Chapter 15 Career planning: Should she start a business or continue to be a professional manager?

Li Ling, a master's degree in genetic engineering from Zhejiang University, is a visiting scholar at Indiana University. From 1988 to February 1993, he successively served as the director of the office of Hangzhou Industrial Management Company, the office director of Hangzhou Tower Shopping Center, and the manager of the public relations department of Hangzhou Tower. From 1993 to 1999, he served as the general manager of Hangzhou Tower Shopping Center.During the period, the shopping center jumped from the ninth place in the top ten shopping malls in Hangzhou to the first place, and created the performance of "the first profit per square meter" of domestic department stores.

From 1999 to 2004, he served as the general manager of Zhejiang Intime Department Store Co., Ltd.During this period, the benefit of "Zhejiang Yintai" increased by 10 times, and Li Ling became a "legendary figure in China's department store industry". In May 2004, he resigned from the position of general manager of "Yintime", and then became the host of the column "Dialogue with Zhejiang Entrepreneurs --- Li Ling's appointment" on the Economic Channel of Zhejiang TV Station. In April 2005, "I Can - Li Ling's Diary of a Department Store Woman" was published by Zhejiang People's Publishing House.

On October 31, 2004, when I walked out of the gate of Zhejiang Yintai Department Store, dusk had already fallen, and the evening wind was blowing, and I could already feel the coolness of late autumn... In fact, for Li Ling, who has more than ten years of experience in the department store industry For me, it's nothing new to get off work at this time.But this day was different, because after this day, she would no longer have to go back to the general manager's office on the ninth floor of Zhejiang Yintai Department Store. After the news of her departure spread for so long, she officially resigned.

Since she became the general manager of Hangzhou Tower in 1993, she has been working in department stores, from Hangzhou Tower Shopping Center to Zhejiang Intime Department Store.During her tenure, Hangzhou Tower Shopping Center jumped from the ninth place in the top ten shopping malls in Hangzhou to the first place, and created the performance of "the first profit per square meter" of domestic department stores.During my tenure, Zhejiang Intime Department Store’s profit increased by 10 times, and the economic benefit of a single store ranked first in Zhejiang Province.At the same time, she also served as the general manager of Ningbo Yintai Department Store, making it a leading enterprise in Ningbo's department store industry... A series of eye-catching performances gave her the halo of an excellent professional manager and pushed her to the public. , her every move has attracted the attention of the public, and she has always lived under the eyes of the public... And this resignation has undoubtedly become the focus of public attention. Many people are speculating on the reason why she left Yintai, and More people are guessing what is her next step?

After leaving Yintai, Li Ling wrote books and worked as a host. She seemed to be doing nothing, but she was always thinking about where she should go next. Having been a manager for more than ten years, I can deeply understand that in China, the level of professionalization in the whole society is too low, and the living environment for professional managers has not really formed yet.Since it is difficult for professional managers to flow normally through the market, in China at present, they are far from having the status and rights to have a fair dialogue with capital. Professional managers have to obey the will of capital and play a completely subordinate role.

This is still prominent in private enterprises.This is because the equity of private enterprises in China is particularly concentrated without any constraints, and the boss has very great control over the enterprise.The high concentration of controlling rights and decision-making power makes the boss the de facto "emperor", private enterprises or family businesses become the "imperial court", and professional managers must become "manchurian civil and military officials".The independence of professional managers has become very limited, and if they do not become "retainers", they will "fall out of favor", be thrown into the cold palace or be swept out, and the risk is extremely huge.

Leaving Hangzhou Tower Shopping Center to go to Yintai because she wanted to take the road of professionalism. At that time, after several years of business operation practice, she had already deeply realized the necessity of professionalization of business operators.But when she decided to leave Hangzhou Tower, Li Ling was very cautious. Perhaps this was the first time she had contacted and communicated with a private owner. She was also very curious about the private owner. They had three interviews, and finally she made up her mind. The reason why she decided to go to Yintai was that she felt that her later boss, Shen Guojun, had a clear understanding of the responsibilities of professional managers.He said that the general manager is hired by the board of directors, and the people below the general manager are hired by the general manager; the general manager's business trips and overseas trips are approved by the board of directors, and the people below the general manager are approved by the general manager.Responsibilities, rights, and benefits are clearly defined.

When Li Ling first arrived in Yintai, people said that Yintai was a "high-end street stall".At that time, there were only a few hundred thousand yuan in liquid funds in the account every day, but there were three banks with 10 million loans each due at the same time.This is also the most difficult period for Intime. Intime Department Store, which opened in 1998, has just overcome the Asian financial turmoil, but has ushered in a round of "crisis of trust" among Hangzhou people.At that time, a famous professor asserted that Yintai would close its doors within one year of opening.

However, Intime has several advantages that cannot be erased—good location, large scale, flexible mechanism, and young and energetic employees. This is also the biggest reason why Tiao Liling is willing to move to Intime. In 1999, Intime's annual sales were 418 million yuan, with a pre-tax profit of 15 million yuan; in 2004, the sales volume is expected to exceed 1.5 billion yuan, with a profit of 150 million yuan.The sales volume on the seventh floor alone reached 50-60 million in 2004, with a profit of 50-60 million.On December 31 last year, Intime's daily turnover reached an astonishing 37.71 million yuan, which can be described as "the number of banknotes cannot be counted".

Everyone knows that Li Ling is a person who likes to use numbers to illustrate problems.The accuracy of digital memory often surprises the other party.As for her 5-year career as a professional manager, perhaps a result can be best summed up with numbers. After resignation, there were various conjectures in the industry. Some people thought that the news that Li Ling was going to leave had been spread for so long and that she was leaving now because she didn't want to leave Intime.Some people also said that she decided to leave because other big companies came to poach her, because Intime Department Store has reached its peak, and Li Ling needs to retire at this time... In fact, her departure this time can be said to be not particularly proactive. Not particularly passive either.There are many reasons for this. The expiration of the 5-year contract is an objective factor for resignation. The disagreement with the boss on the development path of the enterprise may be a major reason for the final separation. Ling and Shen Guojun have different views. He advocates extending to all parts of the country, while Li Ling advocates centering on Ningbo, Hangzhou, and setting up stations in wealthy cities in Zhejiang, taking the road of local penetration.

Intime Department Store has gone from a difficult period at the beginning to a period of rapid development during Li Ling's tenure. She has successfully completed the tasks entrusted to her by the Board of Directors of Intime, and Intime Department Store will start the third stage.At this time, she needs to make a choice for herself, and she thinks that she needs time to rest and think, so as to further improve herself, so she chooses to leave. Li Ling said that she left without any grievances or regrets, because what she got here was much more than what she originally imagined.It took 5 years to prove herself, earning one Intime in 5 years, and also won the respect of the outside world, which cannot be exchanged for money; she said that she would like to thank the board of directors of Intime for giving her a good platform, and the boss gave her Her full trust. In the past 5 years, she has also learned how to run a business completely and gained a lot of knowledge. One of the performances of professional managers' "professional" characteristics is that they can flow normally through the market.In particular, China is undergoing social transformation today, and the pursuit of superior living conditions and self-realization makes it more urgent for talents to flow rationally based on market demand.An American friend once said that he wanted to change jobs in the United States. The boss asked him why he left. He said it was because others gave him a lot of money, but you can’t say that in China. It will involve a human relationship issue. If we can say it frankly and use the price to measure the pros and cons of professional managers, the environment for our professional managers to grow will be mature.At that time, if our country has such a mature environment now, people will not have such a big reaction to my two resignations. Professional managers in the West are not much better than us in terms of personal ability. A large reason for their success comes from the perfection of social mechanisms, or a good market and legal environment.In such an orderly environment, the business operations of enterprises can be relatively predictable and controllable.Therefore, for a professional manager in the West, what he needs to constantly strengthen is only his professional management skills.In our country, due to the limitations of the system and development, the external living environment of enterprises is very random, which makes it difficult to predict and grasp the factors that can affect the development of enterprises. Therefore, Chinese enterprises must have people who can control externally and internally. .This has formed a distinctive feature of Chinese enterprises, that is, enterprises are entrepreneurs (or professional managers), and entrepreneurs (professional managers) are enterprises——Haier cannot do without Zhang Ruimin, TCL cannot do without Li Dongsheng, the success of our enterprises is more important It depends on personal ability and charm. But the reality of the living environment and living conditions is that it is difficult for the "mother-in-law" of the state-owned enterprise to delegate power, and the "boss" of the private enterprise regards him as an "outsider".In the market and in the enterprise group, there are indeed many enlightened owners who "get bigger and stronger, and recruit talents". However, in the endless quarrels between families and parents, what is left to professional managers can only be a bumpy road. The emergence of professional managers is conditional, and their survival requires a certain professional environment.As far as China's current national conditions are concerned, these conditions and the professional environment are far from mature, so many scholars believe that the current "professional managers" in China can only be a beautiful illusion: they are far from "professional", at best they can only be called "professional managers". For the "quasi-professional" level. So, in such a big environment, should Li Ling stick to the road of being a professional manager? She has persisted in this difficult road for so many years. When she switched jobs from Hangzhou Plaza Shopping Center to Yintai, the media once said The first "professional manager" in the Zhejiang business community appeared.Until now, she has been crowned with the title of "Zhejiang's No. 1 Professional Manager". After leaving Yintai, Li Ling said that the question she was often asked was, why not be the boss?It is said that within the first three months after leaving Yintai, many people approached her, some promised her a high salary, some were willing to invest in her, and even foreign capital.She has contacted dozens of companies and talked about hundreds of times.But in the end, no decision was made. Some people would ask: What exactly does Li Ling want to do?Indeed, she seemed to be hesitating throughout the whole process, stopping after taking two steps, and looking around again.Li Ling sometimes said "nothing to be, be a boss".It is not impossible to consider being your own boss, starting small and growing step by step.Maybe many people believe that she can do well, as long as they do it down-to-earth and carefully.Li Ling was a student of biogenetics at the beginning, and she was majoring in this major for undergraduates, masters, and even as a visiting scholar in the United States. However, after she came back, she resolutely gave up the major she had insisted on for so many years and devoted herself to business. In the words of her father, it can only be a close business, starting from a blank sheet of paper. She often jokes that the key to her success is that I have a thick skin and dare to ask questions. Since 1993, she has been the general manager of Hangzhou Tower Shopping Center. By the time she left in 1999, she had already taken her from the ninth place in the top ten shopping malls in Hangzhou to the first place.If you really invest in yourself as a boss, you probably won't do badly. Li Ling said that she has always believed that the boss should grasp the company's tomorrow, and the professional manager should grasp the company's today, so if you are the boss, you have to think about today and tomorrow together, and there will be no inconsistencies in the direction of the company's development. The problem.Most of the time, working part-time is to achieve the success of others, and starting a business is completely your own.And although being a boss is more stressful than being a professional manager, and because every penny is your own hard-earned money, you will be more conservative when investing in venture capital, and the development of the company will also be affected, but because no matter how domestic It is not easy to be a professional manager. Many times your decision-making will be interfered by your boss. There are too few bosses who can really let a professional manager do things. If you want to give full play to your ability and have a certain foundation, being a boss is also a good idea. s Choice.But being a boss means taking considerable risks, investing, and needing money. With Li Ling's reputation today, funding is no longer a problem, and many people are willing to provide investment funds.But not everyone can have the kind of "calmness" about borrowing risks that a boss needs. So, on the other hand, from the very beginning, she has been working hard on the road of being a professional manager, which is called "the road of thorns and the sky", and she has been doing it for more than ten years, and the achievements are obvious to all. Now Li Ling, It can be said that it is already synonymous with a "professional manager" in Zhejiang business circles.Her father said that after leaving Yintai, he hoped that I would still stick to the professional manager system I practiced.Boss, there are thousands of them in China, it doesn't matter if I have one more or one less.However, professional managers are new things. Although there are difficulties, they should still persist. They can not only fulfill their own wishes, but also open up the way for future generations. In June 2005, Hangzhou began to enter the lingering rainy season, and the feeling of dampness has begun to fill every corner everywhere, and people's moods have also begun to change.Thinking about it carefully, it has been half a year since I left Intime, and everything before that has been written into a book, and it has sold well, and the host has also done it. It is said that Li Ling was successful.However, these are not her main business after all, and she feels that it is time for her to make a good plan for herself.But should Li Ling continue to stick to the path of "professional manager"?Or start your own business as your own boss?