Advance with the Times

At the morning meeting of all management cadres on Jul 15, 2023, Mr. Wang elaborated on the progressive management philosophy from aspects such as being self-confidence without arrogance, being profound and steady, open-mindedness, and cutting the feet to fit the shoes.

An enterprise, from its establishment to decline, will go through several phases: the start-up phase, growth phase, maturity phase, continuous development phase, and decline phase. Most enterprises experience development bottlenecks after rapid growth. If a company’s performance does not show significant growth and its scale is difficult to expand over a long period of time, there must be internal problems within the company. A principle of traditional Chinese medicine is called “For qi and blood, smoothing flow causes no pain, while stagnation leads to pain”, which also applies to the development laws of enterprises. The company’s corporate mission “to become a positive force that changes the world’s perception of Chinese people, Chinese products, and Chinese enterprises” and strategic goal “to become one of the top optical manufacturing companies in the Greater China region” are also dynamic “phrases”. The market environment, company size, competitors, etc. are constantly changing. Thus, only by understanding the latest industry information, the most scientific business models, cutting-edge technology, and advanced equipment can we stay true to our original intention, pursue our mission, and achieve our goals.

Be Self-Confidence without Arrogance

It is actually difficult to keep up with the times. When a person is in childhood and adolescence, his can accept new things very easily. However, in middle age, his mindset to some extent becomes fixed or solidified. The roads traveled, experiences gained, and achievements made over the decades unconsciously make him accustomed to dealing with current issues based on past experiences. Or, to put it another way, many people consider themselves reformers when they are young, but as they gain social experience and enter middle age, they become arrogant in the workplace, unwilling to listen to others’ advice, and even become stubborn old people. If a person cannot keep up with the times, there will be “As in the Yangtze River, the waves behind ride on the ones before, the new generation excels the old”. When the product director of client A029 came to our company to discuss the project, he said to me: “I haven’t seen any foreign companies change as fast as our company in just twenty years.” Since China’s reform and opening up, there have been tremendous changes in city planning, urban appearance, and living conditions for residents in the past forty years of rapid economic development. In contrast, cities in countries such as the United States, Japan, and Europe nearly remain the same in these decades. I go on business trips every year, but I rarely see new architectural complexes. In the growth stage of the company, we are like newborn calves, fearless and ready to face challenges head-on. We have achieved some impressive accomplishments, which is why we are filled with confidence. With the enhancement of China’s economic and military strength, our national pride has also been continuously strengthened, and we are gradually achieving cultural confidence. Confidence is a good thing, but without understanding the need to keep up with the times, blind confidence turns into arrogance. We need to understand that the past successful experiences are not the truth and answer for the new era and new situation. The reason we succeeded in the past is that we grasped the pulse of the times, followed the historical trend, and pursued the development trend. If we ignore the rise of our competitors, mistake today for tomorrow, and mistake experience for truth, we may go from a “dragon slayer” to an “evil dragon” that is self-contained and self-sealed. Of course, we don't have to be inferior, and we should be confident but not arrogant, keep an empty cup, and always maintain a sense of crisis.

Be Profound and Steady

The famous thinker and philosopher of the Ming Dynasty, Lv Kun (Lv Xinwu), discussed the qualifications required for leaders in his work “The Language of moans”, which can be roughly divided into three types: to be profound and steady are the first-class qualifications; frank and bold are second-class qualification; clever and quick-thing is the third level qualification. Profound and steady refer to the depth of still water, only profound leads to steady. Emotions are not shown on the face, the heart is filled with dangerous mountains and deep city walls, and the heart has its own vastness and depth. Personally, I have a good memory, but I still write a diary every day to record my thoughts and the development ideas of the company at different stages; every time I get off the car, I always pull the door to see if it is closed properly; before every business trip, I personally check the luggage to see if there are any missing documents and items; before meeting clients, I always touch the samples, wipe the frames, etc. I maintain these habits because I believe that everything should be done with caution and depth. Manager Ruan Shengfei and Manager Cheng Guanmeng of the acetate production line and Manager He Xu of injected plastic production line have done relatively well in this regard. When customers find defective products or when CE proposes improvement suggestions during inspection, they will proactively acknowledge their mistakes or recognize their shortcomings and take active actions to make improvements. The manager of the metal production line has some shortcomings in these aspects. Instead of taking responsibility for the issues raised by customers or CE, he always tries to win arguments and come up with some paradoxical reasons. As a result, the problems are not resolved. I have always emphasized that “those who engage in production should be ruthless, speak less, and act quickly. They should keep their determination hidden in their hearts and show their friendliness on their faces."

Be open-minded and cut the feet to fit the shoes

More than 90% of the management cadres in Ouhai are internally cultivated, and their loyalty, hardworking spirit, and team cohesion are unmatched by many enterprises. Why do we have a loyal and cohesive team, but the company still encounters development bottlenecks? I think it is due to the narrow vision and limited knowledge of the executive team caused by inbreeding, as well as the lack of professionalism of management team. Due to the limited time and energy of the company's decision-makers, it is also impossible for them to be proficient in all modules, resulting in the internal management level falling behind the times and the needs of enterprise development. For example, in terms of financial management, due to the lack of professional skills of internally trained personnel, we have been unable to achieve managerial finance. Therefore, the company requires the Human Resources Department to continuously introduce professional talents from the outside, and let the Qihang College seek external resources to organize professional skills training for various modules, so as to improve the internal combat effectiveness of the enterprise. Because the market is constantly changing and competitors are constantly growing, we cannot wait for internal personnel to grow slowly. We have to seize the opportunity, race against time, and win the competitive advantage. This year, the company decided to replace the system and purchase mature management software from external sources. The management software individually developed by the company has played an important role in the early-stage enterprise management activities. However, with the adjustment of the company's strategic planning, Ouhai wants to become a public company. Therefore, we need to introduce mature management software in the market to standardize internal operations, cultivate employees’ serious and rigorous work habits, and make the work of each module more professional and refined. In the future, all modules will have new management software. Please be prepared and learn from Huawei's “cutting the feet to fit the shoes” spirit. During the promotion and application of the new management software, some personnel may sweat and shed tears, but I do not want bloodshed. I hope that every staff in Ouhai can actively embrace the change, rather than be revolutionized in the reformation.

The reason we succeeded in the past is that we grasped the pulse of the times, followed the historical trend, and pursued the development trend. If we ignore the rise of our competitors, mistake today for tomorrow, and mistake experience for truth, we may go from a “dragon slayer” to an “evil dragon” that is self-contained and self-sealed. The managers should be profound and steady and keep their determination hidden in their hearts and show their friendliness on their faces. Confronted with the change, we must have the spirit of “cut the feet to fit the shoes”, actively embrace the change, rather than be revolutionized in the reformation. I wish that our Ouhai team is a self-confident but not arrogant group of people, a profound and steady group of people and a frank and open group of people. Only by doing so can we truly align ourselves with a public and compliant company, fulfill our corporate mission of “to become a positive force that changes the world’s perception of Chinese people, Chinese products, and Chinese enterprises” and achieve our strategic goal of “to become one of the top optical manufacturing companies in the Greater China region”.