Ren Zhengfei leads Huawei Technologies, one of the world's largest manufacturer of telecommunication hardware and mobile phones. Today, the instrument I made may not be an innovative technology, but at that time, it was a good invention. So we believe our engagement with the German government will be endorsed by the Chinese government. We will also increase our sales revenue, which is now more than 100 billion US dollars, to around 250 billion US dollars. The Opportunities and Challenges of Global Teams. Amazon, Google, and many others all have their own focus areas. For example, if AI is applied to tractors, they will be able to work 24 hours a day. Secondly, hes full of enthusiasm and ambition. In total, 300,000 to 400,000 people have joined Huawei, but only around 180,000 people decided to stay. Meng is now in a similar situation. Ren has unique qualities which make him different from other, leaders. In the early years Huawei had the tradition to regularly invite scholars from the East and the West to talk about the histories of their countries. Autocratic leadership: It is also known as pragmatic leadership. If that happens, we will just sell our products to other countries that do accept us. Our strategy for investment is like this: If a technology is still two billion light years away, we may invest just a little money, like a sesame seed. Arjun Kharpal: But the US has put intense pressure on some of its allies in Europe, for example, Germany and the UK, to block Huawei from 5G networks. So I'll let her face what she is facing. Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com. We believe US laws are open, transparent, fair, and just. Publication Date: At that time, China didn't accept Mendel's theories; instead, we followed Ivan Michurin's theories. Intel only makes chipsets. What we have is not some kind of nuclear bomb or weapon. He does not only consider this kind of power to be an important personal characteristic but sees it as an essential part of the Huawei culture. So we will leave these issues up to the courts. As a leader, Ren Zhengfei insists on self-criticism and careful consideration. We set prices based on our costs, which were relatively low. One story that stayed with Zhengfei was the overthrow of King James II of England by a union led by William of Orange in 1688, which was called the Glorious Revolution. Struggling a bit can be good for them. Zhengfei was very clear about this ambition and demanded that all Huawei employees would adopt the US-based way of looking at business as introduced by IBM. Steve Jobs is known more internationally. Essential in his idea to compete, however, is that it should be done with respect for its opponents. Many companies' financial statements last year weren't great because they needed to pay income tax arrears. We just provide the equipment used to build these networks. Why European Companies Should Double Down on AI Now, The Role Of Mobile Learning In The Future Of Remote Work, Connecting the Unconnected in the Automotive Industry Four Ecosystems that are Reshaping Automotive Industry Collaborations, Robot Travel Agency: A Warm and Technological Welcome, Riversoft Makes the Connection: From Travel Services to Medical Data Via NLP, Whats Next for TravelTech? This shows that the little rabbit or mouse must have something great to offer. Its fighting spirit, however, made it resistant to many negative influences and today Huawei can be called the only true global Chinese company. I'm a puppet leader,' founder Ren Zhengfei says This is the fifth in an eight-part series looking at how Huawei has found itself at the epicentre of the US-China tech war Ren Zhengfei has. As mentioned earlier, the first two decades of Huaweis existence were dominated by the force of attack in order to survive and gradually become a better service provider. In China, leadership has traditionally been grounded in a hierarchical top-down management system. From what has been discussed above, we can easily find the relationship between the leadership of Ren zhengfei and the rise of Huawei. This is a challenging competency and a powerful one. This practice allowed managers to become more active and creative, but also created chaos. Arjun Kharpal: Mr. Ren, you talk a lot about the distance between Huawei and the Chinese government. When I can't find a better term to easily describe how business works, I use military terms. Despite this controversy, Huawei received support from both Ericsson and Nokia, stating that in their view Huawei was not dumping its products. However, most of us. For example, Huawei plans the development of the company by decade, whereas most of their competitors such as Ericsson and Motorola plan it by financial quarter or year. I stuck our 180,000 employees together, and encouraged them to forge ahead. For example, In the UK, Huawei has put much effort into convincing the British government and general public that they and their procedures can be trusted, by (a) Setting up the Cyber Security Evaluation Centre in Banbury to ensure the quality of their equipment, and (b) Cooperating with the GCHQ, the UKs signals-intelligence agency, to ensure that the, The European Business Review uses cookies to improve site functionality, provide you with a better browsing experience, and to enable our partners to advertise to you. Figure 1: The Leadership Lessons of Ren Zhengfei 1. Ren Zhengfei has lead Huawei to become a global brand making the top global 100 by 2017 (Huawei 2017). Huawei has indeed invested considerably in creating a learning driven culture where the power of the mind is visible. We have become what we are today with our own strength. Tian Tao is codirector of Ruihua Innovative Management Research Institute at Zehjiang University. This helps the US greatly improve their national reserve. Arjun Kharpal: Have you tried to reach out to the president to speak to him about it? CEO's are the driving force behind any for-profit organisation. Do you feel that technology has been a force for good or a force for evil? We are going to make this happen. They wouldn't need to rest, just to refuel. In a way obsessed by doing good for the customer, Zhengfei is relentless in communicating this purpose by means of stories to his employees and convincing them that they all should be dedicated to pursue the mission of the company: To connect people via communication.. Therefore, we will count on the law to address these issues. Elon Musk, for example, has continuously warned about the impacts on jobs and actually, artificial intelligence getting more intelligent than humans. November 12, 2015. Lets look at each, drawing on examples from our own experience and that of well-known successful leaders. She has understood the difficulties that the company is facing and wants to help us see this through. Arjun Kharpal: Have you spoken to her recently? In the next two or three decades, technology will advance even faster. Living in such extremely harsh conditions and working on such a highly modernized project was really a good experience for me. When I look back on how Huawei developed in the telecom market, we actually made some missteps. With AI, workers will be ten times more efficient, so the US will be a major technological powerhouse with an output equal to that of 3 billion people. Why do you think that is? This is because technology is lifeless and can be widely applied. Then scientists realized the value of genes and DNA. Because they are simple and easy to understand. Director, CEO Born on October 25, 1944 into a rural family where both parents were school teachers, Mr. Ren Zhengfei spent his primary and middle school years in a remote mountainous town in Guizhou Province. So we've decided that our. None of the information on this website is investment or financial advice. Access more than 40 courses trusted by Fortune 500 companies. Arjun Kharpal: I want to talk a bit about your management style. What do you make of his views? Obviously this has required a strict control of information, which attaches a flavor of secrecy and even mystery to the behavior of Mr. Ren Zhengfei. It is good for society and can greatly increase social wealth. Our scientists spotted it and spent 10 years turning his theories into the 5G standards of today. In the first decade of the developing of the company, Huawei is needy for all kinds of human resources. Without the leadership Ren zhengfei has, there could not have been todays Huawei. I said I couldn't even imagine what it would look in two or three years. .. . .. .. Ren Zhengfei is successful Chinese businessman. Decisions were taken much slower than in the first more chaotic years of the company and fear existed that the bravery and courage underlying the companys striving for innovation would disappear. It has grown the market, enabling many other companies to survive. Is that useful to the company, or do you find that a distraction? The importance of thinking, in his view, is that it provides the skills to connect the dots needed to work with an agile vision and strategy. He is very careful not to feed the myth of his leadership and rather emphasises the importance of working hard in the success story of Huawei. Our employees are used to the way I speak. Mr. Ren: I think the most essential factors to judge guilt are facts and evidence. The number of Chinese companies investing and engaging in acquisitions in Europe has seen a steep growth curve. In the early years, Huawei, as a private company, had to battle primarily the State Owned Enterprise (SOE) dominated market. The Laissez-Fair Leadership Style 1085 Words | 5 Pages They are engaging elements of transformational leadership in which leaders get great illustrations who increased in value, respected, replicated and trusted by subordinates ; . However, we are not in any position to require other companies to do the same. This incentive performance system ensures that people are not only motivated to work hard towards collective success, but probably even more importantly it ensures that Huawei really is an employee-owned company. If we didn't abide by those laws and regulations, we wouldn't survive even a day. Ren is the son of school teachers and grew up in a mountainous. This is fundamental to solving problems. As society moved forward, AI was made possible. We don't talk about anything else, because we know that our communication is being monitored. But we will not distribute this extra money to our employees or shareholders. Ren said, "Huawei people, especially the leaders . For example, as the products of Huawei in their pioneering years were not yet well developed he visited many R&D offices abroad. With Huawei becoming the largest telecommunications equipment manufacturer in the world, Ren zhengfei has already become a paradigm We should not worry that it will hinder social progress. One key OQ competency is sending messages that reinforce the strategy. Arjun Kharpal: Mr. Ren, you said you haven't spoken to Mr. Trump, but what do you think of his leadership style and his tactics? And then, once we had established some market presence, we began to build up capital. So there is no need to worry too much about some comments posted on the Internet. At Huawei, we have two major areas that we are focusing on for the future. Interestingly, such a strategy suggests that a power of thinking attitude aligns with a shared learning orientation. We will wait for the court to make its judgment. Indeed, EU officials initially wanted to investigate the anti-dumping act in relationship to Huaweis products. Get your Culture in Good Shape, Not Lost in Translation: Making the Data Make Sense. Particularly the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21, His ability to critically reflect on past successes and at the same time to identify the future challenges in the next decade makes Zhengfei an impactful business leader in the eyes of many Chinese. Mr. Ren: They are more than welcome to come visit us in Shenzhen. KPMG wouldn't hide anything for us. | All rights reserved. And also, some countries have also said that Huawei could be a risk because it could work for the Chinese government and carry out espionage on behalf of Beijing. His message resonated throughout the Chinese corporate world; one of the sledgehammers now sits in the National Museum of China. But I don't think Huawei can help solve the disputes between the US and China. Mr. Ren: I think my children have grown up without experiencing much hardship. We only focus on edge computing. Its founder, Ren Zhengfei, has recently even referred to Europe as a market where they feel at home as a telecom company. It makes that he is characterised by his employees as someone who leads with his heart and moves with his mind. On April 12, at the "16+1 Summit" in Croatia, Premier Li repeatedly told all our employees not to install backdoors on networks. A good theatrical moment reverberates as stories about (and, more recently, videos of) the event are passed along. Got a confidential news tip? Fuelled by his passion, Ren Zhengfei works hard to translate the purpose of the company into a vision aimed at Huawei achieving a world leading status. Later, that company stopped working with us. Back then, it would reach minus 20-something degrees Celsius in the winter. This was because we were never intended to engage in military operations. 5G made progress. Many Chinese believe the blueprint for Huawei's success was created by its founder and long-time CEO, Ren Zhengfei. Or do you feel sometimes they are intimidated by that style of leadership? This is how, John Sutherland on Leadership and Teamwork, Pro-active Leadership: How to overcome procrastination and be a bold decision-maker, ChatGPT and Its Impact on Author Transparency in Scientific and Academic Journals, How New Age Entrepreneurs are Changing the Way We Think About Business, Layoffs in Tech: Redistribution of Resources Amid a Tech Transformation. After, completing his school, He attended the university named Chongqing and then Ren Zhengfei, joined Peoples Liberation Army research institute as, he wishes to work as a military technologist, reportedly in the PLA's Information Technology research unit. Second, Huawei is being stuck in an extremely difficult situation the US is launching intense attacks against us. AI will benefit our society. Take machine translation as an example. We live in a very connected world. So firstly, we must abide by Chinese laws and regulations. Being born blind and deaf is caused by missing of genes. We just focus on a single point. Underlying his focus on story telling is his strategy to energise people and introduce a sense of vitality to the projects that need to be undertaken. What Industries are the Best Teachers for International Managers? This fact inspired him to embrace the idea that one can win and still be cooperative. I was naive and took it for granted that I could earn money playing with this huge industry. The road to success for Huawei started in 1987 where it was founded in the economic testing zone of Shenzhen. I can share some numbers with you. When we were negotiating with the German government about signing such an agreement, we didn't know top officials from the Chinese government were also discussing the same thing. Mr. Ren: In a long run, I can tell you clearly that I will retire as I won't be alive forever but in a short term, it depends on my mental agility as I get older. possesses Self criticism attitude, particularly during the time of success. Nevertheless, as the market evolved and employee characteristics shifted, the shortcomings of Ren's management model grew ever apparent. The authors describe seven characteristics of Zhengfei's leadership style, including 'adaptive vision', 'humble dedication' and 'winning by cooperating'. This is beyond what anyone had imagined. So productivity will be greatly improved. If no one dares to invest in the US, then how can they make up for lost tax revenue? This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. High-OQ leaders rebel from the top. At that time, China was just beginning with its reform and open-up policy, and was paying more attention to technology, talent, and knowledge. Saying that he was great is an understatement. One of the consistent qualities that have been attributed to Ren Zhengfei is his ability to inspire others. This does mean though that many translators and stock analysts and the like will lose their jobs. While pursuing this vision, he continuously has proven his ability to design strategies that enabled him to adapt his vision to the challenges that the company faces. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. It's now just a scientific fantasy, and wouldn't necessarily ever happen. I could not keep up with the times. No backdoors. Ren innovation skills and technical knowledge. It commemorates the long-ago day when CEO Zhang Ruimin pulled 76 refrigerators off the production line. They are out of the ordinary and unexpected. company using his skills and core competencies. For example, in the early years of Huawei (Phase 1), he regularly told stories to employees that he believed that in 20 years Huawei would have 1/3 of the market share in the world, despite the fact that at that time Huawei only employed about 200 employees. Our relationship with the Chinese government is primarily defined by these two points. After I was discharged from the army, I ran into a big trouble at work. So the standards the US finds so compelling are actually all built on a single mathematics article. Important in this whole management process is that his use of an adaptive vision never compromises the purpose and values of the company. It's a wealthy country, so it has a lot to lose. (Academic publishing, he believed, was a necessary but not a sufficient condition for RSM to be recognized as a top business school.) So instead, we choose to narrow our focus, like a needle point, on a specific area where we can make breakthroughs. When Huawei was just founded, the world of communications was extremely under-developed. This revolution was also referred to as the bloodless revolution because the victory of William of Orange was achieved without bloodshed. Thirdly, its his sense of management that helps him to become an excellent leader. For the rest, let the organization keep doing what it does well. So it would be impossible for us to provide customer information to any third party. I would have to repay tens of billions of dollars in debts. This case focuses on the distinctive "paternalistic" leadership and management style of Ren Zhengfei, founder of Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (hereinafter "Huawei") and considers whether. Moving forward, we will invest more in this direction. I also participated in a large project that brought equipment in from France. 2023 CNBC LLC. The university had charged him with increasing revenue and strengthening relationships with the business community while maintaining RSMs high level of academic research. Huaweis competitors assumed that they only had to provide the technology to the customer. Huawei, one of the biggest company focusing on making communication tools like cellphones, is famous all over the world. Many will say that the blueprint of Huaweis success has been laid out by Zhengfei and even though Huawei nowadays makes use of a rotating leadership system in which every six months another board member is the acting CEO, its founder still has a significant impact on the pace and direction of the company. What they lack and what successful leaders embody, down to their marrow is organizational intelligence. And he left other core aspects of the business, such as steadily improving the retail offer (Every little helps), untouched. This practice differed from the ones used by Western companies, which had advanced technologies and equipment, but ignored their services sector. AI is also developing faster than what we can imagine. But there are still more than 180,000 employees working at Huawei. With an "umbrella", Apple sells at high prices and maintains high quality. Ren described it as a blend of three qualities: extreme resilience, a willingness to self-sacrifice, and sharp predator instincts. Iterative succession must take place in an orderly fashion. The best illustration of how rewards are shared is the fact that Zhengfei only holds 1.4% of the companys total share capital whereas 82,471 employees hold the rest of the shares (stated in Huaweis 2014 Annual report, as of December 31, 2014). Arjun Kharpal: But what was the personal effect of her arrest on you as a father? 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Actually, artificial intelligence getting more intelligent than humans improve their national reserve, once we established... Considerably in creating a learning driven culture where the power of thinking aligns...