It has to be admitted that the word “brother” is particularly suitable for people from the Northern Chinese dialect to say. When Da Qiangzi from Suqian, Jiangsu, says “brother”, it gives a sense of the domineering spirit of his fellow townsman, Xiang Yu. This feeling is like what Liu Qiangdong said on May 16, 2018, at the Second World Intelligent Conference: “JD.com will not fire any brothers.” It’s domineering, concise, and to the point, without dragging its feet, and without saying that he has the final right to interpret “brother”. If it were Chaozhou independent person Ma Huateng, as soon as the word “brother” came out, you would feel like you were going to be stabbed twice in the ribs, and you would know without saying that the right to interpret the word “brother” belongs to Shenzhen Tencent Computer System Co., Ltd.
Last year, Liu Qiangdong redefined the word “brother” again: “Anyone with poor long-term performance and never striving is not my brother.” “It’s okay not to strive, but you are not my brother, you are a passerby, we should not work together.” This kind of relationship of “brother” is actually quite fragile and dangerous. It has neither blood ties nor commercial contracts, and it all relies on the morality of the Jianghu and personal morality to support it. There is a risk of being redefined and having additional conditions added at any time. It’s okay in the social Jianghu, because this industry emphasizes morality, and the relationship of “brother” is relatively reliable. But in the commercial Jianghu, “brother” is like clothes, far less practical than “partner” and “shareholder”. My interests are my interests, even if I lie down, they are mine, even if I don’t strive, they are mine, not what you bestow on me, not what you want to deprive me of.
A few days ago, JD.com announced its entry into the takeaway market, and Liu Qiangdong personally delivered a few takeaway orders. At a dinner with the riders, Da Qiangzi raised his glass and said, “Welcome to Meituan and Ele.me brothers to join our JD.com.” It’s a bit like the little rascal in the movie “In the Heat of the Sun”. In the movie, Wang Shuo, who plays the social big brother little rascal, had just reconciled a group fight. At the dinner afterwards, he raised his glass and said, “Within the four seas, all are brothers, and peace is precious in the five continents.” Da Qiangzi always mentions brothers, but unfortunately, he is still in the initial stage of the brotherhood. He wants his brothers to work for him for the sake of the word “brother”, but he doesn’t have the idea of “peace is precious” in his heart. Da Qiangzi, who is eager to gain a foothold in the takeaway market, is murderous and does not understand the principle of making money with harmony. His eagerness and his murderousness stem from the lack of riders and merchants at JD.com. His emphasis on the treatment of riders and the quality of merchants, which seems to be exposing the ills of the industry, is actually a concrete manifestation of his eagerness and murderousness. The brothers in his mouth are the killers of his verbal battles. He needs to attract the attention of merchants and riders and their large-scale participation through verbal battles to quickly make up for the shortcomings. However, Rome was not built in a day, and mules and horses were not recruited in a day. When the Jianghu mentions brotherhood, it is easiest to ignite everyone’s emotions, but when they encounter things, when they see the cruelty of reality, when interests are at stake, and when lives are at stake, the word “brother” can no longer be hard. Teacher Li Xuejian, who played Zhang Zuolin, once said, what is the Jianghu? The Jianghu is not about fighting and killing, the Jianghu is about human relationships. If you don’t understand human relationships and only want to use the enthusiasm of your brothers to achieve your own hegemony, you are not even as good as the gangsters.
Before knowing Liu Qiangdong, I first knew Liu Huaqiang. I used to think Sun Honglei’s acting was good, but now looking back, Liu Huaqiang’s lines are also well written. Especially this sentence, “I have my brothers, I have to be responsible for their lives.” As a triad boss, what he needs is for his brothers to risk their lives, but he didn’t tell his brothers that anyone who doesn’t receive protection fees for a long time, has poor performance, and never fights hard is not my brother. Instead, he has to be responsible for the lives of his brothers. What he tells his brothers publicly is “Between love and morality, I choose morality.” Instead of one mouthful of morality and one mouthful of milk tea. When encountering danger, he says, “Brothers, let’s go together!” He understands the greater meaning, always thinks about his brothers, but never thinks about letting his brothers be grateful. “Brother Song has Brother Song’s brothers, Huaqiang has Huaqiang’s friends, and my friends also rely on me to eat.” In his eyes, brothers are also friends, relying on him to eat is a matter of course, rather than saying, “It’s okay not to strive, but you are not my brother, you are a passerby, what is a passerby, that is, you are neither my friend nor my brother”, left a brother and right a brother, all talking about interests.
As a big brother, Liu Huaqiang always has his brothers in his heart. He gives money as soon as he meets two brothers, which is very similar to a big brother a thousand years ago, Song Jiang, who gives money as soon as he sees his brothers. Not only as a big brother, but as a great power, a great power with responsibility and responsibility, we also often give money to African brothers. So, Da Qiangzi, as a big boss, should he also learn from the big brother and the great power? Moreover, you are now at the peak of your career, don’t always look like “the emperor started his business halfway and collapsed”, don’t always think about the bleak scene of “in the beginning, my team only had a dozen people and seven or eight guns”. Now you can let your brothers eat with you, instead of in the beginning, when they were all suffering and losing with you.
Brothers can fight for the country together, but it’s difficult to sit in the country together, even for brothers, such as the Xuanwu Gate Incident, such as the Shadow of the Candle and the Axe, such as the Nine Sons’ Seizure of the Throne, everyone wants to grab the “final right of interpretation”, otherwise, no matter how good it sounds before, it will be over once it is explained. Even like Hong Xiuquan of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, who was the Heavenly King, and above him was the Heavenly Father, the Heavenly Father should have been an existence like a dream, a bubble, a dew, or an electric light, which would not affect the Heavenly King’s dominance, but there was a Dong Wang Yang Xiuqing, who claimed that he could invite the Heavenly Father to descend, and also descended to his body, and issued orders through his mouth. In this way, the Heavenly King’s “final right of interpretation” fell on the Dong Wang. With this final right of interpretation, the Dong Wang whipped the Heavenly King, and the Dong Wang said to Hong Xiuquan in the tone of the Heavenly Father: “You and the Dong Wang are both my sons, the Dong Wang has such great merits, why is he only called the Nine Thousand Years?” Hong Xiuquan could only answer: “The Dong Wang fights for the country, and should also be the Ten Thousand Years.” Hong Xiuquan didn’t expect that this practice, which had once bewitched people’s hearts and won over the team, would eventually become a political tool for others to suppress and manipulate him.
The phenomenon of “the rabbit dies, the dog cooks, the leeks are exhausted, the sickle is hidden” is common in the historical development process. When fighting for the world, brothers trust each other and share weal and woe. When sitting in the world, the relationship between brothers becomes a relationship between the emperor and his ministers. The meritorious officials who hold heavy troops and the former brothers who know the roots and the bottom are a potential threat to the new king and the new dynasty. The relationship of mutual help and cooperation has become a relationship of competition or even hostility, such as Zhu Yuanzhang, who brutally killed his brothers who fought for the world together. The business world is not a battlefield, it is not so bloody, so Da Qiangzi also specially emphasized that they are not brothers or enemies, but passersby, but it has a taste of “it is better to hide the silver here”.
From the perspective of market economy, it is beneficial for a large Internet company to enter the takeaway market, whether it is for catering merchants, riders, or users. Whether it is the catfish effect to revitalize vitality, or to improve the professional environment of riders, and the survival dilemma of the catering industry, or to let more people pay attention to the takeaway industry, pay attention to riders, pay attention to catering…, all are very necessary. Facing the aggressive attack of JD.com, everyone did not rush to confront it head-on. Meituan wrote a poem, “He is strong, let him be strong, the breeze brushes the mountain. He is horizontal, let him be horizontal, the bright moon shines on the river.” Ignoring others, doing well yourself, Alibaba’s Tai Chi push-hand-like response also “flashed” Da Qiangzi’s waist. Taobao Tmall launched the instant retail business “Taobao Flash Sale” and displayed it on the homepage of the Taobao app with the “Flash Sale” first-level traffic entrance. In my opinion, this can be said to be a long-term counterattack, or it can be seen as a defense upgrade, but it is more like the longest shot fired in the instant retail industry, letting the bullets fly for a while. Because the Internet industry has developed to this day, there is no longer a competitive state of life and death, but each exerts its own strength, does its best, and jointly promotes the development of the industry. Those who shout and kill are basically the ones who want to stir up the water and take advantage of the fire. “Instant retail” and “Flash Sale” are very clear business expressions, which refer to the attitude and speed of serving users. Many people may not feel anything, thinking that there is no innovation and change. As a veteran of the classical Internet with twenty years of experience, I know that it is too difficult for this industry to have real innovation and change. In those days, when the Internet heroes were in dispute, everyone played with grand concepts and distant promises, and gradually deviated from the essence of business. Nowadays, the words “Flash Sale” can be said to be a return to the fundamentals of the retail industry. If there is any Internet event worth looking forward to, this is the change worth looking forward to, rather than giving brothers five insurances and one housing fund.
When Taobao Flash Sale was launched, I saw their “real benefits, real subsidies” launched together online. As an Internet entrepreneur who has not yet succeeded after more than ten years of starting a business, I really do not support any subsidy policies. In the long run, it is not good for either party. Subsidies are only the most basic means, but from the current situation, it seems that besides subsidies, there is no other better way to quickly acquire users and let users familiarize themselves with and experience new products, and there is no other more effective defensive weapon to resist the wild attack from the outside. Perhaps this is the helplessness of facing the wild growth of the barbarians outside the door. But there is one thing that can be comforting, that is, our Internet users have grown up, especially when facing the competition and battles between platforms, it can be said that they have been tested for a long time and are not invaded by Baidu. Price is still an important decision-making factor, but everyone has long understood that price is important but not the only important thing. Low prices look very beautiful, but in fact, they are “empty words and no substance”, just like the “brothers” in Da Qiangzi’s mouth, which are not so beautiful after a little taste. What gives brothers five insurances and one housing fund is said to be full-time riders, that is, formal employees, which sounds like no company gives formal employees five insurances and one housing fund. For those outsourced riders, they still have the same treatment as other platforms. To do one thing well, you always need a team, technology, experience, and accumulation. Can you do it well just by having a conscience? Moreover, it is not necessarily sincere. If it is so simple, our dogs here would have occupied the world and led the global development, because here, too many consciences have been eaten by dogs. Guo Moruo said in “Three Hundred Years of the Jia Shen Year”: “Although I have repeatedly issued ‘Edicts of Self-Condemnation’ and declared love for the people, they are all empty words and no substance.” It’s very similar to Da Qiangzi.
It is of course correct to talk about interests in the business world, and interests should also be put in the first place, otherwise it is difficult to sustain. But everyone is building a commercial company, not a brotherhood, so they should talk business in business, do the things that a modern commercial company should do well, and sign the agreements that should be signed. Don’t just say brothers, but the taste of interests is sprayed out. Moreover, the current “brothers” are still redefined, and will be defined at any time in the future. Every time Da Qiangzi makes a high-profile statement about “brotherhood”, it is when he and JD.com feel great pressure. From a long-term perspective, it is the pressure to survive. It is a good thing to have pressure, but you can’t just play the emotional card, and some cards are even very dangerous, such as the “five insurances and one housing fund” card, such as the “savior of the bottom people” card, which is not only presumptuous, but also very likely to be backfired. You can also play the emotional card, but you should pay attention to the degree. He should invite Yu Hua to hold a reading sharing session and share two books, one is “Brothers” and the other is “To Live”.
In the Internet Jianghu, there are many brotherhoods, and the most pitiful one is Jia Yueting, who has been expelled from the Jianghu. He is alone in the United States, looking at the green leeks on the other side, but he is unable to reach the sickle. Although he has started to make short videos, he wants to extend the length of the sickle through the Internet, but the leeks are no longer buying it. Looking at his lonely and desolate appearance in the video, he doesn’t have a single brother. In fact, this is also a kind of persona. He should create his own Assassin’s Creed persona, “When others blindly pursue the truth, remember, everything is false. When the thoughts of others are bound by law and morality, remember, everything is permitted. We work in the dark and serve the light. We are assassins, and we will return to China next week.”
True brothers are a team, not a gang.
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