Big Talks Inspire

By Zhou Liuzheng

Ren Zhengfei is the founder and president of Huawei Technologies Co.Ltd.Huawei overtook Ericsson in 2012 as the largest telecommunicationsequipment manufacturer in the world, and overtook Apple in 2018 as the second-largest manufacturer of smartphones in the world, behind Samsung Electronics.It ranks 72nd on the Fortune Global 500 list.

I n the early days of Huawei, the office was located in a dilapidated residential building to save money.The poor office facilities and harsh working conditions did not block them in their initial stages.Ren Zhengfei was like a preacher, often working with employees, eating together, and bragging about their future.

Actually, many of Huawei’s senior managers and original employees have been inspired and attracted by Ren Zhengfei’s “boastful” remarks.

Pooling Talents

Guo Ping entered Huawei in 1988—the second year after its establishment.Previously, he was a young teacher at Huazhong University of Science and Technology.Ren Zhengfei often invited teachers and students from universities and research institutes to visit Huawei in order to solve the problem of insufficient scientific research personnel in his early years.Guo Ping was inspired by Ren Zhengfei’s promising blueprint and abandoned his position as a university teacher to become the project manager of Huawei’s second independent research and development project.

As a project manager, Guo Ping did not have much sense of the market for Huawei, but he strengthened Huawei’s confidence in taking the road of independent technology research and development.What’s more, he succeeded in convincing his classmate Zheng Baoyong to give up his doctoral studies at Tsinghua University and join Huawei.

In 1989, Guo Ping repeatedly attempted to persuade his classmate Zheng Baoyong, who had not yet received his doctorate, to hurry off to Shenzhen and join Huawei.Huawei was very short on technicians in its initial stage.Ren Zhengfei knew nothing about communication technology, so he appointed Zheng Baoyong as chief engineer of the company.Sure enough, Zheng Baoyong did not frustrate the public expectations.Along with his colleagues, he successfully developed the first self-developed product of Huawei—the HJD48 miniature analog air separation user switch.

In 1992, HJD48 was put into the market and had great success.That year Huawei’s sales easily topped one hundred million yuan.Ren Zhengfei was so excited that he burst into tears, exclaiming that Huawei had survived at last.After Huawei implemented the job number system, Ren Zhengfei’s number was 001 and Zheng Baoyong’s was 002, which ranked ahead of Guo Ping.As Chief Engineer, Zheng Baoyong at that time was responsible for the research and development department and became Huawei’s “No.2 Chief Executive.”

That year, Ren Zhengfei was able to convince a young teacher to give up his job and join Huawei while the latter persuaded his good friend to abandon his doctorate degree at Tsinghua University and join a company with slim future.Ren Zhengfei’s superb ability of “bragging” was really admirable.

Marketing Ambition

Liu Ping, who once served as Huawei’s executive vicepresident, recalled, “Chief Ren always chats with the development teams, sometimes inviting us to have midnight snacks together.He is really a great motivator.Every time I listen to him, my blood boils with excitement.That’s the spiritual power that motivates me at Huawei.”

Another kind of “bragging” was Ren Zhengfei’s bold predictions at the outset of his entrepreneurship: “Ten years from now, Huawei will surely occupy one third of the world’s telecommunications market.”While it did receive some criticism, it was enough to prove that Ren Zhengfei was full of idealism and even romanticism.

At that time, the world communications market was still dominated by big international companies.Those godlike rivals could ignore Huawei’s existence.In the eyes of many Huawei employees, their boss was just bragging.Now, thirty years later, that “big talk” has come true, whereas many of those godlike rivals have vanished.

To the counterparts in the United States, Ren Zhengfei has held a learning attitude.In 1997, Ren Zhengfei visited hightech companies in the United States and wrote an article entitled “What We Can Learn from the American People,” which appreciated their sound management, open attitudes, innovation mechanisms and innovative spirit.

Huawei’s attitude to the United States, the world’s most powerful country with the highest technological level, is to learn smartly, and to be respectful but uncompromising.

Fight and Lose Repeatedly

In early June of 2016, the US Department of Commerce issued a summons to Huawei, demanding Huawei to provide all information about exports to North Korea and other countries in the past five years.If Huawei was found to violate the US policy, it might be punished by restricting Huawei’s access to key American-made parts.

Ren Zhengfei’s previous strategy was to keep a low profile, try to avoid a direct competition with American companies, and compromise if he could.In 2011, with the direct intervention of the US Department of Commerce, Huawei’s cooperation with Sprint failed.Ren Zhengfei finally laid down his spiritual burden, feeling that “American pride and prejudice made us stand up and face the competition directly instead.”

In 2013, Ren Zhengfei once again “boasted” in his speech, “Those who are reluctant to take out their territory are not strategists.You should go to see the movie entitledFight North and South.Don’t care about the gains and losses of one city or place because what we aim at is the whole world market.Someday, we will fight back and enter into the United States.What is ‘Smart Walking’? It means to enter America with honor.”

Ren Zhengfei still carries the banner of idealism and encourages the morale of the company by “boasting” in the face of repeated battles and defeats in regards to entering the US market, but he is more rational and graceful than ever.

In 2015, when asked about why Americans targeted Huawei, Ren Zhengfei responded calmly, “I never thought the United States was bad or unfair to us.” He even said that Huawei should learn from the United States and integrate into the world with a broad mind so as to have a fruitful future.For a country like the United States, it is better to make yourself stronger than to spend energy and money lobbying.As Ren Zhengfei said, “We are like two-winged magic horses galloping on the prairie; nothing can stop us from forging forward but our internal inertia and corruption.”

(FromHuawei Blazes a New Trail, China Machine Press.Translation: Qing Run)

牛皮还是要吹的

文/周留征

华为创立初期，节约成本考虑，办公地点选在一幢破旧的居民楼里。办公设施简陋和工作条件艰苦，并没有成为华为起步时的主要问题，任正非就像一个布道者，经常和员工一起工作，一起吃饭，一起吹牛皮、谈理想。

华为创业元老，很多都是被任正非 “吹牛”吸引过来的。

拖人下水

郭平1988年，也就是华为成立的第二年，进入华为公司。此前，他是华中理工大学的青年教师。任正非早期为了解决科研人才不足的问题，经常邀请一些高校和科研院所的老师与学生到华为参观。郭平被任正非描绘的宏伟蓝图打动，放弃了高校老师的身份，成为华为第二个自主研发项目的项目经理。

郭平作为项目经理，对华为来说，没有太多市场意义，但是坚定了华为走自主技术研发道路的信心。更重要的是，他成功地将同学郑宝用说服，放弃清华大学的博士学习，加盟华为。

1989年，架不住老同学郭平反复劝说，博士学位还没拿到的郑宝用奔赴深圳，加入华为。初创时期的华为非常缺乏技术人才，任正非也不懂通信技术，随即任命郑宝用为公司总工程师。郑宝用果然不负众望，带着众兄弟苦干一场，开发出华为第一款自主研发的产品——HJD48小型模拟空分式用户交换机。

1992年，HJD48投放市场，取得巨大成功。当年，华为销售额就轻松突破亿元大关，任正非激动得热泪盈眶，感叹华为终于活下来了。华为实行工号制度之后，任正非的工号是001号，郑宝用的工号是002号，排在郭平之前。作为总工程师，此时的郑宝用统管研发体系，成为华为名副其实的“二号首长”。

当年，任正非能够让一位年轻的老师放弃稳定的工作加盟华为，这位老师还能说服自己的好朋友放弃清华大学的博士学位加入一家前途未卜的公司，让人不得不佩服任 正非高超的“吹牛”能力。

三分天下

曾经担任过华为执行副总裁的刘平这样回忆：“任总经常到开发组和大家聊天，有时，还请我们去吃夜宵。任总真是一个很好的鼓动家，每次听他讲话，搞得我热血沸腾。那是支撑我在华为干下去的精神力量。”

还有一次典型的“吹牛”案例，是任正非创业之初的豪言：十年后，世界通信市场三分天下，华为必占其一。关于任正非提出华为要在通信市场三分天下的说法，一直流传几个不同的版本。无论是哪种说法，足以证明任正非当年的确是像打了鸡血一样，充满了理想主义甚至是浪漫主义色彩。

那个时候，世界通信市场还是国际大公司的天下。无论如何比较，那些神一样的对手都可以无视华为的存在。在很多华为员工眼里，老板就是在吹牛而已。30年后的今天，那些任正非当年吹过的牛皮，竟然已经实现了。当年那些神一样的对手，已经烟消云散。

对于美国，任正非一直抱着学习的态度。1997年任正非就跑到美国的高科技公司参观，写了一篇《我们向美国人民学习什么》的文章，对美国的管理水平、开放意识、创新机制和创新精神等大加赞赏。

对于世界上最强大的国家，也是技术水平最高的国家美国，华为的态度是学习但不迷信，尊重但不妥协。

屡战屡败

2016年6月初，美国商务部向华为发出传唤，要求华为提供过去五年向朝鲜等国家出口的全部信息，如果发现华为违反美国政策，有可能以限制华为获得关键美制零部件作为处罚。

任正非以前的策略是韬光养晦，尽量回避与美国公司正面竞争，能让就让一把。2011年，在美国商务部直接干预下，华为与美国Sprint公司的合作项目失败。任正非终于放下精神包袱，认为“美国的傲慢与偏见，反而使我们挺起了胸脯，直面竞争”。

2013年，任正非在内部讲话中再次“吹牛”：“不舍得拿出地盘来的人，不是战略家，你们要去看看《南征北战》这部电影，不要在乎一城一地的得失，我们要的是整个世界。总有一天，我们会反攻进入美国的。什么叫潇洒走一回？光荣地走进美国。”

虽然这次任正非在开拓美国市场屡战屡败面前，继续扛起理想主义的大旗，继续通过“吹牛”为组织鼓舞士气，但是多了一份理性和从容。

2015年，当任正非被媒体问及美国对华为的一再阻挠时，他平和地做出回应：“我从来就没有认为美国对我们不好或不公平。”他甚至说，华为要学习美国的开放，用广阔的心胸融入世界，这样才有未来。对美国这样的国家，与其花精力、花金钱去公关游说，不如让自己变得更为强大。正如任正非所说：“我们像双翼的神马，飞驰在草原上，没有什么能阻挡我们前进的步伐，唯有我们内部的惰怠与腐败。”

（摘自《华为创新》机械工业出版社）