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On the evening of April 27, 2020, Zhang Yong, founder of Haidilao, sent an internal email to announce the adoption of the leadership talent selection plan for the next 10 to 15 years, aiming to strengthen the effective internal promotion mechanism and reserve talents in advance for the sustainable development of the company and the long-term retirement plan of the senior management team.
After the release of the open letter, according to incomplete statistics of “CEO search engine”, hundreds of first-line founders and entrepreneurs forwarded the full-text letter in the circle of friends, or referred to the succession plan when they were interviewed by the media. Chen Shengda, chairman of Shenzhen Wanda wine industry and founder of wisdom monkey, said in a conversation with “CEO search engine” that as the founder, I highly appreciate and empathize with Mr. Zhang Yong’s practices and feelings, and despise those who condemn the fragrance of freehand drawing pancakes.
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I
Aosange said that in the development of Haidilao over the past 20 years, the internal decision-making, orders and prohibitions, and the external meticulous and sincere feelings are admirable. According to the successor plan of today’s founder Guan Xuan, Zhang Yong will stay at the top management for three 5-year plans, but the task and function focus may have been completely shifted. Haidilao has become a behemoth. However, the founders know the profound friendship of micro times, know little about the enterprise information, be cautious about the promotion of talents, and take precautions against the gradual change of mentality management. I think Zhang Yong is a great founder.
II
“In fact, I have thought about my retirement plan, including some familiar media friends. The new product series to be launched on the whole line, Eagle Song is a new round of attack launched by Wanda wine industry on online commerce. Mobile Internet has hundreds of millions of consumer users, massive behavioral data, diverse use scenarios, and strong cloud service foundation, all of which provide high-quality atmosphere for the development of imported grape wine in new retail,
In view of the good performance of smart monkey in China and the efforts of Wanda’s team, Chilean wine giants also expressed their willingness to invest heavily in building a cloud system in China, which provided a strong backing and solid foundation for Wanda’s brand series to turn red again; as newbaby, the Eagle Song is born at the right time, it is gratifying,
At the same time, for Wanda system and corporate governance, Eagle Song is also an internal test of successors. Wanda is still developing and growing. The announcement of Haidilao also reminds me to put the talent reserve and selection plan on the agenda, and to include all the big friends and small partners of Wanda in the scope by means of merit selection, enrollment and redistribution. “.
III
The following is the full text of Zhang Yong’s internal letter shared by Chen Shengda, the founder of Zhihou. The “CEO search engine” does some cosmetic processing for the identifier. In the circle of friends, Mr. Liu Xiyuan is the new director of ROYAL technology and No.1 of the brand department.
Dear colleagues,
I want to share good news and bad news with everyone. The good news is, I’m going to retire. After retirement, you don’t have to worry about receiving my furious phone call any more. The bad news is that my retirement is just a plan. It will take at least ten years to complete this plan, but not more than fifteen years at most.
IV
All people have the opportunity to participate in the leadership succession plan. Only three people are not allowed. They are respectively: Mr. Shi Yonghong, who is older and fatter than me, I am very happy to think of this; besides him, Mr. Gou Yiqun, who has big eyes and is more handsome than me, has no chance; of course, the beautiful and capable Yang Xiaoli cannot participate in it. The three of them have no obvious shortcomings. The only reason is that they are too expensive. For the future board of directors, the cost performance ratio is really not high.
Think about the age when they just met me. In 1985, Shi Yonghong was 15; in 1995, Yang Xiaoli was 17; in 1999, Gou Yiqun was 27. Every day we spent together is busy and full, every tomorrow we ushered in together is wonderful and incredibly beautiful, and the scene of our first meeting is still vivid.
Today, we are still clear headed and full of vitality. It seems a little early to discuss retirement at this time. But if you plan ahead, you will be more calm. No matter how ten years later, I will be 60 years old. In the past two years, all four of us are worried about our learning ability. The four of us are also particularly afraid that we will become a stumbling block for the development of the enterprise. Therefore, we have made this plan together. We hope to find a leader who loves Haidilao, is skilled in business and has insight into human nature through this plan.
V
In fact, there are often people who ask me a repeated question: “how do you make every waiter work so hard?” I usually answer like this: “yes, would the waiter you happen to meet just happens to be the excellent one?” This standard answer fully reflects my wife, Shu Ping, and my grandmother, who has been dead for many years, have asked me to be a low-key person. I still don’t understand. When Shu Ping married me, my grandmother had passed away. They had never met each other, but their strict requirements for me were surprisingly the same.
But today, I want to be honest: I enjoy being asked questions like this. I am so proud, just like drinking honey. Because I know that behind every hard-working waiter there must be a hard-working store manager, behind the hard-working store manager there must be a hard-working family manager, behind the hard-working family manager there must be a group of excellent and hard-working coaches. These excellent and hard-working coaches must have an effective promotion system behind them.
VI
Dear colleagues, in October last year or so, we implemented a “high limit order” on the income of cadres above the head of the family. This means that no matter how hard these excellent cadres work, their income will be controlled within a fixed number. If you want to get a higher income, you have only two choices: first, to do work that you are not familiar with before and have never done before, such as: finance, new technology, procurement, etc.; second, you can start a business internally, only these new jobs It will bring you extra income.
At the same time, we will give you corresponding points for every new job you do. When we need to promote a cadre, we will find those with the highest score and let the superior leaders choose the best. So if you don’t have points, you can’t get higher income, and of course, you can’t get promotion. On the contrary, when you have a lot of points, you not only have a higher income, but also show that you are more proficient in all businesses than others. Of course, it proves that you are smarter and more capable than others.
VII
What I want to remind you in particular here is that if I don’t say who has high points, I will definitely promote who. What I’m talking about is that we should find out the group with the highest score and observe for a long time to choose the best candidates. “Choosing” is your kindness in life and work. Shi Yonghong, Yang Xiaoli and Gou Yiqun and I will spend ten years to observe and judge. I hope God will visit us again, so that we can choose a leader who loves underwater fishing, is proficient in business and has insight into human nature.
If you are a financial director, a new technology engineer, or an ordinary employee of a branch company, please don’t worry. This plan covers everyone, but the details are different.
VIII
If ten years later, Haidilao is lucky enough to still exist. If we have the chance to choose an excellent successor, I will apply to my wife for a high-profile opportunity: I will praise each other and flatter each other at the retirement dinner party of four of us. I will never say shortcomings.
I will not put my retirement dinner in Haidilao. I will eat Sichuan food and stir fry. In the process of eating, I will seriously say to the waiter: how can I feel that the dishes and services are not as good as the first two times? Then, I would close my eyes and imagine that the next morning, the chef and the lobby manager were desperate. Of course, in two days, I would go to the door and apologize.
Then I’ll drink, drunk. I will cry and laugh when I am drunk. I will shout to my grandma in the sky, “grandma, I also want to keep a low profile, but my strength is not allowed! At the end of the dinner, I will not say “the dinner is over”. I will definitely say “the meeting is over”
