A very long article, most of the understanding about Yu Minhong is from "Win in China". He is also a pretty interesting person, humorous and eloquent. & nbsp; Challenge courageously, create the future ——Yu Minhong's speech at the New Oriental 2009 Annual Summary and Commendation Conference and 2010 Work Deployment Conference Dear New Oriental people, good afternoon! Actually, we are not far apart. We have always been a family. From my weekly letters to everyone, many employees and teachers' replies can be seen that our hearts are connected, our expectations for the future are the same, and our desires for happiness are the same. We are very fortunate to be born and grow up in a great era. This era has never existed in Chinese history. Compared with the Tang Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty, and the Qing Dynasty, our GDP proportion in the world may not be large enough now, but this era has vitality, information, technology, and worldview that past Chinese dynasties did not have. We are lucky to grow up in such a great era. After the chaos of China's Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, there have finally been 30 years of very stable reform and opening-up. We are fortunate to see China's development, to see China move from a very weak country to the ranks of world powers, and to see ourselves move from poverty to prosperity. This era has just begun, and as long as we can walk well, as long as the country's policy is correct, as long as our country and our party are brave enough to constantly change, brave enough to embrace the world and lead the world, I believe that our era will become even more prosperous! We here are very fortunate, as both witnesses and participants in this era. We are very fortunate to jointly create a New Oriental. In these 17 years, we have provided services to millions of students and parents in China. We are very proud because New Oriental has enabled tens of thousands of students to go from China to the world, to learn advanced scientific knowledge and ideas from the world, and bring them back to China to serve China. In the 30 years of reform and opening-up, we participated in more than half of the time, and participated with the strength of a team. Therefore, once again, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to everyone here, and to all more than 10,000 employees, teachers, and managers of New Oriental who are watching the video! In such an era, New Oriental cannot stop moving forward. If in such an era we cannot move forward with China, if in such an era our speed of progress is lower than the overall development speed of China, lower than the development speed of any educational institution in China, it will be our shame. A great life is one that continuously accepts challenges, and a great organization is one that continuously accepts challenges. A life that does not accept challenges is as tasteless as plain water, though clean, but not worth drinking; an organization without challenges will soon disappear from people's sight. New Oriental has been accepting challenges since its birth and has survived and developed in challenges. At least until today, New Oriental has not fallen behind. However, this is not something we should be proud of, because the challenges New Oriental will face in the future will become increasingly severe. As for myself, when I often take pride in my little bit of progress, looking around I find that many people's steps are much faster than mine, I find that I seem to be progressing on the surface, but actually fall far behind others. The same is true for New Oriental. New Oriental has progressed from being an individual entrepreneur to a partnership system, then to a shareholding company, and finally to a listed company. When we were happy about our successful listing and celebrating the rise in New Oriental's stock price, in fact, there were already many people and institutions with lion-like personalities participating in the competition and moving faster than New Oriental. Everyone knows that training has now become one of China's major industries. * Premier specifically included the word "training" in his government work report to promote China's consumer industry and drive the development of China's domestic demand. This means that training as a separate Chinese industrial development field has been proposed. Behind such a proposal lies the shadow of New Oriental, because it was New Oriental that turned training into an independent industrial concept and became one of the most trusted listed companies in the world. Everyone knows that behind any strong person and strong institution, there must be more competitors willing to compete with them. But everyone also knows that a boxer who hits sandbags every day cannot become a world boxing champion. Only by competing with each other and constantly being beaten black and blue, perhaps can a boxer stand on the podium of champions. In the three years after New Oriental went public, New Oriental has always appeared to be a very strong boxer on the surface, but those opponents who seemed to have been beaten black and blue by us in the past have been constantly competing and comparing with New Oriental, and have become stronger and stronger. Everyone knows that in recent years we have faced very strong challenges, one of which comes from the fact that everyone looks good in this field. When there is a lush pasture, there will inevitably be herds of cattle and sheep; when there are herds of cattle and sheep, there will certainly be lions and wolf packs. This world can never have a place where you or an institution can grow alone. It is precisely in this kind of competition that cattle and sheep run faster, and tigers and lions' hunting abilities become stronger. Of course, New Oriental is not cattle and sheep, it should be a lion pack and a wolf pack chasing various kinds of food. This year is the Year of the Tiger, and many senior managers of New Oriental are born under the sign of the tiger. Why don't I use the tiger to metaphorically refer to New Oriental? Because tigers act alone, while New Oriental is a group. New Oriental's management, employees, and teachers have a word belonging to this group, called "New Oriental." When we strive for common goals and ideals as a group, we can cope with all kinds of challenges, and at the same time, we can challenge all powerful opponents. New Oriental has driven the development of an industry and brought vitality and vigor to this industry. Just since going public, investments entering China's training sector have exceeded $2 billion, and all this money has gone to New Oriental's competitors. But we are not afraid, because New Oriental has been learning from competitors from the beginning. When a herd of deer has no wolves chasing them, they grow fat and clumsy and get all kinds of diseases. But when wolves come among the deer, the deer become strong because they have to run faster when chased by wolves. We used to be a bit like a group not chased by wolves, but now we are running faster because there are pursuers behind us. Of course, we don't necessarily have to be in front from the start for everything. In new fields, we can definitely catch up later. Seventeen years ago, when I started a tutoring class, the foreign language training institutions of Peking University and Beijing Foreign Studies University had two or three thousand students per session, while New Oriental only had 13 students. At that time, there were a lot of private training forces that could recruit 600 to 1000 students, while New Oriental only had a few dozen. New Oriental slowly climbed up step by step and kept surpassing others. Therefore, I often say that leading has two concepts: the first concept is that there was nothing before, I am running ahead, and you follow behind me. I blaze trails ahead, and you follow behind; another kind of leading is that I wasn't originally leading, but I run fast, so eventually I will end up ahead. New Oriental is always like this. We came through in the overseas exam field, the domestic exam field, and the Pop Kids English field this way. We still have many projects underway, are we running faster than others? Anyway, we must run faster than others. For example, in our high school field, our overseas field, our distance education, our book publishing, etc., I believe we will ultimately become leaders and pioneers in the fields we focus on or believe New Oriental should do. The things New Oriental needs to do in the future are very simple, just stick to the following words I mentioned. The first word is perseverance, the second word is correctness, the third word is acumen, the fourth word is learning, the fifth word is training, the sixth word is contribution, and the seventh word is happiness. Each word can be explained in a few sentences, very simple. What is perseverance? Some things, like what Zhou Chenggang teacher talked about earlier regarding New Oriental's preservation, promotion, and transformation, the most important part is transformation. But the first character is preservation. What does preservation mean? It means maintaining and persisting, some things cannot change, just like *'s Long March spirit and Yan'an spirit cannot change, neither can the spirit of New Oriental. It is precisely because of this spirit, this demeanor, this ideal that transcends reality and wealth, that we have reached where we are today. Although we must continuously provide various data to shareholders, although our budget each time is determined by data, but just like a person, only with grace and spiritual temperament can greater success be achieved. Those who and institutions that fight solely for money might gain temporary wealth, but in the end, they will lose more than they gain. We have also seen such phenomena among Chinese entrepreneurs, those entrepreneurs who only focus on money never go far; those entrepreneurs with a higher realm of mission and responsibility for their enterprises often last longer. So, the foundation of New Oriental's lasting success is not only our good management system, but more importantly, it is our ability to bravely persevere and go further and higher. This spirit cannot be summarized in one sentence, but everyone knows that this spirit and demeanor have existed since the first day New Oriental came into being. All employees, teachers, and managers of New Oriental have experienced it. The three representatives who spoke earlier all possess typical characteristics of the New Oriental spirit. The second word is correctness. This morning when I spoke to all the award-winning representatives, I said a sentence: New Oriental needs to run very fast, but it cannot run recklessly, otherwise, it will definitely make mistakes. We should guide ourselves with correct thoughts and advanced concepts. Once the direction is correct and the concept is correct, even if we walk a little slower, we can still go very far. Everyone knows that the people who run the farthest are not those who sprint 100 meters, but marathon runners, because they run slowly, their energy can be extended for use. However, marathon runners will definitely not outpace long-distance hikers, because they don't run for a day, they are willing to give themselves a month, a year, ten years, or even twenty years of time. Today, despite traveling by plane and train everywhere, please ask, who can match the realms of Li Bai and Du Fu? Who can match the elegance of Ouyang Xiu and Su Dongpo? We cannot, because we are too lost. This world requires us to have speed, not direction; this world requires us to hurry, not to be composed. This world gives us too many opportunities, making us even more confused instead. But we must not lose ourselves, New Oriental must not lose itself, and each of us facing our work and lives must not lose ourselves. When we have the right direction and the right concept, let's take it slow, no rush. By saying no rush, I don't mean not working, but rather staying busy without disorder. I emphasized again this morning that urgent matters should be done slowly. Things are urgent, but we need to move forward step by step. This is our second word, to do things correctly and have the right concept to do things. The third is acumen. I just said doing things slowly doesn't mean we can be dull, but rather we need to be very sensitive to the market. New Oriental hasn't done this well enough, we often follow the market and then try to occupy it. We have never tried to discover or develop the market. When the market hasn't emerged yet, we haven't realized how big a certain market could be, so we've missed many markets. Therefore, we must learn from advanced institutions. When Bill Gates initially founded Microsoft, he absolutely led the global trend. But today, you can see a lot of media, including senior figures inside Microsoft itself, criticizing their backwardness. There were too many things they should have occupied but didn't, because they became the leader, they had the most money, but they forgot that there were still people who didn't have money but had ideas, sharp market awareness, and innovation awareness, and these people moved ahead of them. Another institution, one that almost all of us use now, is Apple Inc. Jobs was an extraordinary person, creating the Apple computer, but due to immature management, he was ousted from Apple. However, he never stopped innovating and advancing; he was filled with innovative consciousness and acute market insight. He created the famous animation company Pixar, and later returned to Apple, developing products that were welcomed worldwide, from iPod to iPhone, and then today's iPad. He innovated with a cancerous body, a frail physique, but a soul and mind of unparalleled health. We at New Oriental at least have healthy bodies, though I have issues with my own body, compared to him, I merely have a herniated disc. So, let's be more sensitive in this age of crisis, lest new opportunities be snatched away by others while we sleep. Let's be more sensitive even in our sleep, ensuring New Oriental doesn't fall behind others. The fourth is learning. The learning I speak of isn't just reading more books, or just learning new management knowledge. The learning I talk about is more about learning from our competitors. Many aspects of New Oriental have developed through learning from competitors. Now, with more competitors around us, sometimes we feel uncomfortable. But remember, it's precisely the competitors that have enabled many of New Oriental's projects to develop significantly or transform. Our YouNeng High School project, over the past year, has already generated revenue exceeding several hundred million yuan. Who gave it to us? It was our competitors. Without competitors providing comprehensive high school training, emphasizing the importance of boutique classes and one-on-one personalized tutoring for children, and developing this market, could New Oriental have smoothly entered this field? Precisely because our competitors gave us the opportunity, we should thank them, and at the same time, learn from them. There is so much for us to learn. The training field in China has just begun, the vocational training field, management training field, etc., that we talk about are all fields New Oriental wants to enter, but others have already taken the lead. Therefore, mutual learning, learning from our competitors, is the most important thing. There is a saying that friends often give you less than enemies. Friends protect you, making you lazy, while enemies strike you, making you strong and sensitive. In this sense, our competitors are both our rivals and friends helping New Oriental grow. The fifth is training. The training I'm talking about isn't New Oriental's business training project, but refers to the training of New Oriental's employees, teachers, and managers. Facing the world, today we need to master more knowledge, methods, and information, but many people within New Oriental have been busy working and head down for a long time, only to look up and find themselves lagging behind others. This year, New Oriental will invest a large amount of funds to provide comprehensive training for all key employees, teachers, and managers. The reason is very simple: only when our team has a forward-looking vision as a whole, only when our team has a complete knowledge structure as a whole, and only when our team has consistent concepts and visions can we move faster and farther. New Oriental has done too little of this in the past. Many employees here have automatically taken on their positions, many teachers here have automatically started teaching, and managers have learned by trial and error, which is where we fell short, and it's my responsibility, and also New Oriental's mistake. However, New Oriental will certainly increase the pace of reform in this area in the future. The sixth is contribution. Parents and students recognize us not only because we train students, train for exams, and train in subjects, but also because New Oriental indeed has a good brand and reputation. This good brand and reputation not only come from our classrooms but also from the services we provide to society, such as New Oriental being the "Language Training Partner for Urban Civilization Volunteers of the 2010 Shanghai World Expo," acting as volunteers behind the scenes, providing English training services to Olympic volunteers during the Olympics, training thousands of teachers in impoverished areas each year, donating more than 8 million RMB annually to poor college students, building hope schools every year, paying hundreds of millions of RMB in taxes to the state each year, and doing such work every year. During the "512" Wenchuan earthquake, we quickly rushed to the front line, and even for overseas earthquakes, New Oriental still engages in charity, donating 1 million RMB for the Haiti earthquake. I believe that as a person, when it is necessary to implement humanitarian spirit, there should be no national boundaries. We did a lot during the Wenchuan earthquake because it is our motherland, but Haiti is also on the same planet. It is precisely because of this sense of social responsibility, because we continuously pay attention to the needs of society, that we have gained today's recognition from society, and have such good resources to mobilize, preparing for New Oriental's further development. Therefore, while we strive for income and profits for shareholders, we must not forget that we must contribute more to society. This contribution also includes cherishing our employees more. Last year at this time, I once said that one of New Oriental's biggest contributions is supporting more than 7,000 families, now we can proudly say that we support more than 10,000 families, even though we haven't made everyone rich, but at least we have provided stable jobs, and if one works hard, there will also be room for advancement. We hope to do better in the future, steadily increasing the benefits of New Oriental's employees, teachers, and managers, improving welfare, treatment, and working environment. The seventh word is happiness. I once published an article called "Being Loved, Having Something to Do, and Having Something to Look Forward To," which is happiness, and the fact is exactly so. Being loved means someone loves us, when your husband or wife loves you, when your parents love you, when someone quietly thinks of you, your heart should be happy. But being loved, we prefer to interpret it as being loved by you, we should actively love our parents, love our colleagues, love the people in society who need our care. I always believe that only giving can truly be the source of happiness. Having something to do, of course, can be different things, I was also doing something when I was a teacher at Peking University, later doing New Oriental was also doing something. Whether you're a teacher at New Oriental or starting your own training school, or studying at a world-renowned university in the future, accumulating wealth for your family, buying houses and cars, all these are having something to do. Having something to do is happy, because having something to do gives life goals. What to do is decided by your own heart, and how much you can achieve depends on how much you want to. However, having something to do can unintentionally produce unhappiness, which is the case for me now. Doing New Oriental is very happy, but the pressure is too big, which makes it unhappy. The reason is very simple, having something to do doesn't mean pressuring yourself to the point where you can't breathe. We can be pressured to the point where we can't breathe for a period of time, but after that period, just like after a storm or after a cloudy sky, you can always expect sunshine. Personally, and for many executives at New Oriental, this feeling really doesn't exist much anymore. Why? Because as a listed company, we must ensure that shareholders' investments yield returns. New Oriental is valuable because shareholders paid money to buy stocks, so it becomes valuable, and they expect returns. When they expect returns, we must spare no effort to pay. Every year's growth, whether in profit or budget, really makes us unable to see the boundaries, turning into a long-term, irremovable responsibility and burden, even losing a sense of calm and grandeur in life and work, which is unhappiness. But since we are listed, since it's our choice, then let's bear it. Therefore, I am trying my best to turn daily pressure into motivation, treating pressure as a test of the limits of my ability and energy, and the limits of my physical endurance. I believe that one day I can hand over a good answer sheet to New Oriental's successors and begin wandering around the world. Happiness also means having something to look forward to. Just now, Weng Yunkai recited a poem about loving life, I don't know if he wrote it himself. I have recited Shi Zhi's poem "Believe in the Future" in various occasions: "When the spider web mercilessly seals my stove / When the ashes of the remaining smoke sigh at the sorrow of poverty / I stubbornly smooth out the ashes of disappointment / And write 'believe in the future' with beautiful snowflakes / When my purple grapes turn into autumn dew / When my flowers cuddle in someone else's arms / I stubbornly use the frost-covered withered vines / To write 'believe in the future' on the desolate earth..." "Believe in the Future, Love Life" is my motto, and it should be everyone's motto. Believing in the future means we have something to look forward to, we believe that we will do better in the future. I have always firmly believed that New Oriental people are constantly growing, the future of New Oriental people will be more brilliant, and New Oriental as a whole will be more glorious. Believing in the future is a prerequisite, what we truly need to do is love life. I just mentioned the meaning of happiness, what is the ultimate meaning of happiness? It means that every day you wake up wanting to make today better, every