There is a Sichuan hot pot brand, not originated in Sichuan Province, and even the founder is not Chinese but has become China’s most famous, the most widely distributed, the most effective hot pot shop, almost none of them. The brand is Haidilao hot pot, founded by Singaporean Zhang Yong.
Zhang Yong is currently chairman of Haidilao hot pot. Haidilao hot pot is a professional and convenient representative of a middle-class hot pot shop in China, famous for its “24-hour business” and outstanding service enthusiasm. Every customer who has come into contact with Haidilao hot pot waiters will be impressed by Haidilao’s unique service. Haidilao has already opened its stores outside China, and even if you have not been to China, you are likely to have come into contact with the famous hotpot shop.
On April 27th ZhangYong, founder of Haidilao, announced his succession plan through an internal email from the company. ZhangYong said it would retire within 10 to 15 years and that all employees, with the exception of Shi Yonghong, the executive director, GouYiqun, the board member, and YangXiaoli, the chief operating officer, who are also old friends of ZhangYong, would have the opportunity to participate in the leadership succession plan.
According to Haidilao, the leadership succession selection program, as a long-term plan for 10 to 15 years, is the inheritance and development of the company’s current effective promotion system.
The full text of the plan is as follows:
Colleagues,
Hello everyone!
I want to share good news and bad news with everyone.
The good news is: I’m retiring. When you retire, you don’t have to worry about getting a furious call from me anymore.
The bad news is: my retirement is just a plan. It will take at least ten years to complete the plan, but not more than fifteen years at most.
Everyone has the opportunity to participate in the leader’s succession plan, and only three people are not allowed. They are Mr. Shi Yonghong, who is older and fatter than me (I am happy to think of that). Apart from him, Mr. Gou Yiqun, who has big eyebrows and is prettier than me, has no chance, and of course, the beautiful and capable Yang Xiaoli cannot participate. The three of them have no obvious shortcomings. The only reason is: it is too expensive, for the future board of directors, the performance-to-price ratio is really not high.
Think of the age at which they first met me. In 1985, Shi Yonghong was fifteen; in 1995, Yang Xiaoli was seventeen; and in 1999, Gou Yiqun was 27. Every day we spend together is busy and exhilarated. Every tomorrow we have together is wonderful and wonderful. The scene of our first meeting is still vivid.
Today we, still clear-headed, full of vitality. It seems a little early to discuss retirement at this time. But if things are predicted, early planning will eventually seem more leisurely. Anyway, ten years from now, I’ll be sixty years old. In the past two years, all four of us have been worried that our learning ability will not keep up with each other. The four of us are also particularly afraid that we will become a stumbling block to the development of the enterprise. therefore. We worked out the plan together. Through this program, we hope to find a leader who loves the Haidilao hot pot, business skillfully and has insight into human nature.
Actually, People often ask me a question I repeat: “how did you get a waiter to work so hard?” I usually say, “really? Is it possible that the waiter you happen to meet happens to be the very good one? ” This standard answer fully reflects my wife ShuPing, and my grandmother who has died for many years, the common request to me: “be a person must keep a low profile.” I still don’t understand. My grandmother died when ShuPing married me. The two of them had never met, but their strict demands on me were surprisingly the same.
But what I want to be frank about today is that I enjoy being asked questions like this, and I’m so proud of myself as if I had drunk honey. Because I know better than that, every waiter who works hard must have a hard-working manager behind him. There must be a hard-working family chief behind the hard-working storekeeper. There must be a group of good and hard-working coaches behind the hard-working family chief. There must be an effective promotion system behind these excellent and hard-working coaches.
Dear colleagues, in about October last year, we imposed a “limit on the income of more than a thousand families”. This means that no matter how hard these excellent thousands of units work, their income will be controlled within a fixed amount. If you want to get a higher income, you only have two options. First, do jobs you were not familiar with before, never before, such as finance, new technology, procurement, and so on. Second, you can start an internal business. Only these new jobs will bring you extra, expensive income.
At the same time, every time you do a new job, we will give you the corresponding points. When we need to be promoted to a cadre, we will find the people with the highest points and be admitted to them by the leaders of our superiors. So without points, you can’t get a higher income, and of course, you don’t have a chance to get a 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 business than others, which, of course, proves that you are smarter and more capable than others.
What I would like to remind you here is: I am not saying that whoever has a high score will be promoted. I’m talking about finding out the people with the highest points. Observe for a long time, choose the best to accept. The “choice” is how kind you are and do things well. ShiYonghong, YangXiaoli, GouYiqun, and I will spend ten years observing and judging. I hope God will take care of us again so that we can pick a leader who loves the Haidilao hot pot, business skillfully, and has insight into human nature.
If you are a treasurer, an engineer with new technology, or an ordinary employee in a branch, please don’t worry. The plan covers everyone, but the details are different.
If, Haidilao is lucky enough to exist in ten years’ time; if we have a chance to pick a good successor, I will apply to my wife for a high-profile opportunity: I will praise and flatter each other at the retreat dinner for the four of us, and I will never say anything about my shortcomings.
I’m not putting my retirement dinner on Haidilao hot pot. I want to eat Chuanlai, want to eat small fried. In the process of eating, I would like to seriously say to the waiter, “Why do I think the dishes and services are not as good as the first two?” And then. I would close my eyes and imagine that at the next morning meeting, the chef and the lobby manager would look desperate (of course, I would certainly go to the gate in two days).
And then I’ll drink, the drunk one. Be sure to get drunk and cry and laugh at the same time. I want to yell at my grandmother in the sky: “Grandma, I want to keep a low profile, too.” But strength is really not allowed! “
When the dinner ends, I don’t say, “this is the end of the dinner.” I will certainly say, “adjourn the meeting”.
ZhangYong
27 April 2020
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