Huawei’s execution capabilities (2)

“How can you become talented without suffering?” This is what Ren Zhengfei warned in his “Letter to New Employees” to new employees who are undergoing the “suffering” of training. Ren Zhengfei said that Huawei has no experts. When new employees enter the company, their Ph.D., master's, bachelor's, and status obtained in the mainland will automatically disappear. Everyone starts as a worker, and everything is based on actual talent. They must accept the challenge of fate. Even if you get a bloody blow, you must move forward with an indomitable spirit.

In the 1980s, the famous Japanese female writer Ta Sugako created a four-volume novel "Axin", which comprehensively shows the ups and downs of the heroine Axin from the age of 7 to her 80s. Brilliant experience. She started from the bottom, endured humiliation, worked silently, faced setbacks with tenacity, exchanged sweat for results, and finally became a successful entrepreneur.

Huawei was established in a market environment with insufficient funds and fierce competition. From the day it was founded, Ren Zhengfei has required every Huawei employee to be like Ashin, to endure the humiliation and bear the burden, work silently, and work together to achieve success, just like Ashin. He firmly believes that "the bird that cannot be burned to death is the phoenix", and Huawei people must become "phoenixes".

In 1994, Huawei participated in the International Communications Exhibition held in Beijing for the first time. At that time, few people in the industry knew about Huawei, and even fewer people knew about Huawei products. It was winter at that time, and the nights in Beijing were very cold. Huawei's sales staff waited for 8 hours for the first customer. But before the sales staff could finish introducing themselves, they watched other sales staff pick up the customers. When he left, all that was left was the contemptuous smile of the well-known company salesperson. Watching customers go away, Huawei's sales staff can only silently chew on the bitterness of repeated trials and failures in the cold wind late at night.

The legendary South African Mandela once said: "The greatest glory in life is not that it never falls, but that it always rises again after falling." In order to overthrow the racist rule of white South Africans, He waged an arduous struggle for 50 years. Even after 27 years behind bars, he still did not give up fighting for democracy for black South Africans. In the end, he made a glorious turn from prison to become the first president of South Africa, and also created a democratic and unified country for South Africa. Situation

Huawei people seem to have learned this spirit. In order to increase the popularity of Huawei products, Huawei sales and service personnel always carry Huawei machines, projectors and luggage on their backs and trek on remote roads. It is this spirit of enduring humiliation and working silently that allows Huawei people to develop the ability to "swim in the sea" in the face of brutal competition.

At the end of 1998, Cui Jiangao went to Central Asia alone. At that time, he did not know that Uzbekistan was just a country with a population of only 25 million and reserves of 1.2 billion US dollars, which was only equivalent to Huawei's annual output value. Because This country’s complicated dual-track foreign exchange policy makes it impossible to pay in U.S. dollars for many transactions. Therefore, many Western manufacturers have left the country.

In 1999, when Cui Jiangao was interviewing a senior executive in a small rental house When working as a telecommunications expert, he was met with a bucket of cold water: "It is impossible for Huawei to gain a foothold in Uzbekistan!"

Cui Jiangao, however, had unbreakable determination and solemnly declared to the other party: "In less than two years, , Huawei will be the number one brand, and I will meet you in a luxurious office!" In early 2000, when Huawei and the Tashkent Telephone Bureau had just signed a small access network contract, Cui Jiangao blurtly predicted: "Huawei will be the top network in the capital. It replaced the transmission and switching equipment of Western friends and became the main model. "At that time, the director and chief engineer of the Tashkent Telecommunications Bureau were puzzled. They thought that how could Huawei do something that Western companies could not do?

Two years have passed, but I didn’t expect Cui Jiangao’s “prophecy” to come true. Huawei's C&CO8 handover machine won the bid to be the capital central switching office and tandem office, replacing the tandem office expansion of Western friends. Immediately afterwards, the GSM experimental bureau presented by Huawei was successfully launched on the UZDUNROBITA website and received high praise. Then a sales contract for expansion in the western region was signed. In the same year, it defeated many Western friends and won a large expansion order in the eastern region... In this way, Huawei was in this top foreign exchange market. In a country with the most severe shortages and telecommunications debt, it has created a market classic that "dominates all projects, contributes an average sales of more than 1 US dollar per citizen, and has a comprehensive collection rate of more than 70%." In order to express his apology for being disrespectful to Huawei, the expert who has become the technical vice president of a certain operator even came to Cui Jiangao Kuan's office to apologize in person

The eternal hope in our hearts will always make us achieve a lot. "Impossible" prophecy. It is because of hope and hard work that Huawei people have achieved Huawei's achievements in the international market. In 1997, Huawei began to enter the Russian market, and its first business here only sold a component worth $38.

In his article "Into the Boundary Line between Asia and Europe", Ren Zhengfei described this bitter history of Huawei people in the Russian market.

We entered the Russian market under the notorious situation of China’s fake and inferior goods running rampant in Russia and Chinese gangsters fighting abroad. You don’t know how much effort it takes to wash it away. Do you know how many It’s bitter. I once asked Wang Xiaojing to write about Chen Zhili who had been running around all day and hadn’t eaten yet at 11pm. He took the instant noodles we brought from China and ate them so deliciously.

Liang Guoshi kept shouting every day (communication was poor and he spoke loudly), his voice was like a drake, and he had been working alone in Russia for so long. It is this indomitable spirit of struggle that supports them to get up again after falling, wipe off the mud and water on their bodies, and move forward again. It was they who bandaged each other's wounds and went into battle again in the face of failure again and again.

The hardships of life abroad have not slowed down the progress of Huawei people in the slightest, and have created a monument for Huawei composed of countless unknown heroes. In 2001, Huawei's silent hard work in Russia finally paid off, and its performance skyrocketed. Today, Huawei has established a firm foothold in Russia. Not only that, Huawei's business covers almost all countries in the CIS, and it ranks among the major equipment suppliers in the local telecommunications industry

In March 1997, Yang Lin, director of the Secretariat of Huawei's Marketing Department, unfortunately suffered a car accident. Ren Zhengfei was extremely sad after his death. In Ren Zhengfei's eyes, Yang Lin represents those Huawei people who work silently and make selfless contributions. Huawei's success is due to a group of selfless people like Yang Lin who play the role of "fireflies" and use their faint light to , lighting up Huawei's path; they are unknown, consuming their youth and health without asking for anything in return.

Ren Zhengfei once lamented in a speech at a Spring Festival condolences group and customer service center work report meeting: "What does Huawei have? It doesn't even have limited resources. But our employees work hard and work hard." Only we and our relatives can truly understand the eight years of hard work, which will make people burst into tears. Only Huawei people can truly understand its connotation. Starting from the first US$38 contract, we have made great progress and achieved sales of nearly US$40 billion in 2013. Only Huawei people know the bitterness of this. Yes, if Huawei does not have tenacity, it will be rewarded. The perseverance of Huawei gradually opened up domestic and international markets. Without Huawei people like Yang Lin who work silently and exchange sweat for results, how would Huawei achieve today's achievements?

On the banks of the Qingqing River, soft willow branches? Floating in the gentle breeze, the graceful figure shows a soft temperament; in the cracks of the mountains, the strong pines and cypresses stand upright in the cold wind, and the straight waist shows the so-called "hardest strength". "Tenderness", nature can be so harmonious. In the arena, when the winner steps onto the podium, what he needs more may no longer be fortitude and strength, but the tenderness that can reach his heart.

< p> From the beginning of Huawei, without resources and conditions, every employee has to fight for the company’s product orders, and the company’s brand needs to be confirmed and consolidated by every employee. Whether Huawei can win the recognition of customers depends on Huawei people. Whether or not we can win the respect of customers is the key to ensuring Huawei's survival. However, the degree of firmness and softness required to win recognition and respect requires Huawei people to "adapt measures to the place, time, people, and circumstances."

At the end of 1999, Huawei was invited by the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications of Tajikistan to go to talks and organize a technical briefing. In order to break through the high-level relationship in the country's mobile market, Huawei sent Cui Jiangao and others to go there happily despite the difficulties and dangers of the journey. This also created a great opportunity for Huawei and Tajikistan. The cooperation with the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications of Tajikistan has laid a good foundation.

A year later, the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications of Tajikistan really recommended Huawei to cooperate with its mobile operators to build a new GSM network. However, it was firmly opposed by an investor from a certain country. The investor also insisted that Huawei people go to the country for negotiations. Although almost no one went to the country, Cui Jiangao and his team showed strong sincerity in cooperation and took almost empty planes twice. During the intermission between the two parties, Cui Jiangao would talk about China's Confucianism and Taoism based on the situation, demonstrating the Chinese people's understanding of cooperation and compromise, so that the country's investors were moved by Huawei's sincerity in cooperation and impressed by the profoundness of Chinese culture. Finally, Huawei. Not only did they sign a GSM contract with the investor, but they also insisted on being deployed throughout the entire process. Huawei's efforts were not in vain. Not long after, another mobile operator in Tajikistan, BABILON, also resolutely abandoned its foreign friends and actively and resolutely cooperated exclusively with Huawei. , making Huawei a mainstream equipment supplier in the mobile market in Tajikistan.

Huawei has encountered competitive pressure from Chinese and foreign friends in Uzbekistan. The president of Daewoo Mobile has determined to terminate cooperation with Huawei several times. However, Huawei people have calmly dealt with all kinds of indescribable embarrassments with the attitude of "bearing it till the end and always smiling". By actively fighting for and creating opportunities, they finally won the victory. With impeccable respect and trust, after many ups and downs, Huawei has completely established its strategic position as the only GSM equipment supplier in Uzbekistan.

Facing competition from international friends, Ren Zhengfei hopes that Huawei people can learn from Rabin's spirit of exchanging land for peace and use "softest" means to open up markets.

Rabin is the first political leader to propose the concept of "land for peace" in the more than 40 years since the founding of the State of Israel. He has changed the previous dispute methods of imposing force sanctions on Arab countries and promised to "securely obtain peace" in Israel. Under the premise of "effective guarantee", we should resolve the issue peacefully through political negotiations and gradually return the occupied Arab territories to the relevant Arab countries.

Rabin also promoted the process of mutual recognition between Israel and the Palestinians, and successively signed the Declaration of Principles of Interim Self-Government Arrangements and the Taba Agreement, allowing Palestinian autonomy to be extended from Gaza and Jericho to the West Bank; he also Jordan reached a peace treaty and formally established diplomatic relations, thus making a breakthrough in the peace process in the Middle East. At the Syria-Israel talks, Rabin took a positive attitude and recognized Syria's sovereignty over the Golan Heights.

Ren Zhengfei greatly appreciated Rabin’s “softest” thought of “land for peace”. In July 2005, Ren Zhengfei said in the article "Huawei Becomes Friends with Its Rivals and Will Not Fight Price Wars Overseas": "Huawei is still very weak and is not strong enough to directly compete with international friends. Therefore, we must hide our capabilities and bide our time and ask Rabin. Learn, trade land for peace, and would rather give up some markets and interests, but also cooperate with friends and businessmen, become partners, create a good living space with them, and share the benefits of the value chain. We are already here. We have cooperated with friendly businessmen in many fields. After five or six years of hard work, everyone has been able to accept us, so now large international companies are becoming more and more friends with us and continue to strengthen cooperation talks. If international friendly businessmen think that we are enemies, Our situation is very difficult."

Huawei people faced humiliation in Uzbekistan with "extreme gentleness", won trust and respect, and finally won a valuable market. Huawei's ability to defeat its friends in the Ukrainian market and win the bid to become Huawei's largest overseas GSM project at the time fully proves the "strong" side of Huawei people. In the Ukrainian market, Huawei can be said to have suffered repeated defeats. After five years of expansion, it finally defeated a friend in the third quarter of 2009 and won the company's largest overseas GSM project to date, exclusively undertaking the nationwide construction of the URS GSM network and smart phones. Value-added service platform, combined sales of fixed network switches and data communication products, signed the largest single sales contract this year

During the process of Huawei's attack on the Ukrainian GSM project, the authority's decision-makers argued fiercely with Huawei. And made many unreasonable demands. They even threatened the Huawei project team by telling them categorically at the last moment, "If the conditions are not met, we will immediately turn to a friend." Huawei people did not surrender under such pressure, but tried their best to meet customer needs. However, when it comes to the general principle of cooperation, no matter what kind of pressure the bureau sets, they will not be moved. Seeing that Huawei people were unmoved, the bureau had no choice but to give up its unreasonable demands and adhere to the principles of "equality, long-term mutual benefit, and mutual respect." Its top decision-maker signed the contract on his special plane before leaving. Similarly, when Huawei narrowly defeated its opponent in the Belarusian CDMA20001X project and solved the subsequent online technology crisis, it was "tough" and adhered to principles, which earned it high respect from the authorities. Faced with a 100% "yes" promise from its friends, Huawei was able to win the bid with a 60% "no" answer.

Today, after more than 20 years of business practice, Huawei people have gradually understood a truth in the globalization process that has suffered repeated setbacks: Huawei can no longer act like a group of "coyotes" like before. Completely relying on impulse and unscrupulousness to win the market. Huawei people need to integrate "the most soft" and "the most rigid" to truly achieve both rigidity and softness.

"Enterprises must develop into a group of wolves." This was the first and only time that Ren Zhengfei systematically elaborated on wolf culture in his speech on "How Long Can Huawei's Red Flag Fight?" in June 1988. . This is how Ren Zhengfei describes the wolf: "Wolves have three major characteristics: first, a keen sense of smell; second, an indomitable and unyielding offensive spirit; third, group struggle. To expand, an enterprise must have these three elements.

Wolves are animals that can always keep a sense of crisis in their minds. When they are eating, as long as someone tries to approach, the wolf will launch a crazy attack to protect their own interests from being threatened. The wolf's awareness of crisis is evident. .

Ren Zhengfei turns Huawei people into a group of wolves, believing that Huawei is far from reaching the standards of success and has only grown. Huawei has only made some progress in the international market and will face more severe external challenges. Competition.

With the merger of Ericsson and Marconi, the merger of Alcatel and Lucent, and the merger of Nokia and Siemens, the gap between Huawei and the world's giants has suddenly widened. At this time, Huawei had just climbed onto the beach in the overseas market, and there was a risk of being driven back into the sea. Ren Zhengfei also had to sigh: "We just expected to get some respite, straightened our backs, and slapped the dirt on our bodies, but we didn't expect it to happen again." A longer and more arduous journey begins. ”

The law of the jungle will lead or perish. Once upon a time, China’s telecom manufacturing industry still had Dragon, Datang, ZTE, and Huawei running side by side, representing the highest level of China’s local telecom manufacturing industry; now , but only Huawei can stand out and dominate. Although ZTE has been working tirelessly in recent years, it can only lag behind. All this stems from Huawei's crisis awareness. Ren Zhengfei knows that Huawei must survive in the cracks. , you need to be like a wolf, always maintaining a sense of crisis, as Nobel Prize winner Rudyard Kipling said: "The law of the jungle is as old and true as the sky. Only by believing in this principle can you survive. If you violate this principle, you can survive." will perish.

”

When wolves hunt prey, they usually do not act alone, but in groups, so that they can hunt animals several times larger than themselves. For example, when wolves hunt reindeer, they will use With the multi-channel pursuit method, when the reindeer encounters an obstacle while running and has to turn, other wolves will come up from both sides. At this time, no matter how fast the reindeer runs, they cannot escape the "dragnet" of the wolves. ”

Inspired by the "wolf pack" strategy, Ren Zhengfei began to implement "pressure tactics" in the early days of his business. When Huawei first entered the Henan market, Ren Zhengfei adopted the "wolf pack tactics" , causing Huawei's nearly a thousand sales staff around the world to stop whatever they were doing and gather together in just a few days. Huawei drove this mighty marketing army straight to Henan. ZTE's sales staff, who are also competing for the Henan market, can only sigh: "With a strength comparison of 1:100, the outcome is obvious. "Today, Huawei people have become a group of wolves with green eyes. They rely on their keen sense of smell to never let go of any target.

In 1992, the communications industry in provincial capitals and big cities in China Equipment is dominated by multinational companies such as Nortel, Lucent and Alcatel. This year, Huawei successfully independently developed switches and equipment. However, Huawei did not rush into the market. Instead, it cleverly adopted the "wolf pack tactic" and passed the "rural development strategy". "Surrounding the City" At that time, multinational groups such as Alcatel and Lucent were unable to pay attention to places that seemed to have no business opportunities, such as small counties, due to their limited number of employees. Even Ericsson's local network in Heilongjiang only sent 3 to 4 people to station. But Huawei sees business opportunities and has a team of 200 "wolves" stationed in Heilongjiang all year round, never letting go of any local network project.

Huawei relies on this group of "wolves" to dominate the market. When a goal appears, we can respond faster than our competitors, so that every project is destined to be won. At this time, we think of the words in the book "The Smile of the Jackal" written by Aquilis Ax. He once described it this way: “There are only two kinds of people: one is the rabbit and the other is the jackal. The smile of a jackal is the smile of a successful person. "Huawei people are just such a group of "jackals" with smiling faces.