Top experts are all cultivating these three fundamental abilities.

We often long to experience that sort of spontaneous travel, yet we never seem to set out. But there was a 75-year-old man who did just that. He is Zhao Muhe, a motivational figure who continued to chase his academic dreams at an advanced age.

In 1998, at 87 years old, Zhao Muhe, in order to motivate his grandson to study hard, applied to university together with him. Though he did not succeed that year, Zhao did not become discouraged, and the following year, both were admitted to the Art Department of the Open University of Taiwan. During his studies, Zhao Muhe became an exceptional student who, despite being several times older than his peers, insisted on accepting the same challenges and demands as the other young students.

The discussion and reporting segments of the graduate courses were particularly intense, but Zhao never lightened his own task load due to his age advantage and always gave his best. Until 2012, when Zhao Muhe turned 100, his calligraphy works were appreciated and collected by the British Museum, and his life story was published as a best-selling autobiography, “Leisurely Strolling for 100 Years,” during his centennial year.

In 2013, Zhao Muhe and his grandson completed their studies together and graduated at the same time, an event that attracted widespread attention in society. Two years later, Zhao continued his academic exploration by auditing classes at the Department of Chinese Language at National Tsing Hua University. Although he was only an auditor, his strict approach to learning and his respectful and active participation earned him unanimous high praise from both teachers and students.

This story is of great significance to us; it tells us that as entrepreneurs, in addition to focusing on the results of entrepreneurship, we should cultivate a spirit of facing challenges with courage and never admitting defeat.

Regarding the development of leadership, it is a topic that every growing organization must face. Leadership is not simply about management and command abilities, but is led by the personal and team’s mission vision, aiming to achieve common goals. The five levels of leadership include: the power to assess and evaluate subordinates, recognition from subordinates, the ability to lead a team to continuous success, the ability to enhance the growth of subordinates, and giving deep meaning to work, making team members feel the realization of mission, vision, and goals.

All of the above highlight the core of leadership: it is not about simply leading others, but rather setting an example, believing in and living out the organization’s vision, and inspiring and motivating others to jointly realize this vision. The meaning of work is not limited to individual achievements but is also about the resonance and recognition generated in the pursuit of goals.

For employees, there are two forms of compensation: Firstly, the material benefits from wages, bonuses, commissions, and equity. Secondly, the sense of satisfaction, achievement, and pride that comes from accompanying a company from its initial development to gradual growth, which also constitutes an important form of remuneration.

Therefore, when creating a company or building a platform, by instilling a mission, vision, and values, you can screen for those who enter the company and attract talent that aligns with the company’s philosophy to progress together. In this process, everyone experiences many positive emotions brought about by business development, which is also the deeper significance given by work and life.

Slow thinking is especially important when facing major decisions. During the entrepreneurship process, one must carefully consider aspects such as business logic, partners, short-term goals, and work performance standards. This meticulous thought process can be considered an “arduous struggle” of the mind. The reason for needing to struggle mentally is because brain activities consume a lot of energy, accounting for 20% to 30% of the body’s energy consumption. Throughout the long process of human evolution, to save energy, the brain has formed two modes of thinking: fast and deep. While fast thinking can save energy, slow thinking can bring clearer and more comprehensive judgments when dealing with complex and critical issues. Therefore, for entrepreneurs, the struggle of thought is necessary.

On the strategy of selecting partners: Entrepreneurship is viewed as a game of victory, with the goal being to achieve a successful end result. During this process, personal growth accompanies the rise and fall of the business. If something fails, then personal growth on that matter is also limited. Hence, to ensure the success of the business, forming the right team and leadership becomes a paramount issue. In the selection of partners, the premise is an in-depth understanding of the business and a rigorous examination of oneself. In the choice of partners, having complementary skills is especially critical.

Fang Shengtao proposed the concept of establishing a “true executive team,” while Zhongke Chuangxing introduced the “partner” mechanism, aimed at resolving the issue of selecting core decision-makers. An effective executive team needs to pay attention to some key issues; otherwise, it can easily become just superficial work. First, complex personal relationships among team members should be minimized to avoid potential communication barriers. Second, the leader should strive to maintain a healthy interpersonal environment outside of work, allowing team members to communicate in relaxed, non-work settings. Finally, a “gardener” role should be present in the team to continuously maintain internal relationships, resolve misunderstandings, and ensure the unity and development of the team.

As early as 2012, Mi Lei has focused on frontier technological fields with his strategic foresight, such as commercial space travel and autonomous driving. This forward-thinking stems from the considerable time and depth he has put into strategic planning. In contrast, I am more adept at operational management and pragmatic work, which is closely related to my investment experience and background as a professional manager. To execute such a strategy, entrepreneurs need to have a deep understanding of themselves, introspect, and clarify their own strengths and weaknesses, making wise choices and configurations when building a team.

Additionally, at different stages of enterprise development—such as startup, growth, maturity, and harvest—the competitiveness and strategies differ, as do the requirements for the top management team. For example, last year’s poor capital market posed many challenges to enterprise financing. In case of changes in partners, the configuration of the executive team also needs to be adjusted. Furthermore, whether the executive team members believe in the company’s mission and vision, whether they share common values, ethics, and life views becomes critical, as this directly affects team collaboration and decision-making.

In the beginning of entrepreneurship, these factors may not be entirely consistent, but team members need to be clear about each other’s life views and worldviews, recognize the differences and their impact on the company’s values and entrepreneurial philosophy.

Choosing the right middle managers is also critical; after reaching a certain stage of development, especially after closing the business loop and realizing profits, the most common complaint is the lack of execution from middle management. This often relates to the selection, use, and retention of early employees. The first 10 employees at the startup phase may be chosen because of their existing experience, but their potential and values may not be appreciated. Therefore, years later, when the enterprise urgently needs strong middle managers, it is found that the growth potential of old employees is limited, and the customer resources accumulated in their hands also make personnel adjustments costly.

Looking back on the selection process, the problem was that the candidates’ potential and their ability to grow with the company were not prioritized in the initial recruitment. If the criteria for choosing people at the time had included elements such as developmental potential, team cultivation, value alignment, and long-term contribution, perhaps different decisions could have been made. In the marathon of entrepreneurship, especially in technology ventures, long-term thinking is held in high esteem and becomes a core philosophy for many companies. However, this requires entrepreneurs to adhere to long-termism rather than short-term opportunism when making hiring decisions.

However, not all situations should be considered only from a long-term perspective. If taking advantage of short-term opportunities is crucial for business development, then swiftly bringing in talents who can immediately benefit the company is also sensible. But the key is that hiring decisions should not be confined to short-term considerations alone; they should involve comprehensive thinking about long-term development.

The paths to entrepreneurial success are numerous, but a commonly recognized key factor is having a talented and aligned human resources leader. During the early stages of a company, finding such suitable candidates to join the team can greatly enhance the enterprise’s momentum and effectively share the founder’s pressure. A fact that cannot be ignored is that more than half of the company’s business is directly linked to talent. Therefore, the addition of an excellent human resource executive is crucial to avoiding serious errors in personnel management, which directly affects the company’s development speed.

Any long-term entrepreneurial activity is a sustained competition. If significant results can be achieved in just three to five years, such opportunities would have already been captured by earlier entrepreneurs. It is a rare accomplishment for a company to achieve modest success in ten years in today’s business world, and for entrepreneurs, this is a correct developmental path. However, during the long-term operation and struggle, managing relationships between partners becomes another challenge for sustainable development. At the start of a business, partners are united in spirit, and conflicts are relatively easy to manage given the challenges they face. After entering the profit phase, as the value of equity increases, conflicts and disagreements gradually emerge, especially in the choice of investment direction. Different partners may advocate different growth strategies and capital allocations, based on what they believe is in the best interest of the company. Therefore, mutual tolerance and trust among partners become particularly important.

Regarding equity incentives, entrepreneurs should correctly assess their actual role in the success of the enterprise. One should not overestimate the effectiveness of equity incentives while neglecting the actual implementation, business operations, and grasping market opportunities. The connection between equity incentives and success is not direct and inevitable, and their impact is not as significant as some imagine. For example, our company, Zhongke Chuangxing, has implemented equity incentives, but we also realize that we should not become overly dependent on them. What enterprises urgently need to address are core issues such as skill development and strategic deployment. A shortage of skills cannot be merely compensated for by equity incentives, and sometimes, start-up companies need to focus on finding more talented individuals.

From another perspective, skills like climbing a tree must be left to a “cat” that excels in it, rather than forcing a “fish” to break through itself; no amount of motivation can change its nature. Therefore, for early-stage startups, establishing an equity incentive mechanism and forming an equity pool may be sufficient, rather than hastily proceeding with detailed distribution. The reason is that entrepreneurship is a long-term battle, and over time the ideal initial team will inevitably change—years later, the composition of the team may be completely different. Ultimately, we need to return to the root of the problem: Why is equity incentive established? What is its essential purpose? Understanding that equity incentive is merely a means to maximize team effort and align the company’s interests with individual interests, we can apply this strategy more wisely.

In the process of motivating team members to actively participate in work and achieve goals together, equity incentive is not the only means. In fact, there are many other ways to achieve the same effect. For example, why not consider allocating a portion of profits as a bonus to encourage team enthusiasm, or directly linking performance targets with rewards? We should think carefully and ensure that the company’s management system and incentive tools are fully utilized.

Founder’s Self-Cultivation

1. Entrepreneurship is a training ground
Entrepreneurship is not just a business activity, but also a process of personal growth for entrepreneurs. Through this process, entrepreneurs grow into their ideal selves. Among many entrepreneurs, only a few achieve success and the difficulty of this process increases over time. It can be said that every successful entrepreneur deserves our respect.

In today’s information age, entrepreneurs often find themselves in the public spotlight, their flaws are easily magnified or even maliciously slandered, which is not a positive phenomenon. If you can grow into an excellent entrepreneur, you must possess an open mind; otherwise, it is difficult to reach such heights. Additionally, you need to have a spirit of sharing, because if sharing is insufficient, a company cannot grow.

Striving to become a successful entrepreneur is the best way to self-cultivate during peacetime. A joke circulating on the internet nowadays says that different entrepreneurs raise their companies like different family members, some like “sons,” some like “daughters,” some treat them like “wives,” and even some like “fathers.” This reflects founders’ different mindsets and strategies. These are personal choices and there’s no absolute right or wrong. In some cases, a company being acquired by a larger platform is also a good thing for a company with limited resources.

To build a great company, founders often need to take on the role of a “grandson,” enduring all kinds of grievances. In my experience, when making investments, I may be the party B, and when dealing with less satisfying projects, I understand what it feels like to be party A. This kind of choice may directly affect the lifespan of a company’s development.

2. Requirements for Founders’ Abilities and Quality
From the moment of starting a business, one must be prepared to face all challenges, much like the all-capable Monkey King, Sun Wukong. First and foremost, founders must have the ability to endure grievances. Running a business is ultimately a commercial activity, and one must learn and follow the laws of commerce. Even if you might not be the most suitable candidate for CEO, you should still get along with the CEO you hire, supporting and understanding them in their work.

Founders should ask themselves whether they are willing to endure grievances for the growth of the company, even if these grievances may go unrequited and unheard. A true management team needs someone to play the role of the “gardener”, silently nurturing the growth of the business. Are you ready to take on this role? Entrepreneurs are advised to read more autobiographies of business leaders to draw inspiration and learn from the development paths and experiences of founders with different personalities.

Another indispensable ability is the capacity to learn, always maintaining a thirst and mastery of new knowledge. Learning should not be just simple accumulation of knowledge, but rather should emphasize the cultivation of critical thinking and deep understanding.

The importance of combining learning with practice lies in the integration of cognition and action. The accumulation of knowledge only represents an understanding and acceptance of something, but taking actual actions to grasp and utilize this knowledge is another matter. This deep understanding often involves putting theory into practice to ensure a more holistic mastery.

The importance of clear communication abilities is reflected in the ability to express thoughts simply and understandably. Only when you have a clear understanding of things can you explain them succinctly to others. This is not just a skill in communication, but also an insight into the full landscape of the industry. Understanding competitors, customers, and service targets, planning long-term milestones, recognizing potential obstacles, setting priorities appropriately, assessing required resources and organizational structure, and the competitive strategies at each stage are all part of the systematic thinking process.

Before realizing ideas in reality, each creative thought should first form a complete concept in the creator’s mind. The completion of this process is a prerequisite for entrepreneurial success. If your ideas are not yet mature, you might still be in the preparatory stage of entrepreneurship.

The ability to tell stories is also equally important. It not only helps you attract partners but also conveys your mission and vision when seeking investment. A strong narrative ability can play a significant role in communicating company goals to employees and boosting morale. A good storyteller can touch the audience and win their hearts.

The mindset and character cultivation of founders is just as important as physical and intellectual strength for entrepreneurship. Choosing to start a business means facing endless difficulties and challenges, and it means sacrificing the balance between work and life. Just as there is no reward without effort, entrepreneurship requires full commitment, which in itself is an unbalanced state. Entrepreneurs often face difficulties and challenges, rather than positive feedback.

The most essential qualities to possess are kindness and love — referred to as “tough love” in business management. This love demands setting expectations for subordinates based on the company’s development and external competitive standards, underpinned by growth and assistance. A founder must truly love their enterprise and employees. Without this capacity to love and influence others, other abilities will remain superficial. A founder’s caring must be sincerely demonstrated in situations like performance reviews, so employees can genuinely feel it.

The entrepreneurial path is fraught with difficulties; for founders, the ability to see into the future and maintain optimism is crucial. Since not everyone can clearly see the future, creating a positive organizational atmosphere and celebrating every small achievement are important means to build morale and team cohesion.

Even founders of companies are not completely immune to self-doubt. At such times, the key is to learn self-reflection and awareness. Ask inwardly: What causes my self-doubt? What exactly am I doubting? Human nature includes fear — it may stem from economic insecurity, fear of losing control, or worry over betrayal. It’s important to analyze which of these fears are impacting your self-confidence and which are caused by external factors.

Beyond awareness of one’s emotions, people also need reminders and support from each other, seeking out those who can understand you—those who have no conflicting interests with you yet resonate with you. Because on the entrepreneurial journey, you will face various challenges, including but not limited to the distribution of benefits, choice of strategy, and conflicts of principle, which often cannot be shared with family or partners. At these times, communication with other entrepreneurs becomes particularly important.

When a problem is shared, it is often half-solved. After venting negative emotions, it becomes easier to move forward. Many issues require higher-level thinking to resolve. For example, as a business grows, team recruitment becomes easier due to scaling and increased visibility, which is actually a natural evolutionary process.

For a founder, “thinking” is an important and continuous process. The three principles and eight items outlined in the Chinese classic “The Great Learning,” including “investigating things, extending knowledge, having sincere thoughts, rectifying the heart, cultivating oneself, regulating the family, governing the state, and bringing peace to the world,” align well with my understanding of entrepreneurial spirit. Among them, “investigating things to extend knowledge” is understood as identifying industry opportunities or patterns, innovating technologies, business models, and production methods, thereby creating more value. This is the primary consideration in the entrepreneurial process.

The practice of “rectifying the heart and having sincere thoughts” involves asking oneself if you’re willing to invest all your wealth and time to seize the opportunity. Like Inamori Kazuo’s hesitation before founding Kyocera, he was deeply puzzled by his purpose in establishing a second company. But he ultimately realized that what he sought was not personal glory or wealth but to lower communication costs, giving the public more opportunities to communicate and express themselves. He believed that a startup must be founded on a grander philosophy or “greater good,” which transcends personal and organizational interests.

“Cultivating oneself and harmonizing the household” indicates the continuous improvement of oneself and the recruitment of other outstanding talents to strive for a common cause. “Governing the country and bringing peace to all under heaven,” at the corporate level, is about proactive management, which includes not only the core management team but also extends to mid-level employees and the entire team.

In the process of discussing entrepreneurship, the importance of building a system cannot be neglected. When we speak of “bringing peace to all under heaven,” it can be viewed as a specific industry sector. In this sector, everyone’s ultimate goal is to contribute to it, while earning respect from peers, creating value, and aiming to do better. Entrepreneurship is a gradual process that encompasses continuous improvement of personal capacity, thinking patterns, and emotional intelligence.

However, in the process of establishing a family, abilities such as fundraising, recognizing and utilizing talent, and defining the company become crucial. In summary, entrepreneurship is an activity of long-term investment. Typically, those projects that achieve success within three to five years become increasingly crowded; there will always be someone who acts faster than you, and the lowest-hanging fruits are the easiest to be taken. Those who achieve certain accomplishments within ten years are undoubtedly on a good competitive track.

Therefore, the path of entrepreneurship is filled with both hardships and pleasures. Those who persist must understand two things. The first is to clarify the strategy, to have clear thinking about the future direction; this is where confidence about the future lies. As Ren Zhengfei said, when Huawei was not yet sanctioned by the United States, there was a vague worry that the lack of external pressure would make employees relaxed. But once the US sanctions began, Huawei’s pressure increased sharply, which in turn spurred the company’s solidarity. Ren Zhengfei’s confidence stems from his unique perspective; he believes that any difficulty is no problem as long as people are united.

Second is to build a team. It may be one of the happiest things in life to have partners whom you admire throughout your life. On the entrepreneurial journey, it is important to learn to celebrate each milestone. Celebrations are not the goal, but a ritual to boost morale.