Xu Shuguang: If you want to avoid insomnia, don't be a manager and be a boss

"This is the role model story I've always wanted," Kai-Fu Lee said in the preface to his book "I Just Like Entrepreneurship." This example is the protagonist of the book - Xu Shuguang, chairman of GreenTree Inn Hotel Management Group. Xu Shuguang went abroad to study in the United States in the 1980s. In the following 21 years, he has grown from a professional manager of a Fortune 500 company to a chairman of several Chinese and American companies. His entrepreneurial fields include real estate, medical care, and economics. Several areas such as hotel chains, clothing and wine.

"There is no trick to starting a business." Xu Shuguang said that the secret to success is simple, "Observe every opportunity carefully, set clear goals, and do what you need to do with heart, effort, and perseverance. In this way, There is room for survival in any field."

Forced to start a business

In 1987, Xu Shuguang went to the United States to study at the University of Southern California in downtown Los Angeles. Silicon Valley, famous for its entrepreneurial mythology, is not far from the university. In May 1990, he was recommended by his mentor as an intern financial analyst at Broadway Chain Holdings, a Fortune 500 company in the United States. Three months later, he gave up his Ph.D. degree in finance and operations research from the University of Southern California Business School and officially became Broadway Chain. Holding financial manager. In 1994, at the age of 30, Xu Shuguang became the financial director of the "hundred-year-old store" SantaAnita Fund. In 1995, he entered the unified real estate work.

For Xu Shuguang, whether he was an employee at the time or a boss later, it all depended on extra seriousness and persistence. On April 1, 1997, Xu Shuguang "couldn't resist the temptation" -- 10% of the shares of Xiehe Real Estate was recruited by Randy, the owner of the company, and became executive vice president and CFO. Forced to start a business.

At the beginning of joining, Xiehe Real Estate was already in turmoil, and soon the Colorado branch, which was the most important source of management funds for the company's headquarters, suffered serious losses. Xu Shuguang held the first shareholder meeting of the branch after taking office, and the shareholders announced that they would stop investing. This means that if wages are not paid to dozens of employees at the headquarters within the stipulated time, the company will have to close its doors. This is what Xu Shuguang, who has a sense of responsibility, does not want to see. He personally borrowed hundreds of thousands of dollars from banks and corporations to pay employees, but it was only a matter of urgency.

In October 1997, Xu Shuguang suggested to Randy to set up a new company (later Pacific Real Estate), let dozens of employees from the headquarters transfer to the new company, and use the new company's profits to repay the old debts borrowed. "The idea at the time was very primitive, just to repay the debt and not lose those good employees." Xu Shuguang felt that he had this ability, and "has seen the real estate market rise."

However, at that time, the successful community development and construction were all natives of the United States, and the entry of foreigners basically ended in failure. Xu Shuguang said that community development is inseparable from local culture and local political economy. He dared to enter, first, he saw the market situation at the time, and he had a 400% rate of return, and secondly, there was not much retreat. In terms of mentality, as his American mentor once said - if you don't discriminate against yourself, others will not discriminate against you.

Xu Shuguang established the principles of win-win, environmental protection and community building in the first community development project. Since then, several projects have adhered to this approach and have received good responses from the local government and residents. Xu Shuguang believes that this is the fundamental reason why he, a foreigner, can succeed in the real estate industry in the United States.

Since then, he has been out of control on the way to start a business. He has set foot in a medical center in the United States, returned to China to open a hotel, set up a clothing factory, renovate shanty towns, produce and sell red wine... all of which have failed. But he emphasized that he does not actually like to start a business. He started so many companies because he was "invited by friends and the government to attract investment under different circumstances, and he happened to have some resources around him, so he could organize and play better efficiency." What is an entrepreneur? It is to use an innovative thinking mode to effectively organize the resources around us and play a greater role, so as to benefit the people around us. He believes that if a person is very liked and respected throughout his life, then he is an entrepreneur.

Daofa Natural

In 2004, GreenTree opened its first hotel on Xinzha Road in Shanghai. At this time, Home Inn and Jinjiang Inn are on the rise, while 7 days and Hanting have not yet been born. "At that time, I had clearly seen the economic bubble in the United States, and returning to China was also a preparation for this crisis. Moreover, in the United States, it is difficult to make a company in the top five in the industry, but it is possible to become the first in China."

Xu Shuguang, who has the experience of successful entrepreneurship and management in the United States and a net worth of hundreds of millions, thought that returning to China to start a business should be a simple matter, but he unexpectedly encountered difficulties. Before 2007, GreenTree's performance has not been What an improvement. As the largest shareholder, he admitted that he was disappointed at the time. As a result, since 2007, his energy on Gli Haotai has changed from 30% to 80%, from a pure investor to an actual trader.

China's budget hotel chains, especially in the early stages of development, compete in a "bandit-style" style, but Xu Shuguang "does not allow companies to grow wildly, otherwise it will be like rotten grass." He will take off the brand of his self-operated store because the service quality is not up to standard; he insists that GreenTree Inn should be a pool of clean water, "so that we can raise big fish, otherwise only loach and crayfish will be left." This kind of adherence to the "natural growth in the norm", although it is more difficult and long to practice, it is Xu Shuguang's inertial behavior in starting a business.

Some people do business to make money, but Xu Shuguang regards making money as a by-product of doing business. Different business operation concepts have allowed him to do so many companies, but he rarely involves capital operation or selling businesses. Otherwise, with his nearly 20 years of industry experience and the high returns in the market, he "has already been doing real estate on a large scale", instead of foolishly placing his first investment in an economic model he is not familiar with. on chain hotels. During the three years of slow development of GreenTree in the early stage, it was easy to do capital operation with his background in the financial industry, but he has not introduced new investors so far.

"If an investment is too risky but there is an opportunity, I will not find a partner, but spend my own money first." This is Xu Shuguang's bottom line as an enterprise. For more than 20 years, he has never let investors lose money. "Especially in the hardest time in 2008, not only did not a single investor lose a penny, but there were also very good returns." To benefit the people and organizations around him for a long time is what he pursues. Therefore, after becoming a boss, he has never had insomnia, and the only two times he couldn't sleep was because he was too worried about performance when he was a professional manager.

However, the interests of shareholders can only rank third in Xu Shuguang's mind, and the first and second are customers and employees. "Why are there so many smart people doing it, and the age of many companies is not as long as a person's lifespan?" Xu Shuguang asked himself and answered: "If the values are correct, the company will develop healthily and vigorously." The reason why the outside world thinks that GreenTree will die is now more and more powerful.

Management ideas of Chinese and Western integration

"There are two best works in my life - my own children and colleagues." Xu Shuguang's sixteen-year-old daughter, Ashley, has both strict Chinese traditional education and respect Under the American-style education with independent personality, she set the life goal of "helping people for a lifetime" and thus "going into politics and becoming a female politician". The twelve-year-old son Brian is a genius in the eyes of everyone, but Xu Shuguang and him bluntly stated that the IQ of a genius and a fool is not much different. The son is only because he reads 50 pages more books, memorizes 1 word more than others every day, Do one more math, read one more news and discuss with family members... "One more effort every day" is also his request to employees.

The lack of professional management talents is one of the bottlenecks in the development of China's economic chain hotels, and it is also the most troublesome problem for Xu Shuguang. At the beginning, when he recruited people in China with the management method that was effective in the United States, he found that "there is no one in the industry". "The American team is relatively neat in terms of moral values and professional abilities, so it is more suitable for sophisticated management methods. But in China, everyone's moral values and professional abilities are not neat, and the boundaries between people and enterprises are blurred. It is actually difficult to manage." Xu Shuguang sighed.

After he figured it out, he adjusted the management precision and set GreenTree's talent standards relatively localized. "If it can make the guests and employees more satisfied, why not do it?" Instead, it has become a kind of evolution in management, integrating Chinese and Western. The strict teacher is Xu Shuguang's most important identity in GreenTree Inn, just like teaching students, he assigns "homework" and changes "homework" for employees every day. At the same time, he also runs a free training course for hotel management talents. The trainees are not limited to the employees of GreenTree Inn, but are open to the entire industry.

At the end of 2007, the number of GreenTree Inn hotels exceeded 100, but since then it has suddenly accelerated. "Our growth has been the fastest in the past three and a half years." Xu Shuguang is not surprised by this. "It is the accumulation in the front, and then it has reached a stage of exponential development." After Home Inn acquired Motel 168 for US$470 million in May this year, the industry For the first time, a chain brand with more than 1,000 hotels appeared. Xu Shuguang also said that the number of GreenTree Inn will reach 1,000 by the end of next year. He has previously disclosed that he is ready to go public in the United States.

"The highest taste, the lowest cost, the highest cost performance." Innovation under strict cost control is GreenTree's unique way of survival, and Xu Shuguang believes that GreenTree will bring the economy chain hotel industry in China. the best value to come. From the shape of the door handle of the guest room, the height of the pillow on the bed, the patented bed that pays attention to the sleep experience, to the introduction of management experience of foreign chain hotels, so that partners can use it effectively.

Xu Shuguang believes that China's budget hotels still have at least 10 years of rapid development. Data from third-party research institutions show that in 2010, the operating income of China's budget hotels was 18 billion yuan, but only accounted for 8.3% of the total hotel revenue. "Everyone is still in infancy now, and it is impossible to see who is taller after the age of 20. GreenTree develops naturally according to the current model, and it is not a big problem to be the first in the industry in terms of quality and quantity." The core competitiveness is "all things are guided by the interests of customers and employees, creating a service platform within the enterprise that benefits partners and a growth platform for gathering excellent employees".

After seven years of development, GreenTree "has passed half of the adaptation period and has become half a 'local snake' in the Chinese market", but Xu Shuguang emphasized that "it is unlikely to become a full-scale local snake". As a foreign monk, GreenTree "hopes to bring some positive things to the industry, such as doing things more fairly and rationally, and more transparent information. Although sometimes it is not conducive to the short-term competition of the enterprise itself, it can help the training of the overall staff. and education brings greater gains.”

Therefore, Xu Shuguang is extremely opposed to the use of the thirty-six strategies in "Sun Tzu's Art of War" for commercial use. "From the perspective of the operating environment and competitive environment of the enterprise, the internal relationship is with employees and buyers, and the external relationship is with customers and the government. There is no place where any of the thirty-six strategies can be used. If an enterprise To use intrigue to deal with customers and employees, it can only be a small victory in part, and it will never lead to the victory of the whole battle."

Because his vision is not limited to enterprises, Xu Shuguang also dares to speak out about industry problems. statement. In his opinion, China's economy hotel industry as a whole is healthier and more rational than before, but there is still serious information asymmetry in some parts. But made a wedding dress for someone else.

Economic hotel chains need to expand in scale, but Xu Shuguang hopes that GreenTree is building skyscrapers, not pigsties. Although the former is slow but gradual, each floor must be the foundation of the previous floor. It builds up a flesh and blood tissue. When will the building top out? Xu Shuguang pointed to the employee next to him witty, "That's not my business."