Chapter 10 Chapter 9 Cooperation, everyone gathers firewood and flames shine

In business wars, cooperation plays a very important role. A well-matched partner is half the battle, and the solidarity and mutual assistance between the two can make use of their strengths and avoid weaknesses, and increase the strength of both parties.But not all people are worthy of our cooperation and unity, and not all unity and cooperation will become the cornerstone of our success.In real life, true solidarity partners are sometimes hard to find.Therefore, this requires us to be able to master the principles of choosing partners correctly. Finding useful talents as helpers is very important for the success of entrepreneurship.But after possessing talents, it is even more important to be able to collaborate and use talents within the organization. This requires entrepreneurs to find a goal that can unite people's hearts.

When Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba, started his business, he went from Hangzhou to Beijing. After several failures, he had a team of 18 people who never gave up.Later, even the 500,000 yuan start-up capital for the establishment of Alibaba was pooled together by these 18 people.How did he do it?Ma Yun said: "Don't let your colleagues work for you, but let our colleagues work for our goals. Working together and uniting under a common goal is much easier than uniting under one entrepreneur. .So the first thing is to convince everyone to agree with a common ideal, not to make everyone work for you."

Apple Computer More than two decades ago, Job and Woz met in a garage of a classmate, when they were middle school students.These two computer fans wanted an "8800", but they couldn't afford it for a while, so they decided to install it by themselves.Job and Woz sold some of their own things to scrape together the money to install 100 sets of "Apple-I" computer boards, and then sell them for $50 each, earning back $2,200, just enough for their capital. "Apple-I" was designed by Woz to reduce costs.Job took the sample to the local computer store to sell it, and the store only ordered 50 units.They said that most people in the society do not want to buy bulk parts, but want to buy complete machines.This gave Job the most important market information, but Job still had no intention of being an entrepreneur at the time.

However, the operator of this store is a caring person.In order to urge Job to design and manufacture a complete microcomputer, he deliberately packed the "Apple-I" in a rough wooden box that looked like it had no grade.When Job went to the store again, they showed the designer Job the "Apple-I" with a wooden casing, which prompted Job to make up his mind to design and make a beautiful casing.Job and Woz finally decided to design and produce a complete microcomputer, which became the famous "Apple-II". Job and Woz were originally technicians. When they decided to start their own company, the first problem was to raise funds.At this time, venture entrepreneurs began to patronize the two young men.The first person to visit was Don Valentine, who had been introduced by Job and Woz's boss.When Valentine came to Job's house, he saw that Job was wearing jeans, shoelaces loose, long hair with a shawl, and a big beard. He didn't look like an entrepreneur at all.Mr. Valentine felt that it was inappropriate, and finally did not dare to ask, but introduced Job and Woz to another entrepreneur-Mark Kula, the former marketing manager of Intel Corporation.This is a shrewd venture entrepreneur who is well versed in the microcomputer business.The 38-year-old rich man came to Job's garage, carefully asked and inspected the "Apple" prototype, and asked a lot of questions.Finally asked about the business plan of the "Apple" computer.Job and Woz knew nothing about business, and they looked at each other, unable to speak a word.But Markkula had a discerning eye and saw that the two boys would not let him down, so he told Job and Woz that a detailed plan was necessary to attract venture capital.Afterwards, Mark Kula gave the two of them a two-week management class, and the three of them worked day and night to formulate a development and production plan for the "Apple" computer.Mark Kula first invested $90,000 of his own up front, and helped Job and Woz get a $250,000 line of credit from the bank.Then, the three of them took the plan to lobby with venture capitalists familiar to Markkula, attracting another $600,000 in funding.So far, Apple has attracted close to $1 million in venture capital.They hired 33-year-old Michael Scott as a manager because he was familiar with integrated circuit production technology.Mark Kula and Job served as the chairman and vice chairman, and Woz served as the deputy manager of the research and development department. In this way, Apple Microcomputer officially opened and embarked on its rapid development path.

Job and Woz, businessman Don Valentine, and later Mark Kula, the reason why these people can succeed is because of their mutual unity, cooperation and communication.If Job and Woz hadn't met Mark Kula, not only would they not have had their successful ventures, but the history of microcomputers would have been rewritten.If they hadn't thought of uniting after meeting, none of them could have achieved greatness later.It is precisely because of the sincere cooperation between them that they have established the cornerstone of the road to success. Let's make a simple analogy with the mechanics principle in physics: if many forces act on an object, if the direction of action of these forces is the same, then the object will follow the direction of the common force; if these If the directions of the forces are inconsistent, then the forces will cancel each other out, and the collective power will be inferior to the individual power due to internal friction.But how do you know which direction your force is acting on?This requires entrepreneurial goals to guide.Therefore, entrepreneurs must have a clear development idea and a predictable development goal in order to unite many collaborators.

Only when people are united can Mount Tai be moved.Having a common goal is only the first step. Entrepreneurs and partners also need to have a highly consistent philosophy.The so-called different ways do not seek each other, good shareholders must have the same business philosophy.Because of different concepts, there will be different behavioral norms and behaviors, thus forming different behavioral styles.Therefore, when entrepreneurs are looking for partners, like-mindedness is the foundation, and the unity of everyone's ideas is the most important. Like-minded and join hands to create Yahoo

The story of Yahoo's founding has become the oldest legend in the Internet field.Yang Zhiyuan and Fei Luo are old acquaintances. Fei Luo graduated from Tulane University in 1988 and once worked as a teaching assistant for Yang Zhiyuan.Jerry Yang, who always got all "A", actually got only "B" in Ferro's judge's pen, and Jerry Yang still complains about this.Later, the two attended classes in the same class and cooperated in homework.With this as a starting point, the two became the best partners. Ferrone is showy and likes to meditate, while Yang Zhiyuan is active and is the leader of the club.Ferro is good at arranging data on the screen, and he has a feeling that "as long as he is in front of the terminal, he can rule the world". His laboratory is like a place ravaged by a storm.And Yang Zhiyuan's residence is relatively clean, but in terms of computer operations, he is not as planned as Ferro.The laboratories of the two were adjacent, and soon they signed up and went to Japan together.Both became foreigners there, and their friendship grew day by day.

Back at Stanford, the two set up a small office in a school trailer.Just at this time, they both became obsessed with the Internet.Every day, they spend several hours on the Internet, linking their favorite information together. There are various things on it, such as scientific research projects, tennis match information and so on.Yahoo grew from here.At the beginning, they set up their own web pages independently, and only occasionally referred to each other when they were interested in each other's content. Gradually, they linked more and more information, and their web pages were put together, collectively called "Jerry World Wide Web Wizard" (Jerry & David's Guide to the World Wide Web), "Jerry" is Yang Zhiyuan's English name, and they share this resource.

There are more and more websites collected, and the two will classify them.When each directory can't fit, it is subdivided into subdirectories. This core method is still Yahoo's tradition.Soon, their website attracted many users.People have fed back information and attached constructive comments to make the content more perfect. "If it weren't for so many external responses, we would not have continued, let alone Yahoo today."By the winter of 1994, the two were so busy that even eating and sleeping became a luxury, and their studies were also thrown aside.They set about commoditizing the site.

At that time, there were many competitors on the Internet, such as WebCrawler, Lycos, Worm, Infoseek, etc. These websites started from automatic search by software. Although they had a wide range, they were not accurate.Yahoo, on the other hand, is purely a handmade product, with accurate search and more practicality.In fact, by the end of 1994, Yahoo had become the leader in search engines. One night in 1995, Jerry Yang and Filo flipped through Merriam-Webster's dictionary and made up names for their "products."Among them, "Ya" is taken from Jerry Yang's surname. They had imagined a series of possible names, and the best choice was "Yahoo!". "That's right, great, that's it, it's an oracle!"

Where do businesses come from?Where to go (mission, goal)?What are the advantages?How bad is it?what chance?How risky is it?These must be clarified before starting a business together, otherwise, everyone will feel that the goal is not clear, like a headless fly, flying around, to no avail.Only when all partners have a highly consistent entrepreneurial philosophy, like Jerry Yang and Filo, and establish common aspirations and common pursuits, can they work together to contribute to the future of the company. The entrepreneurial partners we choose are often fellow villagers, classmates, colleagues (including superiors and subordinates), husband and wife, friends, relatives and other relationships.Everyone knows each other and is familiar with it. These become the prerequisites for working together.However, if this familiar relationship is not established on the premise of consistent ideas, it is easy to go wrong in the process of starting a business.To determine who can start a business with you, the key is to determine who has the same dream as you before cooperating, and the concept can also be consistent in future management, so as to ensure the stability and harmony of the team. Bill Gates once said: "In my career, I have to say that my most important business decision is to choose talents, have a person who fully trusts, a person who can entrust important tasks, and a person who shares your worries. People.” It can be seen how important it is to choose a person who can be completely trusted. Building trust is the first and most important step in building a cohesive and effective team.This is not trust of any kind, but solid trust based on human fragility.This means that a cohesive and effective team member must learn to admit mistakes, weaknesses, failures, and seek help comfortably, quickly, and calmly.They are also willing to recognize the strengths of others, even when those strengths exceed their own. In theory, or in kindergarten, this is not very difficult.But when an entrepreneur is faced with a group of accomplished, proud, talented partners, disarming them and risking loss of office power is an extremely difficult challenge.And the only way to mobilize them is for the entrepreneurs themselves to lead by example. So, what does trust based on human fragility look like in practice?Phrases like "I screwed up", "I was wrong", "I need help", "I'm sorry", "You're better than me at this" among team members are obvious traits.Trust based on human fragility is indispensable, without it, a team can easily fall apart.This point must be kept in mind by entrepreneurs with entrepreneurial partners. Trust each other to cooperate sincerely Korean Shang Xuelu is a salesman of a Japanese company. He does not have much education and funds, but he is good at planning.One day, he received a catalog from West Germany, including a newly developed wool spinning machine.He is more expert in new machinery than others, and his intuition tells him that this is a good opportunity.He immediately investigated Japanese wool textile machines in detail. According to the survey results, he learned that if this new machine was applied, the production cost could be reduced by about two-thirds, and the production efficiency could be doubled. However, he did not sell this machine to the Japanese. Instead, he brought a catalog of this new product and a new idea of ​​running a textile factory to Mr. Lin Boxiong, a Korean rich man living in Japan.Mr. Lin knew nothing about the textile industry, but after reading Shang Xuelu's project description, he felt that it was a good idea and that the young man could be trusted, so he immediately agreed to open a textile factory and imported four machines from West Germany. And asked Shang Xuelu to be the general manager.Shang Xuelu has transformed from an unknown salesman to the operator of a large factory, and Mr. Lin's wealth has also grown rapidly. Cooperation can make us live better, work more efficiently, and invest the same energy to achieve greater success, but the spirit of cooperation comes from trust.In modern society, "trust" has become a social exchange resource. If you trust others, the other party will trust you.In this era of trust crisis, if you want to start a business, if you are willing to trust others and give others a chance, you are also giving yourself a chance to grow and develop. Comrades on the battlefield can only face the enemy's attack directly if they rest assured that their backs are handed over to their companions.The same is true for starting a business. If you do everything yourself, even if Zhuge Kongming is reborn, you will still be exhausted in the end.Since cooperation is necessary, why not choose to trust your companions and focus on dealing with your opponents? If entrepreneurs want to establish a relationship of mutual trust with their partners, they must first treat each other with sincerity.Some people think that pandering can win trust, but that will only make people feel hypocritical, it is better to be honest.In addition, while gaining the trust of others, you should look at their strengths and believe that they have the ability to complete the work, so as to form a virtuous circle. "Two-sided" is to describe a person who is vacillating, without a firm stand and proposition.Any responsible person will not act on two sides, that is a sign of lack of position, especially for leaders.The reason is very obvious. As a business leader, you should not get angry because of your personal feelings. But from the standpoint of public affairs, after thinking about something carefully, if you think you should be angry, you should be angry. His position became ambiguous.Don't try to settle on both sides, and don't offend both sides. This is not the attitude an entrepreneur should have.As an entrepreneur, you must be gentle and infinite, have a degree of anger, and have a clear and firm stand, so as not to lose the leadership style. "dictatorial" leader Wang Wei finally established his own company through untold hardships.His character is relatively stubborn and authoritarian, but this leadership style played an important positive role in the company's start-up and development stages. In the initial stage of the company's products entering the market, many employees did not understand Wang Wei's hard-earned money for advertising, and many felt distressed and discouraged.But he has been keenly aware of the market value and effect of advertising, so he doesn't consider these opinions at all, and resolutely spends all the money from selling products on advertising.Everyone feels distressed, but Wang Wei thinks it is "cheap". The gap in concept and judgment between the two is really huge.And it is precisely Wang Wei's dictatorship, centralization and determination that ensure the smooth implementation of a correct decision, thus creating the take-off of their company.In such a situation that required high control, Wang Wei's authoritarian leadership gave full play to its effectiveness and achieved fruitful results. To listen entirely to other people's opinions is as dangerous as to be entirely suspicious of others.The ideal thing to do as an entrepreneur is to listen to everyone, but always have your own opinion.Don't be swayed by the rhetoric of different opinions, which of course requires courage and wisdom.But also need to pay attention to, learn to listen selectively. Entrepreneurs must have their own opinions, not to be subjective and arbitrary.Instead, you must have the ability to judge and make decisions about things, and you must have your own opinions and opinions.As a leader of an enterprise, promoting democracy and fully listening to the opinions of all parties is conducive to avoiding mistakes in decision-making when making decisions on major issues.But entrepreneurs are by no means just a "tape recorder" for listening to opinions, but also a "processing factory" for analyzing problems and judging right from wrong.It is necessary to carefully analyze and think about the opinions from all sides, absorb and adopt the correct opinions from them, form your own opinions, and then make decisions. We must know that everyone has different ideological qualities, different degrees of understanding of the situation, and different positions and angles, so they have different views on things. ".It is not even ruled out that some villains, for some personal purpose, deliberately offer slander and confuse the public.If the leader lacks assertiveness and is worried about gains and losses in the face of various opinions, he is at a loss as to what to do, and is indecisive. The result will be either discussion without resolution, decision without resolution, and nothing will be achieved; or blind decision-making without thinking, resulting in mistakes in decision-making.Everything has its regularities and principles, good and bad, right and wrong, right and wrong, advantages and disadvantages, which requires leaders to carefully analyze, judge accurately, grasp correctly, and make decisive decisions. Don't be indecisive, let alone fall on both sides. "Democratic centralization, without democracy there would be no centralization, and without centralization there would be no democracy."Dialectics is everywhere. When starting a business, you also have to dialectically consider the relationship between centralization and decentralization.But before talking about centralization and decentralization, we must first clarify a premise, that is, entrepreneurs must clearly realize that everyone is not omnipotent and omnipotent.For example, Carnegie didn't understand steel, but it doesn't mean he can't become a steel king. It's very important to let professional people do professional things. The advantage of centralization is that it can effectively allow the team to determine goals, constrain the team to move towards the goals they want, and make timely improvements when problems are discovered.But the weakness is also very clear, that is, you can only talk about big and small things. In this era full of competition, a mistake may make a company disappear. Who can guarantee that a centralized person can know everything and do everything well?Who can guarantee that he has no mistakes and no blind spots for a long time in his work for several years, ten years, or twenty years, and he is full of energy for 24 hours?At the same time, many managers are in cross-industry management, how to ensure that he can clearly understand each department and key points involved? Therefore, in modern enterprises, it is difficult to centralize power. Entrepreneurs must learn to delegate power and put their energy where they are most needed.While delegating power, it is also a test for subordinates, as well as a kind of responsibility and training. The off-site assessment, which is very popular now, is actually a reasonable embodiment of centralization and decentralization management.Centralization and decentralization complement each other. Only with centralization, the subordinate employees may all be in charge of you, without suggestions or initiative; with only decentralization, subordinate employees may act on their own, regardless of the team or the company.What is important is to coordinate the relationship between the two, rationally centralize power, reasonably decentralize power, have centralized control, and also have a way to decentralize power. "Success is Xiao He, failure is Xiao He" three plants The three plants with a registered capital of only 300,000 yuan when they started their business have created a miracle of more than 8 billion yuan in sales and more than 4 billion yuan in assets in just three or four years.The self-operated sales network of the three companies covers all provincial capitals, large and medium-sized cities and most prefecture-level cities in mainland China except Tibet, and can be found on most of the earth walls, telephone poles and even toilets in rural China. The "costless advertisement" of "Sanzhu Oral Liquid" that I saw has achieved its unsurpassed imperial foundation in China's health care product industry.At its peak, Sanzhu had a total of 600 sales branches or subsidiaries across the country, and these companies governed 2,000 offices and more than 150,000 sales staff in counties, townships, and towns.In a sense, the sales network of Sanzhu is its most valuable asset. But since 1997, the sales of the three companies have declined sharply, and the loss of control of the sales network has finally brought the company into trouble.Wu Bingxin, the president of Sanzhu, pointed out the following points when he talked about the management of the sales network in the summary of the 15 mistakes of Sanzhu: the marketing management system appeared seriously unsuitable, and the relationship between centralization and decentralization was not properly handled. At the beginning of 1997, the company tried to decentralize power, but many subsidiaries were unable to use power or abused power seriously; the corporate structure was bloated, and each system and center was firmly established, which evolved into a situation of "separatist regimes", which made the strategy of the head office impossible. Effectively implemented, some subsidiaries deceived the top and bottom, and the information communication system had serious deviations; the phenomenon of channel waste was serious, and the administrative expenses were staggering; the financial management was out of control, and the finance and marketing were out of touch. , the phenomenon of rushing goods is serious, the advertisements are distorted, and consumers are broken; the innovative spirit of sales staff has disappeared.These various problems caused by the failure to handle the relationship between centralization and decentralization have shaken the foundation of a huge empire. In fact, with the advent of the buyer's market, the control right in the channel should be gradually transferred to the channel terminal, and the appearance of the super terminal only intensifies this contradiction.The channel system of Sanzhu Company belongs to the typical channel relationship of property rights. By using this channel system, Sanzhu got rid of the control of distributors and completely controlled the distribution control right in its own hands.It can be said that without this "negligible" sales network, there would be no empire foundation of Sanzhu, but the final failure of Sanzhu is precisely due to the loss of control of this so-called most controllable channel system. For many entrepreneurs, when the position of manager is handed over to others, they themselves will be laid off, which is almost unacceptable for them who are full of entrepreneurial spirit.But one hand cannot cover the sky, and running a company is definitely not something that one person can accomplish, no matter whether you are really powerful or not.If you really don't need other people to help you run your own business, why hire someone?Since you have hired someone but are unwilling to let go of his power, how can he give full play to his talents?At the beginning of starting a business, entrepreneurs can be dictatorial or centralized, but they must not succeed or fail. Let go when it is time to let go, so that your business can grow stronger.