2009 CEConline Outstanding Person Series Interview

Influential Events

In 2005, Mr. Chen Dan was named "China's Excellent Brand Manager", and was shortlisted in the 2005 Global 100 Chinese Business Brand Characters. In 2007, as the first person with Chinese logo, Chen Dan Mr. was voted "Most Influential People". In the same year, Chen Dan won the "Excellent Management Expert" award. In the 16 years since their establishment, Chen Dan and the Zhengbang company he led insisted on influencing the process and development of corporate visual identity through design, and set an example for the cultural and creative industry with a poetic management model.

Chen Dan: Poetic Excellence in Management

Chen Dan, Chairman and Creative Director of Zhengbang Brand Identity Agency. In 1982, he was admitted to the Decoration Department of the Central Academy of Arts and Crafts. In 1986, he was assigned to teach at the Northwest Institute of Light Industry for seven years. In 1993, he founded the Zhengbang Company. So far, he has created the industry-renowned "Zhengbang" brand that brings together more than 160 brand planners and design elites.

China Telecom, Bank of Beijing, Tsinghua Tongfang... According to statistics, more than half of the identity designs of well-known Chinese brands are from Chen Dan and the Zhengbang company he leads. In 2003, the CCTV "Economic Half Hour" column logo designed by Zhengbang won the China Brand Gold Award. In 2004, the logo of China Telecom Group won the "China Brand Image Design Award" at the China International Design Expo, and the logo of China Netcom Group won the China Brand Image Design Award. International Design Expo "China Excellent Brand Image Design Award"... Many professional achievements confirm the steady and steady growth of Chen Dan and Zhengbang under his leadership.

In order to make the company bigger by design, intelligent creative enterprises must go beyond the conventional management model of technology-based production enterprises and overcome many management obstacles. How does Zhengbang do it? Walking into Chen Dan's office, you will find that this poetic manager has his own unique way of managing excellence.

Literary Thinking

The most conspicuous thing on the office desk is Zhengbang's brochure. It uses a poem as the door, and uses a poem full of poetry "The Clothes of the Wind" to express that "Brand is an ideal wandering in the hearts of Zhengbang people. Clothes of the wind achieve the glory and dreams of the Zhengbang people." The small red book "Bangyulu" reflects the unique "tiaozi culture" of Zhengbang. Summarizing the problems in management by oral famous words, employees wrote Chen Dan's words on a note and pasted it all over the wall of the office. Later, when they had their own office building, they collected costs and became a remarkable part of Zhengbang's management culture. A piece of thought work.

"How good we are together/Loving colleagues is equal to loving yourself/The market eliminates companies that don't work hard, and companies eliminate employees who don't work hard/Everyone should get used to working with people who are as smart as themselves/As long as there are 5% If possible, it will become 100% reality/a sense of awe-is the beginning of wisdom/with our sincere will, loyal to duty/a dead company will never defeat a dynamic peer/avoiding problems will only breed problems/ Concentrate on making a logo, and do a brand with one heart / the survival of the fearful / imitation = plagiarism..." It is these poetic sentences that inspire the fighting spirit of Zhengbang people and unite people's hearts for Zhengbang.

This perceptual management method based on literary thinking creates a relaxed and pleasant working atmosphere for Zhengbang, and makes employees have a high sense of identity and belonging to the company. It is Chen Dan's employment philosophy to use the best people, people who are stronger than himself, and professionals. Now the longest working employee in Zhengbang has been for more than 10 years, and the employees who have been working for about 5 years have become the backbone, which is rare in advertising design companies. Chen Dan said: "Zhengbang brings together a group of outstanding talents from the art, advertising and consulting fields and provides them with a broad development platform. In my opinion, it is a good thing for people to come and go. In Zhengbang,' There are also many employees in Erjingong'. It is this open mind that enables the integration and accumulation of ideas from different categories and factions in Zhengbang."

Academic Depth

Zhengbang advocates "deep delivery", not only The division of labor is meticulous and clear, and professionalism is emphasized everywhere. Someone once joked, "You must be able to do one thing to others, otherwise you can't live in Zhengbang." Chen Dan specially sent someone to study graphic design at St. Martin's College, the most famous design school in the UK. Now Zhengbang has five creative ideas. Departments and directors are all graduates of professional colleges. The computer production department is also a top-notch expert dug from the production company. Scanning, printing, hand-painting, and artistic writing are all at the expert level. Chen Dan's requirements for Zhengbang people are: make the brand identity design professional and academic.

The profound "scholar complex" made Chen Dan require employees to "deep research and horizontal comparison" for every job. Chen Dan is committed to creating a "learning" enterprise. Zhengbang's employee training system has been perfected. Once a week, employees communicate with each other in the classroom, and industry experts teach, communicate and share in Zhengbang, which has become a beneficial source for Zhengbang people to receive fresh ideas. Zhengbang has a clear academic leader system and encourages employees to study their majors in depth, precision and expertise.

Chen Dan also worked hard to contribute to the academic research of the domestic design industry. With his rich design practice, he gave lectures on branding for many domestic colleges such as Tsinghua University, Zhejiang Business School, Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, Shaanxi University of Science and Technology, Chengdu University, etc., and strived to share his design ideas and practices with young artistic youths . Zhengbang Company is also the "student practice base" of Shaanxi University of Science and Technology, Tsinghua University and other art and design colleges. It often receives batches of students to observe and study, and contributes to the cultivation of the next generation of designers in China.

Value thinking

At the beginning of his business, Chen Dan insisted on not being moved by temptation, and established the Zhengbang model: Zhengbang is an expert in brand identity design, which distinguishes Zhengbang from other small and medium graphic design companies. Gradually move towards the specialization of brand identity design. In recent years, Zhengbang has entered a new development period. Chen Dan has carried out new thinking on the company's value, and gradually formed a pattern with "brand recognition" as the core and related sub-brands extended and developed, including: Bang brand consultant, Bang naming , State Network, State Environment Guide, State Media, etc. Chen Dan said: "Zhengbang = brand strategy + design + landing appearance, to provide customers with Zhengbang brand effectiveness system services."

In addition to operating income and taxation, Chen Dan believes that the company's value should also be reflected in public welfare for the society. The logos of organizations such as International Care Foundation, China Environmental Protection Certification, China Environmental Protection Product Certification, China Peking Opera Theatre, and China Cultural Relics Protection are all from the Zhengbang team. In his own unique way, Chen Dan uses his professional strength to continuously contribute to social welfare and cultural undertakings, and at the same time, he writes this thinking in "Bangyulu" with poetic expression: It is the work of Zhengbang people to reflect value.

Tao Chuang: Rumba with Bill A, Tango with Bill B

Influential Events

He developed GlobeVie?, a commercial 3D earth visualization imaging system, two years earlier than Google Earth. After joining Microsoft, he made the virtual earth product achieve 80% share of the global enterprise market, far ahead of Google Earth. He owns a number of technical patents and was awarded the highest national award for "Technical Cooperation between Scientific Research and Enterprises" by the Prime Minister of Canada in 2003. He was a senior expert sent by the Canadian government to the United Nations. Under 40" nomination, he is Tao Chuang, the current CEO of PPLIVE.

In late summer Shanghai, the heat pours out at noon, and the coolness often sneaks past in the evening. Therefore, the late summer in Shanghai is warm, but often calm. The interview took place in a corner of the URBN Hotel, which is famous for its carbon neutrality. Tao was covered in ashes. Every step he took was a little jumpy, but every moment he landed was solid.

Snippets of his experience seem familiar to us. Robin Li of that year did a search earlier than Page and Brin, and then started a company; Tao Chuang also developed a commercial three-dimensional earth visualization imaging system GlobeView? two years earlier than Google Earth, and then opened his own company GeoTango; The former Kai-Fu Lee, after contributing a lot of energy to Microsoft Research Institute, volunteered to go to Google, and Tao Chuang, after leaving Microsoft, also received an invitation from Google, but he knew that the future direction is in China, and the future will be in China. video.

Passion is the prelude to driving achievement

People who have always achieved success must be driven by passion first, and then persistently move forward. Whether Gates or Steve Jobs, passion can make them retreat from the best schools to write programs in cramped small rooms, or it can make them stand in their own place when the whole world turns away. "We just want to keep going according to the original intention. I think this direction is right." When Tao Chuang was parachuted from Microsoft to serve as CEO of PPLive and gave the prospect of PPLive with these words, he must have been passionate. . At this time, Yao Xin, the founder of PPLive, was less than 30 years old. There were many ideals in his original intention, and the continued survival of PPLive required a lot of investment support. Embracing ideals, constantly lobbying investors, starting from nothing, and putting them into practice, everything is inseparable from passion. Although Tao Chuang had never set foot in the video field, driven by his overflowing passion, he decided to go with Yao Xin, who was a decade younger than him.

Looking through Tao Chuang's past experiences, passion always appears at some point. After graduating from Wuhan University with a master's degree that year, Tao Chuang has a very good job as a university teacher. His research results have won the first prize of the major project of the Ministry of Science and Technology, and he is the youngest independent recipient of the National Natural Science Foundation of China. When some things are visible at a glance, others are easily ignited. In 1995, he went to the University of Calgary, Canada, which ranked first in North America for geoinformation engineering, to pursue a Ph.D. At York University in Toronto, he holds the title of Canada's National Chief Research Professor, has more than a dozen Ph.D.s, has more than 40 people in the laboratory, and has a number of technological inventions, of which 14 technologies were successfully transferred, but he still took the He made his own company, GeoTango, with his own money. He participated in the technical development of the world's earliest mobile vehicle mapping system, which opened the first eye for him to enter the three-dimensional earth imaging system in the future. Then, his company was successfully acquired by Microsoft at an eye-popping price.

Jumping is a feature of passion, because jumping creates height and distance, and because of height and distance, vision opens up.

Technology and money are tools for change

Jumps are also symbols of free transformation and ways to break down the barriers of identity. The gulf that the Chinese have always drawn between scientists and entrepreneurs actually also exists in Tao Chuang's mind.

After completing his Ph.D., he wanted to teach and continue his dream of being a scientist, but he didn't find an opportunity. So, his first job was to do a technical evaluation in an investment company. He followed an investment advisor to talk to those who needed investment. At that time, he felt that "the world will be changed by them". Since then, the gap between learning and business has gradually dimmed in his heart, and he began to seek opportunities to jump in the free market time in North America.

While leading laboratory research in Canada as a tenured professor, he developed a system for finding oil wells over the Internet, which was transferred to an oil company for $30,000. After that, the oil company hired someone to package the technology and sold each system for $500,000. The more he saw similar technology transfers, the more he despised the remaining gap in his heart, so he completely jumped to the camp of entrepreneurs with his identity as a scientist. And both, now it seems, he has done very successfully. Just like he likes dancing, the smoothness of the foxtrot, the smoothness of the waltz, the compromise of the rumba, the agitation of the tango, every dance is the touch of technology and art at every point of human nature. Science and economics, in short, technology and money, go forward side by side. For him, they are tools to change the world and change himself.

Bringing Microsoft DNA to PPLive

In the more than three months of PPLive, he's trying to make a difference. He said, "My own business is a starting point; Microsoft is an ending point. I have walked through the starting point and experienced the ending point." Now, he wants to make up the middle process from the starting point to the ending point in PPLive, which means that his ambition Very big, PPLive may be another Microsoft in the future, and it also means that PPLive will have the pain of getting rid of the old and new, and he is gradually turning the acclimatization into a storm.

This first step may be the hope of local employees to move closer to Microsoft employees in the United States.

I remember when I first joined Microsoft, the night before the new software was released, dozens of engineers were sitting on the floor in the hallway, each holding a notebook, and the sound of the keyboard was incessant. Such passion, after coming to PPLive, he did not seem to find it. Back then, at Microsoft, when a job was handed in, the results were all on point, but now what he sees is either overexertion or lack of ability, and the results are unsatisfactory or even quite different. So he found someone to talk to, and it was one by one regardless of the position. He is a technical background himself, and he believes that he understands the thinking of these people. This reminded him of the two sentences that Bill Gates gave him when he was talking to him: one, I admire most entrepreneurs from technology background, I have a crush on you; the other, join Microsoft, we are the strategy Invest, you report directly to me every month. Therefore, he gave a channel through which the whole company could report directly to him, and also gave his appreciation for the technicians.

From working with one Bill (Bill Gates) to working with another Bill (Yao Xin's English name), with the first Bill, he was still Tao Chuang, with the second Bill, he started to be like the first Bill A Bill, from thinking to behavior. In the future, it is foreseeable that video will dominate the media, but for PPLive, will it mean that it will become another Microsoft? Bill Gates' Windows has changed people's business models and lifestyles. Will Tao Chuang's PPLive also create a new way of entertainment? He is slowly giving answers that may be beautiful but certainly practical.

Huang Jianhua: I hope to be a philanthropist

Influential event

On May 23, 2009, Huang Jianhua appeared in people's field of vision with the dazzling halo of "NBA Chinese Businessman" , and amazed people time and time again. This smart kid who entered Columbia, USA for graduate school at the age of 20 is also the first Chinese to join the New York Stock Exchange, a partner of the famous "Yankees" baseball team, and the first Chinese shareholder of a team in NBA history. Now, Huang Jianhua has given back a considerable part of his time and energy to China.

Huang Jianhua, Chairman of QSL Sports League Co., Ltd., shareholder of NBA Cavaliers, partner of New York Yankees, partner of Houston Rockets, promoter of New York Yankees in Greater China, Chinese Professional Baseball League and Youth Baseball League Investors.

In this world, new things happen every day, and every day there are legends that are overshadowed by the tedious life, until one day, like grass and trees, in a suitable season and suitable temperature, they break through the ground. Huang Jianhua appeared magically in the dull days of 2009, "the first Chinese to step into the New York Stock Exchange", "Partner of the New York Yankees", "Partner of the Houston Rockets", the day he wrote the legend , The owners of 29 NBA teams voted by email, and more than 15 agreed to Huang Jianhua's acquisition of the Cleveland Cavaliers. He also officially became the first Chinese owner in the history of the NBA league.

One autumn afternoon, I met Huang Jianhua at the Oriental Lighting Bar. It's a whimsical dining and bar surrounded by soft red sofas and seats, with bottles of fine wine lining the dark wine-grilled walls, layered on top of each other, surrounded by the bright charcoal of the bronze fireplace. The fire illuminates and shines like jewels. Huang Jianhua walked a long corridor and appeared in front of us. He looked very young. The business war on Wall Street did not polish him into a vicissitudes of life. On the contrary, the victories made him radiant. In his 40s, he looks like he's only in his early 30s. He always speaks politely, smiles habitually, and his smile is sincere and moving. Perhaps in addition to being smart, his smiling attitude also makes him a little bit better than others in the face of difficulties.

Looking for the difference in life

Huang Jianhua graduated from Sun Yat-sen University in the 1980s. Although his childhood dream was to be a teacher, after graduation, he stayed at the school and engaged in teaching foreign students to learn Chinese. In the midst of boredom, in the autumn of 1984, Huang Jianhua took advantage of the spring breeze of reform and opening up, and took the lead in coming to the United States on the other side of the ocean to study finance at the famous Columbia University. Huang Jianhua said that his life was very lucky, and it was smooth sailing without encountering too many winds and waves. When I went abroad, I caught up with China to open the country, and studying finance was in line with the trend of world development. After graduation, I successfully entered the New York Stock Exchange. After that, my life became wider and wider, and I could do whatever I wanted.

For his success, Huang Jianhua boils down to being good at mastering differences. Perhaps Huang Jianhua's genius is also here, he can always grasp the trend of the big trend, and at the same time discover the uniqueness of things. In an era of increasingly fierce competition, differentiation is the key to making a person or thing stand out and succeed. And before people experience the cruelty of competition, Huang Jianhua has found a way to be invincible in the future.

"I studied Japanese at Sun Yat-sen University, and I studied English in the United States. I have a language advantage. When competing for a job at the New York Stock Exchange, they should be looking at this difference in me." For Huang Jianhua also attributed his successful experience in the investment field to differences. "Whether in China or abroad, you must first know what the national conditions are like. You must analyze everything carefully, discover its characteristics, and tell others where its uniqueness is. In this way, you will be easy to succeed. For example When it comes to stocks, everyone is rushing for a newly listed stock, and I will tell those wealthy businessmen: If you cooperate with me, I can bring you benefits in what ways, which is different from a simple stock transaction."

The charity model in the sports world

After more than 20 years of overseas exploration, Huang Jianhua has now chosen to return to China for development: "I went to university in 1980, and my outlook on life was formed in China. In my opinion, that is the most important thing for a person. If you want to continue to look for the difference in life, you must return to China."

Nowadays, Huang Jianhua is in a state of "once in the sea, but Wushan is not a cloud" in the investment field. At present, he focuses his investment on the capital market in Hong Kong, where many business opportunities can be tapped. At the same time, Huang Jianhua invests in stocks listed in Hong Kong. Even though he has been on Wall Street for 20 years, he is still confused about mainland stocks.

Because of his extensive network on Wall Street and his successful experience in the capital operation market, Huang Jianhua has done a very good job in the investment field. He can easily make two projects at a young age and can make a lot of money. However, he did not choose this unrestrained way of life, but started to run a charity business. The goal he set for himself is to be a philanthropist, so that all 15,000 primary schools in China can have their own sports facilities for free. Huang Jianhua and his investment partner, Zheng Zhigang, the young owner of New World Group, established the QSL Youth Sports Development Fund. He hopes to use his influence in the sports industry to promote the development of sports, and to promote the development of charity activities and Chinese youth. Sports development. In the final analysis, sports is the carrier and charity is the purpose. "It is our original creation to transform the investment in the sports field into a charity carrier, and my main personal income is still in the capital market and the stock market. The characteristic of our charity model is that it is open-ended, whether it is an individual or a company. You can participate, we don't want to highlight the name of the individual, we want to highlight the name of the company."

Huang Jianhua cited an example of successful cooperation with Tsingtao Brewery. Charity, and secondly, enhance the brand effect, and achieve the advertising effect again. "The cooperation with Tsingtao Brewery has brought them a lot of media and sports carriers to interact with them, which is even better than advertising on CCTV. We held a charity gala in Shanghai on September 3, and got a group With the support of the Central Committee and the Youth Development Foundation, the president and general manager of the NBA Cleveland Cavaliers came to the scene, the star Fan Bingbing participated, Liu Wei, the captain of the Chinese men's basketball team, and ADIDAS's support, because of their influence, attracted various players. Tsingtao Brewery donated more than 2 million yuan to this event, realizing a win-win situation for both corporate interests and social benefits."

Huang Jianhua hopes to reach the goal with more enterprises through sports platforms. Cooperation, and then promote the development of philanthropy. He said that if he wants to continue to write legends, then this noble and great cause is worth his whole life.