Tao Te Ching and Wuwei Management

Chapter 39 5 "Those who don't lose their place last long": Managers must be infinitely persistent and fanatical about valuable things!
It is better to seize the opportunity of the future than to seize the opportunity of the present.

Those who do not lose their place for a long time. —— "Tao Te Ching" Chapter 33
In Lao Tzu's view, if a person wants to stand for a long time, he must have his own foundation, that is, he must have "core competitiveness".This is especially important for business managers.

Hoffman was originally the owner of a small chemical factory.At that time, scientists had already synthesized vitamins, but they had not yet entered the stage of clinical application.Once, Hoffman overheard someone talking about the role of vitamins in the human body.He vaguely felt that this product might have great market prospects.He immediately went to ask scientists for knowledge about vitamins. Soon after, he sold his chemical plant, bought vitamin patents with the funds obtained, and borrowed heavily to establish Hoffman Pharmaceutical Company to prepare for the production of vitamins.

Hoffman's move horrified his relatives and friends, and even his submissive wife was furious at him.They generally thought it was a crazy move.If vitamins are not accepted by the market, wouldn't he lose his original foundation?But Hoffman firmly believes that since vitamins are very beneficial to the human body, there is no reason why they should not be accepted by the market.

Facts proved Hoffman's judgment.As the value of the vitamin was further confirmed by scientists, it became a popular product.While other entrepreneurs have followed suit, Hoffman Pharmaceuticals has captured more than half of the world's market.

Today, Hoffman Pharmaceuticals is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world.

In general, one way successful people judge the success or failure of something is: Is it worthwhile?How many people is it worth?Is its value easily accepted?Is its value easy to realize?How many competitors are there?If a matter is valuable to many people, and it is easy for people to benefit, and there is no obvious conflict with social values, and there are not many competitors involved in the competition, then the odds of winning this matter must be very high, and it is worth you to stick to it .

American businessman Silas Field had saved a lot of money when he retired, but at this time he had a whim, and wanted to lay a cable connecting Europe and the United States on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.He then devoted himself to promoting the cause.

Early groundwork included building a 1000-mile telegraph line from New York to St. John's, Newfoundland.Newfoundland's 400 miles of cable lines run through untouched forests, so getting the job done included building not just a telegraph line, but a road of equal length.In addition, it also includes a total of 440 miles of lines across the entire island of Cape Breton, plus the laying of cables across the Strait of St. Lawrence, the whole project is very huge.

Field pulled out all the stops and finally got funding from the British government.Subsequently, the laying work of Field began.One end of the cable rested on the British flagship "Agamemnon" moored in Sebatopol Harbor, and the other end was placed on the US Navy's newly built luxury frigate "Niagara".However, when the cable reached 5 miles, it suddenly got caught in the machine and broke.

Field was not discouraged, and then conducted a second test.In this experiment, when the cable was 200 miles long, the current was suddenly interrupted.The people on board paced anxiously up and down the deck.Just when Mr. Field was about to order to cut the cable and give up the experiment, the electric current suddenly and miraculously appeared.During the night, the boat sailed slowly at 4 mph, and the laying of the cable was also carried out at 4 mph.At this time, the ship suddenly tilted severely, the brake braked urgently, and unfortunately cut the cable again.

Field is not one to give up easily.He ordered another 700 miles of cable, and hired a specialist to design a better machine for the long run.Later, experts from the United Kingdom and the United States joined forces to drive out the machine.Eventually, both ships sailed on, one to Ireland and the other to Newfoundland, only to run out of cables.Less than thirteen miles apart, the cable disconnected again; when it was reconnected, the two boats continued their voyage, and when they were eight miles apart, the current ceased again.After the cable was connected a third time, 13 miles laid, it was disconnected 8 feet from the "Agamemnon", and the two ships finally had to return to the coast of Ireland.

Many people involved in this matter were discouraged, public opinion also showed a skeptical attitude, and investors also lost confidence in this project and were unwilling to invest again.At this point, had it not been for Mr. Field, had it not been for his indomitable spirit, his genius for persuasion, the project might have been abandoned.Field continued to work day and night for this, even to the point of forgetting to sleep and eat, he was not reconciled.

So, the fourth attempt started again.This time all went well, all the cables were laid without any interruption, several messages were sent through this long submarine cable, everything seemed to be finished, but suddenly the current stopped again.

At this time, everyone was desperate, only Field was always full of confidence.It is precisely because of this unremitting perseverance that he finally found investors and started a new round of attempts.Field bought better quality cables.This time it was the "Great Orient" that performed the laying task. It sailed slowly to the ocean and laid the cables along the way.All went well until finally, while laying the 600-mile cable line across Newfoundland, the wire snapped and fell to the bottom of the ocean.They salvaged it several times, but without success.Therefore, this work was put on hold.

Later, a new type of cable with performance much higher than ordinary cables was manufactured. On July 1866, 7, the new test began again, and it was successfully connected, sending the first transatlantic telegram.The telegram read: "July 13th. We arrived at our destination at 7 p.m. and all was well. Thank God! Cables are all laid and running perfectly. Silas Field." The cable was brought up again, and reconnected, all the way to Newfoundland.

People always need to have some fanatical dreams to inspire themselves.The similarity between Hoffman and Field's success is that after making a genius judgment, no matter how others look at it, they are persistent and fanatical about their ideals.Every entrepreneur will go through a lot of hardships. If you don't have boundless passion for your own creativity, it will be difficult to persevere.When some people encounter a failure, they regard it as Napoleon's Waterloo, and they lose their courage and never recover from a setback.However, in the eyes of the strong and resolute, there is no so-called Waterloo.Those entrepreneurs who are determined to win and succeed, even if they fail, do not end up with a temporary failure. They will continue to fight for the original goal, and stand up again after each failure. They are stronger than before. Work forward with confidence and never stop until you reach your goal.

(End of this chapter)