1988: Back to the human world for a few years

Chapter 50 Oh my, who told us Qilu people to be straight? (3)

Amid everyone's astonished gazes, Yang Mo held up the notebook with something unknown written on it, walked to the cement blackboard in front of the conference room that was who knows how many years old, picked up a piece of chalk, and quickly drew a tic-tac-toe grid.

"Director Zhang repeatedly stressed to me that our drilling company is a central enterprise, and when making any decision, we must stand high and have a pure mindset... For major projects like the tertiary industry that affect countless employees' families and contract workers, we must make bold assumptions and carefully demonstrate them!!"

Yang Mo turned around and glanced at everyone with a smile: "So, in Director Zhang's opinion, when drafting the tertiary industry pilot project, we must fully consider all factors in both the [horizontal] and [vertical] aspects!"

Horizontal?

Vertical?

When everyone heard these two unfamiliar words, they all turned their eyes to Zhang Wenshun.

Director Zhang, who was also confused, saw the suspicious looks of others, his eyes twitched, but his face showed an unfathomable and indifferent expression.

Yang Mo smiled when he saw this: "First of all, I would like to ask all leaders to think about one thing... What is the fundamental purpose of our tertiary industry pilot projects?"

Seeing Yang Mo giving him a look, Zhang Wenshun hesitated for a moment, but then thought about it seriously: "Of course it's to generate revenue for the company... Lao He, what do you think?"

Being directly named by Zhang Wenshun, Section Chief He had to cooperate even if he was not happy: "That's right, these tertiary industry pilot projects are to activate the company's book funds and generate income for the company!"

Section Chief Xiang also nodded: "That's right, from the perspective of our asset management department... inflation is so serious now, watching the book funds depreciate is a crime!"

Seeing that the three section chiefs had already spoken and everyone's eyes turned to him, Secretary Xie cursed inwardly, then smiled noncommittally: "We are a central enterprise, it is not appropriate to always focus on money, right? The original intention of the company to set up these tertiary industry projects, in addition to the inconvenience of material supply at the time and the need for self-reliance... Isn't it more important to help solve the employment problems of idle employees and their families?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Yang Mo raised his thumb in amazement: "Well said! As expected of Manager Wang's right-hand man, Secretary Xie has a high level of thinking... That's right, as a central enterprise, when carrying out these tertiary industry pilot projects, the first priority should be to solve the employment problems of idle employees and their families... As for generating income, although it is also important, it has to come second!"

Secretary Xie was stunned to see Yang Mo actually supporting him in public.

Director Zhang and the other two looked at each other secretly after a brief moment of surprise, and a barely perceptible smile appeared at the corners of their mouths.

After writing a few words on the blackboard, Yang Mo turned around and said, "Since the first priority is to solve the employment of idle workers and their families, then no matter what tertiary industry project it is, in order to be selected for the pilot list, it must first meet the requirement of [many jobs], and secondly, it must be able to generate revenue for the company... Do you have any objections to this, leaders?"

Everyone hesitated for a moment and nodded in unison, including Secretary Xie - he couldn't go back on his word with what he had just said, right?
Seeing that no one objected, Yang Mo looked at Qin Xin: "Manager Qin, I would like to ask, among all the tertiary industry projects currently, which one employs the most people?"

After looking at the other people's faces, Qin Xin thought for a while: "The construction team should be the one that employs the most workers at the moment? There are about 160 people... But you leaders also know that in our company, civil engineering doesn't happen every day. If you spread it out, it's already very good to be busy for two or three months a year!"

Yang Mo nodded: "Indeed, eating dry rice for two months and drinking porridge for ten months is not advisable. It does not reflect the superiority of socialism at all... The projects we choose must allow people to eat dry rice every day, right?"

"But the number given by Manager Qin is quite instructive... Since it is a pilot project, and one that the company intends to strongly support, it can't be too shabby... Let's just do this. We use 160 employees as the standard. After evaluation, we will keep the projects that can reach this number of employees and generate positive revenue within the next year. If the two requirements cannot be met after evaluation, we will directly pass... What do you think, leaders?"

When they heard the number 160, Section Chief He and others took a deep breath, but when they heard Yang Mo use the words "strong support" to thank the secretary, they hesitated for a moment and didn't know whether they should object.

Secretary Xie naturally realized that these words were meant for him, but he just smiled and nodded slightly to show his support.

Are you kidding? Do you think the employment scale of 160 people is a small number?
And it also has to create positive profits. Do you think this is a math problem? It’s not as simple as 1+1=2!
Seeing that Section Chief He and the others did not object despite looking unhappy, Yang Mo knew that the most difficult hurdle had been passed. He breathed a sigh of relief in secret, and looked at Director Zhang with some admiration - as the conspirators and the first parties involved in this matter, Section Chief He and Section Chief Xiang would naturally jump out to object as long as Director Zhang gave a look.

Seeing a huge board placed on his head, Director Zhang remained as steady as a rock. Although no one knew whether he had a backup plan, the fact that he allowed a young man to speak nonsense in such an occasion was enough to show that he was a real master at controlling people!
However, as a former VC veteran, Yang Mo knows very well that in this situation, even if it is difficult, some core data must be quantified. Otherwise, not only will he have no initiative, but things will also be turned into a mess by the back and forth of Tai Chi.

Seeing that everyone was somewhat surprised but had no objection to the number 160, Yang Mo immediately struck while the iron was hot: "OK, it is foolish to talk about ideals without considering the reality... Leaders, since these tertiary industry projects are intended to solve the employment problems of idle workers and their families, we must focus on a core issue;"

"That is...what are the specialties of these idle workers and their families, and what types of tertiary industry projects are suitable for them?"

"In other words, based on the employment standard of 160 people, what kind of tertiary industry project can still guarantee positive returns after a large-scale expansion?"

As soon as Yang Mo said this, the expressions of everyone present became solemn - unlike the framework issues discussed before, this was a crucial issue between reality and illusion.

As veterans of front-line production units, these people are not idiots. They naturally know that if the wrong people are hired, no matter how good the project is, it will be in vain when it is implemented.

But this question is difficult to answer. Today is not the future. These family members and idle workers who were born in the 1950s and 1960s generally have low education levels. Due to some historical reasons, their behaviors and concepts often have some differences that are not known to outsiders. In short, they cannot do things that require a little technical content; and they are often unwilling to do those jobs that do not require much technical content but are relatively boring and difficult.

This is not simply to say that they cannot endure hardship, but that the current value atmosphere in drilling companies is somewhat impetuous. Many people would rather live a hard life than lose face - to some extent, this value state is somewhat similar to that of the idlers in the village.

Although not everyone is like this, but within the limit of 160 people...

After coughing, Section Chief He said, "Xiao Yang, you have to learn to discover the shining points in the masses... As far as I know, there are many family members in the company who are good at cooking. We can let a hundred flowers bloom and make efforts in the catering direction!"

When Section Chief He said this, not only the Section Chief, but also Director Zhang nodded in approval.

This is indeed true. As a place that gathers talents from all over the three southwestern provinces, the drilling company has innumerable special snacks and delicacies. Any famous southwestern dish you can name can most likely be made by the family members here, and the taste is not bad either.

Yang Mo heard his warning and hint and nodded slightly.

In fact, in addition to warning him not to use factory thinking at all times and rely on factories for all projects, Section Chief He's advice itself is quite forward-looking - as we all know, the famous Lanzhou Ramen in later generations, its predecessor was a small tertiary industry noodle restaurant of a certain central enterprise.

But unfortunately, it is the late 160s, not the s, and the reality is unlikely to allow them to spend more than ten years to slowly build a chain - of course, the most important thing is that unless you build a central kitchen and open up sales channels in the southern region, otherwise, given the current dining habits in Qilu and the management level of the drilling company, it is impossible for a single catering company to accommodate a workforce of people.

Catching the look of anticipation on Secretary Xie's face, Yang Mo smiled softly: "Of course, the culinary skills and special dishes made by the families of the drilling company are definitely worthy of being called a treasure..."

"In fact, according to Director Zhang's assessment, when the domestic urbanization rate is further improved, the market environment and logistics conditions are further improved, the catering industry will be the ultimate weapon for the drilling company's tertiary industry projects to break through the siege."

"It's just that...it's not appropriate to launch a restaurant chain project now."

After casually taking care of Director He's face, Yang Mo did not wait for others to express their opinions and continued, "In fact, in Director Zhang's opinion, the family members and idle employees of the drilling company, although they have various shortcomings, have an advantage that other units cannot match... they are smart!"

Active brain?
Hearing this answer that was not an answer, everyone looked at each other.

They admitted that due to regional cultural differences, people in drilling companies are generally much more active in thinking than people in Qilu. However, under the current mainstream values, it would be more appropriate to describe these people as "sly and cunning" rather than active in thinking.

Almost all members of Sun Jian's 152 drilling team participated in the private fundraising in Xialiu Village. In the first half of this year, several employees of Xintai Company, at the instigation of their relatives and friends, took advantage of the interval between the lignite transported from the small coal mine to the coal washing plant for processing and played a "pass the buck" game on the spot. Can you believe it? Only 11 tons of coking coal were left there, but the batch of tickets printed out changed hands 37.24 times in just three days, and the initial ex-factory price rose from 51.3 yuan/ton to yuan/ton, and finally returned to the coal mine. With this in and out, the company lost more than yuan.

Things like this are not isolated cases. Over the years, there have been countless strange things happening in the drilling company, at least half of which have some connection with some family members and idle employees. This kind of behavior that makes the company's top management extremely angry has become a bright spot in your mouth?
Seeing everyone staring at him, Yang Mo grinned and said, "Leaders, Director Zhang said that we should learn to look at things dialectically! - I know that some people's behavior is wrong, but this also shows that the family members of our company's employees and idle employees have active business thinking and great eloquence!"

"As long as we conduct strict screening when recruiting, refuse those with serious character flaws, and provide correct guidance, we can easily employ 160 people, and our ability to generate income is even better... Director Zhang and I both think this is a promising business!"

Everyone was not happy with what he heard, and Secretary Xie was even more nervous. He asked directly, "Xiao... Yang, right? What kind of project is Director Zhang planning to do? I feel like it has nothing to do with the company's existing tertiary industry projects."

Yang Mo laughed: "Leaders, in recent years, the documents above have been emphasizing innovation and reform... Since this is a pilot project, Director Zhang will naturally not put old wine in new bottles and focus only on the company's existing tertiary industry projects. After all, everyone is clear about the current objective situation. No matter how hard we try, the existing tertiary industry projects will not make much money, and there is no way to truly solve the employment problems of most family members and idle employees."

Yang Mo paused and said, "To be precise, Director Zhang's idea is... Although this pilot project does not focus on any of the company's existing tertiary industry projects, it encompasses all of the tertiary industry projects... As long as the pilot project runs smoothly, in one or two years at most, in addition to generating income, the employment problems of the company's family members and idle employees can be solved, even if they cannot be completely solved, they can be absorbed by most of them!"

Everyone was shocked and confused after hearing this.

In addition to generating income, can it also solve the employment problems of most family members and idle workers?

Do you know what this concept is?

To put it bluntly, if your Director Zhang can really do this, let alone who he supports, even if he himself wants to take the position of the next general manager, it will be an ironclad matter... Even if General Manager Wang comes back, it won't work!

After taking a hidden look at Director Zhang, who had been sitting like a Maitreya Buddha, and finding that he also had empty eyes, Section Chief He coughed and looked at Yang Mo cautiously: "Xiao Yang, what kind of pilot project are you... your General Office planning to do?"

Seeing that even an old fox like Section Chief He was almost exposed, Yang Mo was amused and smiled mysteriously: "Leaders, have you heard of the term [hedging]?"

Hedging?
The crowd, who had never heard of such financial terms, looked at each other in bewilderment...

(End of this chapter)