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· Qin Shuo | Article follow Qin Shuo’s circle of friends ID: qspyq2015 ·
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Teacher Qin tells it personally, welcome to listen to the audio version ]
What (what is)
A female employee of Alibaba complained that she was assaulted while drunk and was treated with indifference by the company's management, triggering a huge internal and external wave. The truth has yet to be officially disclosed by the police, but unhealthy workplace culture has become a concern for the whole society. More than half of this company's business is contributed by women. The founder of this company has said more than once, "You must be a woman in your next life. Women are the source of beauty in the world." The proportion of women among senior executives of this company has always been very high. etc. Then something like this happens, how can people not be disappointed? After the
incident was exposed, I spoke in the circle of friends and expressed my anger. But anger is not enough. We must find a way out and find ways to fundamentally solve the problem. The
problem occurs in Ali , so it attracts more attention. But frankly speaking, similar bad habits and bad habits of improper working methods are widespread in the Chinese business world.
I suggested to the global partners of two well-known consulting firms, McKinsey and Roland Berger , whether we could rely on research on the codes of conduct and workplace culture of large global companies to establish some standards and norms to provide reference for Chinese companies. A few years ago,
went to BYD 's branch in Lancaster, USA, to investigate, and saw labor rights protection regulations as big as a map on the wall of the office area. There are many and dense provisions involving employee discrimination and sexual harassment.
The BYD executive who received us said that as Chinese companies “go global”, they have to learn many lessons on labor rights, such as salary records must be complete, minimum wage regulations and employee rest time regulations must be observed. In particular, sexual harassment and gender and racial discrimination are extremely sensitive. State labor laws require employers to take precautions. If management actually causes or acquiesces in harassment or discrimination, the suspected personnel and the company may be jointly and severally liable, and may even be fined dozens of times more. Penalties for the plaintiff’s actual losses.
"According to our regulations, do not mention touching female employees, and you may be prosecuted for teasing or hinting in your words," a senior executive of a multinational company told me, "Many local companies are used to calling female employees 'beauties' , this kind of title itself is very unprofessional and not respectful to women. "
Never think that the affairs of corporate employees are internal affairs of the company. In foreign countries, even prominent star companies will be held accountable by society if they fail to handle sexual harassment and discrimination against employees, and the founders may even be forced to resign. The most recent typical case of
is Uber. In February 2017, former Uber software engineer Susan Fowler posted "Reviewing a Very, Very Weird Year at Uber" on her blog, exposing the rampant sexist culture within Uber, and her and colleagues were sexually harassed, and Uber’s management ignored their complaints at the time.
This article caused a social uproar that was difficult to quell, so much so that Uber had to ask former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to launch an independent investigation into the company's policies and culture. The investigation resulted in a 13-page report that made a series of recommendations to solve Uber's corporate culture problems, including dividing the power of founder and CEO Kalanick into a chief operating officer.
In June 2017, under pressure from shareholders, Kalanick announced his resignation.
"Life is a gorgeous robe, crawling with fleas." Human nature is inherently demonic, and this has always been the case. No matter how famous a company is (such as , Google ), sexual harassment and other incidents will occur, with few exceptions. How to treat and solve problems systematically is the real touchstone of corporate culture.
Recently, Alibaba has established a work environment committee, opened a reporting mailbox and emergency assistance hotline, is formulating an "Anti-Sexual Harassment Code of Conduct", and has also established an anti-bad habits group to conduct self-examination and self-examination of inappropriate working methods that have been reported, including but not It is limited to "methods that make employees feel uncomfortable in the workplace" such as bad drinking habits and vulgar jokes, and unconditionally supports employees' refusal to persuade others to drink. These painful choices should serve as a lesson for more companies.
Why1 (One of the reasons)
The focus of this article is not the Alibaba female employee incident itself, because the chain of facts is not clear and complete enough. What I hope to discuss with companies is: In the process of pursuing business success, what should be the bottom lines that cannot be crossed? Why do companies always lose their bottom line?
According to the stakeholder theory, there are roughly two types of corporate bottom lines, one is contractual and the other is public interest.
Contractual bottom line refers to the bottom line that has a contractual relationship or direct interest relationship with the enterprise. For example, to consumers, enterprises cannot produce and sell fake and shoddy products; to employees, they cannot infringe upon their rights conferred by laws and labor contracts; to upstream and downstream partners, they cannot fail to be honest and abide by contracts; to competitors, they cannot Steal its intellectual property rights; to the government, we must pay taxes according to regulations. etc.
The bottom line of public interest mainly involves environmental, social, legal and other constraints.
From my long-term observation, the bottom line awareness of the Chinese business community is constantly improving, and the level of business civilization is also constantly improving. But it seems that there are some inherent flaws that have always been there, but they manifest themselves in different ways at different times.
Let me give you a few examples.
A chain company in the north opened a store somewhere in the south. It advertised a lot. It opened in the morning and was crowded with people, but there were not many sales at the end of the day. It turns out that several local chain companies have joined forces and sent a large number of people to block the door, making it difficult for customers who want to buy things to squeeze in.
Two Chinese equipment suppliers participated in bidding abroad. It happened that one party used force to snatch the other party's bid, and the other party hired several police cars to break through the obstruction. It also happened that one party went to the government department to report the visa problems of the other party's personnel. As a result, they were directly arrested locally.
Two days ago, Hurun invited me to communicate. When talking about the recent global vigilance against Big Tech companies, he blurted out: "I think China's anti-monopoly is right. I usually take a taxi, and the same route is much more expensive than my colleagues. , they used algorithms to quietly increase prices for some people.”
The person who told me the second example was very emotional, “I didn’t think there was any problem with this at the time, because the company stipulated that if the market share is lower than that of the opponent, the sales person in charge will be there. We were dismissed from our posts, so we went to grab the tenders. But looking back many years later, we realized the price we had paid.”
I asked the partners of McKinsey and Roland Berger: China already has the largest number of Fortune 500 companies. Why are the business bottom lines of large companies so bad? Why do some things that sound incredible are actually commonplace in the business world? One person from
replied: " is too success-oriented. The Alibaba incident may become a watershed and review the thinking of 'tool man'. Business leaders did not pay attention to it in the past, but now the atmosphere of the entire country is changing, and we must pay attention to it." ."
What he means is that people are the purpose and should not be the tool. However, driven by success orientation, many companies consciously or unconsciously sacrifice human dignity and reduce people to "tools".
Another replied: " is related to the inner world of entrepreneurs. Many entrepreneurs talk about modern management and scientific governance in a high-profile manner, but in their hearts they still have the mentality of 'my city-state, my king', and are keen to use the concept of monarch, monarch and minister. They use it to manage, put themselves in the sky, and lack equality and respect for managers and ordinary employees. The workplace is full of mountainousness, vulgarity, and hierarchy. Employees are used to it and think that it is normal to make money. Just keep it in mind."
China's nominal GDP in 2020 is 275 times that of 1978. The income scale of Chinese enterprises and the wealth of entrepreneurs have hit new highs. But if people become instrumentalized, will their inner happiness increase?
人Alienation and instrumentalization are not problems unique to Chinese companies, but are global, the inevitable result of capital’s will to judge heroes based on market value, market share-oriented, and winner-take-all. Under this will, just like Uber investors. Cuban said, "Kalanick's strongest ability is to achieve his goals even if he needs to break through a wall." Kalanick's philosophy is "win at all costs" and "growth above all else." There is tension internally, and employees "use various means" to complete performance and "fully" relieve pressure after reaching the goal. The New York Times reported that in 2015, Uber held an all-staff meeting in Las Vegas. , employees drank, gambled and even took cocaine, and one supervisor sexually harassed several female employees.
Relying on this wolfish high-performance and high-intensity culture, Uber was called "the most ferocious disruptor of the traditional economy." However, The wolf culture is also like a double-edged sword, eventually triggering a strong backlash from the inside out. When
companies enjoy high growth, high valuations, and are generally praised by society, their employees are even willing to be brainwashed and accept everything the company instills. A former Uber employee interviewed by Wired magazine said: “When I first joined Uber, of course I was aware of these unfair methods, but I didn’t care because I thought it was a sign of competition. I once ignored an executive's obscene behavior. I kept hinting to myself that these dirty and dark practices existed privately in all companies. " Until Susan Fowler posted a blog, "Uber's arrogance and arrogance were equally ruthlessly destroyed."
Big companies continue to challenge the limits, hoping to get bigger and bigger, but society never wants and cannot tolerate them. Challenging the bottom line of human dignity, challenging the bottom line of common human values, and exceeding the lower limit of social responsibility
Why2 (Why 2)
Enterprises pursue success by any means and use all means to defeat their opponents in competition. On a deeper level, this is. Because we overemphasize instrumental rationality and ignore value rationality; we only care about whether the means to achieve the goal are the most effective, and ignore whether this means will harm the nature of human beings and the health of relationships between people.
Of course, this is also the whole situation. Problems in modern society. German sociologist Simmel (1858-1918) pointed out that in the past, the goals in life that people desired—such as beautiful love and sacred careers—were not something that could be expected or pursued at any time. Money is something that people can expect or pursue at any time, so money has become the most direct goal in modern people's lives and has become a "continuous stimulus". In the past, religious piety and the desire for God were the constant in people's lives. Nowadays, the desire for money has become this continuous mental state. "Money is the God of our time." This is not a metaphor but a reality. "Money is increasingly becoming the absolutely sufficient expression and expression of all values." Equivalent", people believe that money is omnipotent, just like trusting God's omnipotence.
The unrestricted use of instrumental rationality and the pursuit of money will inevitably lead to "fatal atrophy of the sense of life." Simmel said: "Money gives modern life a It created a wheel that could not stop turning, turning the machine of life into a perpetual motion machine , which gave rise to the restlessness and frenzy common in modern life. "
" Money is just a bridge to the ultimate value, and people cannot live on the bridge. "This is the aphorism left by Simmel to future generations.
Mr. Qian Mu said in "Ten Questions about Life": No matter what, our hearts should always have a place to rest.
Do not think about "ultimate value" and "unshakable As an individual, you will not feel at peace with the issue of "core values"; as an enterprise, your behavior will be biased, one day will be like this, tomorrow will be that way, and it will even be self-contradictory.
In the comparative study of Chinese and Western values, some scholars pointed out that the Chinese people's pursuit of immortality starts from "living", pursues "immortality in this world", and attaches great importance to "actions in the world", which reflects the spiritual character of practical rationality. Christianity's hope of eternal life starts from "death" and relies on the redemptive power of "God" to break the chain of death in this life, open the kingdom of heaven in the "other world" or "the next life" and gain eternal life.
From this point of view, the deep-seated problem of many Chinese entrepreneurs is still because they believe in the "winners and losers". As long as they succeed in this world, they will be satisfied. "I will do what others do." In order to win, they will do whatever it takes. "There is no best solution." "Ruthless, only more ruthless", but lacks transcendent standards, observes oneself, reflects and repents, and chooses the good and is stubborn. Also because there are no fixed social values and humanistic values in the heart, even some clear standards such as integrity are sometimes followed opportunistic and are not really taken seriously.
Due to the above-mentioned deep-seated problems, coupled with the large number of opportunities provided by China's large market, as well as the rapid growth model of quick success, profit-seeking, extensive and barbaric, many Chinese companies are lagging behind in "souls, management, growth, and civilization accumulation". In the case of "accumulation of wealth", you can also achieve success, and even "the bolder you are, the greater your achievements will be."
But "seeing him building a Zhulou, watching him entertaining guests, watching his building collapse", are there many changes and defeats like this?
Ask yourself, how many original inventions and creations by Chinese enterprises can contribute to mankind? How many companies and brands do we have that are recognized by the world in terms of technological innovation, management ideas, and corporate culture?
I am by no means denying the achievements of Chinese enterprises. I see that the innovation era of Chinese enterprises has begun. There are many enterprises and entrepreneurs who insist on production-oriented innovation, are pursuing, are not vulgar, follow the right path, and are upright. Even the Internet industry, which has been controversial recently, I think is the highlight of China's economy in the past ten or twenty years and a representative of productivity innovation. Internet platforms must surpass themselves, but they are not a burden on the Chinese economy, but the construction of digital China. Valuable power for .
However, as I often say, I think there are many powerful companies in China, few lovable companies, and even fewer companies worthy of love. There are many meteors but not many stars. This is also a living reality. Why isn't
cute? Want to love but can't fall in love? The point is that some of the actions of these powerful and successful companies run counter to their values and society's expectations. In the past few decades, China's pro-business atmosphere has become increasingly strong in general. However, many companies that have been praised to the sky, but listen to their words and observe their actions, are they really worthy of everyone's affection?
When some companies are far ahead of the world in self-proclaimed traffic management and troll operations, as long as some unexpected events occur, they will be knocked back to the "prototype" and reveal their vulgar tail. Only then did we realize that the evolution of civilization is really slow. Money can be earned in one generation and spent in hundreds of generations, but civilization takes several generations to change.
How (how to do)
There are many industries in China, and now it is time for reflection. Only by transcending the path dependence of the past can we achieve full enlightenment and move forward.
Ding Dang, chairman of Ping An Life , told me that in the past two years, the life insurance industry has faced great challenges. Premium growth has dropped sharply, sales manpower has declined, and premium quality has declined. He believes that the essence is that the Internet era has given more respect to customers' full right to choose, but the industry is not truly "customer-centered". For example, there has always been a marketing strategy of hyping old products and discontinuing them. He hopes to create a A sense of scarcity and urgency drives customers to make up their minds as early as possible.
Ding Dang said that if the life insurance industry wants to get out of the predicament, the starting point for thinking about all problems should never be the insurance company itself, but should closely link its self-development with the entire real economy and people's lives, and define its own existence based on the needs of society and the people. the value of.
"For example, the floods in Zhengzhou were so severe this time that the meteorological station issued five red warnings. Insurance companies should inform customers not to park their cars in garages or go to low-lying areas on the streets.When there is a flood warning in the garage, it is possible to make a device to block the water. "
Ding Dang believes that there are three realms for enterprises to be good.
The first level is "do not do evil." For example, the Google board of directors received a letter from a grassroots employee, reflecting that when searching for the word "suicide", the search results showed a variety of suicide methods. The board of directors I paid close attention to it and initiated rectification. After searching for "suicide", I no longer saw related methods, but psychological counseling phone numbers to prevent suicide.
The second priority is "making money and doing good", that is, giving back to society after successful business.
The third level is "doing good and making money", that is, taking the good idea of solving social problems as the starting point and ultimate goal, and realizing one's own business by doing better.
For example, last year there was an insurance company called Lemonade (Lemonade). Listed in the United States, its market value increased by 230% in one year. After deducting claims, the company's daily operating expenses and basic profits, the remaining funds are donated to charities designated by customers. The innovative mechanism of "good in it" has increased customers' willingness to insure, emotional identification and trust, and also allowed the company to achieve rapid development.
Ding Dang said that the real crisis of an industry is not a crisis of operations and business, but a crisis of ethics, The crisis of values and beliefs. In the future, companies with positive knowledge, right thoughts, and positive energy will be the truly promising companies. "Whoever has more blessings will have greater energy."
In Shenzhen, I am also recruiting investment with . Ma Weihua, the former president of the bank, had an exchange. He said that he was starting a business with a group of young people and founded a company called "Menglang" that specializes in evaluating and providing solutions for corporate ESG and other sustainable development values. It will be officially released to the public soon.
He quoted the words of Bill Ford, Henry Ford’s great-grandson and Ford Motors’s chairman, Bill Ford, “I believe the difference between a good company and a great company is: A good company can provide customers with excellent products and services, and a great company can not only provide customers with excellent products and services, but also do its best to make the world a better place."
China's business world is in a state of change critical moment. I have always called for marketization, legalization, and the construction of a predictable external environment, and for the respect and promotion of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial spirit. This is the source of vitality; at the same time, the business community must also understand that Building an
that has bottom lines, pursuits, and requirements is the general trend of the times. If we understand it and follow it, we will lead to an endless journey. Taking the old habits with me, I took a new path.
It is not easy to be a good company with a long-lasting foundation. It is as difficult as being a good person for a lifetime. There will be many options of go low, go lower and go high. However, if a company realizes that the true meaning of business should be the meaning of life, and that the meaning of a company's life is to achieve self-realization through altruism, it will more firmly choose to go high, no matter how many challenges there are, it will be consistent.
References
Money·Gender·Life Feeling, Liu Xiaofeng, "Open Era" Issue 05, 2000
Confucian View of Immortality and Its Limits - Taking the Christian View of Immortality as a Reference, Tian Wei, "World Religions and Culture" Issue 2015 Issue 3
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