From Cashier To CEO - Zhang Zhiyong'S 20 Years In Lining

Flip over the court Lining After all, he failed to do well in the market, and the people around the world champion of the famous world also left one after another.

20 years ago, Zhang Zhiyong was still a small clerk working in an institutional unit. At that time, the Li Ning Co Ltd (hereinafter referred to as "Li Ning Co") was only a private enterprise with a small but ambitious ambition. No one could have predicted that in the next 20 years, Lining's expansion map would be so deeply branded on Zhang Zhiyong. What was even more unexpected is that the professional manager appointed by Lining after leaving the field after finishing the great leap over Lining.

In July 5th, a Li Ning Co announcement put the company at the crossroads to the top of the storm. After Zhang Zhiyong resigned as chief executive officer, Lining, the founder of the long time behind the curtain, had to go back to the mountains again and plan the overall situation.

And with the exchange of senior executives in the transitional period, Zhi Yong Zhang Mr Lining, who once led Mr Lining from 1 billion to 9 billion of sales, blew the curtain, leaving him an insignificant "chief adviser to the Executive Board of the board".

After stepping down from office, Zhang Zhiyong seemed to disappear in the spotlight immediately. The best partner of Lining, who was once evaluated by the industry, also stealth, but the topic about him is still continuing.

　 "Call me Lao Zhang."

Zhang Zhiyong was born in Xinjiang in 1968 and grew up in Shanghai. After graduating from Capital University of Economics and Business, he entered the office and had a good journey.

But holding the "iron rice bowl" Zhang Zhiyong's heart seems to have the unique passion of the Xinjiang man. After only a year's work, Zhang resigned without hesitation. After many years, Zhang Zhiyong said lightly, "that's not for me."

In 1992, Zhang Zhiyong, 24, was in his prime. This year, he joined Li Ning Co again as a teller. But as time went by, after 12 years of reincarnation, Zhang Zhiyong, 36, had jumped to become the Li Ning Co's CEO, and his blood perfusion to Li Ning Co really began.

Perhaps derived from grass roots, "learning" is Zhang Zhiyong's most obvious label in Li Ning Co in his early years.

CEO Zhang Qing, a former Li Ning Co employee and Beijing key Road Sports Consulting Co. Ltd., told reporters that in his impression, Zhang Zhiyong's attitude towards learning and his ability to learn is like the sea's key to stand out from many of the Li Ning Co employees, which is almost consistent with the impression of many of Zhang Zhiyong's colleagues.

In the road of Zhang Zhiyong's promotion, Lining's earliest partner, now China Sports chairman Chen Yihong, is a name that can not be bypassed.

Zhang Zhiyong's Ministry told reporters that Chen Yihong joined Lining in 1991 and served as deputy general manager 5 years later. Lining held the position of chairman and general manager at that time, but the specific business was handed over to Chen Yihong. It was also during Chen's "administration" that Li Ning Co's sales reached 650 million.

　 But everything is not as good as imagined.

Chen Yihong's team had to stop when the company set up a 1 billion sprint mark, followed by the Asian financial crisis and macro-control policies. In 2001, Chen Yihong left, before stepping out of the Li Ning Co gate, Chen Yihong recommended Zhang Zhiyong, who has risen to chief financial officer, to take over his post.

In fact, as early as the finance department, Zhang Zhiyong has begun to show concern about the company's overall strategy. "As a financial officer, Zhang Zhiyong will also submit some reports on operations."

After taking power, Zhang Zhiyong did not act in accordance with the existing route. His approach was also quite different from that of former Chen Yihong. In Zhang Zhiyong's view, when sales are less than 700 million, the most significant way to pull up sales is to deploy all the resources to the sales channel. Adding a store will undoubtedly increase sales. This is also obviously different from the strategy that Li Ning Co used to expand sales through large advertising campaigns.

It was also at this point that Zhang Zhiyong began to boldly use the "airborne troops". A large number of executives with mature marketing experience and retail experience landed on the Li Ning Co, and were responsible for opening up the territory and building up the brand.

It is worth noting that in the "airborne" sent by Zhang Zhiyong, there are not only a group of professionals with background of international companies such as P & G and Coca-Cola. Zhang Zhiyong, who is full of fighting spirit, has never been a deputy general manager, and has participated in training, learning and even research and discussion with his staff.

The good atmosphere has also made Li Ning Co's management team grow stronger from Nike. Adidas The executives of Reebok and other competitors have joined Lining. The important thing is that these latecomers are acting as teachers of Zhang Zhiyong to varying degrees.

"I am a CEO who grew up from a local company. Many things are self-taught, and many training courses are done with my employees." Years later, Zhang Zhiyong recalls.

While Zhang Zhiyong's subordinates sit in front of reporters to talk about this man, they say that today's Zhang Zhiyong's strategy, marketing management and terminal sales are all very professional and professional. "Before 2004, Zhang Zhiyong grew up very fast. He could absorb knowledge from executives from different industries, plus thinking to turn into his own logic system and be able to use it freely."

In fact, in the early days of the company's CEO, Zhang Zhiyong's affinity and execution were all admirable to his employees. He was very diligent. According to the conventional thinking, a company's policymakers would not be insignificant. But he worked very hard. When he visited the shop, he could walk seven or eight stores a day, and then he went to the distributors and down to the shopping guide.

In 2003, Li Ning Co sales exceeded 1 billion, and Chen Yihong's failure to accomplish the task was achieved in Zhang Zhiyong. A year later, Li Ning Co listed in Hongkong and became the first Hong Kong listed companies in mainland sporting goods company. Zhang Zhiyong was CEO.

When Zhang Zhiyong led Lining, a group of officers and men, the word of mouth of other companies was also more influential, while Zhang Zhiyong remained as modest as ever. "He always wanted his employees to call him Zhiyong or" Lao Zhang ", but we still respected him as" Zhang Chang ". {page_break}

Be a law onto oneself?

During the period of Lining's rapid growth, all the long-standing disadvantages seemed to be concealed by the surface of the light. But after the washing of lead Hua, the problems that had already accumulated before all poured down like floods.

June 2010 seems to be another key node in the Li Ning Co turmoil.

At that time, Zhang Xiaoyan, Chief Executive Officer (CMO) Fang Shiwei, chief operating officer (COO) Guo Jianxin, Lotto (Le Tu) general manager Wu Xianyong, vice president and chief product Officer (CPO) Xu Maochun, government and public affairs department (hereinafter referred to as the "public affairs department") resigned, and this series of leaving the storm behind, Zhang Zhiyong related factors are particularly obvious.

"Except for CEO, almost all the positions with" O "have changed several rounds. Lining, a former executive, appears to be joking. Another former employee who joined the company in 2001 said that now, "I am at that level of the old colleagues remain in Lining, no more than 5 people."

In the case of Li Ning Co's frequent departure earthquake, there is a phenomenon which is interesting. Many reporters who interviewed by reporters said that after Zhang Zhiyong was in a high position, his appointment of talents and the management of the company were still quite different from those of the old Zhang.

"He was not like that before." A former Li Ning Co official said. In his impression, Zhang Zhiyong is a good-natured and willing to discuss business with his employees. "At least until 2004, we often communicate with each other on some issues. We also learn tennis together, have dinner together and have a picnic together. He will also praise a department consciously or unintentionally at the meeting, though it is a few words, but we are very well received.

When working with employees, in the memory of a large number of employees who left the company, Zhang Zhiyong's previous memory is also very vivid. "He will make a personal statement in the face of staff's feasibility report and careful consideration, whether it is support or negation."

But as Zhang Zhiyong's "paratroopers" have been infiltrated into the Li Ning Co, the harmonious management relationship has been gradually disconnected.

One of the most representative examples is that in early 2000, the Li Ning Co set up a new Department called "youth business unit" to locate products in the 10-17 year old youth population. The product style was mainly leisure, and French designers were invited to preside over them. But after running, this department attracted other executives' objections.

"Dissenting managers believe that children before the age of 14 have no purchasing power and decision-making power. Secondly, there are some conflicts in the channel. Many dealers worry that the development of youth business as a separate channel will disrupt the current channel system, so that department opened less than one hundred stores and lost millions of dollars." Li Ning Co insiders told reporters.

In fact, this failure to carry out the "Youth Program" responsible team is the first batch of "airborne troops" recruited by Zhang Zhiyong, and unlike Chen Yihong's internal selection personnel, Zhang Zhiyong is more trusting the "airborne troops" who have been killed halfway.

Management conflicts like this are emerging one after another. Zhang Zhiyong, a marketing manager who had been closely associated with Mr. Zhang Zhiyong, recalled that Zhang Zhiyong had worked out a plan for his department to improve the performance of his department in a year and a half, but 8 months later, when the middle-level manager was sent back on business, he waited for him in a new environment.

And Zhang Zhiyong's internal management is far from being chaotic. Another confusion is the fact that the "airborne troops" that they believe are also performing a wave of personnel changes.

　　 Le Shuyu, general manager of Li Ning Co's former brand, is one of the representatives of Taiwan woman.

In 2005, Le Shuyu, 43, joined Li Ning Co in charge of product, production, operation and market. Prior to this, the publicized famous executive was deputy general manager of Guangzhou Zhongwei daily necessities company, which was good at design and was recruited to Lining for his appreciation.

But the woman who left the company second only to Zhang Zhiyong and CFO Chen Weicheng was only a year away from the Li Ning Co. After leaving, she had a positive response to the reason for leaving, but Li Ning Co insiders say Le Shuyu's departure is not a coincidence.

"Not only Le Shuyu, but also the director of shoe products hired by Nike and Fang Shiwei's successor, etc., all of whom are holding heavy weights but leave for a short time, one year or less." The above said, "except for CEO."