businesses are bound to be at a disadvantage.