Merchant and doctor

Chapter 2528 Calculating the Pros and Cons
Understanding human nature is crucial. Every profession has its own focus, advantages, and limitations. In this regard, professional TCM doctors have an inherent advantage.

The core of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is "love for people," focusing on the patient and ultimately aiming for health. Therefore, the higher the level of medical skill, the deeper the TCM doctor's understanding of human nature, and the more accurate their judgments become.

Bian Mu was no exception.

In any profession, business requires understanding human nature from time to time; otherwise, being cheated or taken advantage of will become commonplace. At the end of the year, you may not only fail to earn much money, but you may also incur significant losses if you are not careful.

Compared to his colleagues who were employed by top-tier hospitals, Bian Mu had to do business while also being in business, which naturally deepened his understanding of basic human nature.

In Bian Mu's view, at least for this period of time, Qi Ruilian was more eager to get his support than the other way around.

In her words, Qi Ruilian inevitably revealed a touch of shrewdness and hypocrisy, which made Bian Mu think about giving her a few words of reprimand.

"Your company has gone through at least three important historical development periods. Now, its performance is declining, and in some aspects, it's even showing signs of becoming unprofitable. Actually, with four walls in place, the crisis is still manageable! In my view, the current troubles are concentrated on some of your company's strengths. For example, Director Qi, you and Director Sha are related, but haven't you gradually parted ways? Your company's other key personnel, technical backbone, and workshop mainstays... also have the right to choose a new path. There's hope for everyone! They are completely equal to you. The previous three important historical development stages were completely different. At least, it's difficult for these key personnel—the key personnel, technical backbone, and workshop mainstays—to cultivate themselves into..." "Hardcore components, your self-modular thinking is still immature, and your ability to fight against fate is still fragile. Nowadays, the external environment has changed too much. As long as you are a high-quality technical component and have a certain modular combination capability, who can your company's four walls stop you from?! Besides, Director Sha deliberately pushed you out recently! Right? Some things are better left unsaid. Putting you aside, I can still contact, discuss, and cooperate with other key business personnel, technical backbones, and main workers in the workshop of your company. Isn't that the logic? We are all free components. As long as we agree on the same motherboard, our relative positions are relatively free. Isn't it the same who we talk to?" Bian Mu warned Qi Ruilian a few times, neither too harshly nor too lightly.

Upon hearing these words, Qi Ruilian's expression immediately became somewhat awkward, and a slight, hesitant gesture appeared at the left corner of her mouth.

"Master, please don't misunderstand! I didn't mean that... I came here today specifically to prove our sincerity. What you just said was indeed refreshing and enlightening to me. Our factory... in some aspects, is indeed like a pile of loose sand. The scope of my coordination is indeed limited. I really dare not make any big promises to you in this regard. Please don't misunderstand that I am making excuses!"

"That's good! There's one more thing I need to remind you of. Every employee has the right to speak about which direction your company will take in the future and how it will proceed. Even the most incompetent and useless employee has the same rights as you. At the same time, every employee also has their own self-interest, and there's no need to shy away from that. As for me, I naturally have my own self-interest involved, and it's a higher percentage than any of yours. That's a fact, isn't it?" Without any politeness, Bian Mu spoke frankly.

Upon hearing this, Qi Ruilian was stunned for a moment, then lowered her head and remained silent.

"Theoretically speaking, if we reach a cooperation agreement, how low can my share of the profits be when we distribute them in the future?! In terms of headcount, is it possible that I will be ranked first?" These words were quite sharp, and it was unknown whether Qi Ruilian could handle them.

“Indeed!” Qi Ruilian replied calmly, raising her head. “And by the same token! How much do you profit from it? How much do the key personnel, the technical backbone, the mainstays of the workshop… each profit? How much do the most basic frontline workers profit? Can’t all of these be divided into profit components?! When those technical contribution components and profit components are recombined, shouldn’t we consider the market’s acceptance?! Shouldn’t we seek the approval of the higher-level authorities? Shouldn’t we respect the interests of other similar pharmaceutical companies?! There are some things I can coordinate, and you can mediate, but there are some things… no matter how hard we try, we just can’t get started, can we?! With all these favorable, unfavorable, controllable, and uncontrollable factors combined, doesn’t it feel a bit like the bewilderment of calculus?! After all that effort, we end up with ourselves unable to calculate or control anything. Do you feel the same way?”

"No wonder your school calls itself the 'Digital Medicine' school. I've learned my lesson today. Compared to you, Director Sha is an illiterate! I'm not much better."

"Hey! You can't say that. Director Sha is just trying to get a good development opportunity for the factory! I can understand! I didn't like what you said earlier, but when you mentioned that you would go with Secretary-General Cai to the relevant departments at higher levels to report on the matter, I knew immediately that you were telling the truth. Otherwise, I would have already walked away by now!" Occasionally, Bian Mu also had to learn to say a few harsh words.

"That's right, that's right! It's my fault, it's all my fault. Before coming here, I didn't think things through. Please forgive me, Master!"

"You're too kind! However, I can tell that some of your factory's recent practices have been rather simplistic. At the very least, they haven't been based on a comprehensive consideration from the perspective of digital modeling. I suggest that Director Qi go back and have a serious discussion with a few honest and capable colleagues, and come up with a more mature and well-developed topic before visiting Secretary-General Cai. In addition, I sincerely suggest that your company send some dedicated personnel to conduct thorough market research, going door-to-door. As far as I know, since Director Ma took over, such efficient market research activities have long been a mere formality."

"I am ashamed! I humbly accept your instruction!"

"I don't deserve such praise! To be honest, you've oversimplified many things. Company transformation is essentially a mathematical problem, followed by pharmaceutical technology innovation, and then operational model innovation. After talking for so long, it seems your understanding in this area is still stuck in the old model. Even if I hand over the new drug plan to you in full as soon as possible, your company will most likely still lose money."

"It is indeed a bit... no, that's exactly it. I will correct it one by one afterward."

"Then let's communicate more! Also, I suggest that if things can't be implemented in practice, it's best not to easily alarm Director Sha. If it weren't for him blocking the way and using the real setbacks as a mirror to learn from and warn all your company's employees, some things would be useless no matter how hard we try to explain them."

"Understood, thank you for your guidance, Master!"

"I was just talking nonsense, don't be so polite!" With that, Bian Mu sent a message through the iPad on the table to add a soup dish.

In any case, today's meeting is at least a step forward, but as for where things will develop in the future, no one really knows.