The Company One Keeps - Ningbo Ruyi Joint Stock Co.,Ltd

Blog

The Company One Keeps

Text by Chu Jiwang

An old Chinese proverb goes, "Keep company with good men, and good men you'll learn to be." I began to believe the adage truer when I found more chances to learn from others during overseas trips with other Chinese entrepreneurs.

One example of "good-man company" is certainly Li Jie, president of the Zhejiang Calilee Communication Technology Co., Ltd. We first met in 2009, while attending the Central Europe Business Summit, along with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao.

Li Jie, my son's age, is a native of Wenzhou City, Zhejiang Province. His business is spread throughout many places across the country, and claims assets totaling more than 1 billion yuan. With the motto "business is an extension of one's personality," Li has developed his organization with broad vision and infused virtues such as credibility, courtesy, humility, and morality.

Li Jie has been highly praised by the local government for his job creation. "Have you ever felt exhausted managing such a huge business with so many divisions?" I once asked him. “Not at all,” he smiled. “I have a great team. I would surely be dead by now if I had to deal with everything myself. My team takes care of everything, so my only job is to read financial reports - easy and relaxing.”

I was deeply impressed when he explained that “fortune should be shared by everyone who contributed. I make sure to share mine with my team, who has been working hard to create fortune. Then I'm a representative of the wealthy.”

His belief aligns with the saying about “willing to part with others.” A businessman cannot be successful unless he understands sharing so he can attract elite personnel, who have fortune-making pulsing through their veins. Lost and found always supplement each other. Those who fear losing can never get what they want.

Through my years of contact with businessmen in China, I have found something in common: those who come from Wenzhou, such as Liang Huipao, president of the Beijing Landsky Lighting Engineering Co., Ltd., Ye Maoxi, chairman of the board of Xijing Group, and Chen Shijin, vice president of Sunlead Group, have quick wit and are good at developing their business with an emphasis on politics. They manage their respective businesses with innovation as well.

“A businessman cannot succeed if he clings to the early days of business by recalling, 'Oh, I started my business from three nothings - no workshop, no equipment, no capital’,” they assert. “Success is meaningless if one inherits a special fortune, but I built mine from nothing.”

I don’t consider myself as successful as others, yet I have been treated with respect when asked if I had navigated the path of “three nothings” and how I carry on after becoming a businessman of considerable strength.

“We should continue moving and start again with three new 'nothings’ - brand, advanced concepts, and pragmatic innovation,” I would reply. This is my new path towards the modern world of giant enterprises, the highest stage ever. The first “three nothings,” as I see them, lay a solid foundation through hard work, competition, and opportunity, while the latter three boost business through wisdom, technology, and innovation. Some say that the average life of a business in China is three to five years - too short a time to even consider my “three new nothings,” I’d say.

“Indeed,” agreed Li Jie. His company was well- named because in the Chinese language, both “li” and “lee” are pronounced the same as “benefit,” and “ca” could be taken as “plus.”

“Wow, benefit plus benefit!” I sighed.

“Not quite so,” explained Li, a devout Christian. To express his religious beliefs, he named his company similarly to Israel’s Sea of Galilee, mentioned in the Bible.

However, we share something else in common: the heart for developing business through arduous effort and unceasing enterprising.

Pre Page: What Is Happiness? Next Page: A Businessman's "Five Virtues"

Product (109)

News (77)

Blog (13)

Honor (20)

Certificates (12)

Credit Report

Products Index

Company Info

Premium Related Suppliers

Blog