Tao Te Ching and Wuwei Management

Chapter 51 6 "It's Crisp and Easy": 1% Mistakes Bring 100% Failure

It is crisp and easy to pan, and it is slightly easy to disperse.

—— "Tao Te Ching" Chapter 64
The embankment of a thousand miles collapsed in the ant nest.

Things are easy to break when they are fragile, and they are easy to lose when they are small.Don't take little things lightly.Because a flame can cause a fire; a brake pad can cause a traffic accident.

October 1066, 10 AD was a day destined to affect the course of human history. On this day, William, Duke of Normandy of France, competed with King Harold of England for the British throne. Hastings (a city in East Sussex, England, bordering the Pass-of-Calais) went to war.

As early as September 9, William led an army of about 28 people to successfully land on the south coast of England and set up camp.Harold's army, although similar in number to William's, was poorly equipped, with many Anglo-Saxon soldiers using stone axes and short-range bows.However, since they were fighting on their own territory, the soldiers were united and their morale was strong.

On October 10, Harold led his army to occupy a position on Sunlake Hill near Hastings. The army was arranged in a square formation and a picket fence was buried in front.The steep slope behind the hill made it difficult for the opponent to attack.The Norman crossbowmen first went into battle, firing at the Anglo-Saxon army from a distance of about 14 meters, before attacking with infantry and cavalry.Harold's soldiers fought bravely and repelled the Normandy army's attack.Then, Harold's army pressed on, but William was beaten so weakly that he couldn't fight back.This situation was unexpected by William, and the situation suddenly became very unfavorable to the French, and they were in danger of retreating.

At this time, the horse that Harold was riding on, who was commanding the soldiers to fight, suddenly tilted, and Harold fell off the horse.The impact of this unexpected incident can be imagined. Many Anglo-Saxon soldiers thought that Harold had been hit by an arrow, and suddenly became depressed.William immediately ordered the soldiers to launch a counterattack, and the morale of the French army suddenly surged. Poor Harold lost the war for no reason.

Afterwards, research by historians proved that the reason why Harold fell off the horse at that time was because the horseshoe of the horse he was riding fell off, and the reason why the horseshoe fell off was because a nail on it was of poor quality.Because of such a detail, Harold lost his country and life, and England was conquered by the French.

This story tells us that when there are minor safety hazards, if we do not pay enough attention and deal with them correctly and in a timely manner, there will be endless troubles and catastrophe.

The embankment of a thousand miles collapsed in the ant nest.As far as the company is concerned, the entire operating system of the company is like a levee. If there is no insight and attention, many details may affect the whole body, or make the existence of the problem gradually evolve from quantitative change to qualitative change.There are many entrepreneurs who don't pay attention to detailed thinking and basic management, and the result is that the company goes bankrupt.Kelihua is a typical case.

Kelihua was once a well-known software company in the domestic information technology industry.But in 2005, Kelihua had to auction the Kelihua Network Building located at No. 33 Shangdi East Road, Beijing, at a price of more than 7000 million yuan.The failure of Kelihua lies in the fact that entrepreneurs lack detailed thinking and ignore basic management.

In 1991, Song Chaodi founded Kelihua Computer Co., Ltd.In the same year, the company launched the "CSC Principal's Office System", and adopted the marketing method of "buy software and get hardware free", which quickly opened up sales. In 1994, "Kelihua Computer Tutor" was successfully launched on the market, and more than 2 sets of software were sold in the first month. In 1998, Colihua rose to fame through two events.

One is that Kelihua held the first "CSC Summer Camp to the United States" and selected 18 middle school students to study in the United States, which caused a sensation in China.Through this incident, Kelihua quickly accumulated popularity, and the company became an instant hit.Another thing is that the company spent 1 million yuan to promote the book "The Learning Revolution", making it a miracle in the book industry that the circulation of 100 days exceeded 500 million copies.

The hot sale of "Learning Revolution" brought Kelihua to glory.However, maybe Song Chaodi tasted the sweetness through marketing hype. In the subsequent operation and management of the company, Kelihua's shortcomings in basic management gradually emerged.

Kelihua is ambitious, and its goal is to become China's Microsoft, but its management, decision-making and operating model cannot meet the needs of a large enterprise, and all decisions are made by Song Chaodi alone.According to a middle-level market manager who left Kelihua: “It’s only a matter of time before I leave, because I can’t give my whole life to Kelihua. As a private enterprise, Kelihua’s management foundation is still relatively weak. The basic system is not perfect.”

However, the leaders of Kelihua did not realize the management defects of the company. Instead, they were busy expanding and adjusted the development goals of the company. As a result, they deviated from the field of educational software that the company was familiar with and good at, and finally Kelihua declined. Down, until going bankrupt.

The decline of Kelihua shows that an enterprise cannot rely solely on hype and marketing to achieve success, but must rely on persistent detail management.As an entrepreneur, once you ignore the detailed management of the enterprise and the importance of establishing a stable organizational framework, the enterprise will lose its sustainable development momentum.

Confucius said: "If you are not careful in advance, you will regret it later. It is too late."Anything bad, whether it's interpersonal conflict, property damage, or an existential threat, has room for improvement before the outcome occurs.As long as we discover it in advance and take decisive measures to treat it in places where it has not existed and rule it before chaos, we can save the day and avoid losses to the greatest extent.Therefore, entrepreneurs should take precautions in actual work, start from small things, deal with incomplete factors in a timely manner, and avoid accidents or disasters.

(End of this chapter)