A High Aim Wins the Game

As the saying goes,“Ambitious goals just produce average results,while mediocre goals yield unsatisfactory results.” In running an enterprise,you need to set the bar high to make it more successful.

I’ve earned a reputation for being a tough and demanding boss—anyone in my team may be criticized or even sacked for poor performance.I’ve run three successful start-up companies,but at first,many people loathed me for being so strict at work,and some even said that I was a layman who always set unrealistic goals.

Let me give one example: we once purchased a four-star hotel owned by two French brothers on Zhongshan West Road in Shanghai.It had been run pretty well by the younger brother.When we took it over,the rate of gross operating profit (GOP)was around 30%,and my team proposed to raise it to 40%.However,I set the target of 70%,which meant that we had to make a gross profit of 70 yuan,instead of the previous 30 yuan,out of every 100 yuan.They all thought it was a crazy idea.

At that time,the general manager of the High-end Business Department,who had been transferred from a stateowned key enterprise recently,said,“Mr.Ji,you sound like an amateur.The target is way too high for our line of business.” But I refused to give in,“No! You don’t have to worry about the target I set.You should focus on how to achieve it instead.”

Surely,I was not a handsoff boss,and I worked with my colleagues to make it happen.For instance,there used to be a monitor room in the hotel,with three work shifts each day.Each shift needed at least two security guards,so six guards were recruited altogether.However,I noticed that the six elderly security guards on duty did nothing but drink tea and read newspapers,and as labor got more and more expensive,I came up with an idea: to move all the monitor screens to the front desk,and record all security cameras.Originally,the security camera footage was stored for a week,and now it can be stored for a month,and we can extend it for three months if necessary.Anyway,the hard disks are comparatively cheaper than labor costs.Furthermore,the fire alarm system was also relocated to the front desk where the fire siren could be heard immediately,with no old man staring at it all day long.The modification took a mere few thousand dollars,but it saved the labor costs of six guards in total,thus saving hundreds of thousands of dollars annually.

“取法乎上，僅得其中；取法乎中，僅得其下。”只有高標準、嚴要求，才能帶領一個企業(yè)越來越強。

我?guī)F隊要求高是出了名的，如果覺得不行，會批評，會淘汰。我做了三家創(chuàng)業(yè)公司，起初很多人都不待見我的嚴苛，甚至說我不懂行，總提不切實際的要求。

舉一個例子，我們在上海的中山西路收了一家四星級酒店，是一對法國兄弟的，那家酒店由弟弟管理，管得非常好。我們接手的時候，這家店的GOP 率（經(jīng)營毛利潤率）大概是30%左右。我們團隊接手后，提出將GOP 率提升到40%左右，而我給他們的目標卻是70%的GOP 率：原來我們收100 塊錢，經(jīng)營毛利潤是30 塊錢，現(xiàn)在我收100 塊錢要賺70 塊錢。他們覺得這幾乎是不可能的。

當時有一個央企出來的同志剛來我這里做高端事業(yè)部總經(jīng)理，他對我說，老季啊，你不懂行，我們這行沒有這么高的GOP 率。我說，不行，你不要考慮我給的目標對不對，應該考慮如何達到。

當然，我提高了要求，也會和他們一起分析如何達成70%的GOP 率。比如說，酒店原來有個監(jiān)控房，24 小時三班倒輪流值班。我一看，基本上這些大爺就蹺個腳在那兒喝茶看報紙。三班倒，一班至少2 個人，那就是6 個人，而現(xiàn)在人工越來越貴。那么很簡單，把監(jiān)控屏幕移到前臺，并對所有的監(jiān)控頻道錄像，原來錄像只存一周，現(xiàn)在可以存一個月，一個月不夠存三個月，反正硬盤很便宜。消防警報系統(tǒng)放到前臺來——消防警報系統(tǒng)是非常響的，警報一響，前臺馬上能聽到，不需要盯著它看。整體改造幾萬元就搞定了，卻一下子減少了6 個人的人工，每年省下的人工費就是幾十萬。

The front desk had three work shifts before,with four or five receptionists in each shift,yet there were a bunch of “l(fā)eaders”and very few “doers” among them.Therefore,I adopted a selfcheck-in system,which meant that the guests could select a room and pay the bill on the way to the hotel,and upon arrival,they could fetch the room key right after photocopying and uploading their ID cards.This effective self-check-in system successfully helped us cut stafffrom more than a dozen to less than ten at the front desk.After the makeover,the GOP rate of the hotel surpassed the target I set.

I majored in mechanics at Shanghai Jiaotong University and I was good at mathematics,so I excelled at mathematical modeling and numbers.The number 70% was arrived at through careful calculation.Based on the hotel’s current business model,its GOP rate could reach 75% or even 80%—so actually,I had given it some leeway.I set the bar high to push my team to make a breakthrough.If you tell me“that’s just the way it is,” or “that’s the only solution,” then I will ask,“Why can’t you figure something out?” If you’re fettered by old conventions,it is impossible for you to think outside the box and surpass your predecessors,let alone achieve excellence.

Many companies retreat when facing difficulties,or give up when the problem is simply too tough.They can’t grow bigger or stronger this way.Setting the aim high is the only way for an enterprise to win the game.

(FromFounder’s Notes,Hunan People’s Publishing House.Translation: Zhu Yaguang)

前臺原來也是三班倒，每班四五個人，一堆領導，干活的很少。我全部改成自助登記入住。客人在來酒店的路上，就可以選好房間，并且把房費付掉。到了酒店，復印上傳身份證就可以拿到房卡了。一個很好的自動登記入住系統(tǒng)，把前臺的工作人員從10 個變成幾個。如此這般一番改造，今天這個酒店的GOP 率，已經(jīng)超過了我提出的70%。

我在上海交大是學力學的，數(shù)學不錯，對建模、數(shù)字很敏感。70%這個數(shù)字是我估算出來的，不是隨口胡說。以這個酒店的商業(yè)模式，GOP 率其實是能夠做到75%甚至80%的，所以我還是留了余地的。我對團隊有高要求，他們才有可能突破過去的框架。如果你告訴我事情本來就是這樣的，就只有這個方案，那我會問：為什么只能是這樣呢？如果約定俗成、按部就班、因循守舊，就沒有可能突破原有框架，進而超越前輩，成為后來居上的卓越者。

很多企業(yè)往往碰到困難就退，碰到問題就縮，這樣很難做大做強。只有取法乎上，才能讓企業(yè)茁壯成長。

（摘自《創(chuàng)始人手記》湖南人民出版社）