This passage of Zeng Guofan is about the principle of governing things by the people. The way of employing people. Multi-party collection, careful use, frequent guidance, strict constraints. The way to deal with things is to separate the clues first, then draw inferences from one another, and after careful consideration, formulate brief provisions. Now in the process of management, employers should also abide by the above principles. Collect from various sources, select available materials, and then measure and use them. It needs regular training and guidance, and at the same time it is subject to strict discipline. Only in this way can people give full play to their talents.
In fact, Zeng Guofan put forward four standards for managing talents here.
One is to recruit talents, the other is to appoint them carefully, the third is to be diligent in teaching, and the fourth is to be strictly bound. It can be seen that Zeng Guofan is not at ease with the talents he uses and implements strict control and management. We might as well compare it with the management of Sima Guang in Song Dynasty. Sima Guang said: "Anyone who uses people's skills wants to take people's skills, to distinguish them, to make them suitable, and to make them specialized." Sima Guang's management of talents is tight first and then loose, that is, the inspection of talents is strict, but he is at ease when using talents. Therefore, his management is more democratic than Zeng Guofan's, with greater trust and power, which will enable subordinates to give full play to their talents. However, Zeng Guofan's management is always very tight and there is no sense of trust. Even for such a knowledgeable scholar as Li Hongzhang, he is very strict. Why did Zeng Guofan do this? Because he has his own set of logic: before managing good people, you relax, which often leads to chaos; Only when subordinates reach a certain quality and have a certain ability, can you be tolerant and give them more trust, and you will be methodical and get twice the result with half the effort. This is what Zeng Guofan called "strictness before leniency" and "suppression before promotion".
The following respectively illustrate the four standards of management talents proposed by Zeng Guofan:
1. About recruiting talents widely
As managers, they don't always want anything from others. On the contrary, they are people who know how to ask for help and are good at asking for help. That is, being good at discovering and using talents.
Hefner, president of Playboy magazine, has all the characteristics of a successful entrepreneur-smart, decisive and good at authorizing. In this respect, she is absolutely superior.
As the daughter of old Hefner, most people think that she is lucky to "inherit" her father's career. In fact, in 1982, she took over a company with many problems, losing 50 million dollars every year, and the lucrative casino business has become a thing of the past. Playboy magazine itself seems out of touch with the times.
With sleepless work and shrewd management, she finally turned the company around and regained its reputation. The truth should be that she was unlucky before she inherited Playboy magazine, but Playboy was lucky to find a wise master.
When she first took over Playboy magazine, Hefner didn't want to show her abilities as eagerly as most people did, but she deliberately made a group of consultants. As she said, "there can never be too many smart people."
She immediately established the post of "general manager" and reused a competent financial supervisor.
Hefner has heard of Buffett's amazing achievements as chairman of Berkshire Hathaway. Buffett is recognized as an investment wizard, who is good at exploring valuable concessions and then developing them for a long time.
So she wrote to Buffett, expressing her intention to develop a company franchise for a long time. She was willing to invite him to lunch when he came to Chicago, new york or Los Angeles.
Less than a week later, Buffett wrote back that he seldom went to those big cities, but he would like to meet Hefner if he visited Omaha. Otherwise, during the Chinese New Year, he and his family will go to the seaside in California, north of San Diego, and welcome her to play. So Hefner specially rushed to California and talked with him for an afternoon, which benefited a lot. Later, I went to Omaha twice. As a result of the conversation, Buffett agreed to be the chief financial officer she arranged. This way of lowering your posture and asking for help is exactly what many managers are good at.
A letter, a trip, you will get a valuable consultant. You can use talents to serve yourself, that is, you can "borrow" talents to develop yourself.
2. Use talents carefully and appropriately.
The key to a person's success or failure lies in whether he can turn the human resources closely related to himself into his own resources and turn the abilities of others into his own. Zeng Guofan is a man who is good at using talents and transforming others' abilities into his own.
As early as at the beginning of Yingyong, Zeng Guofan published the Book of Recruiting Talents and Scholars, and recruited talents and scholars:
I was ordered to help the group practice, check and arrest thieves and robbers. From the beginning of accepting the task, I have been worried day and night, afraid of making mistakes, worried that I am not well informed and ill-considered. Therefore, I have been working hard, hoping that the sages in my hometown will not abandon me, help generously, widely adopt public opinions and listen carefully to make up for my omissions. Therefore, I often send letters to invite people out of the mountain, or warmly welcome guests, recruit talents and seek advice. I want to get your understanding. ..... Building can't be supported by one tree, and great undertakings are accomplished by the wisdom of all. If many wise men can come together and treat each other sincerely, then no matter how strong the stone can penetrate, what difficulties can't be overcome?
Zeng Guofan said to his brother:
Ask others to help you, and you will never forget these reasons. Obtaining talents is the hardest thing. Some people used to be my aides, and I just treated them equally. I have little respect for them. Today, there are very few such people. You should always regard seeking talents as an important task. As for those who are incompetent, even close relatives and friends, they should not stay long. This is mainly because they are worried that talented people are unwilling to work with them.
Later, Zeng Guofan led troops to the war, and the official was the governor and the imperial minister. Pay more attention to irregular recruitment of talents. Not only himself but also his brother. In his letter to Brother Yuan, he said that to achieve great things, choosing more assistants should be the first priority. Satisfied people can't choose, so we choose the worse one and educate him slowly. In other words, we should always pay attention to caged people, and we should not stop using people just because there is nothing interesting.
For those talented people, Zeng Guofan, whenever. Once you know it, you will try your best to fight for it and use it for yourself, such as Guo Yicheng.
Guo Yicheng, whose name is Kun Tao, is a famous Confucian in Hunan. Because of his literary talent. During the reign of Xianfeng and Tongzhi, all the elders were friendly to him and each wanted to bring him to his own screen. However, Guo Yicheng loves his wife so much that he can't live without her every day, so he always refuses to give up.
Zeng Guofan also appreciated Guo Yicheng's talent most. In order to draw him out to help himself, he sent a book to tease Guo. The book wrote: "I know the nature of a stag, and I can't bear to be bound." Please condescend to come for a while, all services. Let's go with our fairy relatives and be couch sweepers. " Guo Yicheng was persuaded by Zeng Guofan. After receiving the letter, he immediately rushed to the military camp to meet Zeng Guofan, but did not go with Xian as soon as possible. So Zeng Guofan ordered him to return quickly, and wrote, "Yan Yan is waiting to fly, and this is also feasible when Yuanyang is left alone." Guo Yicheng got the book and laughed it off. But he accepted Zeng Guofan's invitation and decided to come out to work.
It is said that Guo Yicheng did a good job under Zeng Guofan. As Zeng's right-hand man, many letters were written by Guo. Zeng also took good care of him, or allowed him to take time off to go home more, or ordered him to take his wife, which did not affect their husband and wife's life. 1858, Guo Yicheng left home for a period of time, but failed to return to camp in time for some reason. Zeng Guofan sent several letters in succession, urging him to return quickly. Zeng Guofan was born in1June 4, 858. It is said in the Book of Zhi Cheng Di that "public and private letters can be honest with each other", which shows Zeng Guofan's trust in Guo Yicheng.
Zeng Guofan is like this. He never forgets to ask for help. Just never forget. We can seize the opportunity, attract talents that others can't recruit, and assist the glory of our cause.
3. Be diligent in teaching talents.
Panasonic can develop into a world-famous multinational company, which is directly related to its successful management decision, but the method of cultivating and teaching talents is the necessary way for its success.
There are two things in the company that seem a little puzzling at first glance, but if you think about it carefully, you will realize that these just explain the two secrets of the company's success.
The first thing is the story that Kōnosuke Matsushita, the boss of Matsushita Electric Company, taught his subordinates a lesson.
Once, at a company meeting, he asked a middle-level cadre: "When you visit a customer, if the other party asks you, what kind of product is Panasonic?" How should you answer? "
In the face of President Matsushita's question, the personnel director of the business department replied without hesitation: "I will answer the other party's Matsushita Electric Company to manufacture electrical products."
This sounds like a natural answer, no matter who will answer, because all kinds of products produced by the company are electrical products. I didn't expect to be reprimanded by President Matsushita.
"This answer is not good. What's on your mind? "
What's the problem with the answer? Obviously, the company is in the electrical business! The boss's criticism really puzzled everyone.
"You are not all working in the personnel department? Don't you know that it is your duty as a personnel supervisor to train talents? If someone asks you what Panasonic does, if you don't answer that Panasonic is a company that trains talents and also makes electrical products, it means that you don't care about the cultivation of talents at all. "
"Management is people-oriented. Haven't I told you many times? In enterprise management, manufacturing technology, trading methods and capital turnover are important, but people are the masters of these things. Despite the money and products, if there is no one who can use these talents, then these things will have no effect. So, in any case, talent is the most important thing. If we can't train talents well, what development can Panasonic have? Thanks to you, you are the heads or directors of various personnel departments. "
The president patted the table and talked excitedly, and his reprimand greatly shocked the Panasonic staff present. Yes, Matsushita Electric is a place for manufacturing talents and electrical products, because before manufacturing electrical products, talents should be trained first; Because of course, the organization or method of operation is very important, but the promotion still lies in people. No matter how perfect the organization is, no matter how advanced the technology is, if there is no suitable talent, the enterprise will not achieve anything.
Mr. Matsushita also attaches great importance to cultivating talents in practice. He believes that enterprises cultivate not "scholars" but "clinicians". Knowledge alone can't run an enterprise. You must have "clinical experience". Therefore, he wants to train the employees of the company. Anyone who comes to work in the company must go through pre-job training and pass the exam before they can take up their posts.
Matsushita Electric Company attaches great importance to the cultivation of talents, and the annual expenditure on personnel training fees and scientific research and development fees accounts for about 8% of the turnover. People say that in the electrical competition in the international market, Panasonic wins by cultivating talents. This sentence is just like the principle of "treating people first, then employing people" discussed by Sima Guang in "Learning from each other". Throughout the history of ancient and modern China and foreign countries. Talent creates career, and career brings up talent, which is a law repeatedly verified by historical practice.
The second well-known thing about Panasonic is its diligent management style. Anyone who has been to the company will be surprised: the office is located in the unnamed street in Moriguchi, the room is crowded, the aisle is not carpeted, and the draft paper used by the company is bound on the back of the waste paper. Most employees rent "taxis" because they have public cars (which can save full-time drivers and parking lots); The company requires every employee to be diligent and careful in production, and it is intolerable to waste raw materials and expenses.
Many people don't understand why a company is so stingy when it has so much property in its hands. In fact, Panasonic relies on this diligent style to make the company develop continuously. It uses the saved funds to develop new technologies. Develop new products and cultivate talents. They never skimp on the funds for scientific research and personnel training. Because of this, the company has maintained a double-digit annual growth rate. The successful experience of Matsushita Electric once again proves the profound significance of the old adage that "the sages should look before the country, be thrifty and break the luxury", which is worth learning from by entrepreneurs.
4. Strictly restrain talents.
There are many ways to restrain talents. Zeng Guofan once put forward three methods, namely, preventing mediocrity, eliminating deficiency and guarding against arrogance.
After Zeng Guofan was promoted from Hanyuan to assistant minister, he had the opportunity to play things. During this period, Zeng Guofan made many statements, but he was cheated by the Kingdom of Ghana many times. For example, he feels that the platform is sluggish and right and wrong are unknown. "None of the nine ministers has the gains and losses of Chen, and none of the officials said the benefits and diseases of the place." "There is negligence between officials, but there has never been a word about the demotion of the Lord, and there is no fault of the ministers." The effect is that Sun Jiagan naturally rules the emperor, Yuan rules the rigid style of the emperor, and respects Chen Shengde, that is, seriously criticizes the emperor's three major mistakes, and his words are straightforward and fierce. There are three main points:
First, in order to prevent trivial matters, he wrote: Chen Ping of the Han Dynasty, Gao Zu sentenced him to prison without asking; Tang Jia is Du, and Emperor Taizong only seeks talents; You make my emperor broad-minded and don't care about details. You are a minister, and you dare not rely on cheap songs. Instead, you will think silently and seek great help for people in trouble. This minister is called the wind against mediocrity.
The second is to go to the empty text. He wrote: When I wanted to write a letter last year, I mostly used the word "no discussion". This is a re-examination of the true meaning of words. This is just an empty article written by coachable. Wen Chenggong invited to publish a collection of royal poems, and Amon allowed it. Today, the emperor's spring and autumn is in full swing, and it must be several years later. Reprint cloth, the world is sincere in politics, not empty.
The third is to guard against arrogance and rashness. He wrote, "The son of heaven alone, the right and wrong son of heaven together with Shu Ren.". Since ancient times, it is important to be a direct minister, but it is only a special envoy who has become famous. The cover will be provided for its pharmaceutical factory to break the arrogance of others. On weekdays, we don't reserve honest people to cultivate their character, but to cultivate their prestige so that they can be used in an emergency.
Zuo once said that his "loyalty to the country" to Zeng Guofan was a "hundred shame" (Zuo Wenxiang's "Gao Gong Shu"). Zuo, who was once famous for recovering Ili, praised Zeng Guofan's spirit, and Zeng Guofan's loyalty to the country can be imagined.
Of course, Zeng Guofan's trip to Shanghai not only shows his loyalty of "forgetting the private for the public and the home for the country", but also shows the opportunity of his philosophy of life. Xianfeng had just succeeded to the throne at that time, and his wish was for the ambition of an enlightened monarch. For him, there is not much obstacle to accepting a minister's suggestion, which is a bit unpleasant to appease all ministers. Before and after Zeng Guofan resigned, many people had expected the final result, but this resignation made him tolerant and loyal to ministers, making it difficult to find opportunities. This is fear. But then again, being with a gentleman is like being with a tiger. After all, there are risks. Frankly speaking, although Shang Chen is not in danger of being beheaded, he may incur disgust. If Emperor Xianfeng has bad feelings, it is enough to ruin Zeng's future. Yeah, everything's fine. Zeng Guofan got not disgust, but fame.