"Live and Breathe with the Company - An Excellent Employee Concept Admired by Global 500 Companies"

Author: Meng Sen / Country: Mainland China
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-08-01
Features: A must-read book for improving employee quality! Why do Google's receptionists have a net worth of $25 million? Because they are at Google. And Google is a big ship, a ship that can sail to the vast ocean. Your company is a big ship, and the employees are the crew. Only by working together can we sail the ship to the depths of the sea and catch big fish. If you compare employees to a seed, then the company is the fertile soil that nurtures this seed. Whether for individual survival or to realize the highest ideals and values of life, the maturity and growth of life must be completed through work. Conversely, the company is the ship, and the employees are the water. Without the efforts and support of employees, the development and glory of the company are merely a fool's dream. Therefore, the company and employees achieve a "win-win model." If you want to succeed, if you want to achieve glory, if you want to exert your greatest ability to realize your greatest value, please don't forget—to breathe with the company! Work together, forge ahead, and the company's ship will carry us to set sail! The company is a big ship, and the employees are the crew on it. Individuals want to develop, they must maintain the same pace as the company (organization). How can this be done? This book elaborates in detail from nine aspects through comparison, which are:
- Loyalty to the company
- Dedication to work
- Responsibility to the cause
- Cooperation in the team
- Proactiveness in behavior
- Fairness in doing things
- Efficiency in performance
- Innovation in thinking
- Execution of orders
Through this nine-fold cultivation, you can become a truly professional employee, an employee who brings momentum to the company, an employee the company needs, and an employee who will never be laid off. Target readers of this book: People working in various industries and friends preparing to enter the workforce. Loyalty has always been the spiritual pillar for the survival and development of enterprises, the foundation of their existence. Only employees who are loyal to their own companies and leaders have the right to enjoy the benefits brought by the company. Loyalty is a fundamental moral principle in market competition. Violating the principle of loyalty will result in losses for both individuals and organizations. For organizations, leaders, and individuals, loyalty brings benefits.
### 1. The Meaning of Loyalty
Recently, Wackenhut Information Company conducted a loyalty survey among thousands of employees and found that 70% of the surveyed were satisfied with the company they currently served. However, only 30% were loyal to the company. The same survey data in 2001 was 6%. From a certain perspective, this change is significant and encouraging, but the other side of the survey results is worrying: as high as 34% of the surveyed were considered "high-risk" employees by their employers, meaning they were "at the company but with their hearts elsewhere"; another 31% were forced to stay in their current companies due to environmental constraints and were just going through the motions. Therefore, at least 2/3 of employees are at risk in the company.
#### 1.1 What Is Loyalty?
Loyalty is a fine ethical and moral norm of the Chinese nation. The ancients said: "When planning for others, is there any lack of loyalty?" This means to be fully dedicated, sincere and selfless, to put one's heart and soul into it. It primarily refers to personal inner virtue. A loyal person is honest and trustworthy, with their words, actions, and inner thoughts aligned. This is sincerity, being truthful and not deceiving oneself, especially not deceiving others. It primarily refers to the behavioral norms in interpersonal relationships. Loyalty means to exert one's utmost effort, to be consistent in words and actions, and to be genuine in everything one does. Loyalty is a fundamental principle that professionals should follow, referring to the moral and behavioral qualities of being truthful, keeping promises, and abiding by contracts. This inner virtue and its practice are important guarantees for the normal operation of various business activities. Loyalty is the driving force for taking responsibility for one's work. A loyal attitude is the soil for dedication, and on this soil, the world's most beautiful flowers bloom! If you have a very dedicated person around you, I suggest you show them respect! This deep emotional connection to one's work gives one endless wealth. Benjamin Franklin once said: "If vitality makes people's prospects bright, if groups make people tolerant, if a down-to-earth attitude makes people realistic, then deep loyalty makes life upright and meaningful." Does our profession have meaning? Many people today mock meaning. Meaning has become worthless in their eyes. However, loyalty gives our work and life meaning.
Case: If we ask a few dentists at the hospital, we can get the answer. Ask a dentist: "Doctor, what do you do?" The dentist doesn't even make eye contact with you and says in a bad mood: "Can't you see? I pull teeth. Every day, I do these rotten teeth!" Then ask another dentist: "Doctor, what do you do?" He looks up at you and tells you: "I make money. I'm busy now!" But one dentist tells you with enthusiasm: "I'm treating patients. This patient's dental condition is almost cured!" Such people enjoy their work and find hope and joy in ordinary tasks! Unloyal people will dislike their work or work just for a living. They don't invest much emotion or belief in their work, so they never feel warmth or happiness in it. Their lives slowly fade away in the monotony of work. But loyal people maintain a sense of responsibility throughout their careers. No matter whether they stay with one company or change departments in the future, they remain highly responsible for their current work. They treat their work calmly, seeing every moment in the workplace as part of their lifelong career.
#### 1.2 Why Be Loyal?
(1) Loyalty is Competitiveness
Case: The Path to Promotion for a Stable Hand. In a Pennsylvania mountain village, there was once a stable hand named Charles Schwab. He later became a famous entrepreneur in the United States. Schwab's success secret: When he was promoted to a new position, he never worried about his salary. Instead, he focused on whether the new position offered greater prospects, especially whether it would help improve his skills. When working for steel magnate Andrew Carnegie, he once said to himself: "One day, I must become the manager of this company, I must achieve something that will make the boss promote me voluntarily. I won't worry about my salary, I'll just work hard. I want my work ability and performance to far exceed my salary." He made up his mind, adopted an optimistic attitude, and worked happily. Schwab's early life was very poor, and he only received a short-term education. He started working as a carriage driver in the mountain village at the age of 15. At 17, he got another job with only 25 cents a week. But he was still looking for opportunities. Soon after, another opportunity came—a engineer was hiring to build a factory for Carnegie Steel Company, with a daily wage of one dollar. He worked there for a while and was promoted to construction technician, then to chief engineer. By the time he was 25, he became the general manager of that construction company. By the age of 39, he was promoted to the general manager of the entire U.S. steel company. Now he is the general manager of Bethlehem Steel Company. Every time Schwab got a new position, he set the most outstanding colleagues as his goal. He never left reality and daydreamed like ordinary people. Schwab knew that as long as one had determination, was willing to work hard, and was not afraid of difficulties, one could become a successful person. He always approached everything with optimism and happiness, while demanding excellence in his work. Some things required precision, and he was the one who had to handle them. He always followed a step-by-step approach and never dreamed of sudden success. No boss dislikes loyal and reliable subordinates. They are always observing their employees to see who is reliable and who is not. Any employee who slacks off or causes trouble will eventually be noticed by their boss. We can never lose loyalty, because it is the foundation of our character.
(2) Loyalty Is the Primary Criterion for Evaluating Employees
There are many requirements for evaluating whether a person is a good employee—ability, diligence, initiative, integrity, responsibility. Bosses are more willing to trust those who are loyal, even if their abilities are slightly weaker.
Case: One day, Zhang Xin walked into the boss's office and asked directly: "Do you think your company is already bankrupt?" The boss was surprised and said: "No!" "If it's not, you shouldn't be so pessimistic. The situation is indeed bad, but many companies are facing the same problems, not just us. Moreover, although your $20 million was sunk in the project and became dead money, the company isn't completely dead yet! We still have an apartment project. If we do it well, this project can be the start of the company's revival." She then presented the project proposal. A few days later, Zhang Xin was assigned to work on the project. Two months later, the apartments in that area, not the best location, were all sold in advance. Zhang Xin secured a check for $380 million for the company, and the company finally showed signs of improvement. In the next four years, Zhang Xin served as the company's deputy general manager and helped the boss complete several major projects. In his spare time, he also spent six months trading stocks, earning $60 million for the company. Four years later, the company was converted into a joint-stock company, and the boss became the chairman. The board wanted to hire a general manager. Many deputy general managers were outstanding and recommended, but the chairman strongly recommended Zhang Xin. In the end, Zhang Xin became the new company's first general manager. Zhang Xin said: "I made profits for the company by trading stocks. Many stock trading experts asked me how I succeeded. I said: one, to be dedicated, and two, to have no selfishness." Indeed, many people work for the company while also planning their own little schemes. How can the company make profits then? From Zhang Xin's story, we can see the power of loyalty. It is an employee's advantage and wealth, and it can earn the trust and sincerity of the boss. If you have the virtue of loyalty, one day you will find that it becomes your great wealth. Conversely, if you lose loyalty, you lose the principles of being a person and the opportunity for success.
P1-4