Eight years ago, Peking University published a book called "Doing Management Consulting in China." It specifically mentioned two good thinking tools for consultants: philosophy and Go (Weiqi). Philosophy is not the forte of the Chinese. Before the prevalence of Buddhism, Daoism and Confucianism in China were mainly passed down orally as teachings. It was only due to the prolonged debates between Buddhism, Confucianism, and Daoism that forced the Chinese to deeply study the philosophical system and dialectical methods of Buddhism. From then on, there was a widely learnable Chinese philosophy.
Chinese-style philosophy does not have a very elegant logical system; it lacks the guidance of a "god," and everything is so life-oriented. People like to experience the beauty or impermanence of life from flowers and grass. Ye Dunming believes that Chinese-style philosophy is more suitable for consumer-oriented marketing thinking. The life-oriented philosophical thought is not profound or contrived, following the rhythm of consumers' daily thoughts, slowly entering and deepening. Brand communication loses the cold media imprint and becomes a living dialogue between people. It seems that marketers need to pick up the wisdom of Chinese philosophy.
Einstein has nothing to do with marketers. In the field of physics, he holds an unparalleled position and is admired by countless people. However, all this does not come solely from pure physics contributions, because his contemporaries Bohr, Heisenberg, and Schrödinger did not contribute less than Einstein. The familiar theories such as special relativity, Brownian motion, and the concept of photons were not exclusively discovered by Einstein.
Einstein's magic lies in being the sole inventor of general relativity, which can create absolute value like brand positioning. So why could only Einstein discover general relativity? The answer is the help of philosophy. Recently, while reading "Scientific American," Ye Dunming came across an interesting topic: Einstein's scientific guidance mainly comes from philosophical enlightenment. Originally, the way of thinking can dominate one's intelligence, and philosophy is the master of masters.
At 16, Einstein was already pondering relativity, but due to insufficient life wisdom, he couldn't break through. Later, he became interested in Hume and Mach's philosophy and received decisive inspiration. The philosophical stance of Hume and Mach is based on perceptual experience, and all viewpoints beyond experience must be questioned. The last layer of paper was broken when the concept of absolute time was seen as an untested assumption. Einstein resolutely abandoned the consensus of absolute time, regrouped, and achieved his great theory of general relativity.
For a long time, we have been under the shadow of Western science, rejecting intuition and pursuing absolute objectivity, narrowly interpreting the wisdom of Chinese philosophy as trivial knowledge. I don't know about other fields, but at least marketing is human wisdom, and humans live in perception. Einstein can be considered one of the representative figures of Western science, yet what made him successful was his philosophical foundation, not just scientific experiments and logical analysis, which seem rigorous. As marketers, Ye Dunming suggests revisiting Chinese wisdom and using the keen eyes of the Chinese to interpret the wisdom systems of established brands, marketing, and management in Europe and America.
So, where does the philosophical wisdom of marketers come from? It comes from the subtle insights of daily life. Every day, we interact with people, even those we are familiar with, they are always changing. If we adopt an open, appreciative, and research-oriented attitude, we will discover slight changes. We can share their joys and sorrows, and also step back to think about why, gradually enriching human wisdom. By thoroughly studying a few people around us, we can solve problems for countless unfamiliar people. There is no essential difference between people. Ye Dunming believes that marketers who overly rely on large-scale surveys and statistical analyses treat people as objects, lacking the vitality needed to move any living person.
Marketers interact with people every day, but not all of them understand "human affairs." Judging others by oneself, taking things for granted, only seeing goals and not people, all these hinder the elevation of human wisdom. Recently, during a company practice session at Lianzong Zhida, Ye Dunming proposed the "three releases" attitude: release self, release happiness, and open the soul. When thoughts breathe freely, wisdom will quietly enter. Marketers, your wisdom root comes from inspection and reflection. Just pursuing external brilliance cannot demonstrate inner pallor.
This article comes from: Shen Junwei: Hong Kong Business Workplace Simple Talk - Talent is More Favored._1900 Creation of Luxury Goods Growth Opportunities_7952 Misuse of 360-Degree Performance Appraisal_8149