A 6-year-old millionaire
(Children’s Innovation)
In the United States, a 6-year-old girl actually became a millionaire. She has been entered into the Guinness Book of World Records as the youngest millionaire and youngest businessman. Maria was born in El Salvador to a poor Indian family. When she was 6 years old, one day she went with her father to clean the windows of the famous toy dealer Donald Sparkett's house, and happened to meet Sparkett with a toy in his hand. Speckt asked her, "Do you like these toys?" She replied, "I don't like any of the toys you have in your hands." Then he listed the shortcomings of each of these toys one by one. Sparkett felt that this was a different little girl, so he took her into the house, placed various toys in front of her, and asked for her opinion.
Maria's opinions were so accurate and to the point that Speckt was very happy to hire her as the company's design consultant and signed a long-term contract. Speckt said this when talking about why he hired 6-year-old Maria as a consultant for the company: "All toy designers have a common problem, that is, we have long since become adults and have lost the ability to respond directly and our vision. Old and lacking in passion." Since then, the toys that little Maria has identified have brought huge profits to the company.
Turn waste into treasure
(Innovation requires reverse thinking)
In early 2002, a cargo ship loaded with scrap steel from the World Trade Center arrived in Shanghai. The buyer It is Shanghai Baosteel Group. Baosteel purchased 50,000 tons of scrap steel at a low price of less than US$120 per ton. Staff said that the quality of the steel in the World Trade Center Tower is much higher than that of ordinary scrap steel. It is reported that in addition to reprocessing most of the WTO scrap steel to make steel as planned, Baosteel is also planning to retain some of it and make it into souvenirs.
It is understood that the collapse of the World Trade Center Twin Towers during the "9·11" incident produced a large amount of scrap steel, with the total estimated to be as high as 400,000 tons. The wreckage of the building contained a steel frame several feet thick, and there were a large number of burned steel desks and filing cabinets and other office furniture inside the building. A steel management company in New York, USA, has begun selling these scrap steel materials to the world.
Shanghai Baosteel Group is the only domestic enterprise participating in the acquisition of scrap steel from the World Trade Center Building, and is also one of the earliest acquirers in the world. Mr. Xu from the imported scrap steel group of "Baosteel" told reporters, "The steel used in the World Trade Center Building is fine steel produced in Japan, which was the best in the world in the 1970s." Taking into account the special historical value and commemorative significance of the World Trade Center scrap steel, the leadership of "Baosteel" has considered that in addition to using scrap steel for steelmaking, it is also possible to make part of the scrap steel into handicrafts or souvenirs, "such as making a model of the World Trade Center or Small souvenirs, etc.”
Lessons from high-end red wine
(Innovation should be done with caution)
A prey has been caught, but the lion has not eaten it yet. If the fox wants to eat it, he must consider it. : Why doesn’t the lion eat? Is it because he’s not hungry, doesn’t suit his appetite, the prey is too small and doesn’t care to eat it, or the prey is poisonous and cannot be eaten at all? If the lion thinks the prey is too small and disdains to eat it, then it can go up and have a full meal. Otherwise, the consequences can only be poisoned or eaten by the lion.
There is a company that produces wine in Xinjiang. The boss of this company also knows that his strength is far from competing with industry giants such as Changyu, Dynasty, and Great Wall. However, they found through market research that high prices None of the red wine industry giants are involved, and I feel secretly happy. Isn't this a breakthrough point that no one has and I have? After a period of intensive preparations, the company focused on launching high-priced red wines. However, after entering the market, the turnover quickly failed and the company was in trouble.
Later, after investigation, it was found that red wines at this price range are completely dominated by foreign wines. Although these foreign wines are not well-known in China, the concept that foreign wines are better than national wines is deeply rooted. High-grade and high-priced red wines are completely dominated by foreign wines. In the world of foreign wine, even the giants of the domestic red wine industry dare not intervene rashly, but this company thought this was an industry opportunity, so it rushed in and ate the poisonous prey that even a lion would not dare to eat.
Chen Dongsheng’s view on innovation
(Innovation does not reject imitation)
As the leader of China’s youngest national life insurance company, he currently serves as the head of Taikang Life Insurance Co., Ltd. Chen Dongsheng, chairman and CEO of the company, has his own understanding of innovation: Innovation is the first to imitate.
Chen Dongsheng said: "Many people label breaking the rules and acting according to their own will as innovation, but the result is a bloody head. There are too many such cases. So I think it is better to follow the gourd's example honestly. Painting ladles, looking for the best gourd painting ladles.”
With a doctorate in economics from Wuhan University, Jiade Auction’s three-year entrepreneurial journey has successfully transformed him from a scholar to a professional. merchant. But when he stood at the gate of the insurance industry in 1996, Chen Dongsheng was just a student without any practical experience. A shortcut Chen Dongsheng found was to copy the advanced practices accumulated by foreign insurance giants over hundreds of years.
In the past few years, Chen Dongsheng has visited 21 of the world's top multinational insurance and financial groups. Chen Dongsheng brought everything back from abroad, ranging from the company structure, marketing model, senior management talents, to the company's decoration style, service facilities, etc.
Being the first to imitate has put Taikang at a high starting point, and also put Chen Dongsheng at the forefront of China’s insurance industry.
The secret of Sony's success
(Enterprise innovation requires continuous development of new products)
"Sony: research makes it unique", this sentence was said by the company This motto is the biggest secret of Sony's success. Since its inception in the late 1940s, the company has proposed "doing what others have not done and developing new products that can be accepted by the world." At work, study new situations, develop new technologies, open up new fields, occupy new markets, and be one step ahead in order to be better than others.
One day, in the Domestic Information and Education Office of the Japan Broadcasting Association, Ibuka saw a tape recorder with beautiful sound made in the United States. This little-known thing in Japan at the time made Ibuka immediately realize its huge market potential. Sparing no expense, he bought its production patent. After many experiments, he finally produced his own tape recorder, which became a great success after several innovations.
In January 1954, Sony bought another patent for the production of transistors. Because they realized that a wave of upgrading in electronic technology was coming, they produced the world's first pocket transistor radio. Innovation has allowed them to be two years ahead of their domestic counterparts.
Sony is most willing to hire doers who have different experiences and like to be unconventional. In such an environment, Sony people are particularly willing to take on challenging tasks. Everyone is proactive and strives to be the first. The entire enterprise is always full of vitality and vitality.
The story of the turnaround of "Eagle Money"
(Innovation is the source of corporate vitality)
Guangzhou Eagle Money Enterprise Group Co., Ltd. is a financial manufacturing company with a history of more than 40 years. It is a large-scale food processing enterprise that integrates production, operation and scientific research and has self-operated import and export rights. After entering the 1990s, "Eagle Money" gradually lost market vitality: R&D funds were not available, new products were unable to be developed, and even if they were developed, they were unable to form a production scale; funds to develop the market were scarce, and the market was watched helplessly by others... On the eve of the Spring Festival in 2000, the company had suffered losses for the seventh consecutive year and was financially strapped. Even its employees had to worry about holiday money.
In order to survive, "Eagle Money" has made drastic changes in its management methods while also working hard to develop new products. They heard that a group in Hong Kong, China, had a "slimming tea" product that was popular in overseas markets, and they actively negotiated cooperation with it. In just one month, the group completed technical research on the weight loss formula submitted by Hong Kong and launched a pure natural Chinese medicine health drink called "Xiushenshuang" to the market.
It is also "buy one, get one free"
(Innovation is not a "ridiculous idea")
When Harry, the American publicity wizard, was fifteen or sixteen years old, he worked in a Child laborers in the circus were responsible for selling snacks in the circus.
But not many people watch each time, and even fewer people buy and eat, especially drinks, which few people care about.
One day, an idea came to Harry's mind: to give a bag of peanuts to everyone who bought a ticket to attract the audience. But the boss disagreed with this "ridiculous idea." Harry used his meager salary as a guarantee and begged his boss to let him give it a try. He promised that if he lost money, it would be deducted from his salary, and if he made a profit, he would only get half of it. As a result, there was a volunteer publicist's voice outside the circus performance venue in the future: "Come to the circus, buy a ticket and get a pack of delicious peanuts for free!" Under Harry's constant shouting, the audience was more excited than usual. Several times more.
After the audience entered the venue, little Harry began to sell lemon ice and other drinks. The vast majority of the audience will buy a drink when they feel thirsty after eating peanuts. After a circus, the turnover increased more than ten times compared with before.
The first person to eat crabs
(Innovation requires great courage)
Innovation is the infinite scenery on steep mountains. Climbing the peak of innovation, First of all, we must have unlimited courage. Mr. Lu Xun once praised the first person who ate a crab. Because of the ugly and ferocious appearance of the crab, let alone eating it, I was afraid that I would shy away from seeing it. Innovation also requires this spirit of daring to be the first in the world.
In the 17th century, a young man in Western Europe also became "the first crab eater". Navigators at that time brought American tomatoes to Britain. The British, who had never seen the red, blood-like fruit, stayed away from tomatoes. They thought tomatoes were highly poisonous, so they dubbed them "wolf peaches". For decades, no one dared to take a bite. Later, a brave young man took the risk and tasted one and found it extremely delicious. As a result, tomatoes have a place on our dining table today.
Whether it is eating crabs or tomatoes, it requires great courage. In fact, the beginning of all innovation is an adventure with no known outcome. But if you don’t innovate, you’ll never know what the outcome will be.
Qi Baishi changed his painting methods in his later years
(Innovation requires the courage to break through oneself)
In 190, Qi Baishi, who was in his sixties, had reached the level of artistic proficiency. . But he is not satisfied with the status quo. He hopes to keep improving, pursue excellence and show new ideas.
One day, Master Chen, a master of painting, came to visit. Mr. Qi took out his paintings and asked the master to correct them. After seeing it, Master Chen praised Qi Baishi's superb skills; at the same time, he also pointed out some shortcomings and hoped that Qi Baishi could find another way and form his own style on this basis. From then on, Qi Baishi closed his door to thank guests, studied hard, and deliberately sought innovation. After ten years of hard exploration, he finally found a new artistic path that broke through himself and surpassed his predecessors!
At this time, Qi Baishi got rid of the rough and cumbersome elements in folk art, integrated the concise and meaningful brushwork of literati paintings, and creatively used seal cutting and epigraphy in painting, and finally formed his own style that is both physical and spiritual. With his distinctive and vigorous and fresh artistic style, he created his own "red flower and ink leaf" school in the Chinese painting circle and reached a new and higher artistic realm.
Advertising that breaks the rules
(Innovation requires changing the way of thinking)
When advertising cosmetics, according to the "conventional thinking", you should invite beautiful girls as models; but A cosmetics factory in Nanjing invited an old lady with wrinkles to try the products on site and then sang praises of the factory's products. The result was a flood of buyers. According to common sense, one should "praise herself for selling melons." However, a certain watch factory insisted on talking about its "suffering" and solemnly announced to consumers that "the watches of our factory are not accurate and will be 24 times slower in 24 hours." Seconds, please think twice before purchasing." The "gods" were so sincere that they dug into their pockets and put on "24 seconds slower" watches.
Everything in the world seems to have rules, but what if you break the rules? You might as well open up your ideas, and you can often get things out of the way.
Morgan is a wealthy man in the United States. When he came to the United States with his wife when he was young, he was still a pauper. To make a living, he opened a grocery store selling eggs. When Morgan was selling eggs, he found that customers often complained that the eggs he sold were small.
After a period of observation and summary, he asked his wife to sell eggs. As a result, customers did not think the eggs were too small. The reason was that Morgan's hands were thick and big. It was the same egg placed in a woman's slender hand and in a man's. In the eyes of the buyer, the eggs are not the same eggs in thick hands. Put the eggs in the hands of slender women and sell them. As soon as the "thick" and "thin" are changed, the customers will come in and the money will roll in.
Being a bricklayer or training a bricklayer
(Only with innovative ideas can you survive)
After the Second World War, the construction industry in the United States developed greatly, and the skills of bricklayers Prices were rising, and many newspapers and periodicals published advertisements for "bricklayers wanted", which was a godsend for the unemployed.
The impoverished Mike came to Chicago from Minnepoli to make a living. After he saw the advertisement, he really regretted why he didn't learn to be a bricklayer first, otherwise he wouldn't have been running around looking for a job.
A friend asked him to work as a bricklayer and work as a bricklayer. Although the pay was not good, it was better than being unemployed.
Mike didn’t think so. After he calmed down, a unique idea came to him: “Since bricklayers are being recruited everywhere, where will the bricklayers come from? Why don’t I hold a training class? , What about providing technicians to construction owners?”
Thinking of this, Mike couldn’t help but laugh. He himself doesn’t understand brick and mortar technology at all, so how can he train others? However, Mike is not a stickler after all. Through his friends, he found out about a skilled bricklayer who had taught many apprentices, and persuaded him to start a training class with him.
Soon, the "Mike Bricklayer Express Training Center" was put on the market, and many unqualified workers who wanted to be bricklayers flocked there, willing to pay high prices to receive technical training. Later, Mike joined forces with the construction industry so that his "center" not only had a training function, but also helped trainees find employment. Mike, who did not understand brick and tile technology, made a lot of money in the brick and tile industry.
No one can do everything, and thus may encounter resistance in the ever-changing life. Flexible thinking leads to twists and turns. People who do not understand brick and tile technology can make a lot of money in the brick and tile industry. It is precisely because of the energy of creative thinking.
Leigao himself
(Innovation requires perseverance and persistence to succeed)
A leather merchant likes fishing, and the place he often goes to is the Newfoundland fishing ground. One winter morning one year, the leather merchant came to this fishing ground again. Maybe it was because it had snowed heavily the night before. It was very cold that day, and the strong wind blew on my face like a knife. The leather merchant spent a lot of effort to drill a hole in the frozen sea and started fishing. He saw an interesting phenomenon: the fish he caught quickly froze to a solid state as soon as it was placed on the ice, and as long as the ice did not melt, the fish would not lose its flavor even after three to five days. Can food be kept fresh by freezing it? Leather merchants ask themselves this. He began experimenting. After many explorations, he found that not only fish can be kept fresh under freezing conditions, but other foods, such as beef and vegetables, can also be kept fresh. He decided to build a machine that could freeze food quickly. The road of exploration was difficult. In the process of developing the quick-freezing machine, the leather merchants suffered a lot. But he never gets discouraged. Through repeated trials and constant summarization of experience, the leather merchant finally succeeded. He applied for a patent with the National Patent Office and sold the technology to the American General Foods Company for a sky-high price of US$3 million. He is the inventor of the world's first generation of refrigerators - American Barka.
Two calligraphers
(Innovation is the life of art)
During the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, there were two famous calligraphers - Liu Shi'an and Weng Fanggang . Weng Fanggang imitated the ancients very seriously and paid attention to every stroke and every painting to resemble someone from the previous generation. For example, this horizontal stroke should look like Su Dongpo's and this stroke should look like Li Taibai's. Liu Shi'an is just the opposite. He not only practices hard, but also requires every stroke and every painting to be different from the ancients and pay attention to nature. One day, these two calligraphers with different styles met together.
Weng Fanggang said to Liu Shi'an with some sarcasm: "My dear friend, which of your calligraphy is from the ancients?" Liu Shi'an was not angry. On the contrary, he asked with a smile: "My dear friend, may I ask, your handwriting, Which one is yours?" Weng Fanggang was speechless after hearing this.
There is nothing wrong with paying attention to our predecessors and inheriting their achievements. However, any knowledge and skill must always develop forward. Sticking to the rules and not daring to go beyond the boundaries will only make this The knowledge loses its vitality until it perishes.
Mr. Qi Baishi said: "Those who learn from me will survive, and those who are like me." If you cannot step out of the framework of your predecessors, you will naturally not have your own world.
Guiguzi’s innovative thinking
(Don’t stick to common sense when it comes to innovation)
According to legend, Guiguzi, the teacher of Sun Bin, a famous military strategist in ancient China, was very good at cultivating students in his teaching. innovative thinking. His approach is unique. One day, Guiguzi gave Sun Bin and Pang Juan each an ax and asked them to go up the mountain to cut firewood. He asked them to "smoke-free firewood and more than a hundred dans" and to complete the task within 10 days. Pang Juan didn't think twice and kept cutting firewood every day. After careful consideration, Sun Bin chose some elm wood and put it in a cave with a big belly and a small door, burned it into charcoal, and then used a pole made of cypress branches to carry the charcoal burned from the elm wood back to Guigu Cave. It means one hundred (cypress) and more than one (elm). Ten days later, Guiguzi first lit Pangjuan's firewood in the cave. Although the fire was strong, the smoke was billowing. Then Guiguzi lit Sun Bin's charcoal, and the fire was strong and smokeless. This is exactly what Guiguzi expected.
Sure enough, after Sun Bin and Pang Juan completed their studies and left the army, Sun Bin used his troops superbly and did not follow common sense. Pang Juan was a little behind.
Whirling caterpillars
French scientist Faber once conducted a famous "caterpillar" experiment.
Farber placed a number of caterpillars on the edge of a flowerpot, connected end to end, forming a circle, and sprinkled some of the caterpillars’ favorite food less than 15 centimeters around the flowerpot. pine needles. The caterpillars began to follow one by one, walking around the flower pot again and again. An hour has passed, and a day has passed, and the caterpillars are still walking and walking. In this way, the caterpillars walked for seven days and seven nights, and finally they died exhausted from hunger and exhaustion.
After the experiment, Farber wrote this sentence in his notes: Among so many caterpillars, as long as there is one that is slightly different, it will immediately avoid the fate of death.
The behavior of the caterpillar is a kind of "herding". American sociologist Solomon Asch believes that many human misfortunes are due to the fact that 33% of the mistakes come from "herding". Conformity is the enemy of innovation. If you want to innovate, you must get rid of the herd mentality. Sometimes innovation is what survives.
The gold mine is right in front of you
Once, a radio station invited a business wizard to be a guest host. People were eager to hear what he had to say about his success. Unexpectedly, he just smiled faintly and said: "Let's test everyone on the debut question."
"A gold mine was discovered somewhere, and people rushed to it. However, a big river blocked the only way. It’s you, what would you do?” People started talking about it, some said to take a detour, others said to swim over. However, this business wizard just smiled and said nothing. After a long time, he said: "Why do you have to go gold mining? Why can't you buy a boat to do shipping business?" People were stunned. He went on to say: "Under such circumstances, even if the ferryman is ripped off and left with only a pair of shorts, he will be willing to do so, because there is a gold mine ahead!" People come here to pan for gold, but they don't expect that the gold mine is right there. before. In fact, everything is the same. As long as you change your thinking and innovate a little, wealth will roll in.
Cut the apple from another angle
Zi Zi proudly told his father: When he cut the apple, he found a five-pointed star in the apple. The puzzled father thought, why had he never seen a five-pointed star in an apple? When the son showed the apple he cut to his father, the father exclaimed: I didn’t expect that I could cut the apple horizontally.
When cutting an apple, you usually use the fruit handle as the entry point, drop the knife vertically, and divide it into two parts.
If you lay it sideways on the table and then cut it in half, you will find a clear five-pointed star pattern inside the apple. This makes people wonder, after eating apples for so many years, we have never discovered that there is a five-pointed star pattern in the apple. And just by changing the cutting method, a little-known secret was discovered.
The source of innovation is actually to break through oneself and break through conventional thinking patterns. This is not only true in life, but also in management.
Notice of the Botanical Garden
There is a famous botanical garden in the United States, which is full of all kinds of rare and precious flowers. A large number of tourists come to watch it every day, but sometimes some flowers are missing. And fly. To this end, the management staff erected a sign in front of the botanical garden: "Anyone who reports theft of flowers will receive a reward of US$200." Since then, the botanical garden has never lost any flowers.
Some curious tourists asked the botanical garden management staff why they didn’t write “Anyone who steals flowers will be fined US$200.” The manager replied that in that case, we can only rely on a limited number of us to take care of it; but in this way, all tourists can be mobilized to participate in our management, and it will also cause people with impure motives to have a sense of "everywhere." If you have the fear of "sight", flowers will naturally be less likely to be lost. This approach of "changing punishment into rewards" and "changing management to allow everyone to participate in management" is really wonderful
Application and Innovation
Innovation is not omnipotent
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We advocate innovation and call for innovative spirit. But we must also see that innovation is not a panacea, and not everything is suitable for innovation.
Coca-Cola, known as the "King of Refreshing Beverages", is the most popular in the world, with sales of 300 million bottles per day, making it the largest beverage company in the world today. But an innovation in the 1980s almost ruined it all.
In order to cater to the needs of a new generation of young people, the American Coca-Cola Company decided to change the original formula, putting aside the increasingly approaching Pepsi-Cola and occupying a larger market share. The new formula of Coca-Cola was launched, but the Coca-Cola Company received tens of thousands of protest letters and countless protest calls from Coca-Cola's old customers. They strongly protested against Coca-Cola's change of the original formula and culture. This move seriously hurt their view of Coca-Cola. The trust made them extremely sad and strongly demanded to change back to the original formula. In Houston and Atlanta, consumers even held demonstrations...
A few months later, Coca-Cola had to withdraw all New Coca-Cola due to pressure from the market and the public. Coca-Cola's new formula ended in failure. Since then, the taste of Coca-Cola has never changed significantly. Three months later, the company launched the old Coke formula and saved the crisis in time through extensive promotional activities. By the end of 1986, New Coke disappeared from the market.
Nowadays, it seems that "innovation" has become a fashion. Suddenly, everyone talks about innovation and everything needs to be innovative. Indeed, no matter what we do, we cannot stick to the inherent and outdated things. However, we cannot just throw those excellent traditions away. After all, innovation is not a panacea.
Innovation must come from "steadiness"
Nowadays, "change" and "innovation" seem to have become a fashion, as if the whole world is talking about these fashionable concepts. There is an old Chinese proverb that says, "Change leads to generalization, and generalization leads to long-term development." Everyone and even the entire society need innovation to continue to move forward, just like many great inventions and the struggles of many successful people.
But what is the foundation of innovation? Let us not forget that innovation comes from daily "down-to-earth" hard work. Without hard work, innovation will not come out of thin air.
The foundation of innovation is to do actions and things that everyone can do but don’t bother to do. These things happen throughout your daily life, even if you complete an action that you don’t remember. The moment of innovation is indeed a qualitative leap, but the previous continuous accumulation of quantity requires efforts that are unimaginable by ordinary people. Sometimes, we can only see the achievements and brilliance brought by innovation, but we cannot see the bitterness and efforts behind it. However, all this is inevitable to achieve innovative results.
As we all know, the electric light is a great invention of the great scientist Edison.
Edison was able to invent the electric light not on his whim. It relied not only on his wisdom, but also on his down-to-earth actions, failure after failure, and progress bit by bit. Eventually, the lights came on and Edison's innovation succeeded. There are many innovations that are achieved through hard work. Innovation is indeed the driving force for our social progress, but down-to-earth action is the most basic condition for our success. In short, innovation stimulates us to move forward, and after that, we need to move forward step by step and in a down-to-earth manner.