Tao Te Ching and Wuwei Management

Chapter 38 4 "Knowledge and Stop": You must run fast and be able to stop at the same time

A sage knows to stop, but a lunatic cannot stop.

Knowing and stopping can not be perilous. —— "Tao Te Ching" Chapter 32
Know when enough is enough, and you can avoid danger.Otherwise, too much is too late.As a simple dialectical philosophy, it reminds managers to think of a way out when moving forward, and to know how to give up when choosing.Because, in many cases, obsessed with immediate dividends and blindly advancing blindly may be in a dangerous situation without realizing it.

On the quiet African prairie, the afterglow of the setting sun shines on the land. At this time, a lion is thinking: When the sun rises tomorrow, I will run to catch up with the slowest antelope; at this time, an antelope is also thinking : Tomorrow when the sun rises, I will run to escape the fastest lion.So, whether you are a lion or an antelope, when the sun rises, all you have to do is run.

This is a story widely circulated in the classrooms of New Oriental, and Niu Gensheng has told Mengniu employees many times. This story even reflects the crisis awareness of the two major competitors, Yili and Mengniu.In the eyes of entrepreneurs, survival and development are equally important, and expansion and stability are difficult to balance.The responsibility of the operator is to skillfully grasp the dynamic balance between these two forces, so as to promote the enterprise to maintain stability in the process of expansion and carry out new expansion on a stable basis.

Doing this is nothing more than making New Oriental the "fastest running lion". However, Yu Minhong is not someone who advocates always rushing forward.He believes that only those who know how to stop know how to speed up.The higher the quality of the car, the faster it goes.For cars like Mercedes-Benz and BMW, their high quality is not only reflected in the engine system, but also in the braking system.When you drive these cars, you dare to drive at high speeds, because you know that as long as you hit the brakes, the car will come to a steady stop without overturning or running off the road.But when we drive a Xiali, we must not drive as fast as a Mercedes-Benz, because we know that if we let it run too fast, it will be difficult to brake, and it may hit a railing or turn over.Therefore, a person who is not sure to stop is a person who cannot run fast.

Later, Yu Minhong also quoted this experience and perception to enterprise management, deducing a set of management philosophy of his own.He believes that in the pursuit of speed, an enterprise must develop as far as possible, but whenever an enterprise wants to stop, it must stop.In fact, this is similar to being a human being. If you know from the beginning that you can’t stop before fame and fortune, then it’s best not to do bad things, because once you get stuck, you can’t get out, and the same goes for companies.

There has been a paradox of business management in the business world for a long time, and it is believed that the success of a business is to grow bigger and stronger at the fastest speed.Therefore, many operators have entered into a misunderstanding, thinking that if the enterprise cannot keep moving forward, it will not be considered a success.In recent years, the upsurge of mergers and acquisitions and investment of international and domestic enterprises has proved this point. In fact, many enterprises will die at the same time, and they will be injured when they invest.

Someone once compared competition to a tiger. In the process of development, if a company stops, it will be eaten by the tiger, but if it keeps on going, it may collapse due to exhaustion.Therefore, business leaders must balance the relationship between the two, and control the speed of the company's progress and development. It is necessary to prevent being eaten by the "tiger" if it is too slow, and to pay attention to running too fast and falling down.Therefore, the operator must keep a calm and sharp mind, which forces Yu Minhong to constantly put forward higher requirements for himself, to constantly examine the speed of the enterprise's progress, and to think carefully about all aspects of the enterprise's operation.

Since ancient times, the correct way to advance and retreat has been regarded as the highest standard for a sage to live in the world, and it is also a kind of wisdom that individuals must possess to achieve success.Undercurrents in the business world are turbulent, and only when business leaders understand the secrets of advance and retreat can they lead the company on the right path and do the right thing.

Shenzhen Vanke is a well-known real estate enterprise in my country. In the course of more than 20 years, the company has experienced a process of "advancing" and then "retreating", and finally embarked on a professional development path.

From 1984 to 1993, Vanke developed from a camera equipment trader into an enterprise group, with businesses covering 13 categories including import and export, retail, real estate, film and television, advertising, etc., and holding shares in more than 30 enterprises.Despite the large scale of the enterprise, the profits are very thin, which made Wang Shi, the company's decision-maker, decide to take the road of professional management.

So starting in 1993, Vanke started the "subtraction" business strategy, that is, to focus on real estate as its main business and gradually reduce other businesses.Big profits are alluring, but cutting profitable projects is a pain.What is even more astonishing is that in August 2001, Ke transferred all 8% of the shares of Wanjia Department Store to China Resources. It must be known that Wanjia's turnover had surpassed Wal-Mart and Carrefour at that time, ranking first in Guangdong Province.

However, Wang Shi resolutely gave up Wanjia's retail business and became a pure real estate company.Today, Vanke has become the leader in China's real estate industry, and it is a blue chip stock.

It is very difficult to advance and retreat correctly, which not only tests the willpower of decision makers, but also depends on the complex market environment.But Vanke’s experience once again reminds us that managers can only achieve ultimate success if they understand the way to advance and retreat, understand the dialectical philosophy of “satisfying without humiliation, knowing to stop without slacking off”, grasp the scale of advance and retreat, and learn to give up at the right time.

(End of this chapter)