Wang Zhongqiu: Reshape Made in China with Industrial Spirit

For ten years, Wang Zhongqiu has been a "trapeze man". As an expert in refined management, he just brought a delegation of entrepreneurs to study in Germany, and then drove 3 hours to "CEConline". At the Hui salon, Wang Zhongqiu, who was nearly fifty years old with slightly frosted temples, looked a little tired. When Mr. Wang stepped onto the podium and held the microphone in his hand, his good professionalism cheered him up immediately, with a straight back, few gestures, and strong words.

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Over the years, many people have become famous because of a song, a book, and a short period of excitement before withdrawing from the public view of the new and the old. After awakening the Chinese people's detailed thinking with "Details Determine Success or Failure" ten years ago, Wang Zhongqiu did not stop because of flowers and applause, but continued to stimulate his words and launched "Refinement Management", "Contract Spirit", "China Needs Industry" Spirit" and other books, and wrote management blogs and lectured training courses, constantly promoting the popularization of refined management.

Seek Industrial Spirit

The so-called Industrial Spirit is the positive attitude people give to industrial products, the ideological foundation and spiritual power of a country's industrialization, and the enterprise level is reflected in the respect for the product itself, the design The emotion and energy attached to the product by the manufacturing personnel, as well as the thinking mode and behavioral habits of product innovation and manufacturing process excellence.

In August 2006, Zhong Pengrong, a famous economist, published "Scarce Industrial Spirit" in Yingcai magazine, pointing out that the essence of industrialization is deep division of labor and deep cooperation. "Industrial spirit" is not only the spiritual orientation of an enterprise, but also the attitude and values of a country and a society towards manufacturing.

During the great transition from agriculture to industrialization, the Chinese are walking too hastily, so that they have no time and energy to think about the connection between industrialization and industry. China's manufacturing industry is like a soulless but able-bodied person. Wang Zhongqiu pointed out in the book "China Needs Industrial Spirit" that "industrial spirit" means that all actions must be responsible for the future, and its connotations include the spirit of cooperation, the spirit of contract, the concept of efficiency, the bottom line of quality, and the concept of sustainable development.

When the spirit of contract has been trampled on, business ethics withered day by day, and a serious lack of public morality and professionalism has become the norm in business operations, it is imperative to transform the business environment in today's China. With a kind of literati anxiety, Wang Zhongqiu tried to think and interpret the factors that seriously affect China's industrial process from the cultural and philosophical levels, and find out the fundamental problems of Chinese management and effective solutions. He pointedly pointed out that the industrial spirit and critical thinking must be used to reshape the values of China's manufacturing industry.

Wang Zhongqiu believes that the lack of Chinese industrial spirit is one of the bitter fruits of Chinese history, culture and modern social system. Most manufacturing companies believe that "selling goods is the last word", and they are disdainful about how to make high-quality products and how to create famous brands; they do not pay attention to originality, research and development, and the accumulation and precipitation of patents and intellectual property rights; Struggling in the end industry chain. In the eyes of such business owners, R&D is far faster and more direct than plagiarism. The abandonment of the industrial spirit has made China's manufacturing industry an economic monster without national beliefs.

"Real industrialization is always supported by spirit. The world's best manufacturing industries, such as Made in Germany, Made in Japan, and Made in Switzerland, are supported by a meticulous industrial spirit. The road of industrialization we have traveled tells us that industrialization without the support of industrial spirit is nothing but the moon in the water and the flowers in the mirror." This is the cry of Wang Zhongqiu.

Once upon a time, Chinese workers were considered the masters of the country. They created value with their hard work and held a high status. However, after the reform and opening up, the first-line producers in the manufacturing industry have changed from "masters" to "workers" and "workers". "Migrant workers" whose status has changed have to stay away from their homeland in order to survive and ideals. The spiritual home has also not received the attention it deserves.

China's manufacturing industry relies on the introduction of foreign mature technology and overdrafts huge human and environmental resources in exchange for rapid growth. damage of environment. In China's economy dominated by GDP, it is not the quality of products but the scale of enterprises that determines the status of enterprises. Economic growth is largely reflected in the continuous expansion of scale, and it becomes an ever-increasing "task" for workers, and the workload becomes the most important important assessment indicators. This determines that the attitude of workers towards products is to pursue quantity rather than the best quality.

Wang Zhongqiu pointed out that producers with an industrial spirit should always treat consumers with awe, never take consumers as test products, and never allow unqualified products to flow to the market; an enterprise with an industrial spirit , should be able to endure loneliness, withstand the temptation of interests, take "grinding a sword in ten years" and "doing one thing well in a lifetime" as one's own choice, and commit to the long-term development of the enterprise; enterprises with industrial spirit are willing to Long-term and strong investment in talents, willing to spend time and energy to cultivate real industrial talents; enterprises with industrial spirit, advocating tireless focus on craftsmanship and products for employees, just like Swiss watchmakers.

The values and sense of belonging of the new generation of industrial workers after the 1980s and 1990s have undergone tremendous changes, and making money to support their families is no longer their primary purpose of working abroad. Wang Zhongqiu suggested that it is difficult for enterprises to change today's dual economic structure, but they can minimize the labor intensity of front-line employees by increasing the automation ratio, increase the working years of employees, and create a "long-term employment" working environment for employees, which can give employees more Humanistic care and improve employees' sense of belonging. The company can make more use of social resources to increase the sense of honor of employees, and can also cooperate with local manufacturing associations to set up "industrial spirit awards" in related industries and regions.

After the 2009 Toyota recall, Wang Zhongqiu wrote the book Who Can Overtake Toyota. He said, "I believe this incident will not make Toyota go bankrupt. Toyota's research found that their internal motivation and self-correction ability are very strong. All managers believe that what they did yesterday was wrong and must be improved every day. Toyota people rarely talk about marketing, and they talk about patents the most How much has been added, how many tests have been done on which models, and what changes have been made to the production line. They pay more attention to quality and innovation. However, many of our companies focus on marketing performance, and do not focus on product quality, but want to sell almost all of them. That's it.

Tortured business bottom line

An infusion company in Inner Mongolia that Wang Zhongqiu consulted was no longer able to operate, but he was powerless. The reason is that the company insists on packaging in glass bottles with international conventions, while competitors have switched to low-priced plastic bottles that may cause infusion pollution to reduce costs. This behavior of putting patients' lives at risk, and the repeated occurrence of vicious food safety incidents such as "poisoned milk powder", "clenbuterol", "garbage oil", and "colored steamed buns" in recent years, show that many Chinese enterprises The lack of the spirit of the contract has reached an unimaginable level.

Chinese people have always been known for their strategy. From the story of Tian Ji's horse racing, it can be seen that strategy has become an important part of some people's wisdom. In the book "Contract Spirit", Wang Zhongqiu soberly pointed out that from the perspective of management, the horse race between Tian Ji and King Qi Wei should be a competition under complete information, and there should be no concealment of information. Tian Ji's victory in this game is a victory for breaking the rules of the game and a victory for the conspirators. If this kind of victory is condoned, it will inevitably lead to a large number of imitators, who will do anything to achieve their goals.

NVC Lighting's disputes not only reflect the conflicts of interests and development confusion that private enterprises have encountered and faced in the process of development, but more importantly, they are for private entrepreneurs who are eager to raise funds and go public. Sound the alarm bell of the spirit of the contract. Wu Changjiang always believed that he was not at fault in the whole incident, and boasted:

"The spirit of the contract is hypocritical, and the rule of man is king." In this regard, Wang Zhongqiu pointed out that there is no contract spirit under the logic of "win the king and lose the bandit".

For those companies or individuals that cannot comply with the spirit of the contract, Wang Zhongqiu believes that the best way is to follow the example of Western countries to establish a "blacklist". If an enterprise or individual has flaws in the spirit of the contract, it will be recorded in the "blacklist"; if the contract is repeatedly violated, no enterprise or individual will cooperate with it. In the West, these enterprises or individuals that are recorded in the "blacklist" are called "living dead". When the Chinese people's understanding of the contract reaches a certain level, companies like NVC that have lost the spirit of the contract will definitely not be able to survive.

Many facts have proved that companies that adhere to the spirit of the contract will become more and more vigorous. During the consultation, Wang Zhongqiu learned that Aoyang Shunchang Group had a batch of steel plates that were scratched during the production process, which belonged to unqualified materials. Because the customer will also spray on the steel surface, this damage has little effect on the customer. On the issue of whether to tell customers the truth, there are two opinions within the company: the marketing department thinks it is not necessary, while the corporate culture department is firmly opposed, thinking that it will hurt the company's corporate culture. In the end, the boss believed that the spirit of the contract should be adhered to, and decided to tell the customer and was willing to lower the price for this. The customer did not ask for a return, but instead strengthened cooperation.

However, Wang Zhongqiu also reluctantly pointed out that in China's business environment, it is indeed a difficult thing to rely on the self-discipline of entrepreneurs to maintain the spirit of contract. Entrepreneurs often cannot help themselves. In the current tax policy environment, some companies have to break through the bottom line and rely on tax evasion to survive. The adherence to the spirit of the contract requires not only a sound business and social environment, but also a sound legal and policy environment.

Deep cultivation and fine management

From teacher to marketing director, from general manager to training master, from the change of work nature to the change of research courses, the change is the reputation, the constant is His quest for management.

In order to help manufacturing enterprises to have an in-depth understanding of refined management, find and reshape the industrial spirit, Wang Zhongqiu leads some manufacturing enterprise bosses and executives to visit Japan and Germany every year, and visit Toyota, BMW and other well-known manufacturing enterprises, Not only learning their excellence in product manufacturing, but also exploring the industrial spirit that can be seen everywhere, but also helping to invite foreign experts. With the help of Wang Zhongqiu, Xiaoyangren Dairy Group successfully invited Japanese experts to help strengthen production management.

In Germany this May, Wang Zhongqiu took entrepreneurs to visit well-known companies including BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Airbus, TRUMPF, etc., as well as Berlin Small and Medium Enterprises Association, Stuttgart Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Berlin Development Zone Wait for the SME Chamber of Commerce to visit and study. In B2B business communication, Chinese entrepreneurs found that Europeans dislike the sloppy quotation method of Chinese companies. Many foreign trade managers are not accustomed to using legal corporate mailboxes in business communication. They do not pay attention to these details. People give the impression of being unreliable and are likely to lose orders as a result.

Although he learned martial arts from a teacher when he was young, Wang Zhongqiu is a scholar at heart. His rigorous academic thinking and critical spirit make him always honest and outspoken about all kinds of management chaos. He said: "China's management training market is mixed, with more water and less dry goods, more fooling and less quality. Some so-called experts can teach more than ten courses and hundreds of courses, and they can teach what is popular. Although I am not the best. I am a trainer, but I am very responsible for the courses and research areas I teach. It takes at least 5 years to do research for a course. Before each class, I read at least 7 or 8 books and take detailed notes. .”

Wang Zhongqiu also called on Chinese management experts and business school professors to be more pragmatic, and they must go to enterprises to do specific research in order to understand enterprise practices. When asked what is the most difficult thing for Chinese companies to do fine management, Wang Zhongqiu replied, "It's the basic skills, that is, doing the simplest things well. China never lacks ambitious strategists. What it lacks is A executor who strives for perfection; there is no shortage of various management systems, and what is lacking is the uncompromising implementation of the rules and regulations."

In recent years, some people are creating management fashion, and some people are helping to fuel the flames. Wang Zhongqiu said frankly that he was the beneficiary in China's pursuit of management fashion. In the past ten years, it is not piracy. The book "Details Determine Success or Failure" has sold more than 5 million copies, establishing Wang Zhongqiu's status as a training master. Today, when e-books are popular and paper books are declining, this record has also become difficult for Chinese management books. crossed monument.

Looking back on his ten-year mental journey, Wang Zhongqiu said to himself, "I would rather speak the wrong words than brag." After becoming famous, Wang Zhongqiu was invited to give lectures at Harvard University and Columbia University in the United States, and now he still maintains a quarterly lecture at Hanyang University in South Korea. Every year, I help 4 companies to do management consulting, write a blog every week, and write books to make Wang Zhongqiu's work and lifestyle. Although 10 books in 12 years are not highly productive, they record the trajectory of thinking step by step. Some works are destined not to sell well. "Contract Spirit" and "China Needs Industrial Spirit", the wakefulness brought by deep thinking has aroused strong repercussions in the domestic academic and ideological circles, but they are like "artistic films", but they are not popular and cannot reproduce the year. Brilliant sales of millions. Because of the publisher's insistence, the cluttered pictures and chaotic descriptions on the color pages of some books have become an unspeakable scar in Wang Zhongqiu's heart.

After 9 years of intensive cultivation in refined management, Wang Zhongqiu told reporters, "I plan to study for another 20 years, and invest in a total of 30 years. How much contribution will it make? Let the society comment."