China workplace [cnduty.com] reported: In one year and seven months, he climbed three ranks in a large IT company! In less than three years, he achieved the leap from an ordinary employee to the president of a company listed on the NASDAQ in the United States.
When I first met Xia Yufeng, the executive president of the US NASDAQ-listed company Intek International Group, he was giving a lecture to students at the Intek Mobile Communication Academy. However, it seemed more like a philosophy class at a university - Chinese classical philosophy, to be precise. He spoke logically about concepts such as the view of righteousness and profit, personal cultivation leading to governance, and the Dao. "Zhang Ruimin said that Haier's future relies on philosophy; how can we not talk about philosophy?" he said.
"Vision determines realm, and thought determines future" - as he himself put it, Xia Yufeng felt that his success had no secret tricks. It was simply because he enjoyed thinking and continuously pondered over the people and events he encountered. "Never just complain. Every company has its own issues, but you're not working for the company - you're fighting for yourself. That's the first rule of success, if I must summarize," he said.
The president of Mengniu, Niu Gensheng, was mentioned repeatedly by him. The reason was that Niu Gensheng donated all of his personal shares to establish a special charity fund. A person with such a view of righteousness and profit would find it hard not to succeed - this is the second rule of success. The last rule is that young people should not aim too high without matching abilities. Besides looking at the road, they should also learn to walk it. When we were leaving, he seriously said, "You journalists have more opportunities for success because every time you interview a successful person, you can learn a lot from them..." It seemed like he started pondering his own 'Dao' again. Clearly, this was a man with a compulsion for success - "Don't look down on any work you do now. Life is a big chain, and each link is important. Life's difficulties are a kind of wealth because hardships force you to think. I left home at 15 to attend a key high school in the provincial capital. Until I was 29, I kept reflecting on the people and events I encountered, and on my own dreams and future."
My career life has been complex. During the four years I worked in foreign trade sales in Qinhuangdao, I met different kinds of people and understood rich human nature and how to deal with these different people. Later, I worked in a private real estate company for four years, during which time I further understood market rules and how to deal with the government. Then, in a foreign enterprise management consulting company, I systematically studied management and English.
In 1998, an MBA cost more than 20,000 yuan, which I couldn't afford at the time, but I never gave up. So, when I was 29 and everyone around me thought there was no need to study anymore, I still pursued my dream and got admitted to Renmin University's MBA program. One of my feelings is: "Never look down on any work you do now. Cherish what's in front of you, even if it seems trivial or unrelated to your future dreams."
"Always work for yourself." In the spring of 2003, during the SARS outbreak, I graduated from my MBA program. Everyone was putting their resumes online, and Beida Qingniao saw mine and hired me as a marketing specialist. This was a very ordinary job with a monthly salary of only about 4,000 yuan. Many people thought it was beneath an MBA graduate to take such a job, but I valued this opportunity.
"I didn't want to wait anymore. I wanted to start my first job in Beijing quickly and understand the social characteristics of this city. You must act quickly; sitting around won't bring opportunities. Walking will give you one chance, running will give you two chances."
Soon, work became impossible due to SARS, and everyone had to stay at home. Many colleagues spent their time chatting online or playing games since their salaries were still being paid. But I didn't stop. On the contrary, I set myself a workload, reading a large amount of material and doing a lot of organizing work every day. Later work proved that it was during this time ignored by my colleagues that I laid the foundation for my future achievements.
"So this is the relationship between walking and looking ahead. Many young people around me who have just entered the workplace always look around for better opportunities while forgetting to focus on the path right in front of them. I persisted because I firmly believed: I'm working for myself, not for the boss. The work achievements I make will become the foundation for future success, even if no one gives me a raise for doing more."
"Help your superior succeed." There are two types of people in the workplace: one group constantly complains and blames the boss for not recognizing their talents or the problems within the company; another group thinks from their superior's perspective, considering what they need and reflecting on how far they are from meeting those expectations. Obviously, the latter type is more likely to get promoted.
Because of my outstanding performance, after serving ten months as a marketing specialist, in 2004, I was promoted to principal of the Qingniao Training Center. At that time, there was competition among training centers, but I didn't just see myself as the principal of one training center. I thought, if I were the president of the training center, I would certainly hope that all the training schools performed well. So, I openly shared my successful experiences with other competitive training centers.
"On the surface, it seemed like I was losing out, handing over my hard-earned success to others. But thanks to my help, my superior, the vice president of the training center, was promoted, thereby leaving that position open. Thus, in July 2005, I was promoted to vice president of the training center, achieving another leap in my career."
"Besides, many people in the workplace only know how to gain the trust of their superiors but neglect their subordinates. In reality, a person's success cannot be separated from the people around them, both above and below. If your subordinates don't trust you, no one will follow you. In other words, no one will be willing to work hard for you. Think about it, how can someone with empty feet step by step towards higher places?"
"The view of righteousness and profit determines fate. Greedy for small gains makes it impossible to achieve great things. This is a sentence I've always believed in. People cannot just look at immediate benefits. All gains in life are based on sacrifices."
"When I was a marketing specialist at Qingniao, I often voluntarily worked overtime, even though no one ever asked me to. Once, the company sent me on a business trip where I couldn't go home for 66 consecutive days. Although I missed my family, I could have secretly returned to Beijing to visit them, but I didn't. It was these sacrifices of immediate personal benefits that led me to success step by step."
"People living in this world always want fame, status, money, etc., but they often forget that all these desired things come from others. A person cannot give themselves honor or power. So why would others give these things to you for no reason? In short, you must first abandon your own benefits to benefit others, and one day you will receive your reward."
"This is like playing chess. If you keep chasing after one piece, you won't catch it, and in the end, you may lose everything. Conversely, if you sacrifice a piece in front of you and plan the whole game, what you gain will be much more than just one piece. Therefore, young people must look long-term. Choices determine fate, and fate is the result of accumulated choices. Sacrificing now is also a choice, and the future is more important than the present."
"First, uphold righteousness to control others; first pursue profit and you'll be controlled by others - Confucian views on righteousness and profit have enlightened me."
"Learn to face loneliness and failure. To learn to do things, first learn to be a person. The correct attitude towards life is a prerequisite for success. Attitude determines everything."
"First, you must endure loneliness. As the saying goes, 'No one asks about you during ten cold years of study, but suddenly everyone knows you when you become famous overnight.' This is something I often tell my subordinates. Everyone wants success, and there are many diligent people, but why are there so few successful ones? Because out of a hundred people, ninety-nine give up just before they succeed. Remember, life is like digging a well. Only by focusing can you specialize, and only by specializing can you excel. If you dig a few times in one place and then give up, and do the same in another place, you will never find water. This is why knowing is easy but practicing is hard."
"Second, aim high. Having confidence doesn't guarantee winning, but lacking confidence guarantees losing. Taking action doesn't guarantee winning, but inaction guarantees losing. Having goals doesn't guarantee winning, but lacking goals guarantees losing."
"After being promoted to Vice President of the Beida Qingniao Training Center, I continued to work as hard as before. Since I started from the most basic level as a marketing specialist, I understood the situation below quite well. Combined with my grasp of the company's training features, my performance in the first and second quarters reached 200%. At this moment, another opportunity in my life arrived. Intek International Group recognized my experience in China's IT training sector and recruited me to be the president. I also felt that 3G would be the next hotspot in China's IT field, hoping to achieve something in this area."
"Thus, I became the Executive President of Intek International Group and the CEO of the Intek Mobile Communication Academy, completing the leap from an ordinary employee to the president of a company listed on the NASDAQ in the United States, and it took less than three years."
"Life is education, society is a school. For a person to succeed, they must possess courage, insight, and knowledge, but studying cannot be detached from reality. Life is education, and society is a school. I greatly admire Hu Shi's four-character study method, which is also a four-character reading method: diligence, meaning not being lazy; caution, meaning not being careless and meticulously seeking proof; harmony, meaning humility, not being stubborn or obstinate; patience, not easily expressing opinions or hastily making judgments."
"I sometimes read some Western management books and find that so-called Western learning hasn't really gone beyond the traditional philosophy left by our ancestors. I enjoy reading Confucianism, Taoism, Legalism, and Mohism, and have absorbed many useful things from them."
"Besides loving to read philosophy books, I also love to read military history. I often wonder, why was Mao Zedong able to defeat the regular armies of military academy graduates with a peasant army that lacked advanced weapons and professional talent? I feel one reason is that these peasants were fighting for themselves - victory meant survival, so they were invincible. This is similar to the principles in the workplace: managers just need to find ways to motivate people, and there will be nothing they can't accomplish."