Lining: The Back Of A Star

The story of a star founder and company, brand and two CEO: in the eyes of the outside world, Lining implanted his savvy in competitive sports into his enterprise practice.

In the past 18 years, Lining has been looking for more powerful people and even teams instead of himself.

It is very likely that the final gymnast is the great gymnast but not the company he founded.

Like the sequels written in the literary history for those masterpieces, they almost gave up the plan of pcendence from a single stroke.

Lining's presumption of speculation is not the main thrust of this article.

As a matter of fact, he is one of those few sports talents who has succeeded in his own fame in another field.

If you put Li Ning Co in those companies that are created by various stars, its excellence is obvious.

Today, a famous sports brand called LI-NING has gained popularity and richness far beyond the "Lining" itself.

In the view of the outside world, Lining has implanted his savvy in competitive sports into his enterprise practice.

Lining agreed with this view and unconsciously reflected his conceit of creating an era.

Luckily, he realized the following fact very early: that era was gradually forgotten with the great changes in people's values.

"Now the old lady is my signature."

He said humorously.

The danger lies in it.

If you can't pform your influence into an organization, the company will start with Lining and stop at Lining, just like many well-known companies we are familiar with.

Lining avoided this trap.

But this does not mean that he is a prescient.

"I really don't have any long-term plans for life.

I didn't expect to be an Olympic champion when I was an athlete.

Next, he said the key to the problem: "I am a self aware person."

He hopes to make "LI-NING" an international sports brand that can lead the industry trend.

He knows he is not strong enough.

He has only the power of an Olympic champion, and these intangible assets do not provide all the power needed to achieve that dream -- he sees and acknowledges that they are rapidly failing.

"If I do not regard this as my personal matter, it is everybody's business, it will inspire more people to fight for this cause.

Otherwise, many people will become working for me.

The employee doesn't need to look at my face. He just looks at the face of the business.

Another reason why it is not unimportant is that he loves freedom.

Falling from the rings of the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, he got something that had been surging in his heart for many years.

He did not want to set himself in trivial business and accounts.

Therefore, from the very beginning, he entered the free state of the enterprise and did not allow it to have full possession of himself.

This makes him different from most successful entrepreneurs.

The latter has maintained a posture of charge, and regarded the enterprise as the absolute control of his kingdom, even though he and his career eventually looked like Sisyphus and his stone.

Lining is different. He is no longer the legal representative of the company named after himself. He can not even appear in the media for more than ten years.

He thought that the first thing he had done was to destroy the company. "My life is over, and the business is over."

"It's not that I don't want to be an enterprise, but this business needs me to make this choice."

He said.

In the past 18 years, Lining has been looking for more powerful people and even more teams instead of himself.

"My responsibility is to keep the company able to find people who can sit in CEO posts and see new businesses in the future."

He first found Chen Yihong, then Zhang Zhiyong.

The latter helped him to complete the pition from individual to organization.

He is not merely an observer in the rest of the time.

He is not interested in specific business, nor is he good at it, but he is passionate about how to make "LI-NING" a great brand.

He never changed the direction of his efforts, even though the process turned around a long time - the company did not always face his dream, and sometimes it even went to the opposite side.

How can he ensure that the fully decentralized company is always moving in the right direction?

He has been trying to overcome the confusion in his methods and his alternatives, and he has been trying to get a higher position to broaden his horizons.

Although Lining, 44 years old, explained his own top and white hair as heredity, they could still serve as a symbol of hard exploration.

Today, Li Ning Co is probably the lightest one among many private enterprises in China.

As Lining, chairman of the board of directors, is pleased to see, this is a "sound system, standardized management, good operation" excellent enterprise, continuous years of high growth, deeply loved by the capital market.

However, without any harsh criticism, it is like a "three good student" with almost zero shortcomings. It has studied tirelessly to Nike and Adi, a more powerful "teacher". It uses IBM, Roland Berger to make strategic planning, run SAP ERP software, and hire 4A advertising companies such as Leo Bernold, almost everything to match the industry benchmark.

However, it is often those traitors who rewrite industrial game rules. Don't forget that Einstein has never been a top student.

Many years later, a researcher who is interested in Lining and his company history may describe him like this: you see, Lining said to the people around me, I have a dream.

He convinced them that the dream was worth their efforts and got the assurance that they were willing to work for it. Then he came out to help them when they looked very tired, and soon disappeared.

Later, when difficulties came, they were used to conquering themselves.

In the first act, who will do the CEO1 "you do CEO".

At the beginning of 2004, Lining told a staff who had served the company for 12 years.

Zhang Zhiyong, who was 35 years old, was the general manager of Li Ning Co (HK:2331).

The company will go on the market in June 2004 and get the invitation before this, and Zhang showed the unexpected calm of the pferor.

The young man, who has been the general manager since 2001, has doubled the annual sales of the company in more than two years with enthusiasm, courage and persistent pursuit of "system" and "system", breaking through the 1 billion yuan barrier that has made Lining headaches for many years.

However, the market environment of sports consumer company has also changed dramatically.

Since 1994, Lining has been maintaining the largest share of China's sporting goods market.

But in 2003, Lining was first surpassed by Nike (NIKE) and left behind by Adidas (Adidas) in 2004.

These two big international brands have taken advantage of Beijing, Shanghai and other front-line markets. At the same time, they also show ambition for Lining's two or three line market. The grass-roots enterprises in Jinjiang, represented by Anta (Anta), are also rising to defeat Lining as their stage dream.

Market participants say that Li Ning Co is a company sandwiched between sandwiches.

In the face of Lining's invitation, Zhang Zhiyong felt that he was not a hero.

He may even have a faint fear.

"After several years of reform, I have realized my shortcomings."

He said to Chinese entrepreneurs.

Mr Lining hopes to recruit experienced people from outside to take up this important task.

This is not modest, nor is he far from losing confidence.

"As long as you have leadership, EQ is good enough and will succeed in the end.

But experience and inexperience are different.

Time cost becomes more important after the company is listed, and an experienced CEO can get twice the result with half the effort.

Zhang Zhiyong failed to convince Lining.

"Let's think about it for a week, then decide."

Zhang said.

Lining also experienced a similar hesitant moment in 2, when he was younger, only 25 years old.

In 1988, after the Seoul Olympic Games that made many Chinese people sad or even angry, retired Lining had to choose between going abroad, becoming an official and becoming a gymnastics coach.

At that time, the career choice of a good athlete was quite broad compared with the nameless person in this line.

The Professional Gymnastics career at the age of 8 must have hurt Lining, which is a comparison of his own and his counterparts to "fighting cocks".

Nevertheless, if everything is normal, he will not leave the Sports Commission.

However, failure has come, and the utilitarian attitude shown by all sides has made him feel that it is wishful thinking to regard the Sports Commission as his "family and family" again.

As for going abroad, he was given up because he had no definite goals.

At this time, Li Jingwei, who had been funding Lining's family, suggested that he join Jianlibao.

Lining, a depressed man, became Li Jingwei's assistant because Li Jingwei showed more concern and concern for me than others.

Li Jingwei aroused the enthusiasm of the prince of gymnastics.

Lining did not have much confidence in doing business. Jianlibao was only a temporary shelter for him.

But obviously, Li Jingwei infected him.

In 1990, the Li Ning Co was established.

"I work because of passion.

It may have something to do with the experience of athletes. When I think about it, I want to be a sports brand that can represent China. "

3 soon, Lining met a man named Chen Yihong.

At that time, Chen was a merchandiser in the "top ten" sports shoes company under the State Physical Culture Commission. He had rich experience in shopping malls and had the "momentum" that Lining liked.

In 1991, Chen Yihong led his original crew to Lining.

Chen Yihong played an important role in the early development of Li Ning Co.

Chen Yihong, who has dealt with Mr. Lining, has given Chen the following evaluation: he has a keen sense of business and is willing to take responsibility. He is a real businessman.

One year later, a fresh college graduate applied for a resume to Lining Beijing office.

The company gave him a very good impression: no local accounts.

His name is Zhang Zhiyong.

Chen Yihong is very experienced.

A former executive who left Lining compared with Chen and Zhang Zhiyong.

In that age of opportunity and reunification, Chen Yihong, who was born in the army, made great contributions to the company of the grass age.

Wang Yafei, one of the independent directors of Li Ning Co and Lining, who read EMBA at Guanghua School of Management, said: "Chen Yihong is overbearing. Can you imagine Lining going after people?"

No matter who left or who is now, everyone in the Li Ning Co thinks Lining has a broad personality.

In fact, this character is not suitable for business, so he needs to find more powerful people to achieve his dream career.

Chen Yihong is not very talkative, but he is very confident.

His opinion often goes against Lining.

In some extreme case, two people will shout at each other at the same time: I don't like you.

But this does not hamper Lining's trust in Chen Yihong. Chen's experience guarantees that he is right in most cases.

At the beginning of 1996, Lining merged three companies in Beijing, Guangdong and Yantai into Lining sporting goods group company, and became the chairman and general manager in person. Chen Yihong served as deputy general manager. Because Lining did not care about specific matters, Chen played the role of CEO.

With the influence of the former world champion and the sales genius of Chen Yihong, Li Ning Co has been developing rapidly at an annual rate of over 50%, and sales in 1996 are up to 650 million.

Chen Yihong even raised the goal of "over 1 billion sales in 1997".

At this time, some of the wind that had been heard before raised the volume.

"This company is not surnamed Li, surnamed Chen."

Lining did not care about this, but he gradually realized that employees were consciously divided into "Chen school" and "Li school". In addition, they formed a small group of students and townships.

In daily work, coordination and coordination of departments began to become less smooth.

Lining felt the danger.

He knew the root was that he and Chen Yihong's relatives were in the company.

A cousin of Lining, a deputy general of the sales center, is suspected of being able to work. But they show Lining's reluctant understanding: Lining's relatives.

Besides, Lining's sister-in-law worked in the public relations department without real power.

Chen Yihong's two brothers are in the group and sales department respectively.

Lining decided to leave both relatives away from the company.

Chen Yihong objected.

He likes family businesses and believes that kinship can reduce risks and increase efficiency.

In Lining's view, he is obviously