Pigs are not Sick，Management is Sick

　　Is bigger better? Companies that say they strive to be No. 1 are companies that put the cart before the horse. When crisis hits, those are the companies that will face the stiffest challenges.

　　The fatal flaw of today's popular management theory is that biggest is best. When human greed gets stimulated, it can easily get carried to the extreme. Mahatma Gandhi realized the root cause a hundred years ago. "Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed," he said. Looking at this quote, how do you feel? With an economic crisis still looming, H1N1 flu strikes. These two disasters seem unrelated, but I believe they can be explained by the same axiom - pigs are not sick, management is sick.

　　The biggest mistaken thinking from recent generations is that being No. 1 is an end-all. When running an enterprise, the aim to be the biggest and best, rather than focusing on the details of products and services, is anathema to good business. There are many differences between the purpose and the way to realize the purpose. For too long, people have undertaken superficial formalities to attain some so-called wisdom leap. And look - bird flu, SARS, HFMD, foot-and-mouth disease, H1N1, economic crisis…nature's retribution!

　　Grasp the rhythm in an unstable world

　　People get lost in a bustling world. Roh Moo-hyun, the late president of South Korea, had weathered all kind of challenges during his lifetime. He was even deprived of serenity in retirement. Deteriorating health, insomnia and other stresses pushed Roh to the edge. Life lost its meaning. On May 23rd of this year, Roh jumped off a cliff to his death.

　　Roh's tragedy reminds me of Laozi, a sage who lived more than 4,700 years ago. Laozi described the world as a wind box, saying, "The space between the sky and the earth, isn't it a wind box?" No matter who you are, you are in the space, or the wind box, getting blown up or down. People think they are clear-headed, with iron wills, while in fact they are adrift and will eventually, at least from time to time, lose their purpose.

　　Very suddenly, your rage may disappear. You might realize the results are not so bad, and that you are not so mad. As all life has its end, all things will again restart. Your anger may visit you again. Many businessmen have failed because they can't adjust to the vibrant changes brought on by success. How regretful!

　　How, then, does one grasp the rhythm? Li Yi, a Taoist in Jinyun Mountain in Chongqing, suggested a change of conscience, taking a holistic view and maintaining a higher consciousness. In his words, we should grasp the rhythm of change by adopting a higher consciousness while taking a holistic view of the environment we inhabit. Those who fail to do so will meet problems.

　　Wind box. Keeping a holistic view and higher consciousness is essential for grasping the rhythm of an unstable world. A holistic view is absent of ego and teaches people to perceive the world from perspectives other than your own, and to manage your personal desires. Laozi said, "Only without desire can one perceive the subtleness of the world." When you watch the world from outside perspectives, you will view the world more fully.

　　Maintaining a higher consciousness requires keeping yourself free of bias. All the encounters you make during a lifetime can be opportunities as well as challenges. If you think too much and too exclusively about the benefits you might reap, you just may find yourself beset with depression, frustration and bad moods.

　　Here is how to not keep a higher consciousness: setting a filter in your mind and categorizing everything as good or bad ¨C feeling excited about the good, depressed about the bad. When you encounter hardship while in a higher consciousness, you accept it as destiny and move on. As long as you have peace of mind, you can find ways to overcome any difficulties.

　　It's likely that nobody ever advised Roh on these subjects. No matter how depressing a situation becomes, it can be an opportunity to lift up your spirits. If Roh had this perspective and accepted everything a "former president" must go through, he might have chosen another way. Roh's death shocked the world and made people notice the importance of keeping a balanced mood in a changing society.

　　It's not easy for a person or an organization to grasp the rhythm of change. The economic crisis pushed economists to reflection. But many scholars' reflections are not realistic and would hardly enlighten anybody because their reflections don't reflect their mind.

　　Research is a process that you realize through practice. My 10-plus years of business experience gave me a research method - seeing things through other people's eyes. In this way, I can perceive the subtle details and facts. Unlike entrepreneurs who haven't obtained a higher consciousness, I can find the root of problems and lead enterprises out of stagnant waters. I am not similar to economists in this way- I don't try to figure out an enterprise's gains and losses based on theory. I immerse myself in the situation.

　　The following topics are what I think are worthy of Chinese businessmen's attention.

　　Lessons learned through black humor

　　Some people hold that the economic crisis was caused by the Chinese. It sounds like a joke, but to some extent, it's true.

　　Starting from 1949, we began copying from the U.S.S.R. and strived to be No. 1 in all aspects, including military, economy, science and politics. However, the U.S.S.R. eventually collapsed.

　　In 1972, we used Japan as our role model. Ten years later, the energy crisis pulled Japan into a recession.

　　In 1979, the U.S. became our new model. We found that various prototypes of great companies could be traced back to the U.S. The mainstream business world during the last 30 years has admired and imitated U.S. companies. Chinese businessmen sometimes pay the least attention to the true problems of reality- the management system and style of American companies are regularly introduced into local companies, regardless of how well they actually fit. China copies from the U.S. as does the rest of the world. And then the economic crisis visited.

　　There is irony in this, but what is the sad story behind the humor?

　　China used to be a giant in the world, a country whose GDP accounted for a third of the world's. Japan learned from China for quite a long time, copying our culture, especially Zen theory. Japanese applied Zen to its samurai culture and palace guards. When Mongols swept through Europe in the 12th century, they failed in Japan. The Japanese continued to master Zen and carried out the Meiji Ishin reform in the late 19th century. Japanese companies are mostly built on Zen theory. China has been very proud of its 30-year economic growth, but it has to be noted that Japan, an island country, is still the second economic giant in the world.

　　Japanese companies can focus on small and trivial details, like the way to make things extremely exquisite, good-looking and fancy. The Japanese developed the act of drinking tea into Sado; they admired flowers and developed Ikebana; turned the act of writing characters into calligraphy. The Japanese focused on every detail of every field. Zen theory originated in China, even though we don't spend much time studying it. We are surrounded with so many opportunities, and we have such big plans and rich resources, that we engendered a culture of superficial thinking that has negatively impacted generations and might for years to come.

　　How can we be proud? How do we adjust in a recession? Japanese enterprises battered one crisis after another and built its country, hampered by a lack of natural resources, into the second economic superpower in the world. America marveled at the Japanese economy and thought the 20th century would be the century of the Japanese. The Japanese still concentrated on the details without getting distracted by these compliments. They even shot a film, The Submersion of Japan, to remind fellow citizens of the looming dangers. The Chinese should learn these qualities of concentration and calmness and seek perfectionism.

　　Losing one's concentration will lead to distraction and wrong decision-making. Every country would like to rise to become a powerful country, but the ways towards realizing that goal can be markedly different. The history of China has seen many quick-rise and quick-fall cases, the reason being the loss of concentration (as opposed to competition). It is undeniable that the Japanese surpassed the Chinese in world history, but we should accept this fact with an unbiased mind and take lessons from cultures that can be beneficial to us. If a culture fits into our development plan, we should unhesitantly adopt it. People who are hungry for knowledge will eventually succeed.

　　Where is the holistic view of Chinese people?

　　A magazine called The National Interests commented on China, "China's economy is vibrant but not threatening because the Chinese don't have influence yet." The magazine's logic is that China uses domestic demand as compensation for dwindling exports, which isn't efficient. Different people care too much about their personal benefits and not the general public's interests. Meanwhile, China's economy lacks personality and originality. These two weak points have kept China from becoming the engine of the world economy. The magazine's comments, to some extent, are pertinent and worthy of our attention.

　　Take, for example, the real estate industry, the first impetus for domestic demand in China. With the real estate market down, various parties are figuring the interests drawn from the industry. Real estate price actually comprises five parts: construction cost, company operation cost, land property cost, taxes and administrative charges, and realtor's cost. In Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and other big cities, the land property cost, taxes and realtor's cost account for more than 80 percent of the total price. If these three parts can be reduced by 30 to 40 percent, the real estate market would be greatly stimulated, and a series of other domestic demands will soon be triggered. However, among realtors, local government and central government officials, none have taken the initiative. Taking initiative is crucial for triggering domestic demand and helping China push back against the economic crisis.

　　Where is the innovative spirit of the Chinese people?

　　The Chinese lack personalities. This is the impression we get from Westerners as well as the Japanese. We have been tagged as not innovative for several hundreds of years. There is a deep-seated reason for this.

　　China's rapid development has offered us many opportunities. Companies grow bigger and crave more. How can they concentrate on innovation in a relatively small field? Many businessmen began trying their luck in different industries, as long as they were profitable. The ambition for a big and famous company blinded many to important and necessary work. Superficiality is contagious, and is now so popular that an innovative mind striving to be the best is now the rarest of the rare.

　　Nowadays, CEOs and managers will hand the responsibility of innovation to their team. The team will search for answers on the Internet or outsource answers from consultants, even though they probably have no idea about the inquirer's operation. The consultants send along information about how to fix the inquirer's issues. Finally, the boss makes a "wise" decision based on these suggestions, which came from outside the company.

　　The real crisis is that we stopped observing and thinking independently. As a result, we feel bewildered in a world full of second-hand information. Our ideas are squeezed out by our stereotypes. A desire for enormity of scale has eroded our sensitivities. A virus called laziness has made us sick.

　　It's time to toll the bell. Observe and think independently! We need innovative and responsible entrepreneurs!

　　Big or small? Versatile or exquisite?

　　There is a popular saying in China that third-class enterprises craft products, second-class enterprises make brands and first-class enterprises set standards. But when the economic crisis comes, the standard investment banks on Wall Street go bankrupt and General Motors, the famous auto brand, is on the brink of shutdown. Meanwhile, Apple Inc. is still prosperous.

　　Apple found it shameful to copy and produce the same products as others. When a company concentrates on innovation in a detail-oriented field, it can marvel the world with its ideas. Then, suppliers, alliance partners, capital, resources, talent, etc., will flow into the company. Supply chains will be centered on the company, and then the company and its influence will grow in profound ways.

　　Rapid economic growth for 30 straight years gave some businessmen the illusion that bigger is better and that setting out to be No. 1 is an end-all goal. Businessmen are stressed and tense every minute in trying to achieve their goals; they invest capital, spend billions on advertisement and create myths. Those who, instead, take it one step at a time are considered antiquated and shortsighted.

　　As Jack Welch stated many times in his biography, to be No. 1 was not a good strategy when he took over General Electric. At that time, GE was too big, with each department sticking to its own interests. Welch had to cut off the redundant departments. Blind admiration for rapid growth and consumption is the very reason that caused the economic crisis.

　　I believe being No. 1 should be the byproduct of company operations instead of the ultimate goal. Trying to be No. 1 is putting the cart before the horse. I have been searching for calmness these last years. Calmness shows itself when everyone in a company stays concentrated on the actual issues at hand.

　　A company that stays calm, focuses on details and strives for perfection is a great company. It is the same for a country.

　　After the crisis: return to the truth of management

　　Karl Marx discussed the crisis of capitalism is terms of the relative surplus of productivity. Today, China faces the crisis of absolute surplus of productivity, which is the cold fact of China's economy. The economy is at a tipping point, caused by excessive demand. An economy with excessive demand is not stable. After studying many cases, I have concluded that the economic crisis is a chance for us to return to the heart and essence of management. We need to return our attention to the customer's needs, to let employees innovate, to plough and sow deeper, in order to reduce our costs and increase profit. To realize this, we need to avoid integrating our enormous resources and carrying out a strategy of massive transformation. The thing that matters is concentrating on the details, tempering our ambitions. A domestic market goldmine is close at hand if you only know how to see it.

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