Chapter 143: Breaking the Deadlock (1) |
Dai Songquan led the executive team out of the conference room. Except for Wu Wenjun, who stayed behind to wrap things up, everyone followed him up to the President's Office on the 28th floor.
They settled onto the sofas in the reception area. Dai Songquan’s slightly severe expression relaxed, and smiles appeared on the others’ faces.
Although the shareholders’ meeting had produced no formal resolutions this time, their strategic objective had been achieved.
Dai Songquan looked at Wei Hongsi sitting in the corner with particular satisfaction, and smiled, “Hongsi was the primary contributor today.”
“Nice work!” Qian Jiayu gave Wei Hongsi a thumbs-up.
“Luckily it was Hongsi who went up there. If it had been me, it definitely wouldn’t have had the same effect,” Gu Shiming didn’t hold back his praise either.
Reporting a project proposal at a shareholders’ meeting is never an easy task, because the shareholders will naturally position themselves in opposition and oppose the report regardless of its content. Besides, the real point of this report was not the project itself.
Facing a group of seasoned veterans’ doubts and criticisms while having to complete a special assignment imposes considerable pressure. Even an experienced project manager might not handle it well, let alone a young person who had only been on the job for a short time.
For that reason, the originally planned candidate for this role was not Wei Hongsi, but Gu Shiming, or one of either Yu Sheng or Fang Wei. The latter two were about to be promoted to center general manager positions and would be future members of the executive team.
Although Dai Songquan had only met Wei Hongsi a few times, he still knew a fair amount about him through Zhou Qihong, Gu Shiming, and others.
The last time at meeting room 2210, Wei Hongsi’s performance had left a very deep impression on Dai Songquan. Since then Wei Hongsi had repeatedly had standout moments, and Dai Songquan knew the details, so he agreed immediately.
For others, doing well in this matter would have merely been icing on the cake, but for Wei Hongsi it was a very good opportunity. Dai Songquan was already prepared to be Wei Hongsi’s external advisor; it was only natural to look after a student’s interests.
They had made an optimistic assessment of Wei Hongsi’s performance, but they did not expect the actual result to exceed expectations so substantially.
Wei Hongsi smiled and said, “They underestimated me because I’m young and let their guard down.”
“Don’t be modest.” Ji Yongsheng said with a laugh, “During the first break you went to talk with President Hua. That move—none of the rest of us could have learned it.”
Wei Hongsi replied, “That was just a youthful advantage. But I think President Hua leaned toward approving the project, and President Liu had some inclination as well.”
That view met with everyone’s agreement. While Wei Hongsi reported on the project, Dai Songquan and the other executives had been watching everyone’s reactions. Their vantage point wasn’t as good as Wei Hongsi’s, but they could still see quite a bit.
They analyzed the other shareholders’ responses and sized up their attitudes. As they talked, the conversation turned to Tai Liqun.
Jiang Kai said, “I think Tai Liqun got pretty steamed at Hongsi this time.”
Ji Yongsheng laughed, “No kidding, he even snapped his pencil. He totally hit old Tai’s emotional weak spot.”
Lin Fangzhe asked curiously, “Old Tai?”
Jiang Kai explained, “We used to have a small work chat group that Old Tai was the first to create. He’s the oldest, always wants to make the decisions, so we called him the group owner. It’s been over ten years now, back when WD hadn’t even been developed.”
Hearing Jiang Kai recall the past, Dai Songquan couldn’t help but sigh inwardly.
Since the day Zhiwei was founded, Tai Liqun had joined the company. Although he wasn’t a co-founder, he was unquestionably a company veteran.
He had many strengths: hardworking, highly responsible, willing to shoulder burdens and care for newcomers in the company’s early days.
But he also had many flaws. He had a big temper, was impatient, liked to show seniority, and insisted that any work he participated in follow his opinions.
In the early stages of the company, these problems weren’t severe. Back then the company was small and the management team got along like brothers; everyone knew Tai Liqun’s temperament, and because he was the oldest, no one argued with him.
Most importantly, at that time Tai Liqun’s judgments were generally correct, so it was normal for people to follow his lead.
But as the company grew and expanded into more cutting-edge business areas, many of Tai Liqun’s views began to fall behind. His opinions increasingly proved incorrect.
Yet Tai Liqun continued his habitual working style. The senior colleagues could tolerate his temper, but they could not tolerate his wrong-headed positions.
After several major disputes caused conflicts, Tai Liqun’s personality grew more extreme. He carried emotions into his work, spoke with barbs regardless of the listener, and lashed out and scolded without regard for occasion. Most of the company’s middle managers had experienced his wrath.
Jiang Kai, Ji Yongsheng, and Meng Haolin—who was later arrested—had all been reprimanded or mistreated by Tai Liqun back then.
More and more people later grew discontented with Tai Liqun, and many tasks were seriously affected; he became the first senior executive to be pushed out. When Dai Songquan proposed removing Tai Liqun from his company post, few spoke up for him.
However, Dai Songquan did not move to reclaim Tai Liqun’s shares, partly out of consideration for his past contributions and partly because they had fought in the same trench as entrepreneurial partners; personal loyalty carried weight.
What Dai Songquan did not anticipate was that after disappearing from view for a while, Tai Liqun began stirring up trouble nonstop. When several executives later left the company, Tai Liqun had incited some of those departures, and because he led the charge on the “leave position but retain shares” precedent, others later demanded the same treatment.
As a veteran shareholder, Dai Songquan knew this posed a hidden risk and felt it improper to favor one over another. At that time he thought the old comrade might show some loyalty, and even if some did not, it wouldn’t affect the overall situation.
Dai Songquan suppressed his thoughts. After everyone finished analyzing the situation, he said, “President Ji, later you contact President Liu and probe his stance.”
“All right.” Ji Yongsheng nodded.
After a moment of thought, Dai Songquan said, “I’ll contact President Hua. Leave the other shareholders alone for now, let them react on their own.”
With the next steps decided, the executives and Wei Hongsi left to attend to their tasks.
Dai Songquan walked to the window and stood for a while, then took out his phone and dialed a number.
“President Dai, what can I do for you?” President Hua’s voice came from the other end.
Dai Songquan chuckled twice and said, “Old Hua, I didn’t treat you well when you visited this time, I failed to play host.”
There was a brief silence from President Hua, who replied, “I’m one of the hosts too. No need to fuss about not being treated well.”
Dai Songquan laughed without sound and said, “Then let’s have a couple of drinks together?”
President Hua answered, “Sounds good.”
