Li Ka-shing’s Three Principles

By Wang Shuo

童年時代的李嘉誠Li Ka-shing in his childhood

I interviewed Li Ka-shing in 2013, when he had just begun preparing for retirement. I was recently granted another opportunity to interview him; and on the day I met him at his 70th floor office in Cheung Kong Center, the entire building was enshrouded by an ethereal cover of mist. Here I was,back at the very same place I’d interviewed him the first time,and visions of those past events and stories that happened at Victoria Harbor danced in front of my eyes.

As it turns out, his retirement went off without a hitch. As the old saying goes, “Every project has a beginning, but not many have an ending.” But for Li Ka-shing,the beginning and the ending were both equally triumphant. He made sure that every project not only made a promising start but came to a roaring conclusion. And so, he is truly deserving of the title he has been bestowed with by the adoring throngs of Hongkongers:“The Superman of Business.” And his every word and deed have never betrayed his reputation as the “most philanthropic billionaire on Hong Kong island.”

As a successful businessman, a guardian of business and a happy family man, Li Ka-shing left his flourishing business empire at the height of its power to his worthy heir, just as it was flushed with cash, had consistently exemplary performance, and had attained global reach. His distinguished life and career culminated in a climax and ended in calmness.

It was during this interview that he imparted me his three principles that had sustained him throughout his career and life.

The first is constant study. At the age of twelve, Li Ka-shing dropped out of school and had to work for a living. I once asked him, which book had impressed him most; the answer was a second-hand book he had once purchased from a street vendor,whose theme was how to treat patients with tuberculosis (TB).He got the disease from his father,and at that time there was no effective treatment for TB. Yet,using the methodology provided in the book, Li Ka-shing saved his father and himself by his own power. Since then, buying second-hand books from street vendors has become something of a curious addiction, and he has become a hardcore book lover.

“Knowledge is power.” This is the saying that he mentioned three times in the conversation.Li, a teenage boy stricken with TB who worked diurnally and read nocturnally, woke up every morning with a book lying on his chest. Then one day the secretary at the company he worked for resigned, and the manager asked the grunt workers at the bottom rung of the ladder who was good at pen-and-paper writing–Li’s name was mentioned unanimously. Li’s manager asked him whether he was familiar with the abacus, to which he replied yes. He was then asked whether he knew accounting, to which he replied in the affirmative. This resulted in him being promoted to the position of accountant, where his salary doubled.

李嘉誠三個要訣

文/王爍

2013年專訪李嘉誠，那時他的退休計劃剛開始執行，從長江中心70層辦公室看出去，云霧繚繞。近日再度專訪，退休計劃完美收官，從同一位置看去，維港風物歷歷在目。

靡不有初，鮮克有終。李嘉誠有始有終，不負“超人”之名。多年來，人們心目中的香港首富總是非他莫屬。

賺得了錢，守得住業，管得住家，李嘉誠把現金充沛、業務穩健、全球布局的商業帝國，金甌無缺地交給下一代。達至巔峰后，他平靜下山。

李嘉誠對我講了三個要訣。

第一，始終學習。為生計，李嘉誠12歲即輟學打工，但不曾放下過書本。我問他印象最深的是哪本書，回答是兒時淘來的一本二手書，講如何護理肺結核患者。當時肺結核并無有效療法，父親將此疾傳染給他，他根據書中教授的方法照顧父親并自理，幸而得愈。后來他學會用廢品價格買二手書，從此手不釋卷。

“知識改變命運。”李嘉誠對我講了不下三次。

癆病少年日間打工，夜里讀書，醒來發現書壓在胸口。直到有一天秘書離職，老板問工友誰能代筆寫信，一屋人指著李嘉誠。一試稱職后，老板又問：珠算你懂不懂？回答：懂。再問：會計你懂不懂？再答：懂。于是他成了會計，工資漲了一倍。

第二，做沒有天花板的事。很快，李嘉誠決定不做會計而做銷售員。他認為，會計工資高但前途有限；銷售員起薪低，又辛苦，但空間無限。做銷售的第一年，李嘉誠業績比第二名高出7倍。

幾年后，李嘉誠決定單干。30歲之前，他已經掙夠“一生所需要的錢”。

第三，多元化。在同級香港富豪中，唯有李嘉誠做到了全球布局，也就是地域多元化，業務遍布50多個國家。在香港地產價格高企的時候，多元化使李嘉誠的名義資產一度低于其他專一于香港地產的富豪，但事實證明，多元化才是屹立的基石。

多元化還有另一層含義。今天長江集團旗下資產中，50%以上已是形形色色的收租型資產，帶來穩定的現金流。這些基業交給大兒子李澤鉅管理。二兒子李澤楷敢想敢為，李嘉誠給他現金支持，任他放飛。而“第三個兒子”——李嘉誠基金會專注慈善，間接持有多項風險投資。在三個“兒子”之間，李嘉誠順勢做杠鈴式配置：最安全資產與最冒險投資各在一頭，各安其位。

（摘自《財新周刊》2018年第12期）

The second principle is choosing a career with great prospects. Later, Li decided not to be an accountant and became a salesperson instead. For what reason? He reckoned that being an accountant earned more, but that there was a glass ceiling in the profession. A salesperson may receive a lower salary, but the skills built and networking opportunities give the trade limitless potential. In the first year as a salesperson, Li Ka-shing sold seven times more than the second-place salesperson in the company. A few years later, Li again decided to start his own business. Before he was thirty he had earned “more money than he could spend in a lifetime.”

The third principle is to never put one’s eggs in one basket,meaning to diversify one’s interests. Among his wealthy cohorts, Li Ka-shing was the only one who had expanded to a global level. Li’s business empire had penetrated markets in over fifty countries and regions. At a time when Hong Kong’s real-estate prices were rising exponentially, it was diversification that made Li’s nominal wealth seem lower than those rich who focused business in Hong Kong, yet, as evidenced by the continued growth of his businesses, it was diversification that allowed Li’s enterprises to have such staying power.

Yet there was something else about diversification that has another revelation. More than fifty percent of the revenues in Cheung Kong Holdings come from rental units, which have led to consistent and stable capital inflows. These rental properties are now under the direction of Li Ka-shing’s elder son, Victor Li Tzar-kuoi, who has shown himself to be a responsible and astute businessman. As for Li Ka-shing’s second son, Richard Li Tzar-kai,his creativity and pragmatism have been greatly appreciated by his father, who decided to provide him with financial support for his own career. Finally, Li Kashing’s “third son,” namely, the Li Ka Shing Foundation, was set up solely for philanthropic causes,while indirectly holding some sources of venture capital.

In mentoring his two children and guiding his third, Li Kashing never forgot to strike a balance between diversification and specialization: putting the safest capital on one side, and the riskiest on the other side. Through smart business moves and wise management, Li Ka-shing managed to realize both durability and profitability in all his business ventures, which is precisely why he has achieved the sage-like status of the likes of Bill Gates or Warren Buffet in Hong Kong.

(From Caixin Weekly, Issue 12,2018. Translation: Gary Chen)