Create career life miracles

Author: Tao Boyu (Editor) / Country:
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-04-01
Features: Lack of competitive awareness: breeding incompetent career competitors. This is a typical symptom of large enterprise syndrome—relying on a big tree for shade. Employees often say, "Our company has billions in assets, there’s no immediate danger." How many employees in large enterprises share this self-consoling mindset. As the saying goes, "A dead camel is bigger than a horse." This phrase needs some adjustment at least to describe the contrast between today's large enterprises and small businesses. Let's not look far—just look at recent examples. Asia International wasn’t a "camel-sized" enterprise either, and its service planning was once a cutting-edge aspect of corporate service culture. People then said, "If you haven’t been to Asia International in Zhengzhou, it’s as if you haven’t come at all. Going to Asia International was an experience!" Now I say, "If you mention Asia International in Zhengzhou, it’s best not to, because it’ll make people feel uncomfortable!" With billions in assets, it vanished in just a few years! The Qinchi Liquor Factory in Shandong was also a "camel-sized" enterprise in China, the "King of the Ads" on CCTV for three consecutive years, with annual advertising expenses reaching 340 million RMB! Yet a few years later, it "disappeared without a trace." Wasn’t that enterprise big enough? Why couldn’t it protect its employees’ careers or allow those who relied on its "big tree" to "retire" with the company? A few years ago, during the reform and opening-up, the "breaking of the three irons" (iron rice bowl, iron job security, iron wage) left many unprepared for competition, and they were "crushed" as a result. Many people couldn’t adapt to the changing environment, couldn’t let go of their pride, or were too afraid to compete in the talent market or start businesses in the broader society. Instead, they chose the wrong path and lamented their fate for life—even to the point of death!
In the U.S., there was a strange incident: a tiger was kept in a zoo as a spectacle for five years. When the zoo decided to release it back into the wild, the tiger was eaten by two wolves just two days after returning to the forest. The reason was simple: after being captured, the tiger was kept in the zoo as a showpiece for five years, living a "carefree" life with three meals a day, which deprived it of its survival skills in the forest. Think about it—what’s the difference between employees in large enterprises and that tiger in the zoo if they lack a sense of crisis?
Job security may seem to guarantee people’s livelihoods, but in reality, it stifles imagination, creativity, and survival skills. From this perspective, the "iron rice bowl" is harmful rather than beneficial. The true guarantee of employment: becoming a professional worker. How many employees spend their days eating, drinking, and having fun, feeling utterly carefree. This "eating and drinking" is actually a life of stagnation, and this "having fun" is a descent into self-destruction! Life is short—why waste it? Let’s ask ourselves frequently: What skills do I possess? What financial resources do I have? What social connections do I have? What stable income sources do I have? Only by constantly asking these questions can we keep striving for progress. I ask myself these questions every month, and I’ve been doing so for eight years. It has benefited me immensely, keeping me clear-headed in confusion, relaxed in exhaustion, strong under pressure, calm in arrogance, and giving me strength when helpless. It has also given me direction when striving and renewed vigor when about to give up! I know for sure that the true guarantee of employment is to become a professional worker.
Many people fall into a misconception: "You give me money, and I’ll work for you—even as your servant." If not paid, I won’t even work for you as your grandfather. This mindset is wrong—utterly wrong. Seeking employment and becoming a professional is a personal matter, not related to the company. Companies are like unbreakable camps, while employees are like flowing water. If you leave today, someone else will come tomorrow. There will always be someone willing to do this, someone with the right attitude and methods, and someone with relevant professional knowledge. We are the flowing water of the company—without it, we become vagrants, and our quality of life declines daily.
Everyone uses their profession as a platform to unleash their potential and realize their life’s value. In this society, no one can achieve historical fame without a profession or the work they do. Independent workers work in their own studios, while collective workers lead teams. Anyone must work and use it to achieve something. In the West, many painters toiled their entire lives, devoted to art, only to become famous after their deaths. But we want fame in our time, leaving a legacy for eternity—not fame after death. We want to enjoy the life we create. Life is a process, and we should live it with struggle and joy.
We have parents above us and children below us, who all hope for a harmonious family. If we abandon our careers at this stage, isn’t that the greatest misfortune and disloyalty? Our parents grow old and lose their ability to work—shouldn’t we let them enjoy their golden years? During our children’s upbringing, shouldn’t we fulfill our duties as fathers and mothers? Wouldn’t we want our children to have a better life, attend better schools, and gain more knowledge to create greater value for society and themselves? If we don’t understand these principles, we might pass our days drinking a little, playing a bit of mahjong, or making excuses to dislike this or that, and avoid this person or that tomorrow, living a life of mediocrity.
The true guarantee of employment is to become a professional worker. Professionalism is safer and more secure than specialization. Moreover, professional individuals are often the bosses of specialists, even if their expertise doesn’t match theirs. In today’s professional arena, professionalism carries new meanings beyond specialized skills. Apart from expertise, thinking ability, decision-making ability, career planning ability, innovation ability, execution ability, communication ability, teamwork ability, leadership and organizational ability, and marketing ability are all essential core competencies. To achieve something, the only choice is to acquire these abilities. Otherwise, you might as well give up the idea of becoming an outstanding professional manager and instead spend your life honestly, becoming a valuable subordinate to help those with professional skills achieve their dreams!
The era when professional skills alone grant power is over. Schools churn out specialists every year, and specialization updates rapidly. Therefore, specialists can only hope to keep a job—they have little else to look forward to. But professionalism is different—it’s not taught in schools and cannot be replicated. What matters most is that professionalism emphasizes "psychology and attitude," which are beyond replication.
Although specialization remains mainstream in society, we shouldn’t be blinded by our own skills and ignore the bigger picture. We must have foresight and, at the same time, strive to become professional individuals. Now, the entire country is building "learning organizations," but without the mindset of being a professional, we will be unable to compete domestically or internationally, and we may even be (:) from our companies in the near future.