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Guo meiling: a good entrepreneur should be full of bodhisattva heart, but also be good at using thunderbolt means
【Date：2018.04.20 Source：英文站】Guo meiling from Health 100: a good entrepreneur should be full of bodhisattva heart, but also be good at using thunderbolt means
At the age of 18, she dropped out of school to start her own business and run a clothing factory. She lost, but she also made money, she said -- a basic understanding and judgment of the market.
At the age of 25, she devoted herself to the field of medical and health care and started with 4000 yuan. 25 years later, the group under her leadership owns three business segments, namely, medical devices, household medical devices and medical and health service investment. Among them, Health 100 industry group has become a well-known brand in China's physical examination industry. But instead of having a sense of accomplishment, she was constantly alert to the dangers.
At the age of 42, she started racing training which led to a legend in the life of a female entrepreneur – she participated in the "rally around the tower" for three consecutive years, and won the second place of the ATV motorcycle group and the champion of the women's group in 2012. In 2014, she appeared in the China cross-country rallye competition, which has the longest route, the toughest environment and the highest difficulty in the competition. In 2016, her racing career came to an abrupt end at the 37th Rallye Dakar, when the car spun out of control and ran off the track at a time of 6.6km, causing injuries to spectators. Recalling the scene of that day two years later, she still sighed with introspection and was full of gratitude.
In 2018, she turned to be 50. "Life is full of unknowns and a journey that can end at any time," she said. It is the unknown matter that fills us with possibilities. I live each day to the fullest and I have no fear of the unknown because I am hopeful about the future.
On April 10, a reporter from “China Philanthropy Times” met the legendary entrepreneur in her office in the Jinling times building in haidian district, Beijing. She does not make up, she is in the short hair in a long black dress with red clothes outside. A light pink silk towel is fastened at will in the neck, and she was always with calm and elegant smile in the face.
She offered her hand to the reporter of “China Philanthropy Times” -- "hello! I am Guo meiling.
Guo meiling is the chairman of Beijing Century Galaxy Group, vice chairman of Health 100, director of public welfare promotion center of Showyes Project and the first female racing driver in China to participate in Rallye Dakar.
The interview begins with the corporate culture. Guo meiling said: "a good entrepreneur should not only be full of bodhisattva's heart, but also make good use of thunderbolt means. We now have more than 70 projects under our jurisdiction, and I have cut four or five this year alone. To be an enterprise, we should 'strive for perfection', instead of 'being greedy for more'.
Guo said that she has been affected the most over the years by Kazuo Inamori and his business philosophy. "The meaning of life is that when we leave, we have a more noble soul than when we came to this world," she told the words of Kazuo Inamori that has engraved on her heart.
"If you can have such a harvest at the end of life, there will be no regrets." Guo meiling said with a smile, her eyes sparkling with something warm.
“China Philanthropy Times”: these two words of "as good as water", "govern by non-interference" are widely respected in your business management. Why?
Guo meiling: I was deeply influenced by Taoist culture in my early days. I have a copy of Tao Te Qing in my bag for more than ten years and read it regularly. I think as a person, you can't go against what arbitrarily with the environment, so I can understand and study the character of water, which is like "as good as water" - at the moment if there are high mountains and great rivers lie in the block, which is too difficult to cross, we can go round, or we can adapt to any change and resolve any obstacles like water according to the shape. "Govern by non-interference", I have always advocated that women should have flexible management, the inner beauty and desire of each person should go through in-depth exploration, so that their enthusiasm and initiative can be inspired.
I have always believed that the role of "entrepreneur" is actually a person who builds a platform. To be a good "waiter" for employees, employees are the real actors on stage and realize their life value through their own efforts and struggles. Managers need to teach their employees that all effort and sweat is self-achievement, not for the boss or anyone else.
In my opinion, rigid terms and constraints are essential in enterprise management, but more importantly, employees need to understand and recognize from the heart, and then follow the heart, so as to get twice the result with half the effort.
There is a "blue bible" in our company -- the philosophy of the Century Galaxy Group. Every employee will be self-controlled and implemented it according to the content of this bible in work and life. For example, if you do something bad, even if it is just a bad idea, conscience will be condemned; when you do something good, you feel good in mood. This blue bible has been promoted in our enterprise for more than ten years. Gradually, our enterprise naturally attracts a group of colleagues who are good-hearted, helpful and altruistic to gather in this platform. We especially hope to build an ashram that can not only create the value of life, bring benefits to work, but also improve the soul. I think this is also a kind of idealism, that is, I always want to create the real happiness for employees.
Value ranking in our corporate culture, the first is employee happiness, the second is customer trust, the third is social responsibility, and the fourth is return of shareholders. In fact, when we put employees in the first place, the whole logic and process of management will be particularly smooth, especially more proactive employees will continuously emerge under such a value system, and they will be more focused on customer service. As long as customers get satisfaction, the enterprise value can virtually get promoted, naturally there can be very good customer public praise, so that there will be more and more repeat customers. At the same time, it can bring more new customers, our market revenue get new high, the employment rate and shareholder returns are good. It is a virtuous circle, which is a cycle diagram for a happy business.
An industry closed loop needs to be built in China's big health industry
“China Philanthropy Times”: you once expressed in the media that "the subversion of business model promotes the development of the grand health industry". Do you think the next phenomenal business model will be in the health industry in the future?
Baby: I think everything is possible, but it is hard to tell what it will be replaced by, because science and technology is advancing too fast, you can't imagine spread and cover of the crossover of the era, even the future is likely to be as the awakening of human thought cognition and upgrade. As well, due to the continuous development of artificial intelligence and multiple structure change in the world, there will be change in the internal control system of human itself. We also learn thinking in practice as to how to change. At present, although Health 100 has stood in the forefront of China's grand health industry, we still feel the strong sense of crisis.
“China Philanthropy Times”: the sense of crisis comes from?
Guo meiling: we've been looking for a closed loop. For example, we do the physical examination in the large health industry. Although it has no therapeutic effect, it will give you a reminder and reference from the basic level. Only when the physical condition is presented in a digital way that can be understood by everyone can you be warned to pay attention to your own health and take active precautions. From this perspective, physical examination is the source of health management. We hope that a closed loop can be formed from health education to health prevention to health examination, and even health intervention in the later stage, so as to help everyone fundamentally, which and also play a role in easing the tension of national clinical medical resources. The building and changing levels of the process require not only the efforts of our industry itself, but also the collaboration of multiple parties. We should make clear the direction of advance in the market environment full of competition and take every step firmly and steadily. After all, this is not just a formal and superficial work, it need to generate tangible results.
“China Philanthropy Times”: how long do you think it will take to complete such a closed loop?
Guo meiling: It won't take long to complete the closed loop if the direction is right. At present, the hardware configuration of China's big health industry is quite good, which even reaches the top level. I think the main difference lies in cognition. When Chen zhu served as the Minister of Health, he made it clear that the health of 1.3 billion people cannot be guaranteed by injections and medicines. There is no doubt about the importance of clinical medicine, but many other approaches are also important as medicine extends to prevention. For example, natural therapy is very popular at present in Germany, and prevention in advance is a good substitute for injections, medicines and other basic treatment methods. In our country, you need to take medicine whenever you have a headache or fever, often with a lot of antibiotics or direct infusion. You know that infusion was not inferior to a small operation in abroad, which won't be used easily. Of course, the relevant departments of the state have been aware of this problem and are doing their best to rectify the deviation, which also requires a process. At the same time, a growing number of people are recognizing the problem and are slowly beginning to embrace more natural ways of healing rather than the usual injections and pills.
Now people's awareness of health has become stronger and national policies are timely in place. The “Outline of the 2030 Plan for Healthy China”, which was recently released, specifically mentions the need to "foster new industries, new business patterns and new models of health". The general direction of the national policy is changed from "treatment as the center to health as the center". The promotion of this policy is of great significance. Coupled with the national attention to environmental protection, ecology, food and other factors, the future health of Chinese people is worth looking forward to. While keeping alert and feeling of crisis, I am also full of confidence and optimism about the future.
“China Philanthropy Times”: Among "China's Best Female Entrepreneur", "China's Best Female Racing Driver" ~ which of these two titles do you prefer?
Guo meiling: neither. (laughter) I think I am a very ordinary person, I am willing to follow my heart. For me, racing is also a way of self-cultivation in life. I just want to find out where the bottom and the limit of life are.
Social entrepreneurship – taking responsibility for awakening
“China Philanthropy Times”: you admire the traditional Chinese culture of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, as well as the business philosophy of Kazuo Inamori of Japan. What direct or indirect impact do these practices and accumulations have on your business?
Guo meiling: this is a kind of spiritual food, which should be the soul and core rooted in the heart no matter for development of individual, team or enterprise. Some entrepreneurs may choose to emigrate after they have achieved certain achievements and met their basic material needs, or they may travel around to enjoy life with ease. This is not wrong, but these entrepreneurs may not have a higher level of spiritual pursuit from the perspective of the great love and dedication required for human development, or we can say they do not have a broader pattern of mission and responsibility. And the study and accumulation of traditional culture and classic business philosophy are like spiritual lubricant, which makes you more confident, more powerful and be able to do more things with more enthusiasm. This is not only the essence of Chinese traditional culture, but also the thing that is missing for the general public.
“China Philanthropy Times”: as a member of China's contemporary entrepreneurs, what advice do you have for your fellow entrepreneurs?
Guo meiling: During forty years of reform and opening up in China, our business operators have caught up with the good policies and good times of the country to be able to make achievements as today. The entrepreneurs used to think about how to make money all day, but now they start to realize the value and significance of devoting themselves to charity, then we need to adjust our thinking and perspective, and seriously think about how to spend money with good purpose and be valuable.
Entrepreneurs are also levers to a large extent. Once they find the right fulcrum and make concerted efforts to leverage it, they can bring the flood of public welfare and great love into our surrounding areas and into all corners of society. They lead people with love so as to unlock the force of the truth, goodness and beauty of human nature. The current China needs more influx of love, which is an inevitable product of the development of the times. May our fellow entrepreneurs open the door from material to spiritual crossing, sublimate the soul, and make the "second half" of their lives more meaningful.
"Yogi" - create the field of love
“China Philanthropy Times”: in 2017, you joined the first "Yixing" team of Guanghua School of Management, Peking University. What does it mean for you to spend time and energy at this stage of your life deeply learning about philanthropy?
Guo meiling: I have been thinking about how, as an enterprise operator, to form a sustainable virtuous circle between enterprise and the society. How to better repay and feedback the society while the wealth keeps flowing and pouring in. In the past, I felt quite out of line in this regard, because I mainly focused on business operation. It is a discipline as to how to give back wealth to the society.
I have been the chairman of the Public Welfare Promotion Center of Showyes Project for more than four years, and now our grant fund has been approved. As the scale of our investment in the public welfare industry becomes larger and larger, there will be higher requirement for the corresponding professions to be engaged in this industry. I cannot be an incompetent chairman. At the same time, I am also a manager of an enterprise. It is equally important for me to lead a good team and be a good guide and advocate. Therefore, it is an urgent thing for me to learn professional knowledge of public welfare and charity.
In this process, it is an urgent issue for us to ponder as to how to use a more meaningful, more profitable, or even invisible way to do public welfare charity. For example, I started to advocate "social entrepreneurship". When I finished the relevant courses, I invested in a project of college students' entrepreneurship very soon. We didn't pay much attention to such projects before and we didn't get involved in them very much. But now I start to look for some projects with social pain points, try to put valuable resources and funds into these projects. This is essentially a leverage, we find the right fulcrum, and then strive to leverage it, so that the society will continue to make progress and become more and more beautiful.
In the big family of "Yixing" of Guanghua School of Management in Peking University, I found a group of like-minded partners with beautiful souls. Among them, there are some professional and senior public welfare giants, such as Mr. Xu yongguang, who has been deeply engaged in the public welfare field for decades, which is quite remarkable. In this group, we are like children full of pure heart, being eager to learn and practice. We communicate with each other candidly without reservation, and support and help each other. I especially like the energy field of the team of walkers. I am deeply moved and touched by the integration, openness and selflessness they embody. I am thinking that the society will be more harmonious and beautiful if more and more such partners can appear around us. "Yixing" has set a good model in this respect.
