February 20th, Li Shufu, the Chairman of Geely Holdings Group, shared his insights with the company under the theme of “Sticking to the Right and Surprising with the Truth,” discussing challenges faced by humanity and the world, domestic and international double circulation, technological exploration and industrial integration, automotive industry revolution, and corporate governance abilities.
The full text of Li Shufu’s internal sharing is as follows:
Insight One: Human peace and world stability face huge challenges.
The world seems like a cable-stayed bridge, with various forces interacting, restraining, pushing and pulling, opposing, and combining with each other, forming a conflicting whole. Everyone is seeking strategic balance, working together to maintain each other’s concerns, and doing their best to ensure world peace and stability. This balance of contradictions constitutes the foundation for human society to move towards a better tomorrow, which I call the “cable-stayed bridge.” Ensuring the long-term stability of the cable-stayed bridge requires the joint efforts of all countries in the world. If everyone has symmetrical information, communication is in place, the “bridge structure” is not severely damaged, and mutual concerns are taken care of, the power of the cause of peace in human society will grow greatly. On the contrary, the world will lose its balance, the “cable-stayed bridge” may collapse instantly, and the world pattern will undergo great changes. Today’s world is at a crossroads between peace and war, and it requires the joint efforts of all parties to continue to advance the cause of world peace. Compared with forty years ago, today’s world peace index has declined significantly, major power conflicts are surging, the struggle for dominance is continuously intensifying, the peace environment has deteriorated significantly, and the level of mutual trust between countries is not as good as before. Local wars occur from time to time, and arms races are accelerating, with the possibility of the center of the war shifting to the Asia-Pacific region. Although world peace and human security face huge challenges, with various frictions such as trade wars, technology wars, talent wars, value wars, etc. constantly overlapping, the conditions for a comprehensive war have not yet been fully formed, and peace and development are still the common desire of people in all countries.
Insight Two: Domestic circulation as the main body, and the domestic and international double circulation mutually promote each other, which is conducive to the development of the cause of world peace and provides a stable framework for China to strive for development opportunities.
Domestic circulation as the main body and the domestic and international double circulation mutually promote each other, which is conducive to the better development of the cause of world peace. There are many reasons, among which the following two are prominent:
- Facing history, understanding oneself, understanding the world, and taking care of each other’s concerns.
The changes in China are happening too fast, making it difficult for people to accept. Since the reform and opening up policies, China has achieved remarkable success, with GDP per capita increasing from $155 to over $10,000 in 2020, and China’s share of global GDP rising from 1.75% to 17% in 2020. The gap between the GDP of China and the United States has decreased from 15.7 times to 1.4 times in 2020. China’s changes are not only reflected in economic data, but also in other areas such as high-speed rail, highways, communication, education, and defense technology. Chinese people have gone from a state of scarcity to one of abundance, from being closed off to the world to having confidence in openness, and from $167 million in foreign exchange reserves to $32.2 trillion in 2020. These rapid changes, within just 40 years, have disrupted the previous global strategic balance, changed the world’s economic structure, and especially upset people’s psychological balance. Many people are bewildered or have a hard time accepting these changes, leading to imbalances in their mentality, which in turn causes various contradictions and conflicts. A Western friend once told me that the reason why the Western world says that China does not abide by trade rules or respect intellectual property is because of China’s fast development speed. The reasons for this phenomenon are not fully agreed upon by China’s officials today, as they believe that if China followed trade rules and respected intellectual property, it would be impossible to develop faster than the West. While Chinese people are smart and hardworking, Westerners are similarly so. The Western logic is that China breaks the rules, takes shortcuts, and cuts corners. Compared to China’s development over the past few decades, developed Western economies have not maintained their superiority, and the living standards of many people have not dramatically improved. They have suffered from a serious transfer of manufacturing industries and are now facing development challenges. Honestly speaking, this round of globalization did not meet expectations for Western economies, while China’s outcomes exceeded expectations. Therefore, they feel disappointed. This is an objective fact and normal human reaction. We should understand and acknowledge this fact.
To achieve mutual benefit and win-win solutions for all stakeholders, we should openly and proactively provide effective solutions.Due to these factors, the difficulty for Chinese companies to integrate into the Western world is constantly increasing. The export-oriented economy, mainly based on low-cost products, is facing unprecedented challenges. The previous economic development model in China is unsustainable. To ensure sustained economic growth in China, strengthening the domestic economy is an important option. Meanwhile, continue to maintain friendly interaction with Western developed economies, continue to promote the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative, achieve partial capacity transfer, expand market share in countries along the Belt and Road, this is another important engine for sustainable economic growth in China. The implementation of these measures has formed a new development pattern of a domestic economic cycle and an international economic cycle, which can reduce the opportunity for further escalation of trade friction with developed countries, directly increase global economic aggregate, benefit the economic recovery of developed countries, and increase employment opportunities in developed countries. At the crucial historical moment when economic globalization encountered difficulties and challenges, the new development pattern better demonstrates the concept of taking care of each other’s concerns and achieving mutual benefit and win-win, injecting new vitality into global economic rebalancing. In addition, through the implementation of the domestic economic cycle strategy, the Chinese economy will become larger and more attractive to the outside world. In combination with the domestic and international dual circulation measures, China’s market will be further opened to the world, and the world’s resources will be further circulated to China. Through the continuous promotion of the double circulation strategy between China’s market and the world market, they will mutually promote each other and constantly achieve structural adjustments, balance various aspects in dynamic circulation. China and the world will become more interdependent and friendly in coexistence. The ingenuity of the new development pattern of dual circulation is to minimize reliance on foreign markets as much as possible, promote trade balance as much as possible, and provide opportunities for Chinese business to the world’s countries as much as possible. Objectively, this has a positive impact on global economic rebalancing. Through the adjustment of the market center of gravity, the interests of all countries are balanced, psychological barriers are eliminated, sustainable internal and external circulation is promoted, the degree of strategic conflict is reduced, and contributions are made to the cause of world peace. It goes without saying that China will also develop better in this way. Of course, the ideal is very beautiful, but reality is full of challenges. The domestic economic cycle will not be smooth sailing. How to increase disposable income for residents, cope with an aging population, protect intellectual property rights, improve the competitiveness of the soft environment for innovation, implement comprehensive rule of law, and increase the overall size of the domestic economy are all major issues that require everyone’s concerted efforts.
Insight 3: Free exploration of technology, cross-industry integration, providing broader space for human dreams, achieving limitless possibilities.# Technology Freedom and Industry Integration: Catalysts for Creating Human Business Dreams
Today, we face a great era of unlimited technological imagination, industrial freedom and flexible business transformation. A magical tomorrow full of dreams awaits us to explore and create. We must cross industry boundaries, explore technology freedom, open our minds, unleash unlimited imagination, explore all possibilities, and achieve our business dreams. Success is just next to our dreams. Without dreams, there can be no success. Dreaming alone without working hard for it also makes it difficult to achieve success.
The rise and fall of businesses is a common occurrence in a market economy, and external factors such as time, place, and people play important roles in determining the success or failure of a business. The emergence and development of China’s private economy are due to the reform and opening up policy. This is the right timing. Geely’s success today is due to the favorable environment in China. This is the right place. With the support and assistance of leaders at all levels from various sectors, this is the right people. In the past few decades, many businesses have succeeded by luck – where buying a few houses could yield profits, and buying a piece of land could increase in value. As long as one was courageous enough to finance and invest, success was possible. This was due to the scarcity of the economy and a demographic dividend, where the Chinese economy skyrocketed like the rising tide, and like the sea level automatically rising, anyone swimming in the ocean would naturally be lifted high by the water. With investments, there were outputs, and with products, there were markets. Anyone could succeed using this method in that era.
During the global pandemic, many businesses have soared in value due to the massive amount of money printing by countries worldwide. Capital was eager for short-term returns and the capital market became a direct vehicle for capital idling and arbitrage. The capital did not digest through industry and distorted the function allocation of the capital market. These absurd phenomena are the wonders of the global pandemic period. Some businesses’ valuations have skyrocketed along with massive financing, which also means it was the right timing. However, relying solely on luck for development is not sustainable. Only by continually understanding changes in the industry, studying and responding promptly, adapting to trends faster, constantly revising development strategies, and never forgetting to lay the foundation and improve oneself, can one ensure the sustainable development of a business. There will always be a time when the tide rises and falls, and the pandemic will not inject liquidity into the capital market forever. We must understand that timing, place, and people have time limits. Today’s world is both ruthless and cruel and full of affection and care. The so-called ruthlessness and cruelty can be felt from the wave of bankruptcies happening right in front of us. How many heroes and business giants have driven their enterprises to limitless success, and then fallen into hard times, struggling day by day? Conventional thinking can no longer adapt to non-conventional competition when faced with technological freedom, industrial integration, and asymmetric competition impacts. Due to sudden changes in the external environment, established strategies of businesses can be ineffective, management can panic, operations can become disorganized, products can stop selling, new strategies can fail to materialize, causing a cash flow crisis, and businesses come to a screeching halt and collapse suddenly. How many so-called richest people have come crashing down from their pedestals, high position to disintegration? There will be a batch of bankruptcies, one after another, and one industry will disappear after another. This is not just historical change, but also changes due to the right timing and traditional factors.The transition to a new economy is an inevitable response to the global economic rebalancing, China’s economic restructuring, transformation and upgrading toward high-quality development. This is a socio-economic phenomenon that results from the elimination of outdated production capacity and businesses in the competition and catch-up process. As the market does not sympathize with the weak, and consumers are after product and consumption experience, companies have to target the development of products that are closer to the market and more appealing to consumers in order to have a bright future. The pursuit of excellence must be rooted in the creation of good deeds, care for society, and belief in fairness and a brighter world. Therefore, we should welcome every day with a positive attitude, adhere to our principles, do our jobs to the best of our abilities, and always regard the user as our top priority because they are the ones who provide us with the opportunity to succeed. To attain success, we must adhere to technological innovation and failure cannot prevent us from achieving our goals.
In the modern world where technology is liberally explored and industries are fused, traditional and single-domain thinking is no longer appropriate for the sustainable development of Geely Group. We must have the courage to criticize ourselves, constantly improve our level of technological exploration and industry integration, and embrace new opportunities when one door closes.
For the automotive industry, which faces fierce competition, how to find and form a correct transformation strategy in the frenzied market competition, to constantly gain market share and to occupy the market high ground are major issues facing us. This is not only a strategic issue but also an issue of practical competitiveness. Layout determines structure, structure determines outcomes; direction is determined by strategy, details determine success or failure, mindset determines state, and state determines confidence. Our ongoing high-profile projects comprise our strategic layout, which have the potential to produce strong synergy and competitiveness if executed correctly.
Insight 4: The automotive industry transformation has opened up the time window for adjusting the automotive industry chain and expanding the ecology circle. A new track has begun to take shape, and a new marathon has begun.# The Automotive Industry Revolution is Underway
The automotive industry revolution has begun to “riot”, from theory to practice, from rumors to reality, from small scale to large scale, from local to global, from the edge to the center. This is a dramatic revolution in the automotive industry that is happening, filled with opportunities and challenges, and it’s fascinating. Traditional automotive companies can either dismiss it, resist it stubbornly, and persist to the end, or they can self-subvert, win by surprise, and turn waste into treasure. They can passively participate in the revolution or actively initiate it, they can start a revolution on their own or join forces, and at the same time, they can expand new territories while holding onto their old roots. Everyone can have their own independent judgment, after all, the industry revolution has just begun. This is a new marathon race with no end, only a beginning, no methods, only direction. A marathon race has a characteristic of endurance, experience, and strategy. Those who have never run a marathon will often lack experience and speed up from the beginning when they really need to compete for speed, they will lack stamina. For Geely, we cannot make this kind of mistake, because we have had a marathon experience, we deeply understand the importance of laying a foundation and practicing our internal strength. We cannot take the wrong path, our steps must be firm and steady, and we must be very clear that the competition between companies is not about short-term pleasure, but the ability for sustained development. Cars are cars, no matter how they change, safety, health, and renewability are eternal topics, and these concepts have become self-conscious in Geely. The so-called software-defined cars are the industry’s consensus, they are the product of human technological progress reaching a new high. Now, everyone is working in this direction to seek technological breakthroughs. However, for the automotive industry, whether it is traditional automobile companies or so-called new automakers, it is difficult to cross the basic capabilities that the hundred years of the automotive industry must have, such as passive/active safety technology, durability, comfort, and reliability, to ensure these various performance indicators. The formation of these basic capabilities requires time to accumulate, and cannot be achieved overnight. Software-defined cars are suitable for both electric and traditional cars, and traditional cars can also be intelligent. I believe that traditional cars and electric cars can coexist for a long time. Energy structure adjustment and infrastructure construction require time, and there is a “degree” turning point, when they reach a certain degree, there will be a qualitative change point, and this turning point may exist repeatedly. Therefore, there is an unbridgeable dynamic adjustment period in the transition from traditional cars to electric vehicles, and this period is full of uncertainty. We must advance steadily, achieving both offense and defense, and handling it with ease. The traditional automotive industry chain is a core industry chain with electromechanical integration, and the new automotive industry chain is a combination of information, communication technology, and electromechanical integration, forming an ecological chain. In this sense, the automotive company is transforming towards the direction of a software company, and to adapt to these changes, our software capabilities are constantly being enhanced. OTA online services are an important source of value-added revenue for cars, and also a technological solution for continuously improving consumer experience. However, the premise of software-defined cars is that both hardware and software must be seamlessly compatible, and the level of hardware capability depends on the information age.It is very important to have software-defined cars. Making cars programmable and allowing users to freely program them is an interesting consumption experience that makes cars more flexible, adaptable, and malleable. Geely Automobile has attached great importance to the strategic value of software-defined cars, and has made extensive arrangements in this regard, which are already being deeply promoted. I believe that these arrangements will create wonderful and endless development space. When Geely Holding Group acquired Volvo Car Group from Ford, it included an important project, which is the unmanned driving technology research and development team. Think about it, more than a decade ago, Volvo started researching unmanned driving technology and has never stopped until today. Why hasn’t it been mass-produced yet? Because Volvo pursues absolute safety, and once the unmanned driving car developed by Volvo enters the unmanned driving state, the driver can sleep and rest without worrying about taking over. This is not only a respect for life, but also a care for the Volvo brand. I can tell you that this day will come soon.
In today’s world, the electric vehicle industry is fiercely competitive. Driven by capital frenzy, everyone is living a good life. However, I believe that the basic law of the automobile industry will not change, that is, the scale, and finally, not too many global automobile industry enterprises will survive, only large-scale enterprises can survive. The transition of the automotive industry is fundamentally different from that of the mobile phone industry. The software running on the car is custom-made, and every software running on a truly intelligent car must be personalized and matched. It must be adapted to each other and cannot be used indiscriminately. Different cars have different market positioning, functional performance, and standardized software cannot be widely applied. This is determined by the characteristics of the automotive industry. Many people say that today’s world automotive industry is like the mobile phone industry back then. New car makers are definitely the future. They point to the success of Apple and the lessons of Nokia’s failure, implying that new car makers are Apple and traditional car companies are Nokia. I don’t think so. The final winner still needs time to be verified. I hope that everyone can have a little patience and carefully watch this century-old automotive revolution drama. The success or failure of an enterprise depends not on surface publicity and noise, but on thick accumulation and core capabilities.During the critical period of transformation and change, we must understand the strategic importance of carrying forward past achievements and preparing for future opportunities. We need to maintain traditional core advantages such as traditional mechanical and electrical capabilities, quality control, and cost control, and create revolutionary advantages such as human-machine interaction, autonomous driving, central computing, battery swapping infrastructure, energy management, intelligent transportation, and industrial interconnection. We must not only carry out self-reform but also unite with others. We must be open, inclusive, and unite all forces that can be united to create new advantages in the industry chain, expand the ecosystem with new partners. If we fight alone, it is difficult to win this war. We must take the initiative to seek change, actively respond, identify directions, strengthen our beliefs, continue to lay the foundation and develop our capabilities to form new sustainable development advantages. We must not be eager for quick success, act recklessly, or be complacent with current achievements. We must also continue to develop traditional advantages and upgrade energy-efficient cars. We must not only shine in the field of pure electric intelligent vehicles, but also broadly unite with various forces to form a strategic camp, increase strategic coordination, and share strategic achievements to ensure strategic success. Recently, some generous people who care about Geely are worried that Geely is too dispersed and afraid that it will affect Geely’s own development. Some experts say they do not understand Geely’s strategy. I think it is not surprising that some strategies have multiple interpretations. In fact, all new ideas face these problems, if everyone understands it all at once, it is not a new model. Since it is an innovative idea, not everyone can understand it, and we are only exploring. However, no matter how complex the situation is, we must adhere to the principle of strategic stability and achieve strategic initiative within the strategic framework that can attack and defend. Although Geely Auto’s blue Geely action plan released on November 18, 2015 was not completed as planned, it is not surprising. This was not due to the wrong strategic direction or the failure of tactical execution, but because the time was not ripe and the external strategic conditions had not been formed. Such failures are common not only among Chinese automakers, but also those in Europe, the US, Japan, and South Korea. We need not be discouraged by this. I believe that this is the true embodiment of Geely’s realistic and transparent competition spirit. After many years of struggle, the foundation we have formed is very solid. Today, on the basis of summarizing the past, we have developed two blue Geely action plans: blue Geely action plan one and blue Geely action plan two. Blue Geely action plan one focuses on energy conservation and new energy vehicles, including hybrid vehicles, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, extended-range plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, and small-displacement energy-saving vehicles. Blue Geely action plan one is composed of about 90% new energy hybrid vehicles and about 10% traditional energy-saving small displacement vehicles. Blue Geely action plan two focuses on pure electric intelligent vehicles and the establishment of a new pure electric vehicle company, which will face fierce competition in the intelligent pure electric vehicle market.The two blue Geely action plans currently being developed are new plans based on changes in the global automotive industry and the application environment. These plans both maintain Geely’s advantages in traditional energy-saving and new energy vehicles, while also expanding into the new field of pure electric intelligent vehicles. These two plans together form a complete Blue Geely Action Master Plan. The plan fully absorbs the global carbon peaking and carbon balance timetable, contributing to global carbon balance actions. Our dream has not changed, our pursuit remains steadfast, and I am confident in our team. I firmly believe that our ideals can be achieved.
Insight 5: Building globally compliant corporate governance capabilities is an effective weapon to respond to future challenges.
Over forty years ago, China initiated the great reform and opening up process, opening up to the outside world and reforming internally. It broke the iron rice bowl and continued to promote market-oriented reforms. China’s socialist market economy system has continued to develop and improve, and its socialist legal system has been continuously strengthened. However, due to over forty years of rapid development, it is difficult to balance efficiency with fairness, often focusing only on efficiency and neglecting the importance of fairness. This has led to the savage growth of some companies, and some companies even ignore the law, let alone compliance operating. The three-tier governance structure of the shareholders’ meeting, the board of directors, and the management is unclear, and the independence of the actual controller, the shareholders’ meeting, the board of directors, and the management is insufficient. The responsibility allocation is unclear, cross-enterprise transactions are unfair, cross-border transactions are non-compliant, and corporate operations are non-transparent.
Some companies do not even know what compliance means, or are ignorant and incorporate bad habits and non-compliant thinking into their cross-border business, resulting in various legal disputes internationally. Geely must understand the importance of global compliance, which is a very complex and important task. It is necessary to comply with the laws of various countries while respecting their cultures, policies, and regulations, as well as market rules, and to maintain fairness, transparency, truthfulness, and credibility. How to ensure compliance in business operations without reducing operating efficiency is a difficult principle to grasp. In this issue, the Chief Compliance Officer has a crucial responsibility, and the management also shoulders a great responsibility. Therefore, I believe that senior management must lead by example in compliance, and all staff must learn compliance and be cautious and prudent at all times. Different requirements for compliance training should be provided according to the different levels of management responsibilities, and a good compliance culture atmosphere must be established to better support the company to move forward steadily and further. Although the direction is right, there is no fear of the long road ahead. However, if every step is not taken well, there is a possibility of failure along the way. Therefore, it is very important to follow the law and comply with regulations in every step of the way.As the global and anti-global forces continue to clash, countries around the world have put forward new requirements for the corporate governance of Geely Holding Group. In order to further improve the corporate governance of Geely Holding Group and its various business groups, to further enhance the transparency of corporate governance, and to better manage and develop the various businesses of Geely Holding Group, I decided at the end of last year to no longer serve as CEO of the holding group and to hire Comrade Li Donghui as CEO of Geely Holding Group, with Comrade An Conghui continuing to serve as President of Geely Holding Group. I will continue to serve as Chairman of Geely Holding Group. According to international practice and Geely Holding’s own regulations, the CEO serves as the legal representative of the company, and I will no longer hold the position of legal representative. This is to further promote the construction of modern enterprise system, which is not only in line with national laws, but also in line with international practices. The purpose is to build a modern corporate governance system in a more compliant manner, allow a modern enterprise system to take root and play a crucial role in Geely Holding Group and its various business groups. This is also a basic prerequisite for building sustainable development capability. Fully authorized, compliant, clear assessment, fair and transparent, these 16 words are the core ideas of Geely’s enterprise governance. The practice and development of the past few decades have proven that this guideline is correct, and we must adhere to it for the long term, and embody it in all aspects of Geely’s enterprise governance, rather than just saying it. I strongly require Geely Holding Group and its various business groups to learn from Volvo Group in terms of corporate governance, with a three-layer governance structure that is strict and clear. It is also because of this good level of corporate governance that Volvo’s safe and healthy genes have been passed down and continue to be inherited and developed for nearly a hundred years of corporate development history. This tells us that shareholders may be replaced, but enterprises must continue to innovate and develop. Geely Holding Group and its various business groups must also follow this principle. Shareholders may increase or decrease, capital may come or go, but the enterprise must be made strong and form a shared ownership culture for the management and all employees to share the fruits of business operations, ensuring the sustainable development of the enterprise in the long run. This is not only responsible to the enterprise, but also to society, and more importantly, it is related to the vital interests of all employees. To achieve these goals, enterprise governance must be modernized, with ownership and management powers separated, which is an effective means to tackle future challenges.
Insight 6: Stay true to the basics while using innovative approaches to keep the demons at bay.Just as individuals, enterprises can only achieve great success by taking the right path. A person with strong moral character, combined with diligent learning, hard work, and perseverance, is sure to succeed. Similarly, an enterprise must adhere to its original vision for entrepreneurship and innovation, resolutely following the correct path without looking back, adhering to honesty, integrity, and the rule of law from the heart. To lead all employees in focusing on products and user experience, constantly keeping the users in mind, not seeking quick success or taking shortcuts, not playing tricks, and adhering to fairness and justice. Uphold the moral principles of not forgetting the rule of law and competing on the basis of mastering essential principles and embracing core technology. Efforts to cultivate talent and invest in research and development must also be made.
Only by steadfastly following the correct path and avoiding shortcuts and opportunism can we achieve miracles, actively standing on the side of the truth. While sticking to the correct path can be boring, it can also be enjoyable. Different people may have different feelings and different understandings of the principles that must be adhered to. The purpose of adhering to these principles is to achieve greatness. The purpose of an enterprise is to create value for society and promote social progress and technological development. I firmly believe that as long as we stick to our core values and make every user happy by cooperating with Geely, every partner will achieve success because of Geely. This is our pursuit of core values, which is what Geely’s existence means or simply put, “a happy life with Geely”.
Society is complex, and our understanding of the world is limited. Our understanding of things is also incomplete, so we must follow principles when making others happy. Unconditional attempts to please others may lead to disaster. We must be careful and remind ourselves who we are with at all times. As people are divided into groups, things are classified into various categories, and as long as we adhere to the correct principles when working and being a good person, we will gain respect and drive away evil. The business world is like a battlefield, and we must be able to distinguish between allies and enemies, good people and bad people. We must first correct ourselves, learn to adhere to principles and stay true to them, so that things that are out of place will be clear at a glance. If there are errors in our ability to identify, and if there are some regrets within our team, we must reflect on and summarize the lessons at any time to reduce the degree of being stigmatized or distorted, and minimize damage to ourselves. Although we are not superheroes, we must maintain a healthy mind. Embrace the beautiful aspects of each other and share the beauty together, which is also guided by principles. We must carefully identify our partners, and while viewpoints may differ, morality and integrity cannot be sold out, and the bottom line must be upheld.## GAC’s 35-Year Entrepreneurial Journey
GAC has been sticking to its main business, manufacturing, since its establishment 35 years ago. From producing parts for refrigerators to manufacturing refrigerators and freezers, and then to producing motorcycles and automobiles, GAC has encountered various difficulties and challenges along the way, as well as various temptations. However, we have never forgotten our original intention and have never crossed the bottom line. This is the achievement of all GAC employees and cadres, which is not easy to come by.
Over the decades, we have also done something inspiring, which I am particularly proud of, and that is the development of GAC’s non-profit education business. This business must be adhered to for the long term, although running an educational business is not easy, and even non-profit businesses encounter various difficulties and challenges. But I will still steadfastly make good things even better.
Some people say that there are no friends in business, but I think this statement does not fully define the essence of business. The history of human social development is the history of life and death and cooperation and win-win civilization. The fun of business lies in making friends as well as transactions. The highest realm of business is to gain both profit and reputation, achieving both economic benefits and social benefits; this requires sincere cooperation, so that each transaction realizes a win-win and multi-win, leaving behind happy memories and laying the path forward with integrity. Any act of unprincipled behavior goes against the civilized business world. Different transactions have different partners, and different cooperations have different feelings. Pure happiness and pleasantness always accompany; variability and complexity coexist. Complexity always brings pain, and a good business should not be too complex. Say what you mean and do better than what you say; be small in the beginning, then become a gentleman. This is the key to transaction success and the premise of happy cooperation; otherwise, it will bring pain to all parties.
There are many things in the world that are more important than money. Money is like water, which can carry a boat or capsize it. Happy cooperation and sharing achievements are the kind of thing that can carry a boat and provide positive support, achieving the effect of rising tide lifting all boats, helping enterprises to develop better. Conversely, there may be disasters that overturn the boat. Business is the most equal and beautiful expression of human civilization. As long as everyone abides by good business practices, fully embodies fairness and justice, and creates value for users, the world will be a wonderful place. As long as we uphold integrity in business, our business will have a bright future and be invincible everywhere.
🔗Source: Zhejiang Entrepreneur Magazine
This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.